The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent served in a post in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
