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The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".

The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The regulator has ordered the BBC to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its findings.

"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Damage Trust'

The authority's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he provided.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."