The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
