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The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".

The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The authority has instructed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.

'Possibility to Erode Trust'

The authority's report declared: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.

"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he shared.

"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."