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The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.

"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the content he shared.

"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

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

The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are determined."