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The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".

Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.

"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Undermine Trust'

The authority's report stated: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father held a post in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.

"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he presented.

"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."