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

An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".

Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time declaration about its decisions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.

'Potential to Undermine Credibility'

The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.

"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.

A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

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