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The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

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

The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".

The regulator has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Undermine Credibility'

The authority's announcement declared: "Our probe determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he shared.

"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."