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The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.

'Possibility to Damage Confidence'

The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.

"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.

"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was removed from the online platform in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions 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 corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."