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The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.

An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".

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

Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Damage Credibility'

The authority's report stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.

A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in line 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 truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."