The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
