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The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.

'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'

The watchdog's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.

"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he shared.

"Trust is at the core of the connection between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."

The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."