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The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

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

The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".

The regulator has ordered the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.

"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.

'Potential to Damage Credibility'

The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.

"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the information he provided.

"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.

"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable degrees of trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.

A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results 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 reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."