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The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".

The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Damage Credibility'

The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's father served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.

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

"This failing had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.

A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."