The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
