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The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".

The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".

The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening declaration about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Erode Credibility'

The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the content he provided.

"Trust is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance 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 aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are finalised."