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The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.

"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he shared.

"Trust is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, 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 its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."