The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
