The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our probe concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
