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The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

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

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".

Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The regulator's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.

"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the details he shared.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This oversight had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are determined."