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The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.

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

The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.

'Risk to Damage Trust'

The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he shared.

"Trust is at the core of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."

The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."