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The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he shared.

"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This error had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."

The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson commented: "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 BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."