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The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".

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

Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.

"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Erode Credibility'

The authority's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.

"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he shared.

"Trust is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This failing had the possibility to undermine the significantly high amounts of credibility that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and language are finalised."