The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The authority's statement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
