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The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".

The authority has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.

'Possibility to Erode Trust'

The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.

"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are finalised."