The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
