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The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".

The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the statement read.

'Risk to Damage Trust'

The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a position in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.

"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he shared.

"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of credibility that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."