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The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".

The authority has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.

'Risk to Erode Trust'

The regulator's report stated: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.

"Trust is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This oversight had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was removed from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."