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The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.

An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".

The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.

'Potential to Undermine Credibility'

The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.

"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he presented.

"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.

"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."