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The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

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

The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening statement about its decisions.

"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.

'Risk to Damage Credibility'

The authority's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent held a position in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.

"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he provided.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This oversight had the potential to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.

A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."