The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
