The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised 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."
