The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and language are determined."
