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The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.

An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".

The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," it said.

'Potential to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.

"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he shared.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.

"This failing had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's family links came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, 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 comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."