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The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".

The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".

The authority has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.

"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he shared.

"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The documentary was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.

A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."