The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
