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The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".

The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".

Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.

"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," it said.

'Possibility to Erode Credibility'

The regulator's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.

"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the content he shared.

"Trust is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.

"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."

The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."