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The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

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

The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".

Ofcom has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.

"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.

'Risk to Erode Credibility'

The regulator's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.

"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of confidence that audiences would have put 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The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.

A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."