The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
