The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to air a evening declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father held a post 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 assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the significantly high degrees of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
