The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to erode the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
