The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
