The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
