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The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".

The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a peak-time statement about its findings.

"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," it said.

'Potential to Damage Credibility'

The watchdog's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.

"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the details he provided.

"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.

"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was removed from iPlayer in February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.

A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.

"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."