The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions 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 corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
