• Ofcom finds BBC's Gaza documentary broke broadcasting rules
• The documentary was narrated by a boy with ties to a Hamas official
• BBC ordered to broadcast a statement regarding the breach
• This is the first sanction against the BBC by Ofcom since 2009
• The BBC acknowledges the failure and has apologized

Britain's media regulator Ofcom has ruled that the BBC's documentary "Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone," narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas-run government, breached broadcasting rules. Ofcom stated that failing to disclose the narrator's father’s position was "materially misleading," which has implications for audience trust in media programming, especially regarding sensitive topics such as the Israel-Gaza war, according to Reuters and Channel News Asia.

The documentary was removed from BBC's online platform five days after its initial broadcast in February, and an internal BBC investigation in July confirmed it had violated editorial guidelines related to accuracy. Ofcom indicated that this breach was serious, necessitating the BBC to issue an on-air apology, which will be the first such sanction since 2009, as stated by BBC.

Moreover, Ofcom emphasized that the failure to disclose the narrator’s familial ties to Hamas could mislead viewers, adversely affecting the trust levels typically associated with BBC programming. The BBC had previously acknowledged shortcomings in its editorial oversight, indicating that "there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy," according to Channel News Asia and Reuters.

The BBC's internal review concluded that three members of the production team were aware of the father's role in Hamas, yet this information was not disclosed to the BBC before broadcasting. However, they found no evidence of direct influence over the program’s content by the narrator's family, which reflects the complexities of editorial responsibility and oversight within the media, as noted by BBC.