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BBC Gaza Documentary
UK media regulator Ofcom has said the BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official.
An Ofcom investigation into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general has previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
It said: "As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed. "
It is the first time the BBC has received a sanction from Ofcom and been ordered to make an on-air apology since 2009.
The documentary centred on a 13-year-old son of Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture.
Ofcom's statement said: "Our investigation found that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
Misleading the audience is "among the most serious" breaches that can be committed by a broadcaster, it said.
17 October 2025
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