{"id":353112,"date":"2025-08-18T02:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/353112\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T02:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:31:11","slug":"israeli-media-completely-ignored-gaza-starvation-is-that-finally-changing-israel-gaza-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/353112\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli media \u2018completely ignored\u2019 Gaza starvation \u2013 is that finally changing? | Israel-Gaza war"},"content":{"rendered":"

Images of Palestinian children in Gaza, emaciated by hunger under the blockade imposed by Israel<\/a>, and of families grieving the more than 61,000 people killed in the territory have stirred outrage among foreign governments and much of the global public. Inside Israel, however, the reaction has been markedly different.<\/p>\n

In a poll conducted in late July by the Israel Democracy Institute<\/a> (IDI), more than three-quarters of Jewish Israelis \u2013 79% \u2013 said they were either \u201cnot very troubled\u201d or \u201cnot troubled at all\u201d by reports of famine and suffering among Gaza\u2019s Palestinian population.<\/p>\n

Fourteen-month-old Hazar Arfa, receiving treatment at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, was in critical condition due to severe malnutrition. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

According to Anat Saragusti, an expert on the media, the reason is simple: most people in Israel are unaware of those reports because for months they have never seen them.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil a couple of weeks ago, you could count only a handful of reports from Gaza not filtered by the IDF,\u201d said Saragusti, the head of freedom of the press at the Union of Journalists in Israel. Except for a few newspapers such as the leftwing Haaretz, she said, \u201call the other mainstream media completely ignored what\u2019s going on on the Palestinian side \u2013 the human casualties there, the numbers of children killed in this war. The Israeli audience simply did not see that at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past few weeks, the growing focus on the issue in the international media has led to some Israeli newspapers and TV channels reporting on hunger in Gaza for the first time, albeit as a debatable issue.<\/p>\n

Since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, public debate in Israel has largely centred on national security, the plight of the Israeli hostages captured by Hamas, and the country\u2019s military goals in Gaza. In that climate, the humanitarian disaster caused by the Israeli assault on Gaza has tended to occupy a marginal place in the minds of many Jewish Israelis, who largely view the conflict as a legitimate act of self-defence in response to Hamas\u2019s attacks \u2013 although polls also show<\/a> a clear majority want a deal with Hamas to end the war in exchange for the freedom of the remaining Israeli hostages.<\/p>\n

An anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the 7 October attacks. Photograph: Alessio Mamo\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Media analysts say Israel\u2019s main broadcasters have largely embraced the narrative of a government described as the most far-right in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

For months, the Israeli media have responded to international outrage by focusing on Israeli claims that the widespread hunger documented by numerous aid agencies is \u201ca Hamas-orchestrated starvation campaign\u201d \u2013 summed up by Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s claim last month<\/a>: \u201cThere is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to UN World Food Programme, one-third of the Palestinian population in Gaza is going for days without eating<\/a>, and half a million are on the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,\u201d the UN-backed group the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said last month<\/a>, calling for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate \u201cwidespread starvation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Five-month-old Ammar Muhammad Ammara has suffered from a persistent high fever and severe malnutrition since birth. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA<\/a>), another five people died last week due to malnutrition and starvation, bringing the total number of malnutrition-related deaths to 227, including 103 children, since October 2023.<\/p>\n

Even Donald Trump, Netanyahu\u2019s key international ally, when asked if he agreed with the Israeli PM on the issue, said: \u201cI don\u2019t know \u2026 those children look very hungry \u2026 that\u2019s real starvation stuff.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

In a rare press conference with foreign journalists in Jerusalem last Sunday, Netanyahu displayed photographs of skeletal children in Gaza and dismissed them as fake<\/a>, claiming they were part of a Hamas plot to attack Israel.<\/p>\n

He compared these images with a photograph of the Israeli hostage Evyatar David<\/a> released by the Palestinian militant group early in August, pointing out that while the man held in Gaza appeared to be starving to death, the arm of a Hamas fighter visible in the frame looked strong and muscular. The implication was clear, according to the prime minister: the fighters of Hamas were eating well and keeping food from the Israeli hostages and from the public of Gaza.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amira Muteir holds the hand of her five-month-old baby Ammar, who she says is wasting away from malnutrition. Photograph: Mahmoud Issa\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Saragusti said: \u201cDespite images of emaciated children published by major newspapers around the world, Israel pushed back. And Israeli media outlets adopted the narrative set out by the Israeli leadership, insisting that there is no starvation in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Israel appears to exist within its own bubble, shielded by a narrative that leaves no room for the suffering of people in Gaza, thousands of demonstrators who recently filled the streets of Tel Aviv<\/a> are now urging the government to halt the atrocities against the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is horrendous what is happening in Gaza,\u201d said Lenny Kadmon, 19. \u201cI think that the main reason not everyone here is against it is because most people find it too difficult or too scary to look at themselves and at what we do in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gal Alkalay, 28, said: \u201cI come here to protest in Tel Aviv every weekend. We ask our PM to end the war. Only in this way we can end the starvation in Gaza and the return of our hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, despite a growing number of Israeli intellectuals using the word \u201cgenocide\u201d to describe their government\u2019s actions in Gaza \u2013 as the award-winning author David Grossman did just a fortnight ago<\/a> \u2013 analysts say they remain a small minority.<\/p>\n

In Jerusalem, where tensions between Arabs and Israelis are sharper, the majority of Jewish residents continue to align themselves with the narrative of Israel\u2019s political leadership.<\/p>\n

Q&AWhy is it so difficult to report on Gaza?Show<\/p>\n

Coverage of the war in Gaza is constrained by Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists and a bar on international reporters entering the Gaza Strip to report independently on the war.<\/p>\n

Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza since 7 October 2023, unless they are under Israeli military escort. Reporters who join these trips have no control over where they go, and other restrictions<\/a> include a bar on speaking to Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Palestinian journalists and media workers inside Gaza have paid a heavy price for their work reporting on the war, with over 180 killed<\/a> since the conflict began.<\/p>\n

The committee to protect journalists has determined that at least 19 of them \u201cwere directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders\u201d.<\/p>\n

Foreign reporters based in Israel filed a legal petition<\/a> seeking access to Gaza, but it was rejected by the supreme court on security grounds. Private lobbying by diplomats and public appeals by prominent journalists<\/a> and media outlets<\/a> have been ignored by the Israeli government.<\/p>\n

To ensure accurate reporting from Gaza given these restrictions, the Guardian works with trusted journalists on the ground; our visual\u200b\u200b teams verif\u200by photo and videos from third parties; and we use clearly sourced data from organisations that have a track record of providing accurate information in Gaza during past conflicts, or during other conflicts or humanitarian crises.<\/p>\n

Emma Graham-Harrison,\u00a0chief\u00a0Middle East correspondent<\/b><\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Asked what she thought of the suffering of Palestinian children in Gaza, Myriam Israel, 34, said: \u201cI think people should also see the suffering of our children terrorised by Hamas. But the world thinks only about children of Gaza. I think Hamas needs to think about their own children. And we need to think about the security of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zalman Coleman, 21, said: \u201cAll you have to do is use your brain five seconds and you can see that Hamas\u2019s ultimate aim is to get that number [of deaths] as high as possible. And then from that, turn the whole world\u2019s face against Israel. [In this conflict] the media had so much potential to do so much good in the world. But they chose fake news.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Hamas\u2019s ultimate aim is to get that number [of deaths] as high as possible,\u2019 said Zalman Coleman (left) a 21-year-old Israeli living in Jerusalem. Photograph: Alessio Mamo\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Since the Hamas-led attacks of 2023, Israel has almost completely barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza \u2013 an unprecedented move in the history of modern conflict, marking one of the rare moments that reporters have been denied access to an active war zone.<\/p>\n

Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists have formally called for Gaza to be opened to foreign media<\/a>, warning that current measures severely undermine press freedom.<\/p>\n

Many argue that the Israeli ban is a deliberate tactic to restrict independent scrutiny, limit international visibility of the conflict, and thus control the narrative.<\/p>\n

Ultra orthodox Jewish at the men’s section of the Western Wall. Photograph: Alessio Mamo\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to enter Gaza and cover the war is to embed in Israeli army units,\u201d said Saragusti \u2013 and even that is rarely allowed. \u201cThere is no independent press in Gaza. There are only the Palestinian journalists, who many of them have been killed. Israel claims that there is no starvation but doesn\u2019t let the foreign press in to check by itself whether there is starvation or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up to now, she added, \u201cthe press blockade has succeeded very well in its goal\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Images of Palestinian children in Gaza, emaciated by hunger under the blockade imposed by Israel, and of families…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-353112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115047425295279677","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}