Israel sends paid influencers into Gaza to whitewash UN-verified famine
Israel has funded a campaign sending American and Israeli social media influencers into Gaza in a bid to whitewash the UN-declared famine, after images of Israeli atrocities in the besieged enclave spread widely online amid a ban on foreign journalists.
Israel’s diaspora affairs ministry this week arranged for 10 influencers from the US and Israel to enter Gaza and produce content from aid distribution sites where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed.
Referring to the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial body formed to bypass the UN aid system, the ministry said in a statement that the campaign is aimed to demonstrate “the mechanism of humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza” to “refute Hamas's lies that are distributed by foreign media.”
“The [influencers’] tour took place as part of the fight against Hamas's campaign to discredit [Israel] – the ‘hunger campaign’ – which is meant to damage Israel's image in the international arena,” the ministry added.
Israeli forces have killed more than 1,800 Palestinians near the GHF aid distribution sites since the organization assumed control of relief operations in late May.
Palestinians are routinely shot and killed not only by Israeli troops but also by US military contractors overseeing the GHF facilities, which the United Nations has condemned as “death traps.”
The tour coincides with a worldwide outrage over Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid. The regime also continues to accuse Hamas of stealing aid, an allegation rejected by the UN.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, starvation related deaths in Gaza have risen to 271, including 112 children, since the start of the war in the strip 22 months ago.
On Friday, Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC) – the UN-backed global hunger monitor – officially declared a famine in Gaza for the first time.
The influencers’ campaign comes as international journalists are denied access into the besieged strip.
Earlier this month, international journalists signed a petition demanding "immediate and unsupervised foreign press access to the Gaza Strip."
"Unrestricted, independent access for foreign journalists is urgently needed, not only to document the unfolding atrocities but to ensure that the truth of this war is not dictated by those who control the weapons and the narrative," the Freedom To Report petition said.
More than 62,190 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
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