Hearing A Lot, Knowing A Little

The past three days have been the worst, in public relations terms, that Israel has suffered since the start of the Gaza war—and given how bad it’s been throughout, that’s saying a lot. There are reasons for this—some for which Israel is clearly responsible, and others less so.

We’re hearing a lot of information. What we actually know is far less.

What We Know:

New food aid distribution points have been set up in Gaza by an organization calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). It’s a U.S.- and Israeli-funded non-profit incorporated in Delaware. The goal of this new system was twofold: logistical and political. First, to stop Hamas from looting and reselling food aid originally distributed through the UN. Second, to displace the UN entirely, since Israel sees it as biased and sympathetic to Hamas.

But the UN had 400 small distribution points across Gaza, staffed by trained personnel with experience in large-scale humanitarian operations. The GHF, by contrast, is starting from scratch. It has taken a very different approach: opening a handful of large distribution sites—up to ten total—mostly in southern Gaza, staffed and secured by private U.S. contractors. The IDF is not directly involved but maintains a security perimeter at a distance.

One thing is clear: so far, it has been an unmitigated disaster.

What We Hear:

On May 27th, the second day of operations, GHF lost control of its first site when thousands of desperate people, including women and children, rushed to get food. Israeli troops fired “warning shots,” and staff were forced to flee to avoid casualties. According to the Hamas-run Media Office, Israeli tanks opened fire, killing 10 Palestinians and wounding 62.

More incidents followed: on June 1st, 31 people were reported killed and 170 injured near another site. On June 3rd, 27 more were reportedly killed, with 161 injured in Rafah. Hamas immediately blamed Israel, calling the events “massacres” and “war crimes,” and circulated video footage of chaos and wounded civilians—images that have been broadcast around the world.

Israel has scrambled to respond, releasing its own video from May 27th which appears to show that it was actually Hamas gunmen who opened fire on the crowd.

Let’s be clear: Hamas’s account cannot be taken at face value. It has every incentive to see the new aid system fail. That said, Israel’s response has been abysmal.

David Mencer, the Israeli government spokesman with the polished British accent, has been making the media rounds. His core message is that all reports coming out of Gaza are propaganda from the Hamas-run Health Ministry and should not be trusted. In every interview, the obvious question follows, namely, if that’s true, then why doesn’t Israel allow international journalists into Gaza to independently verify what’s happening? Mencer’s answer: “Israel’s job is not to get journalists in safely, it’s to get our hostages out safely.” It’s a terrible answer. It’s an obvious deflection. Worse, it highlights how unsuccessful Israel has been at getting hostages out. It also fuels the perception that Israel has something to hide.

Mencer knows full well that journalists have covered dangerous war zones for generations—from World War II to Vietnam to Iraq. It’s their job. Whether or not they go is a decision for their media organizations, not Israel. Yes, it's true that journalists being killed is damaging for Israel, which is perceived to be in control of Gaza. But that’s not an argument against access—it’s an argument for transparency. Mencer also points out that most "citizen journalists" in Gaza have to be favorable to Hamas or they will be killed. Probably true. But isn't that more reason to allow in independent professionals?

For all its flaws, replacing the UN was likely a mistake. Hamas fighters hiding in UN buildings was a military problem. But swapping a flawed but functioning system for a brand new, barely operational one has turned out to be both a logistical disaster and a public relations catastrophe. Hungry, desperate people are now being herded into a few chaotic sites with minimal infrastructure. The resulting images—chaos, stampedes, bodies—are deeply damaging, and not just to Israel’s image. They’re feeding doubts about the motivations of Israel’s leadership and giving its critics a devastating narrative: that Israel is deliberately making life unlivable to push for what it calls “voluntary, temporary displacement.”

The more these images circulate, the harder that accusation becomes to refute.