Opinion
By H.E. Ambassador Oren Anolik, Israeli Ambassador to Cyprus
In an era of 24/7 news coverage, where every image travels the globe in seconds, the loudest voices are not always the most truthful ones. While many international outlets echo claims of starvation and neglect in Gaza, a deeper, silent truth is being unjustifiably buried and should be unearthed.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has facilitated nearly 2,000,000 tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This is a staggering figure that speaks louder than any slogan. Currently, hundreds of trucks enter Gaza daily. Water, food, and medical supplies flow in — not as a trickle, but as a sustained lifeline. Israel does not limit the quantity of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
Since July 27, Israel even initiated a daily 10-hour humanitarian pause to facilitate the safe passage of the aid. More than 1,000 trucks and hundreds of airdropped aid packages were delivered, yet a painful irony remains: much of this aid still piles up, undelivered. Why? Because of operational failures on the ground. According to UN reports, average 800 truckloads per day await pick-up by the very agencies tasked with distributing them. Fear of armed terror groups and bureaucracy paralyze the system.
But even when aid is distributed, it doesn’t always get to those who need it.
According to UN reports, since May, around 87% of the aid never reached its destination; it’s looted or hijacked on the way. Who is responsible for this? Hamas.
Hamas doesn’t just fight Israel. It fights its own people.
The same organization that launched a brutal attack on October 7, 2023 continues to intercept aid convoys, loot shipments, sell in inflated price stolen supplies, and violently suppress Palestinian civilians trying to access food. This isn’t hearsay; it is witnessed reality captured on camera.
At the same time, in spite of the criticism it faced — including by other humanitarian organizations — the Gaza Humanitarian Fund has managed to distribute over 100 million meals directly to Gaza residents.
And yet, somehow, the headlines scream starvation; not sabotage.
This brings us to the global conversation. Or more accurately, the silence within it.
While international media platforms race to cover every accusation against Israel, they often fail to ask critical questions. Hamas continues to spread the false starvation narrative, abusing horrific images of chronically ill children whose severe medical conditions are the cause for their physical appearance. This cynical exploitation of children is a prime example of how Hamas manipulates public perception: turning individual suffering into a political weapon, assisted by those willing to amplify the message without checking the facts.
Unfortunately, too many mainstream media outlets echo Hamas fake news while ignoring the clear contradicting facts, for example the other family members who look in normal weight and condition.
This is not journalism — it is manipulation.
A lot of international media seem to be running with whatever story Hamas puts out, without really questioning it. Around 97% of outlets are using Hamas’s casualty numbers, while only 3% bother to include figures published by Israeli sources. The result? Hamas, a terrorist organisation, dominates the media narrative, while Israeli statements are routinely dismissed as untrustworthy and unreliable. It’s one-sided and it fails to show both perspectives. This kind of reporting ends up fueling the media with propaganda instead of the facts.
This isn’t to say the humanitarian suffering isn’t real; it is. But its complexity is often lost in the simplicity of outrage-driven coverage. The result? A global audience that believes they are seeing truth, when in fact they are seeing only a curated twisted reality.
Meanwhile, 50 Israeli citizens remain in captivity, for more than 670 days.
Almost two years have passed since Hamas dragged them into Gaza’s tunnels. They are tortured, starved, and used as human shields. The psychological torment of hostages like Evyatar David and Rom Breslavsky, who were forced to appear in propaganda videos — in one of which Evyatar was instructed to dig his own grave — reveals a level of cruelty that defies comprehension.
The hostages are not political pawns. They are human beings — and their continued captivity should outrage every decent person.
The path forward is clear.
This war could end tomorrow if Hamas chose to release the hostages and lay down its arms. Every day it refuses to do so, the suffering deepens — for Israelis and for Palestinians alike.
This opinion was originally posted by Israel in Cyprus on Facebook and can be seen at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/share/15MZuja1WQ/
