“There were floods in Gaza, but the story and the scale of the suffering was written by Hamas before it even started raining,” said Justin Pozmanter, news director at HonestReporting. The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.
Pozmanter shared an exclusive report with the post office detailing how the Hamas government’s winter campaign and an official from the Hamas-run media office traveled from Telegram to the international press between November 1 and 10, 2026.
The story begins on November 1, when the Gaza Winter Emergency Committee, a Hamas government body, issued its first press release, posted on GMO’s Telegram channel.
The committee announced the “2026-2027 Winter Preparedness and Response Plan” and the national campaign “Together towards a safe winter”. The statement predicted a harsh and early winter and blamed Israeli restrictions on heavy machinery, spare parts, fuel and shelter supplies.
He also provides a list of numbers: 200,000 used tents and a million tarps needed; 7,800 tents in dangerous locations; 2,000 cracked buildings at risk of collapse; and 70% of basic municipal equipment destroyed.
A few days later, on November 5, before any storms in the area, Euro-Med Monitor published an article titled “Israel Weaponizes Cold Weather Against Palestinians in Gaza for Fourth Year, Continues to Ban Provision of Shelter.”
Many of the article’s assertions trace directly back to Hamas’ November 1 press release. For example, the article writes: “Israel continues to deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of safe shelter for the fourth year in a row. » He then lists the same numbers that appeared in the Hamas memo: 200,000 tents; a million tarpaulins; 2,000 cracked buildings.
Hamas claims about winter in Gaza receive international media coverage, says HonestReporting
As HonestReporting noted, this was a pivotal point.
Hamas-aligned language, such as “Israel is preparing for a winter disaster,” was rephrased into the vocabulary of a human rights NGO, with figures coming from a committee whose ties to Hamas governance are not labeled.
The first winter storm arrived on November 6, with images of flooding in Gaza circulating on social media.
A day later, on November 7 at 11:15 a.m. Israel time, approximately 12 hours after the first rain, the Hamas-led government media office issued a new press release warning that “in 12 hours: 70,000 tents flooded and $3 million in losses.” »
He said dozens of walls collapsed, causing injuries, and warned that cracked buildings damaged in the “genocide war” could collapse, and held Israel “fully responsible” for keeping crossing points closed to shelters and reconstruction materials. He also called on the international community and United Nations agencies to intervene.
In a few hours, Reutersthe BBC and NBC News began publishing the figure of “70,000 tents.” Reuters was the only one of the three to explicitly identify GMOs as being managed by Hamas.
Hamas-linked Gaza flood claims gain traction on social media
But since November 8, these figures are no longer attributed to Gazan ministries or Hamas. Drop Site News, for example, attributes the figure of “950,000 people at risk of flooding” to “the UN”.
Anti-Israeli accounts on social media then began amplifying these claims.
Depot Site News called it “deliberate and systematic cruelty… part of an effort to drive Palestinians from Gaza… with the full support of the United States.”
Pro-Palestinian British doctor Rahmeh Aladwan said: “The Jewish occupation destroyed 82% of Gaza and blocked caravans and construction materials for 3 years. »
Greta Thunberg posted on Facebook: “About 70,000 tents flooded… ISRAEL IS FULLY RESPONSIBLE. END THE GENOCIDE.”
HonestReporting also noted that the media office of the Hamas-led Gaza government announced the figure of 70,000 tents just hours after the rains began, and had already estimated losses at around three million dollars.
HonestReporting wondered how Hamas, in a matter of hours and in a downpour, knew with certainty that 70,000 tents had been flooded.
In other countries, after a disaster, it may take up to a few days for authorities to even obtain a preliminary estimate of the extent of the damage.
Israel’s winter preparations in Gaza largely overlooked in international coverage
Few news sites mentioned Israel’s extensive preparations to prepare the Gaza Strip for severe weather.
Since September 4, 2026, approximately two months before the recent storm, COGAT (the Israeli Ministry of Defense agency responsible for humanitarian coordination in Palestinian areas) has been publishing on social media the measures it is taking in preparation for the upcoming winter in the Gaza Strip.
These include facilitating the entry of tents and shelter equipment, motor oil, generators and lights, medical equipment and supplies, tarps, winter clothing, vacuum trucks, portable toilets and vehicle spare parts.
By the time the storm arrived last weekend, COGAT said more than 91,000 tents and 8,200 trucks full of winter essentials had entered the Gaza Strip since the start of the winter campaign in September.
“COGAT will continue to work cooperatively with the Peace Council, the UN, international organizations and the international community to maintain the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip at its current stable level before winter, while taking necessary measures to prevent Hamas from taking control of humanitarian aid and essential supplies,” COGAT wrote on November 5.
As Pozmanter said, there were indeed floods in Gaza, but the story and the scale of the suffering were written by Hamas before it even started to rain.
“According to their words, echoed by affiliated organizations like Euro-med and widely accepted as fact by the press and many Western leaders, Israel was to blame, although it facilitated the distribution of tens of thousands of tents and tons of winter clothing to the population, something no other country has ever done for an enemy population during the war,” he said. the post office.
He also noted that, largely absent from media coverage, was any mention that Hamas had “dismantled sewage and drainage systems provided by Israel and donors, used the pipes to build rockets, and spent billions in international aid to build a vast network of tunnels for itself rather than infrastructure for its population.”
“The truth is that Hamas has once again sacrificed Gaza civilians and the media has once again demonstrated that it eschews scrutiny when unverified accusations are made against Israel,” Pozmanter concluded.
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