Tel Aviv Organizes ‘Influencer Tour’ in Gaza to Whitewash UN-Verified Famine

Tel Aviv arranged this week for 10 US and Israeli social media influencers to enter Gaza and “reveal the truth” about what Israel says are “Hamas’s lies” about the starvation of Palestinians in the besieged strip.

The tour was organized by Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry.

The ministry framed the effort as a demonstration of “the mechanism of humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza” to “refute Hamas’s lies that are distributed by foreign media.”

The statement referred to the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a mechanism formed to bypass the UN and put Israel in charge of aid deliveries. Over 1,400 Palestinians have been killed while receiving aid from GHF sites since the foundation was launched in late May—and the quantities being delivered amount to a fraction of what is required to address the dire humanitarian needs in Gaza.

Palestinians are regularly shot at and killed by both Israeli forces and US military contractors who run the aid distribution sites.

“The 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 went on to say, adding that organizers also “emphasized the role of the UN and other international organizations, which are refusing to distribute many tons of food that’s waiting.”

The UN had previously said, following GHF’s inception in May, that it would not cooperate with the mechanism for ethical reasons. The UN and other international organizations have accused GHF of accelerating Israel’s goal to forcibly displace residents of Gaza.

Among those granted access to GHF sites is Brooke Goldstein, a pro-Israel US attorney, author, and television personality.

“What I saw proved that what the media is reporting about the situation is absolutely false. The GHF’s mission is to feed the people of Gaza in a way that Hamas can’t steal the food, and it’s working. I witnessed over 13,000 people being fed, including 3,300 women and children,” she said on X on August 20.

Xavier DuRousseau, another influencer, took to social media and wrote, “Israel is NOT the reason many Palestinians are starving.”

“Since you soup kitchen antisemites want to pretend to care about the Gazan struggle, go there and volunteer to distribute the food!” he added. “Israel is NOT blocking food from entering Gaza,” DuRousseau claimed in a separate post.

While the GHF has been delivering some food to Palestinians, it is nowhere near enough to alleviate the crisis in Gaza. This is particularly due to Israel’s closure of all border crossings and the siege it has imposed on the strip.

Authorities in Gaza have revealed that just 14% of the required aid is being delivered by Israel.

An eyewitness speaking with CBS News on Thursday confirmed that Israeli troops and US subcontractors hired to secure aid distribution hubs in Gaza regularly open fire on desperate Palestinians seeking aid, and even boast about it.

Survivors of Aid Massacres: Israel Is Eroding Gaza’s Social Fabric

This is not the first time eyewitnesses have come forward with testimonies about the violence carried out at GHF sites.

In an August 22 report, Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC)—the UN-backed global hunger monitor—officially declared a famine in Gaza for the first time.

Dozens have died of starvation in recent weeks, including at least two in the last 24 hours. The total number of starvation deaths in Gaza since the start of the war has risen to 271, including 112 children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Despite this, Israel continues to deny that famine has overtaken the strip. It continues to accuse Hamas of stealing aid, yet the UN has rejected this claim.

Armed groups backed by Israel, including the gang of Yasser Abu Shabab in Rafah, have been directly implicated in the looting of aid convoys. The Interior Ministry in Gaza has clashed with these armed groups repeatedly in order to prevent the looting of aid.

In early August, US envoy Steve Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the GHF site in the southernmost city of Rafah in Gaza, which has been destroyed by Israeli forces.

The White House said Witkoff’s visit aimed to “inspect” GHF sites and secure “a plan to deliver more food.” The visit was framed as an effort to advance humanitarian assistance.

However, according to well-known Gaza-based journalist Youssef Fares, GHF “staged the site” ahead of Witkoff’s arrival.

Fares said GHF “buried the blood of the aid seekers who had been injured or killed in recent days, pulled back the tanks and snipers, and reduced the tens of thousands of aid seekers to a small number of families belonging to Yasser Abu Shabab’s men, who entered yesterday through the Morag Corridor to take part in this farcical spectacle, exposed before the world.”

(The Cradle)