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Reuters Accidentally Exposes Gaza ‘Famine’ Claims to Be a Downright Lie
Egyptian trucks carrying humanitarian aid make their way to the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, May 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The so-called “special investigation” published by Reuters this week examining the global famine prevention system was certainly revealing — though perhaps not in the way the wire agency intended.
While claiming to expose the failures of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system in preventing hunger — failures that Reuters insists are through no fault of the IPC — the investigation inadvertently highlighted glaring flaws in how famines are measured, particularly in Gaza.
The article discusses several famines from around the globe, including the alleged one in Gaza, where the IPC had warned of an “imminent famine” in the northern region. That famine, of course, never materialized, with HonestReporting previously revealing how the IPC quietly walked back its claim.
According to Reuters, however, this inaccurate forecast wasn’t due to dubious data or exaggerated claims — it was, naturally, Israel’s fault.
Citing “Israeli bombing and restrictions on movement” as the obstacles to collecting data on malnutrition and non-trauma-related deaths, Reuters sidesteps key facts.
For example, Israel has facilitated the entry of nearly half a million aid trucks into Gaza since the start of the war — information Reuters conveniently omits. Also missing is any mention of Hamas’ well-documented habit of stealing and hoarding aid.
In fact, the word “Hamas” appears a grand total of twice in the 4,000-word piece, and only then in photo captions referencing the “Israel-Hamas war.”
@Reuters’ “special investigation” accidentally exposes more than it intended about the so-called famine in Gaza. Spoiler: There isn’t one. https://t.co/NmFd7oHVBd
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 4, 2024
Reuters does acknowledge that the IPC’s data collection in Gaza is flawed, as the organization cannot use its “preferred methods” for assessing malnutrition, allegedly due to Israel’s destruction of hospitals and clinics. This apparently includes the obliteration of all of Gaza’s scales and height boards — tools it says are critical for measuring famine.
The inconvenient truth about Hamas turning hospitals into command centers and weapons depots? Not mentioned.
Instead, humanitarian groups have reportedly trained health workers to measure children’s upper arms, and this is the data upon which famine claims are based.
Yet, the IPC refuses to disclose who trained the workers responsible for collecting the data behind the famine claim, or even identify the workers themselves, citing fears that they “could be targeted by Israel.”
Yes, Reuters genuinely suggests that the IDF might hunt down health workers for reporting a famine. If this sounds conspiratorial, that’s because it is.
A far likelier reason for this secrecy? Naming names might reveal a roster of “health workers” doubling as Hamas operatives.
Even more baffling, despite alleged safety concerns, the IPC didn’t collaborate with Israeli officials — something it has done with other governments in similar crises. Reuters explains this refusal by suggesting that the IPC assumed Israel didn’t want aid to reach starving Palestinians.
The reality? Half a million aid trucks have entered Gaza — even as Hamas continues to hold Israeli civilians hostage.
This is the story Reuters doesn’t want to tell. Instead, it bends over backward to explain why Gaza’s “imminent famine” remains perpetually delayed — always just around the corner, yet never quite arriving.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Reuters Accidentally Exposes Gaza ‘Famine’ Claims to Be a Downright Lie first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.