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Israel Must Wage War with the Biased PR Situation It Faces, Not the One It Wants
Parcels of humanitarian aid await transfer into Gaza, at the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing in the Gaza Strip, July 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Ancient cities have fallen throughout history because of sieges. Generals surrender during sieges because they don’t have a death wish. In Gaza, what is so clearly evident is that Hamas always intended for the deaths of the innocent.
Hamas won’t surrender because civilians suffering is a key part of their twisted plan.
The war provoked by Hamas is propaganda driven, aimed to result in the delegitimization of the Jewish State worldwide. Hideous deaths of Gaza’s children through bombs, through goods shortages with potentially clear evidence of Israel being at-fault, have been crucial to their aims. Even though Hamas started this war and put civilians in harm’s way, Israel still needs to perceive how it is being viewed in the court of public opinion.
Hamas’ aim is to demonize, delegitimize, and destroy Israel in the eyes of the world — and when right-wing ministers call on Gaza to starve or make other outlandish statements, they are playing right into Hamas’ strategy.
This Western information war was planned, just as October 7th had been planned. Prime Minister Netanyahu rushed into Hamas’ carefully laid trap for worldwide condemnation of Israel.
Hamas’ plan was obvious immediately after the horrors of October 7, 2023, as calls of genocide echoed on October 8 across America, before ground troops had even entered Gaza.
This is clear evidence of a deliberate media strategy. Not a single bomb shelter was ever built for the innocent non-combatants in Gaza, and this was deliberately done to ensure maximum casualties.
Hamas fighters hid in tunnels, deliberately placing their military headquarters under schools and hospitals to maximize casualties, in a battle they spent 18 years preparing for with billions in aid money.
The media doesn’t report on any of that — just the deaths of civilians (which are often reported using questionable Hamas data and claims). Skilled manipulation of video designed to quickly go viral deliberately escalates this cycle. The media occasionally prints a retraction later in tiny print — but the damage is already done — and often can’t be taken back.
Obviously, bombing campaigns with legitimate casualties and tragedies are contributing to this. However, because Israel has been at war for nearly two years, with no clear plan the entire time, Hamas and the media capitalize on this, and say Israel’s only aim is to kill civilians, when it is really trying to root out Hamas.
The Hamas media strategy is to convince the world Israel has done something unthinkable and unethical; such as bombing schools, hospitals and refugees. It does not matter if Israel does or does not. A disputed, controversial Instagram hashtag devoted to people in Gaza acting for the camera called #pallywood further compounds the lies obfuscating truth.
It’s true there are legitimate tragedies occurring, but we must also point out a deliberate Hamas media effort to overdramatize and intentionally mislead the world.
Hamas fighters in civilian clothing deliberately take shelter at schools becoming military targets; then maximum casualties ensue and a bleeding stain on the modern government of Israel grows. Rinse, repeat, spin.
Hamas’s literal plan was to entice war, by committing horrific crimes on October 7. Cynically their plan worked. They provoked the response of the Israeli government; although it was a unity government to begin with, it’s become partisan again, and far-right ministers are not helping with comments that Netanyahu condemns in words, but takes no meaningful action to stop or prevent.
The siege must be stopped. Israel must take the high road and continue flooding Gaza with food (and doing everything possible to keep it out of Hamas’s hands) and stop giving ammunition for hatred. One grain of truth becomes an entire story. Yes, the world is biased against Israel. But we also must accept that reality, and develop our strategies accordingly. We must continue to exist in this world even when Israel is treated unfairly. We should keep speaking the truth, but also adapt our strategies for the world we are currently facing.
Alix Kahn is a writer of essays, stories, poetry & more.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.