Official report: The 'famine' in Gaza is part of Hamas' propaganda

The Israeli government rejected accusations that the Gaza Strip is facing a widespread famine crisis, stating that Hamas is behind a "deliberate and misleading publication" of data, according to a report released by COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories).

According to the document, the Islamist organization presents Gazan patients with severe pre-existing illnesses as if they had died from malnutrition. 

This is what Israel describes as part of a coordinated campaign to "discredit the State of Israel and gain political advantage".

COGAT's analysis detected a significant discrepancy between the deaths attributed to malnutrition by Gaza's Ministry of Health —controlled by Hamas— and the specific cases documented in media and social networks.

By June 2025, 66 deaths from this cause had been reported since the start of the war; however, in July alone, 133 additional cases were reported.

Despite this increase, the Ministry did not publish the list of names, as it had done previously.

For example, Hamas announced 18 deaths on July 19 and another 15 on July 22, but the Israeli investigation identified only a few actual cases, which, according to the report, calls the credibility of these figures into question.

The study concludes that the majority of deaths attributed to famine correplied to people with pre-existing medical problems that led to the deterioration of their health, with no direct relation to nutrition.

Some of those affected had received medical treatment in Israeli hospitals before the start of the conflict.

One of the most widely circulated cases was that of four-year-old Abdullah Hani Muhammad Abu Zarqa, whose image spread on social networks accompanied by allegations of extreme hunger.

However, COGAT states that the child suffers from a genetic disease that causes vitamin and mineral deficiencies, osteoporosis, and bone weakening, a condition that also affects other members of his family.

Before the war, Abdullah had traveled with his mother to East Jerusalem to receive specialized medical care.

Israel keeps that these stories, presented as evidence of an alleged famine, do not reflect the general situation of the population in Gaza, but rather extreme cases used for propaganda purposes by Hamas.