Tel Aviv — For months, famine in Gaza has been described by international agencies as one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century. Yet inside Israel, the crisis has barely pierced mainstream media coverage. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, children are wasting away without food, and international aid agencies say hundreds are dying every week from malnutrition. Still, for most Israeli television and print outlets, the story has been treated as if it does not exist.
The silence of Israeli media over the unfolding genocide in Gaza is not just negligence; it is complicity. By erasing images of starving children and ignoring the deliberate destruction of food supplies, the press has acted as an arm of state propaganda, shielding Israel from accountability while Palestinians are exterminated through hunger and bombs. Successive Israeli governments have relied on a carefully constructed narrative that erases Palestinian suffering, a narrative reinforced by media institutions that either mirror official talking points or avoid the subject altogether. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies continue to insist there is “no policy of starvation” in Gaza, portraying images of skeletal children and reports of widespread famine as manipulations by Hamas or “foreign propaganda.”
This posture has effectively hardened public indifference. A survey published in July by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed that nearly 80 percent of Jewish Israelis said they were “not troubled” by reports of starvation in Gaza. Analysts point out that such apathy is not surprising when the issue itself is absent from the country’s largest media platforms. In television studios and daily newspapers, the war is framed in purely military terms, with humanitarian consequences rarely making it past the editorial desk.
What coverage does emerge has largely been confined to left-leaning outlets like Haaretz, which has published graphic accounts of Gaza’s food collapse and the slow deaths of its civilians. By contrast, the nation’s more widely consumed channels and tabloids depict Gaza exclusively as a security threat, treating any mention of famine as speculative or politically motivated.
International observers say this blackout is as deliberate as the military blockade itself. By controlling the domestic narrative, the Israeli government insulates its population from accountability. Meanwhile, Palestinian journalists risk their lives to document conditions on the ground, while foreign reporters remain barred from independent access to Gaza, a restriction that international press freedom organizations have condemned as an attack on truth itself.
Recently, however, cracks have begun to appear. Under mounting pressure from international media outlets and humanitarian bodies, some Israeli platforms have reluctantly acknowledged the crisis. Instead of denying its existence outright, they now frame famine as a point of debate, questioning whether it is “real” or “exaggerated,” a tactic critics say is designed to muddy public understanding rather than inform it.
The emerging discourse has also triggered small-scale protests inside Israel. Younger citizens, activists, and academics have organized vigils and demonstrations, calling for recognition of Gaza’s humanitarian collapse and an end to policies that deliberately weaponize starvation. Although still marginal, these voices represent a rare breach in a wall of silence that has held firm for nearly a year.
The question now is whether global scrutiny will force Israel’s media establishment to confront realities it has long avoided. For Palestinians trapped in Gaza, where aid convoys are regularly blocked and food supplies destroyed, the belated shift offers little immediate relief. Yet it signals a possible turning point in how the war, and the human cost it exacts, is narrated within Israel itself.
According to The Guardian, Israeli mainstream outlets “completely ignored” Gaza’s starvation until very recently, when international pressure forced a limited acknowledgement. The paper noted that while some coverage has now emerged, the framing still minimizes the crisis and echoes government denials, underscoring the continuing struggle over narrative control.
