“There were floods in Gaza, but Hamas wrote the narrative and the scale of suffering even before the rain started,” Justin Pozmanter, news director at HonestReporting, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. Pozmanter shared an exclusive report with the Post detailing how the Hamas government’s winter campaign and a figure from the Hamas-run media office traveled from Telegram to the international press between November 1 and 10, 2026. The story begins on November 1, when the Winter Emergency was declared in Gaza. The Committee, a Hamas government body, issued its first press release, posted on the OGM’s Telegram channel. The committee announced the “Winter Preparedness and Response Plan 2026-2027” and the national campaign “Towards a Safe Winter Together.” The statement predicted a harsh early winter and blamed Israeli restrictions on heavy machinery, spare parts, fuel and shelter supplies. He also provided a list of figures: 200,000 worn-out tents and a million tarps are needed; 7,800 tents in dangerous locations; 2,000 cracked buildings at risk of collapse; and 70% of the basic operational equipment of the municipalities destroyed. Displaced Palestinian children carry buckets and collect water from a flooded area outside their tents in a displaced persons camp in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on November 7, 2026. (credit: Mohammed Al Qumsan / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images) Days later, on November 5, before any storms in the region, Euro-Med Monitor published an article titled “Israel uses cold weather as a weapon against Palestinians in Gaza for the fourth year, continues to prohibit the provision of shelters.” Many of the article’s claims can be traced directly back to Hamas’s Nov. 1 press release. For example, the article writes: “Israel continues to deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of safe haven for the fourth consecutive year.” He then lists the same figures that appeared in the Hamas memo: 200,000 tents; a million canvases; 2,000 buildings cracked. Hamas’ claims about winter in Gaza enter international media coverage, says HonestReporting As HonestReporting noted, this was a turning point. Hamas-aligned framing, such as “Israel is engineering a winter catastrophe,” was rephrased in the vocabulary of a human rights NGO, with figures provided by a committee whose ties to the Hamas government are not labeled. The first winter storm arrived on November 6, with images of flooding in Gaza circulating on social media. A day later, on November 7 at 11:15 Israel time, approximately 12 hours after the first rain, the Hamas-run Government Media Office issued a new press release warning that “in 12 hours: 70,000 tents flooded and $3 million in losses.” and reconstruction material. He also called for the intervention of the international community and UN agencies. Within a few hours, Reuters, the BBC and NBC News began publishing the figure of “70,000 tents.” Reuters was the only one of the three to explicitly identify the GMO as being run by Hamas. Claims about flooding in Gaza linked to Hamas are gaining ground on social media. However, on November 8, the figures were no longer attributed to Gaza ministries or Hamas. Drop Site News, for example, attributes the figure of “950,000 people at risk of flooding” to “the UN.” Anti-Israel accounts on social media began to amplify the claims. Drop Site News called it “deliberate and systematic cruelty…part of an effort to expel Palestinians from Gaza…with the full support of the United States.” Pro-Palestinian British doctor Rahmeh Aladwan said: “The Jewish occupation destroyed 82% of Gaza and has blocked caravans and building materials for 3 years.” Greta Thunberg posted on Facebook: “around 70,000 tents flooded…ISRAEL IS FULLY RESPONSIBLE. END THE GENOCIDE.” HonestReporting also noted that the Hamas-run Gaza Government Media Office announced the figure of 70,000 tents just hours after the rain began, and has already estimated the losses at approximately $3 million. HonestReporting questioned how Hamas, in a matter of hours and during a downpour, definitively knew that 70,000 tents had been flooded. In other countries, after a disaster strikes, it can take up to a few days for officials to get a preliminary estimate of the extent of the damage. Israel’s winter preparations in Gaza are largely overlooked in international coverage. The Ministry of Defense agency responsible for humanitarian coordination in Palestinian areas) has been publishing on social media the measures it was taking in anticipation of the upcoming winter in the Gaza Strip. This has included facilitating the entry of tents and shelter equipment, motor oil, generators and lights, medical equipment and supplies, tarps, winter clothing, vacuum trucks, portable toilets, and vehicle replacement parts. filled with winter needs had entered the Gaza Strip since the start of the winterization campaign in September. “COGAT will continue to work in cooperation with the Peace Board, the UN, international organizations and the international community to maintain the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip at its current stable level before winter, while taking necessary measures to prevent Hamas from taking control of humanitarian aid and essential supplies,” COGAT wrote on November 5. As Pozmanter said, there were indeed floods in Gaza, but the narrative and scale of “In their narratives, parroted by affiliated organizations like Euro-med and largely trusted as fact by the press and many Western leaders, Israel was to blame, despite facilitating the distribution of tens of thousands of tents and tons of winter equipment to the population, something no other country has ever done for an enemy population during war,” he told the Post. sewage and drainage systems and used the pipes to build rockets, and spent billions in international aid to build a vast network of tunnels for themselves instead of infrastructure for their people.” “The truth is that Hamas once again sacrificed Gazan civilians and the media, once again, demonstrated that they abdicate scrutiny when unverified accusations are leveled against Israel,” Pozmanter concluded.
