{"id":39567,"date":"2025-05-26T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=39567"},"modified":"2025-05-26T16:11:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T16:11:50","slug":"israelis-have-a-skewed-view-on-extent-of-gazas-hunger-plight-%e2%88%92-driven-by-censorship-and-media-that-downplay-humanitarian-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/israelis-have-a-skewed-view-on-extent-of-gazas-hunger-plight-%e2%88%92-driven-by-censorship-and-media-that-downplay-humanitarian-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Israelis have a skewed view on extent of Gaza\u2019s hunger plight \u2212 driven by censorship and media that downplay humanitarian crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jori Breslawski<\/a>, Tel Aviv University<\/a><\/em> and Carlo Koos<\/a>, University of Bergen<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under mounting international pressure, Israel announced on May 19, 2025, that it would lift<\/a> its monthslong humanitarian blockade on Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aid, which the Israeli government said would include a \u201cbasic amount\u201d of food to stave off starvation, comes as more than 90%<\/a> of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are experiencing acute food insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the staggering number of people at risk of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, however, two-thirds of Israelis are opposed<\/a> to allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza. That\u2019s true even when that aid is delivered by international organizations not linked to either Hamas or UNRWA, the U.N.\u2019s aid agency for Palestinian refugees that the Israeli government has banned<\/a> and refuses to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What drives Israeli opposition to aid?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As researchers with a keen interest in conflict resolution<\/a> and humanitarian aid<\/a>, we wondered whether a key factor driving Israeli attitudes may be misperceptions about the scale of humanitarian need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out to what extent misperceptions shape opposition to humanitarian aid, we surveyed<\/a> close to 3,000 Jewish Israelis between Jan. 21 and March 19, 2025, across all age groups, regions, income levels and sex in an online survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We found that many respondents believed that fewer than 10% of Gazans were going hungry \u2212 revealing a stark disconnect between public perception and the situation reported<\/a> by international humanitarian organizations. Indeed, when asked to explain their opposition to humanitarian aid, one of those we surveyed responded, \u201cThey don\u2019t have a shortage of food, it\u2019s just presented that way.\u201d Another replied, \u201cThe vast majority of Gaza residents have enough food, there are restaurants and shopping malls operating in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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