‘The narrative was written before it rained’: How Hamas shaped coverage of Gaza floods - exclusive

NOVEMBER 11, 2026 22:53Updated: NOVEMBER 11, 2026 22:54"There was flooding in Gaza, but the narrative and scale of suffering was written by Hamas before it even started raining," Justin Pozmanter, News Director at HonestReprorting told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.Pozmanter shared an exclusive report with the Post detailing how the Hamas-government winter campaign and a Hamas-run media office figure traveled from Telegram to the international press between November 1 to 10, 2026.The story begins on November 1, when the Gaza Winter Emergency Committee, a Hamas-government body, issued its first press statement, posted on the GMO’s own Telegram channel.The committee announced the "2026-2027 Winter Preparedness and Response Plan" and the national campaign "Together Towards a Safe Winter." The release predicted a harsh, early winter and blamed Israeli restrictions on heavy machinery, spare parts, fuel, and shelter supplies.It also provided a list of figures: 200,000 worn-out tents and one million tarps needed; 7,800 tents in dangerous locations; 2,000 cracked buildings at risk of collapse; and 70% of municipalities’ basic operating equipment destroyed.Displaced Palestinian children carry buckets and scoop water from a flooded area outside their tents at a displacement 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 storm in the region, Euro-Med Monitor published an article named "Israel weaponises cold weather against Palestinians in Gaza for fourth year, continues to ban shelter supplies."Many of the article's claims can be traced directly back to the November 1 Hamas press release. For example, the article writes, "Israel continues to deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of safe shelter for the fourth consecutive year." It then lists the same figures that appeared in the Hamas memo: 200,000 tents; one million tarps; 2,000 cracked buildings.Hamas's Gaza winter claims enter international media coverage, HonestReporting saysAs HonestReporting noted, this was a pivot point.The Hamas-aligned framing, such as "Israel is engineering a winter catastrophe," was restated in the vocabulary of a human rights NGO, with figures sourced to a committee whose Hamas governance ties go unlabeled.The first winter storm arrived on November 6, with footage of floods in Gaza circulating on social media.A day later, on November 7 at 11:15 Israel time, roughly 12 hours after the first rain, the Hamas-run Government Media Office published a new press statement warning that "Within 12 hours: 70,000 tents flooded and $3 million in losses."It claimed dozens of walls collapsed causing injuries, and warned that cracked buildings damaged in the "genocide war" may collapse, holds Israel "fully responsible" for keeping crossings closed to shelter and reconstruction material. It also called on the international community and UN bodies to intervene.Within hours, Reuters, the BBC, and NBC News began posting the "70,000 tents" figure. Reuters was the only one of the three that explicitly identified the GMO as Hamas-run.However, by November 8, the figures stopped being attributed to Gazan ministries or Hamas. Drop Site News, for example, credits the "950,000 at risk of flooding" figure to "the UN."Hamas-linked Gaza flooding claims gain traction on social mediaAnti-Israel social media accounts then began amplifying the claims.Drop Site News called it "deliberate and systematic cruelty... part of an effort to drive Palestinians out of Gaza... with full US support."Pro-Palestinian British doctor Rahmeh Aladwan said: "The Jewish occupation destroyed 82% of Gaza and has blocked caravans and building material 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 70,000 tents figure just hours after the rain began, and already estimated losses to be roughly three million dollars.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 even attain a preliminary estimate of the scope of the damage.Israel's Gaza winter preparations largely overlooked in international coverageFew news sites mentioned the extensive preparations Israel made to prepare the Strip for bad weather.Since September 4, 2026, roughly two months before the recent storm, COGAT (the Israeli Ministry of Defense body responsible for humanitarian coordination in Palestinian areas) has been posting on social media the steps it was taking in anticipation of the upcoming winter in the Gaza Strip.This has included facilitating the entry of tents and shelter equipment, engine oil, generators and lights, medical equipment and supplies, tarpaulins, winter clothing, vacuum trucks, portable toilets, and spare vehicle parts.By the time the storm arrived this past weekend, COGAT said that over 91,000 tents and 8,200 trucks full of winter necessities had entered the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the winterization campaign in September."COGAT will continue working in cooperation with the Board of Peace, the UN, international organizations, and the international community to maintain the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip at its current stable level ahead of the winter, while taking the necessary measures to prevent Hamas from seizing control of the humanitarian aid and essential supplies," COGAT wrote on November 5.As Pozmanter said, there was indeed flooding in Gaza, but the narrative and scale of suffering were written by Hamas before it even started raining."In their telling, parroted by affiliated organizations like Euromed and largely trusted as fact by the press and many Western leaders, Israel was to blame, despite facilitating distribution of tens of thousands of tents and tons of winter gear to the population, something no other country has ever done for an enemy population during war," he told the Post.He also noted that, largely absent from the coverage, were any mentions that Hamas has "dismantled Israeli and donor-provided sewage and drainage systems and used the pipes to build rockets, and spent billions in international aid to build a vast tunnel network for themselves rather than infrastructure for their people.""The truth is, Hamas once again sacrificed Gazan civilians and the media, once again, demonstrated that it waives scrutiny when unverified accusations are leveled at Israel," Pozmanter concluded.Follow us on Google