VATICAN CITY — In a meeting between Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, the Vatican prioritized the return of hostages in a statement on the Gaza conflict, aligning with Israel’s position that their release is key to ending the war.
The Holy See Press Office confirmed Herzog’s audience with the pontiff at the Apostolic Palace, followed by talks with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister. 
In a <a href="https://x.com/breeadail/status/1963593785524224346?s=46">statement</a> issued in Italian and translated by The Daily Wire, the Vatican stressed that “with willingness and courageous decisions, as well as with the support of the international community, the release of all hostages can be achieved, a permanent ceasefire can be reached urgently, [and] the safe entry of humanitarian aid into the most affected areas can be facilitated.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
VATICAN CITY—The following statement was just issued by <a href="https://twitter.com/HolySeePress?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HolySeePress</a>:
“Today, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience at the Vatican Apostolic Palace the President of the State of Israel, His Excellency Mr. Isaac Herzog, who subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal… <a href="https://t.co/V6OtLO1qGo">https://t.co/V6OtLO1qGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/bGEnAWkSDs">pic.twitter.com/bGEnAWkSDs</a>
— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) <a href="https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1963593785524224346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The prioritization of hostages marked a notable emphasis in the Vatican’s message, and one that Pope Leo XIV has also reiterated, reflecting Israel’s insistence that no resolution can move forward until those taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023, are returned.
While the statement, issued by the Holy See press office, also mentions the two-state solution as “the only way out of the ongoing war,” the press office did not attribute that position directly to Pope Leo XIV. 
Cardinal Parolin, who has led the Secretariat of State since 2013, has long been a central figure in Vatican diplomacy, shaping deals that include the Holy See’s controversial recognition of the State of Palestine in 2015.
Parolin’s role in Thursday’s discussions highlights his influence. As Secretary of State, Parolin remains responsible for both Vatican foreign policy and relations with local churches, including Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Thursday’s statement acknowledged the “historical value” of ties with Israel and underscored the role of Christian institutions across the Middle East in promoting education, social cohesion, and stability.
President Isaac Herzog, in a <a href="https://x.com/isaac_herzog/status/1963581241128632825?s=46">statement</a> released in Italian following the meeting, underscored the alignment between himself and the Pope. “I am deeply grateful to Pope Leo XIV for the warm welcome I received today at the Vatican. First and foremost, Israel is doing everything possible to bring home the hostages held in brutal captivity by Hamas. Israel longs for a day when the peoples of the Middle East—the Children of Abraham—will live together in peace, cooperation, and hope.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Sono profondamente grato a <a href="https://twitter.com/Pontifex?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Pontifex</a> Papa Leone XIV per la calorosa accoglienza ricevuta oggi in Vaticano. 
Prima di tutto, Israele si sta impegnando in ogni modo possibile per riportare a casa gli ostaggi tenuti in brutale prigionia da Hamas. Israele anela a un giorno in cui i… <a href="https://t.co/jiRLu75olf">pic.twitter.com/jiRLu75olf</a>
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) <a href="https://twitter.com/Isaac_Herzog/status/1963581241128632825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Herzog added that “all leaders of faith and goodwill must be united in calling for the immediate release of the hostages as a first and essential step toward a better future for the entire region.” He also stressed Israel’s commitment to religious freedom, to the protection of Christian communities in the Holy Land and the broader Middle East, and to working for peace and stability.
“The Pope’s inspiration and leadership in combating hatred and violence and promoting peace throughout the world are appreciated and vital,” Herzog said. “I look forward to deepening our cooperation for a better future of justice and compassion.”

Vatican Pool Images 2025

Vatican Emphasizes Release Of Hostages In Meeting Between Israeli President And Pope Leo XIV

Israeli President Meets Pope Leo XIV

Gaza

Hamas

Isaac Herzog

Israel

Pope Leo

The Vatican

The viral claim that a Gazan boy was “gunned down” by Israel’s military inside a U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site is false. The Daily Wire has exclusively confirmed that “Amir” is alive — and in a safe, undisclosed location after a false tale about his death was spread by an American contractor.
The news that the boy is alive and unharmed debunks the claim made by former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) contractor Tony Aguilar, who has garnered attention from politicians, major media outlets, and prominent podcasts such as the Tucker Carlson Show.
The child, who was erroneously labeled “Amir” by Aguilar but is actually named Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden, can be seen in footage obtained by The Daily Wire smiling and introducing himself to an interviewer.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Remember ex-GHF contractor Tony Aguilar&#8217;s claim that he saw a little Gazan boy named &#8220;Amir&#8221; run into &#8220;a wall of bullets&#8221; and suffer &#8220;a shot to the torso, a shot to the leg, dead?&#8221;
Well it&#8217;s not true. “Amir” is alive and well.
My latest for <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realdailywire</a>: <a href="https://t.co/OMxdNvHIOk">pic.twitter.com/OMxdNvHIOk</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1963572845230878943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
Aguilar set the internet ablaze with his claim that he met the boy while working at a GHF aid site on May 28, only to see him killed shortly after by the Israel Defense Forces. His account and video of the boy he called “Amir” walking up to him went viral, fueling criticism of Israel as well as the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-new-evidence-calls-into-question-viral-story-of-gazan-boy-amir-killed-at-ghf-aid-site?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+New+Evidence+Calls+Into+Question+Viral+Story+Of+Gazan+Boy+%E2%80%98Amir%E2%80%99+Killed+At+GHF+Aid+Site" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously reported</a> that there were major inconsistencies in Aguilar’s story. Not only were the details he shared about their interaction inconsistent with a third party’s footage of it, but the boy’s stepmother said she had seen the boy alive for at least two months after Aguilar claimed he was dead.
In a taped testimonial, Siham Al-Jarabe’a said the boy didn’t go missing until July 28—around the same time Aguilar began telling his story in the media. He insisted that the boy was killed on May 28, and even shared details, saying he witnessed “a shot to the torso” and “a shot to the leg.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-new-evidence-calls-into-question-viral-story-of-gazan-boy-amir-killed-at-ghf-aid-site?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+New+Evidence+Calls+Into+Question+Viral+Story+Of+Gazan+Boy+%E2%80%98Amir%E2%80%99+Killed+At+GHF+Aid+Site" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: New Evidence Calls Into Question Viral Story Of Gazan Boy ‘Amir’ Killed At GHF Aid Site</a>
The Gaza Humanitarian Fund commenced a search for the boy after Aguilar began telling his story in America. GHF’s ex-military contractors — some of whom specialize in hostage rescue — and humanitarian staff took the lead, leaning on connections they had made with local Gazans since beginning operations in May, The Daily Wire has learned.
After interviews with family members and weeks of detective work, the boy, who actually goes by the name Abood, was found living with his birth mother after he abruptly left his stepmother’s home in July. The child’s identity was confirmed through biometrics, and he remained in possession of the shirt he wore in Aguilar&#8217;s viral video.
<div id="attachment_968479" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-968479" class="size-large wp-image-968479" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-08-22-151623-432x576.jpeg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-08-22-151623-432x576.jpeg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-08-22-151623-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-08-22-151623-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-08-22-151623-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-08-22-151623.jpeg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" />Abood&#8217;s shirt seen in Aguilar&#8217;s viral video. (Courtesy)</div>
Abood was escorted in disguise to an undisclosed safe location by the GHF team about two weeks ago for his safety.
“We’re incredibly relieved that Abood is alive and safe,” GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay told The Daily Wire. “That outcome is thanks to the heroic efforts of our team of American veterans, local Gazan staff, and humanitarians who worked quietly for weeks to find him and get him to safety. Their courage and determination saved this boy’s life.”
According to sources familiar with the operation, there was a serious concern that Abood’s life was at risk following Aguilar’s story going viral — his story is being used as a propaganda tool by nefarious actors, including Hamas, in an effort to undermine both Israel and U.S.-backed efforts to deliver food to Gazans.
Fay added that Aguilar’s false story about the boy swept through the media because outlets rushed to publish it without confirming facts.
“They owe Abood — and the public — an apology and a retraction,” said Fay, who is scheduled to hold a news conference later this morning..
Aguilar <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmxBUpyb2oI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first spoke about</a> Amir on July 28 on an American podcast called Unxeptable, which discloses on a <a href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/unxeptable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fundraising page</a> that it exists only to criticize the Israeli government. During the interview, Aguilar recounted how he met “Amir” at GHF’s Safe Distribution Site 2.
Aguilar said he told the boy, “People care. You’re a human being and people care about you,” before he kneeled and placed his hands on the side of Al-Jarabe’a’s face. He added that Amir responded by kissing him and saying thank you in English, before he walked away and was shot dead, Aguilar said.
<div id="attachment_968529" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-968529" class="size-large wp-image-968529" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-09-03-224933-432x576.jpeg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-09-03-224933-432x576.jpeg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-09-03-224933-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-09-03-224933-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-09-03-224933-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/signal-2025-09-03-224933.jpeg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" />Abood recently posing with a soccer ball. (Courtesy)</div>
“He sets his food down, and he places his hands on my face — on the side of my face, on my cheeks — these frail, skeleton, emaciated hands, dirty. And he puts them on my face, and he kissed me. He kissed me, and he said, ‘Thank you,’ in English. Thank you. And he collected his items, and he walked back to the group, and then he was shot at with pepper spray and tear gas and stun grenades and bullets — shot at his feet and in the air — and he runs away, scared.”
Aguilar told the same story on several large platforms, including MSNBC, the Tucker Carlson Show, and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=sByloGU3f60OfLFI&amp;v=cWVC5d4490Y&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in an interview</a> with a sitting Democrat Senator, Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen.
<a href="https://x.com/tcnetwork/status/1951284710149333292?s=46&amp;t=o-U3qwC25WnWaylJ0oeG7Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On Carlson’s show</a>, released July 31, Aguilar went even further with the story, comparing the child to his own son.
“I see my son’s face when I look at him,” Aguilar said. “I didn’t get this second hand. I didn’t see it from afar and then assume. I saw it. I touched it. I felt it.”
He went on to add that “Amir” was killed by the IDF.
That was all before The Daily Wire’s report last month, in which it was revealed that a review of body cam footage from an American security contractor standing next to Aguilar showed a very different interaction than what Aguilar described.
The footage shows the boy walking up to the man wearing the body cam and kissing his hand. He then turns to Aguilar and appears to ask for help convincing the crowd to let them take food. Aguilar responds by touching the boy’s shoulders and chest.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The contractor wearing the body cam told The Daily Wire that Aguilar’s story is “fabricated.”
&#8220;There is no profound English dialog, kneeling at his level, nor does the boy drop his aid to kiss Tony and say ‘thank you’ to him in English.&#8221;
Side-by-side video👇 <a href="https://t.co/YaQpDmw4CN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/YaQpDmw4CN</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1954734297379918285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
“This little young man here, obviously pretty young, he has food,” Aguilar says while recording his video. “Go home, go home, okay? Thank you.”
The little boy then walks away toward the crowd.
In response to questions ahead of The Daily Wire’s August 10 report casting doubt on Aguilar’s story, the former contractor clarified that he saw “Amir” lying motionless on the ground, but could not confirm his death.
“I saw Amir’s body on the ground, having fallen/dropped to the ground amidst the gunfire from the IDF, which was being fired toward the crowd as a crowd control measure to keep them moving in a westerly direction to the Morag Corridor as they left the site,” Aguilar said in an email. “It has always been my position that he, and others, were dead. The body wasn’t moving. Others ran or limped away. I, nor anyone, could verify that he was dead.”
“Considering that he has not been found, and he has not been seen, it is safe to say that my assessment is correct,” Aguilar added.
But following the report, Aguilar<a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/sLqoPRs9_9I" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> continued to</a> tell the story in various interviews, and even added details.
In an August 23 interview streamed on YouTube, Aguilar told the story again, claiming that the boy ran into a “wall of bullets” and that he suffered “a shot to the torso, a shot to the leg, dead.”
On Wednesday, Aguilar interrupted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, shouting that the “United States government is complicit in genocide.”
“Off to jail,” Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) responded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Earlier today, Retired Green Beret Anthony Aguilar — the ex-GHF subcontractor fired for &#8220;creating a hostile work environment&#8221; and who lied about key parts of his story — was escorted from a Senate hearing after interrupting and falsely accusing the U.S. of complicity in genocide <a href="https://t.co/uO6OzmeN1E" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/uO6OzmeN1E</a>
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) <a href="https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1963352549500883270?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
In a video interview with Abood, reviewed by The Daily Wire, he says he has never been hurt inside or outside a GHF site.
The GHF asserts that no incident involving IDF fire on civilians occurred at their distribution site on May 28—the day Aguilar claims. GHF added that even if such an event had happened, Aguilar would not have been able to see it, as its contractors are prohibited from leaving the secure aid sites — which are set back from the IDF positions, lack a direct line of sight, and are separated by physical barriers like berms.
The IDF told The Daily Wire that there were no casualties from IDF fire reported during the operating hours of the humanitarian aid distribution center on that day either.
The stepmother Al-Jarabe’a, who does not own a phone with an internet connection, was initially confused by Aguilar’s story, which she saw two days after she says her step-son went missing on July 28. In an interview filmed on August 5, she said she believed Aguilar mixed up his dates and actually took the footage in July instead of May. Aguilar’s work with GHF ended in June, when he was terminated by the security contractor staffing aid sites “due to poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff, and erratic behavior.”
Reports from both <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/8/4/relative-of-photographed-boy-killed-at-gaza-aid-site-cant-find-his-body#flips-6376529917112:0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al Jazeera</a> and <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-family-boy-amir-killed-ghf-site-still-have-not-received-his-body" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Middle East Eye</a> feature edited videos of Al-Jarabe’a, in which she says she is searching for her son, without indicating that she was calling into question when he went missing.
According to GHF, Aguilar’s contract was terminated on June 13 “due to poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff, and erratic behavior.” In multiple screenshots of text messages shared with the press, Aguilar is seen both lashing out at GHF staff and requesting to be rehired. In a screenshot of GHF’s executive team chat provided to The Daily Wire, a leader reiterates on June 13 that Aguilar was fired after being given opportunities at two different locations but still receiving “negative feedback.”
Aguilar claims he was not fired, but resigned.

Amir

EXCLUSIVE: Viral Story Of Gaza Child ‘Gunned Down’ By Israel Officially Debunked — The Boy Is Alive

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

The Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera coordinates with the terror group Hamas to silence, and often torture, critics and independent media voices in the Gaza Strip.
The Free Press and the Center for Peace Communications <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/watch-gazan-journalists-say-al-jazeera">released</a> the results of an investigation into reporting from Gaza on Tuesday. The investigation includes interviews with journalists in Gaza, as well as expert analysis of reporting out of Gaza by the center’s COO, Michael Nahum.
“You have to be affiliated with Hamas to work at Al-Jazeera. Especially in Gaza, because most jobs go through Hamas. Hamas is the primary authority deciding who gets hired and who doesn&#8217;t. So, the majority of Al-Jazeera staff are an inseparable part of Hamas,” one independent reporter said in an interview. The reporter’s face has been blurred out in a <a href="https://x.com/PeaceComCenter/status/1962925792406450258">video</a> accompanying the report to protect his anonymity.
Independent reporters in Gaza say that Al Jazeera reporters work with Hamas in Gaza to help identify Palestinian critics and journalists who have reported information critical of the terror group. During the two years that Israel has waged war against Hamas in Gaza, Al Jazeera reporters have served as the terror group’s reconnaissance and surveillance because they can move more freely around the strip that Hamas militants.
The report mentions several Al Jazeera reporters who are alleged to work closely, or even for, Hamas while outwardly presenting themselves as journalists for Al Jazeera.
“Mohamed Washah is a journalist with Al-Jazeera and the head of Al Jazeera’s operations in the Gaza Strip. … If you look at his Instagram account, you’d see photos with all the Hamas leaders, just like Anas Al-Sharif,” one anonymous Gazan journalist said, referring to two Al Jazeera reporters.
“Mohamed Washah in Gaza is a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades and works in Hamas’ internal security centers. He conducts investigations, incites, and directs Hamas’ executive security to break people’s limbs, arrest journalists, terrorize them, and slander their reputation,” a Gazan reporter said.
“Mohamed Washah is a journalist with Al-Jazeera and the head of Al Jazeera’s operations in the Gaza Strip. … [But] if you look at his Instagram account, you’d see photos with all the Hamas leaders, just like Anas Al-Sharif.”
“When the [anti-Hamas] protests were going on, Al Jazeera, through it’s journalists under Mohamed Washah’s direction, and with Anas Al-Sharif present, tried to buy the loyalty of people and leading families in the northern Gaza Strip so that these young people or these residents would not protest against Hamas,” a reporter said.
Al Jazeera reporters will lure targets – including those critical of Hamas or reporters that are not directly affiliated with the terror group – to places where Hamas terrorists stay, such as in hospitals. Once the targets are lured into the proper locations, they may be beaten and tortured. One unnamed reporter featured in the video had his legs broken by Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces have identified reporters with Hamas affiliations. Hamas documents uncovered through the course of the war identified six Al Jazeera reporters who worked with the terror group, according to the Israeli military.
“The IDF has disclosed intelligence information and numerous documents found in Gaza confirming the military affiliation of six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations. They are: Anas Jamal Mahmoud Al-Sharif, Alaa Abdul Aziz Muhammad Salama, Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat, Ashraf Sami Ashour Saraj, Ismail Farid Muhammad Abu Omar, and Talal Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Aruki,” the IDF <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/al-jazeera-hamas-connection/">said</a> in a news release.
In another instance showing how closely Al Jazeera journalists work with the terror group, one Al Jazeera writer was <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/06/09/world-news/gaza-journalist-held-3-hostages-in-his-home-with-his-family-israeli-military-says/">found</a> to have held hostages stolen on October 7 in his own home.

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera Works With Hamas To Silence, Torture Independent Reporters In Gaza

On August 22, the United Nations declared that famine was “currently occurring” in Gaza City. Within hours the claim drove headlines, advocacy, and legal filings.
All of it based on flawed science. A forensic review of the data by our team at the Network Contagion Research Institute found that the declaration leaned on flimsy modeling, and buried evidence. That matters because the declaration undercuts a U.S.-backed aid model that is actually delivering.
With confidence in international institutions eroding, the United States launched a new experiment in humanitarian aid. Working through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) with State Department support, this model represents the first serious alternative to the UN&#8217;s decades-old aid machinery. Early evidence suggested it was working: food reached people more reliably, nutrition outcomes improved, and distribution was more predictable.
That all changed when the UN&#8217;s famine authority, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), declared a famine in Gaza City. The announcement instantly shaped headlines, influencers, and legal forums. But behind the language of science was something else entirely: manipulated modeling, buried evidence, and a systematic effort to discredit the new, U.S.-led approach that was actually working.
This was not a mistake. It was a set of choices. And every choice cut in the same direction: toward alarmism, toward distortion, and away from the success of American leadership.
<h2>A Case Study in Statistical Malpractice</h2>
The UN famine authority’s declaration rests most centrally on a claim that child malnutrition in Gaza was “increasing exponentially.”
This was not a side note. It was the foundation of the UN famine authority’s entire argument that famine was not only happening, but already locked into a death spiral. The projections of catastrophe — and the justification for the world&#8217;s response – hinged on that exponential model. But the model was a scatterplot of just six data points, with a trend line fit by an excel spreadsheet regression function. Any introductory statistics class warns against fitting exponentials to tiny samples. The first point sat out of line with the second in a way that can create the illusion of acceleration.
There is more. The UN-backed analysts did not tell readers that a plain linear model explained the same six points just as well. They did not share the fit statistics that would let others judge. They did not present alternative trend-lines. And they did not acknowledge that a larger, updated dataset of more than 15,000 children, available two weeks before publication, broke the exponential story entirely.
READ THE FULL REPORT: <a href="https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/Starving-for-the-Truth_-Fraud-Famine-and-the-Collapse-of-Rigor-in-IPCs-Gaza-Declaration.pdf">Starving for the Truth: Fraud, Famine and the Collapse of Rigor in IPC&#8217;s Gaza Declaration</a>
Not only this, but the fresh data disproved the UN famine authority’s central allegation. Their famine declaration rested on the claim that child malnutrition had surged beyond the 15 percent threshold required to trigger a famine classification. Yet the updated data set the rate at 13.5 percent. By the UN famine authority’s own standard, famine had not been reached. To repeat: the UN’s adopted famine threshold was not met, and their own data source proved it.
Let’s be clear. At each step, the United Nations’ famine authority made a decision:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">They chose to fit an exponential model to six data points, a textbook statistical error.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">They chose to hide the fact that a less incriminating, linear model fit the data just as well.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">They chose to ignore updated data from a far larger sample that contradicted explosive growth of famine.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">They chose to declare famine even though their own updated data showed child malnutrition at 13.5 percent, below the 15 percent threshold required by their own standard.</li>
</ul>
These are not neutral omissions. These are consistent, directional decisions. And that direction points squarely at undermining evidence of improvement, especially improvement linked to U.S.-backed aid.
<h2>Buried Evidence and a Double Standard</h2>
Statistical modeling was not the only method manipulated. In July, the UN’s famine authority commissioned two hunger surveys in Gaza. One found that 73 percent of households suffered “severe” or “very severe” hunger. The other, conducted at the same time, found that number to be just 21 percent. Both were described as representative. Only the more extreme figure appeared in the final report. The other was buried in a back annex.
Even where the numbers were similar between governates, the classifications shifted without explanation. Gaza Governorate and Deir al-Balah returned nearly identical scores. One was labeled famine. The other was two full phases lower.
And then there is Rafah, the epicenter of Gaza Humanitarian Fund distribution. It is also the region with the most stable nutrition outcomes. The UN famine authority excluded it entirely from its analysis, claiming it had been “depopulated.” Yet in prior reports, Rafah was included without issue. Was this about unavailable data or was it about removing inconvenient results?
<h2>Attacking What Works</h2>
According to the UN famine authority’s own report, recipients of GHF aid were better nourished. They averaged 1,700 kilocalories per day, hundreds more than those relying on other sources. Meanwhile, violence around GHF distribution sites fell by more than 25 percent between June and August.
But rather than highlight those results, the UNs’ famine authority dismissed GHF’s efforts outright. They said the aid did not meet their internal definition of “humanitarian assistance.”
Reverend Johnnie Moore, the head of the GHF, said the results of his group&#8217;s effort can&#8217;t be dismissed.
“Where GHF distributions operate, nutrition outcomes improve and violence now decreases,&#8221; Moore says. &#8220;Any responsible body should recognize and reinforce these results, not dismiss them. If the international community truly wants to help, it must build on what works rather than undermine it.”
The UN&#8217;s famine authority did not just dismiss these gains. They erased them. They redrew the map, suppressed the results, and changed the rules, which all happen to preserve a narrative that painted American-led aid as irrelevant or worse.
<h2>A Sabotage of American Legitimacy</h2>
In Gaza, U.S. leadership has taken the form of a new, evidence-based model of humanitarian aid and, in this context, these systemic, unsubstantiated accusations take on the appearance of a coordinated attempt to delegitimize a rival approach.
The UN famine authority based its mortality estimates on Hamas-controlled data. It failed to disclose forecasting errors. It buried evidence of U.S. progress. It downgraded one region and inflated another, despite similar conditions.
Even within the UN famine authority’s  global record, Gaza stands out. In <a href="https://networkcontagion.us/reports/8-25-25-between-data-and-agenda_-questioning-the-ipcs-gaza-famine-projections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NCRI’s independent audit</a> of their forecast accuracy across eight countries, Gaza was the worst overprojection NCRI could detect in the records on their website. 80 percent of subregions were misclassified at a higher level than what actually occurred. That fact was never disclosed publicly. It had to be reconstructed from raw data.
<h2>The Truth Is the First Casualty</h2>
Every decision made by the UN famine authority in this process, every model they selected, every figure they buried, every area they excluded, had the effect of obscuring evidence that U.S.-backed aid programs were showing positive results.
This was not a transparent application of data science. The choices made functioned less as neutral analysis and more as narrative shaping.
The UN famine authority’s report seemingly attempted to obscure evidence that U.S.-backed aid programs were delivering food more effectively, contributing to improved nutrition outcomes, reduced violence, and greater predictability in distribution.
If a small data science organization based in New Jersey can identify systemic irregularities at the core of the UN famine authority’s assessments, there is strong reason to call for a deeper, independent investigation. Congress, the State Department, and external watchdogs should review how the UN and its affiliates produced findings that diverged from their own data and thresholds, and why contradictory evidence was excluded or downplayed.
The implications go beyond Gaza. If a UN agency can misclassify famine through methodological or reporting failures, confidence in global humanitarian assessments is at risk. An investigation is essential to safeguard the integrity of humanitarian science and restore trust in international reporting.
The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) is a nonpartisan research institute leading the field of cybersocial science a discipline that studies how technology, psychology, and society interact in the age of algorithmic influence.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-AID

How the UN’s Famine Authority Engaged in Data Fraud to Undermine U.S. Humanitarian Aid

United Nations

An initial inquiry by the Israeli Defense Forces into Monday’s strike on Gaza’s Nasser Hospital found that six terrorists were among the 20 people the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported as killed.
The strike, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a &#8220;tragic mishap&#8221; due to civilian deaths, consisted of both an initial attack and a second strike — captured in viral footage — that occurred as rescue workers arrived.
According to the IDF, the Golani Brigade troops identified a camera positioned by Hamas in the area of the hospital that was being used to monitor Israeli troop movements in order to “direct terrorist activities against them.”
The IDF added that it had intelligence confirming that Hamas has used Nasser Hospital to carry out terrorist activities since the start of the war.
“In light of this, the troops operated to remove the threat by striking and dismantling the camera and the inquiry showed that the troops operated to remove the threat,” the IDF said.
One of the six terrorists, according to the IDF, was Jum’a Khaled Jum’a al-Najjar, who infiltrated Israel during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians.
The IDF said others killed in the strike included Hamas terrorists Hisham Tayseer Ibrahim Quweder, Imad Abd al-Hakim Ali al-Shaer, Salah Yusuf Muhsin Barbakh, and Omar Kamal Shahada Abu Teim, as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad member Muhammad Ahmad Salem Abu Hadaf.
<div id="attachment_965339" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-965339" class="size-large wp-image-965339" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/8646113c-b285-4c67-adef-93e00ea02a07-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/8646113c-b285-4c67-adef-93e00ea02a07-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/8646113c-b285-4c67-adef-93e00ea02a07-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/8646113c-b285-4c67-adef-93e00ea02a07-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/8646113c-b285-4c67-adef-93e00ea02a07-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/8646113c-b285-4c67-adef-93e00ea02a07.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />The terrorists killed in the Monday strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza, according to the IDF.</div>
Netanyahu apologized for the harm caused to civilians in a post on Monday, calling it a “tragic mishap.”
“Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap that occurred today at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza,” Netanyahu <a href="https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1960030187933835604">wrote</a>. “Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians.”
In the aftermath, world leaders swiftly condemned the attack, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who called for a prompt investigation.
&#8220;The Secretary-General recalls that civilians, including medical personnel and journalists, must be respected and protected at all times. He calls for a prompt, impartial investigation into these killings,&#8221; Guterres’s spokesperson told reporters.
Others killed in the strike included individuals affiliated with media outlets such as Al Jazeera and Reuters: Mariam Abu Dagga, Mohammed Salama, Ahmed Abu Aziz, Moaz Abu Taha.
According to Israeli activist <a href="https://x.com/EFischberger/status/1960071111254979027">Eitan Fischbarger</a>, several of them had troubling histories. Salama, who worked with Al Jazeera, reportedly entered Israel on October 7. Dagga hosted trainings for Hamas’s “information ministry” in 2019. Ahmed Abu Aziz called October 7 “the greatest day of our generation,” and Taha glorified on social media a terrorist who killed Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a father of six.
While the initial inquiry has concluded, the IDF’s Chief of the General Staff instructed that additional gaps be examined, including the authorization process prior to the strike, the type of ammunition approved for use, and the timing of the authorization.
He added that Israel’s war is with “Hamas terrorists” and its goals are “defeating Hamas and bringing our hostages home.”

IDF Concludes Initial Investigation Into Strike On Gaza’s Nasser Hospital

The truck drivers tasked with transporting aid throughout Gaza say they have been villainized while they put their lives at risk, often attacked by mobs and armed looters as they try to carry out the humanitarian missions. 
Near Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing, where thousands of United Nations aid truckloads sit undelivered and rotting in the sun, drivers told The Daily Wire of the dangers they face on the road. One driver explained that the mobs use tools to yank their doors open and assault them. Another driver said it feels like “a thousand” people climb on the windshield, completely blocking his line of sight. 
“We can’t see a thing,” one driver in the group of men who transport aid for various humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, said. Another pointed to a truck hit by gunfire behind him during the interview.
“People make us aid drivers feel like we caused the war that we caused hunger in Gaza, that we’re thieves, that we run people over,” one driver said. “We have videos to prove that people cause the problems.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: The Daily Wire went inside Gaza, where we spoke with humanitarian truck drivers who described being attacked and having their trucks looted.
“They break our doors to hit the driver.&#8221;
WATCH: <a href="https://t.co/8bhFc9yH2o">pic.twitter.com/8bhFc9yH2o</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1960364342412448184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
The drivers’ comments come as <a href="https://info.un2720.org/">new UN data</a> shows that almost all of its humanitarian aid in Gaza is being looted before it reaches its destination. In July, 1,123 trucks collected aid, but 1,055 were intercepted by Gazan civilians or “armed actors,” leaving just 73 trucks—6.5% of the total—successfully delivered. 
“There is no future for Gaza, no future left,” one of the drivers said. “No homes, no water, nowhere to sleep, no food! Half this aid is damaged under the sun. The other half sold by thieves and traders.”
<div id="attachment_964975" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-964975" class="size-large wp-image-964975" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Caged-trucks-1024x576.png" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Caged-trucks-1024x576.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Caged-trucks-300x169.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Caged-trucks-768x432.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Caged-trucks-1536x864.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Caged-trucks.png 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Humanitarian aid trucks in Gaza are reinforced with wire and metal to protect drivers. (Photo: Yisroel Teitelbaum/The Daily Wire)</div>
“They break our doors to hit the driver,” he said. The drivers claimed that they face problems when entering the dense areas with aid and when exiting.
Several trucks nearby were fortified with metal cages over the windows and windshields and barbed wire on top.
The drivers hope that in the future there will be an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and that the war will come to an end. 
“We want to be done with this,” one driver said.
Another—who said he was working in Israel at the time of the October 7 massacre—reflected positively on his time working in Israel.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/death-penalty-on-the-table-for-killer-of-israeli-embassy-staffers?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Death+Penalty+On+The+Table+For+Killer+Of+Israeli+Embassy+Staffers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEATH PENALTY ON THE TABLE FOR KILLER OF ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS</a>
“They, as a people, treat us well, war or not,” he said. “I was treated with kindness. I lived with them and worked there two years before the war… My boss gave me complete trust.”
When asked who they’d like to rule Gaza, they were open to all options.
“Anyone,” one driver said. “Just rid us of this grief so we can commute in peace.”
Last week, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a United Nations-backed organization responsible for monitoring global hunger, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/un-backed-watchdog-set-to-declare-famine-in-gaza-amid-accusations-of-flawed-data?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=UN-Backed+Watchdog+Set+To+Declare+Famine+in+Gaza+Amid+Accusations+of+Flawed+Data">declared a famine</a> in Gaza City. According to critics, including the Israeli government, the classification relied on faulty and Hamas-sourced data.
“An objective assessment of the IPC report exposes a systematic lowering of standards: neutrality of safeguards abandoned, critical stakeholders excluded, data selectively used, projections skewed toward worst cases, famine thresholds bent until they no longer matched the IPC manual itself, and transparency sidelined as key datasets and analytical reasoning remain inaccessible to outside scrutiny,” Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/un-backed-watchdog-set-to-declare-famine-in-gaza-amid-accusations-of-flawed-data?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=UN-Backed+Watchdog+Set+To+Declare+Famine+in+Gaza+Amid+Accusations+of+Flawed+Data">posted on X</a>.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netanyahu-confirms-israels-plans-to-fully-take-control-of-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Netanyahu+Confirms+Israel%E2%80%99s+Plans+To+Fully+Take+Control+Of+Gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NETANYAHU CONFIRMS ISRAEL’S PLANS TO FULLY TAKE CONTROL OF GAZA</a>
The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — which says it has distributed over 138 million meals since launching on May 26 — says it does not face looting by either armed actors or Gazan civilians, thanks to its model of handing out aid from secure sites. GHF is responsible for carrying out President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-orders-humanitarian-aid-delivered-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=15&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Sends+Aid+To+Gaza.+Israel+Will+Not+Distribute+It." target="_blank" rel="noopener">aid initiative</a> in Gaza, which aims to deliver humanitarian aid directly to civilians while preventing Hamas from intercepting supplies.
For months, GHF has offered to assist the UN in delivering aid, but the offer has gone unanswered. Instead, the UN <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/well-break-your-legs-un-accused-of-mafia-type-response-to-u-s-led-gaza-relief-efforts">has vilified</a> the group, claiming it endangers civilians by distributing aid at locations near Israeli Defense Forces operations.
The GHF has pushed back on the accusations, noting that aid supplies are emptied daily by Gazan civilians, many of whom express thanks for the free assistance.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;_gl=1*mvupz4*_gcl_au*MzY2NTk5MDEuMTc1MDA5MTgyOC4yMTA3MzU2NzIuMTc1MzI4MDA2OS4xNzUzMjgwMDY5*_ga*MTg3Njc1NzM0Ny4xNzAyMzk3MzQy*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*czE3NTU1MjIzMTUkbzExMjUkZzEkdDE3NTU1MjU4MDIkajU4JGwwJGgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“The media says our sites are a death trap, but our workers are interacting with these people every day,” Johnnie Moore, the GHF executive chairman, told The Daily Wire. “We see at our distribution sites something people haven’t seen in a long time in the Gaza Strip: we see smiles every single day on the faces of women, on the faces of children.”
Earlier this month, over 220 organizations <a href="https://israelfriends.us/support-ghf/">signed a letter</a> supporting the GHF and urging the UN to collaborate with the organization.

EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE: Gaza Aid Truck Drivers Detail Attacks And Looting

The United Nations-backed organization responsible for monitoring global hunger is set to declare a famine in Gaza City on Friday morning, according to documents obtained by The Daily Wire.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed watchdog made up of Western governments, the United Nations, and nonprofit groups, will classify the humanitarian situation in Gaza as a famine. It will declare that the crisis is projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
This will be only the fifth time the IPC has declared a famine since its founding in 2004, and the first time it has classified two famines simultaneously, following its designation of Sudan in 2024. It is the first famine declared in the Middle East by the IPC.
The announcement comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advances plans for his military to seize Gaza City by October 7, 2025—the anniversary of Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians. Israel’s effort aims to free the hostages, defeat Hamas, and establish a new, demilitarized Arab government that is neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas. Israel is preparing for mass evacuations in Gaza City and some Gazans have already left as the first phases of the offensive begin, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyr7l0z9edo">reported the BBC</a>.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netanyahu-confirms-israels-plans-to-fully-take-control-of-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Netanyahu+Confirms+Israel’s+Plans+To+Fully+Take+Control+Of+Gaza">NETANYAHU CONFIRMS ISRAEL’S PLANS TO FULLY TAKE CONTROL OF GAZA</a>
The IPC’s classification model came under fire last week after a <a href="https://freebeacon.com/israel/un-backed-famine-watchdog-quietly-changed-standards-easing-way-to-declare-famine-in-gaza/">Washington Free Beacon report</a> accused the organization of quietly relying on a less reliable metric to determine the presence of a famine. According to the Beacon, previous IPC reports relied on detailed height and weight measurements, but its July report introduced the “mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC)” metric, which was not typically used by the organization in determining a famine classification. 
Much of the raw data the IPC relies upon are sourced from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health or other terror-linked organizations, one of the least reliable sources of accurate information, the Beacon added.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, took to X Thursday evening ahead of the report to accuse the IPC of promoting Hamas propaganda and publishing misleading reports.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The evidence continues to mount that the campaign to demonize Israel through false accusations of starving Gazans is an orchestrated effort by U.N. agencies promoting Hamas propaganda.
Now, to further advance the malicious accusation the IPC is publishing a report “documenting”… <a href="https://t.co/l3HS2LAsD7">pic.twitter.com/l3HS2LAsD7</a>
— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) <a href="https://twitter.com/yechielleiter/status/1958663173218652560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
“An objective assessment of the IPC report exposes a systematic lowering of standards: neutrality of safeguards abandoned, critical stakeholders excluded, data selectively used, projections skewed toward worst cases, famine thresholds bent until they no longer matched the IPC manual itself, and transparency sidelined as key datasets and analytical reasoning remain inaccessible to outside scrutiny,” Leiter posted.
Leiter referred to an <a href="https://govextra.gov.il/mda/ipc/gaza/">Israeli government report</a> making several accusations against the IPC including that it lacks neutrality, its history of off-target humanitarian predictions, and data concerns. 
According to the Network Contagion Research Institute&#8217;s <a href="https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/Between-Data-and-Agenda_-Questioning-the-IPCs-Gaza-Famine-Projections.pdf">report</a> on the IPC, eighty percent of Gaza&#8217;s subregions &#8220;were exaggerated into higher famine phases than actually existed, making Gaza the single most overprotected region in the IPC&#8217;s recent global record.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/death-penalty-on-the-table-for-killer-of-israeli-embassy-staffers?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Death+Penalty+On+The+Table+For+Killer+Of+Israeli+Embassy+Staffers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEATH PENALTY ON THE TABLE FOR KILLER OF ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS</a>
Most notably, the Israeli report points to the IPC’s July report’s description of a 15 percent MUAC reference point for children as a “famine threshold” — even though in the <a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/manual/IPC_Technical_Manual_3_Final.pdf?utm_source=theracket.news&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=no-the-un-didn-t-lower-its-standards-for-declaring-a-famine-in-gaza">organization’s manual</a>, it uses this point as only a cutoff for its Phase 4 “emergency” classification, not its Phase 5 “famine” classification. 
“By using the ‘famine threshold’ misnomer, IPC blurred a key distinction in its own classification system, lowering the bar for famine designations and making the situation appear worse than the data justified,” the Israeli report stated.
The Israeli report also alleged that much of the data comes from clinic-based screenings, despite IPC guidance prohibiting such sources. Children brought to clinics are more likely to be sick and malnourished than the general population.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-new-evidence-calls-into-question-viral-story-of-gazan-boy-amir-killed-at-ghf-aid-site?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+New+Evidence+Calls+Into+Question+Viral+Story+Of+Gazan+Boy+%E2%80%98Amir%E2%80%99+Killed+At+GHF+Aid+Site" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EXCLUSIVE: NEW EVIDENCE CALLS INTO QUESTION VIRAL STORY OF GAZAN BOY ‘AMIR’ KILLED AT GHF AID SITE</a>
“MUAC was stripped of the contextualisation required by IPC’s own rules, thresholds were misrepresented, and clinic screenings were treated as if they were population surveys,” the report added. “Each of these shortcuts tilted the analysis toward more severe classifications than the evidence could sustain.”
IPC’s May report detected a “risk of a famine” which came at a time when the Israeli-imposed blockade on Gaza was just being lifted, yet its July report showed a “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation.” It went so far as to say that “access to food and other essential items and services have plummeted to unprecedented levels,” despite an increase in aid both through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the United Nations.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;_gl=1*mvupz4*_gcl_au*MzY2NTk5MDEuMTc1MDA5MTgyOC4yMTA3MzU2NzIuMTc1MzI4MDA2OS4xNzUzMjgwMDY5*_ga*MTg3Njc1NzM0Ny4xNzAyMzk3MzQy*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*czE3NTU1MjIzMTUkbzExMjUkZzEkdDE3NTU1MjU4MDIkajU4JGwwJGgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
According to the United Nations’ 2720 <a href="https://info.un2720.org/#graphs">Mechanism for Gaza</a>, in July, 19.8 thousand metric tonnes of humanitarian aid was delivered into Gaza, a 56% increase from June 2025 and a 140% increase from April 2024. In February 2025, 19.5K metric tonnes were delivered into Gaza, which was drastically higher than any of the 10 previous months, apart from January which saw 13.7K metric tonnes delivered. 
The problem however, comes from the aid being looted when being driven to UN aid sites, or the UN failing to deliver it at all, leaving thousands of truckloads of food to spoil in the hot sun. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-new-footage-shows-un-convoy-driving-into-mob-of-gazans-casualties-reported?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=13&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+New+Footage+Shows+UN+Convoy+Driving+Into+Mob+Of+Gazans%2C+Casualties+Reported">previously reported</a> on exclusive footage showing a mob attacking more than a dozen trucks carrying aid, led by vehicles marched with UN insignia.

UN-Backed Watchdog Set To Declare Famine in Gaza Amid Accusations of Flawed Data

An Israeli man who was seized by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and spent approximately 491 days in captivity in Gaza after being abducted, revealed the insanely barbaric games the terrorist group played with their hostages.
Ohad Ben Ami had previously <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-848023?utm_source=chatgpt.com">described</a> being held “30 meters underground, in six meters of concrete and sand without air to breathe. We slept close together on a thin, damp, and wet mattress, with the same blanket that had been used as a sheet for over a year,” adding, “insects in the tunnel would get into our noses, mouths, ears, and everywhere else possible.”
“A high-ranking (Hamas) commander comes in, takes the Kalashnikov from the wall, inserts a magazine, cocks it, and says, ‘Choose three people that I’m going to kill and three people that I’m going to shoot in the knee.’ And he’s standing there with the Kalashnikov, ‘Come on. Come on. Hurry up. Come on,’” Ben Ami recalled.
“We’re six people, and no one wants to die,” he continued. “We start having discussion among ourselves. Nothing. And he’s like, “Come on. Come on. ‘Meanwhile, from the other side, our (Hamas) commander sees we’re not reaching a decision, so he draws lots. Then he says, ‘You, you, and you: sit here. You, you, and you: sit there. These three, I’m going to shoot them in the head, and these three, I’m going to shoot them in the leg.’”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9270">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“Then, at some point, he says, ‘Okay, I’ll give each of you a chance to tell me why I shouldn’t kill you,’” he recalled. “And we’re all shaking; people are also crying. They start crying, bursting into tears, because they’re about to die any moment.”
“Suddenly, he changes it up,” Ben Ami stated. “He says, ‘Wait. He convinced me, so you switch places with him.’ And he swaps you around. Then, after an hour of all this back-and-forth, he suddenly unloads the weapon. ‘Get them out of here.’ Meaning, ‘I spared you.’”
“I used to try to have deep, personal conversations with the commander, and he tells me, ‘Listen. Don’t get confused. I hate you and want to kill you. Right now, the order I’ve been given is to keep you alive, because in exchange for you I get prisoners. And that’s what Islam told me so that’s what I’m doing. But know this: If I get an order to kill you, I’m not killing you with a gun; I’m killing you with a knife.’ And he looks me straight in the eye and says, ‘With a knife I’m killing you,’” Ben Ami said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
HORRIFYING
In a new interview, former hostage — Ohad Ben Ami tells us about the sick “execution games” Hamas terrorists forced six hostages to play in Gaza’s tunnels.
“Choose 3 people I’ll KILL. 
And 3 people that I’ll SHOOT in the knees.”
Unimaginable cruelty.
😞👇🏼 <a href="https://t.co/7Yzg6BfVsA">pic.twitter.com/7Yzg6BfVsA</a>
— Jeremy Kamali (@JeremyKamali) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyKamali/status/1957811170791800928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

5th round of prisoner-hostage swap between Hamas and Israel

Israeli Hostage Reveals Hamas’s Barbaric Execution Game

Israeli hostages

Terrorism

World

President Donald Trump said Monday that the 50 remaining hostages in Gaza would return if Hamas were destroyed.
“We will only see the return of remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump posted to TRUTH Social.
Trump’s post comes the day after hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv to oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand the offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ rejection of multiple ceasefire proposals.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Trump says the hostages will be returned if Hamas is &#8220;confronted and destroyed.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/3x9uqYDECE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/3x9uqYDECE</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1957428831775580590?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">August 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
“Remember, I was the one who negotiated and got hundreds of hostages freed and released into Israel (and America!),” Trump added. “Play to WIN, or don’t play at all!”
At the protest in Tel Aviv, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, family members of hostages spoke from the stage, demanding an end to the war and the return of their loved ones. The day of protest included strikes, business shuttering, solidarity, and road blockages.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-new-evidence-calls-into-question-viral-story-of-gazan-boy-amir-killed-at-ghf-aid-site?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+New+Evidence+Calls+Into+Question+Viral+Story+Of+Gazan+Boy+%E2%80%98Amir%E2%80%99+Killed+At+GHF+Aid+Site" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EXCLUSIVE: NEW EVIDENCE CALLS INTO QUESTION VIRAL STORY OF GAZAN BOY ‘AMIR’ KILLED AT GHF AID SITE</a>
Netanyahu <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netanyahu-confirms-israels-plans-to-fully-take-control-of-gaza?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Netanyahu+Confirms+Israel%E2%80%99s+Plans+To+Fully+Take+Control+Of+Gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed Israel’s plans</a> to fully take over Gaza earlier this month as an effort to expel Hamas from power and eventually allow an Arab civilian government — free from Hamas or the Palestinian Authority — to take control.
“We intend to in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free in Gaza, and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas or anyone advocating for the destruction of Israel,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer.
According to Netanyahu, there is no path forward with Hamas.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/death-penalty-on-the-table-for-killer-of-israeli-embassy-staffers?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Death+Penalty+On+The+Table+For+Killer+Of+Israeli+Embassy+Staffers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEATH PENALTY ON THE TABLE FOR KILLER OF ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS</a>
“You met Palestinians who are fighting Hamas because finally they see that they have a future that can rid themselves of this awful tyranny that not only holds our hostages but holds 2 million Palestinians in Gaza hostage,” Netanyahu told Hemmer, who visited a U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site before the interview.
Netanyahu made it clear that Israel does not wish to occupy Gaza permanently, but would rather turn over control to a capable, Arab-led government.
“We don’t want to keep it, we want to have a security perimeter,” he said. “We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;_gl=1*mvupz4*_gcl_au*MzY2NTk5MDEuMTc1MDA5MTgyOC4yMTA3MzU2NzIuMTc1MzI4MDA2OS4xNzUzMjgwMDY5*_ga*MTg3Njc1NzM0Ny4xNzAyMzk3MzQy*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*czE3NTU1MjIzMTUkbzExMjUkZzEkdDE3NTU1MjU4MDIkajU4JGwwJGgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Netanyahu’s plan includes first occupying Gaza City before October 7—the 3rd anniversary of Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians. Israel currently occupies about 75% of the Gaza Strip.
Some Gazans have already begun evacuating Gaza City, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-864569" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported the Jerusalem Post</a>.

Trump And Hamas

Trump Says Hostages Will Only Return If Hamas ‘Is Confronted And Destroyed’

Benjamin Netanyahu

Donald Trump

An international aid worker who worked in Gaza in July has accused United Nations agencies of inhibiting the delivery of aid to Gaza, as well as blocking the efforts of the Israel Defense Forces and Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to deliver food and aid. He also questioned whether the refusal to coordinate with Israel Defense Forces was at the direction of the UN Secretary General.
The whistleblower’s report to the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) alleged &#8220;gross misconduct and misuse of humanitarian funds by the World Food Programme and other U.N. Agencies,&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/exclusive-whistleblower-alleges-misconduct-united-nations-gaza">Fox News Digital</a> reports. The whistleblower also attested that there was “no evidence of ‘starvation’ or ‘famine’ in Gaza. There are pockets of severe hunger, but they are not systematic or pervasive.&#8221;
The report delineates “a firsthand eyewitnessing of senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials offering any support necessary, including security protection and coordination, to representatives from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) only to have WFP and OCHA respond that they were not prepared to discuss such coordination.”
“The IDF is actively helping the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation get food into the hands of civilians while U.N. agencies, including WFP and OCHA, through their unwillingness to coordinate with the IDF, are inhibiting the distribution of such aid,” the whistleblower reported, adding, “As has been recently shown through openly available imagery, the IDF has provided clearance for thousands of tons of U.N. humanitarian goods that are now sitting inside of Gaza, awaiting distribution. The U.N. must be held accountable to pick up and distribute such aid. I urge you to launch an independent investigation into this matter to determine the extent to which U.N. agencies, by refusing to coordinate with the IDF on essential issues, including security, are abusing U.S. taxpayer funds rather than using them to deliver the aid the American people are donating – and whether such actions are being taken independently by U.N. officials in Gaza or at the direction of the U.N. Secretary General or other senior U.N. officials in New York.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“There is a concerted effort to discredit GHF and any attempts to provide aid out of [the] U.N.,” the whistleblower informed Fox News Digital.
“The fact of the matter remains that GHF is a threat to how Hamas functions and enriches itself because GHF provides meals to those in need with safeguards to minimize Hamas from stealing. This is why Hamas continues to attack GHF aid sites,” a senior U.S. State Department official told Fox News Digital. “Aid diversion to terrorists frequently occurs in conflict zones under Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) control. It is a moral and legal obligation, and our duty to the American taxpayer, to work with our partners to ensure this ends immediately. There is endless video evidence of Hamas looting, not to mention members of the aid-industrial complex who have admitted that looting exists by reporting it as &#8216;self-distribution,&#8217; in a poor attempt at an aid corruption coverup.&#8221;
Former White House and National Security Council official Richard Goldberg commented:
<blockquote>
The U.N. is playing hunger games with the people of Gaza to drive a crisis, try to get the GHF to fail and resuscitate UNRWA as the dominant aid facilitator. We are talking about an enormous amount of taxpayer money being provided to WFP and the U.N. writ large with an expectation that aid be delivered in coordination with Israel. The allegations here suggest a directive from the Secretary General himself across the U.N. system to cause aid disruptions for the benefit of Hamas, which would be the biggest U.N. scandal since oil for food. Secretary Rubio would be more than justified in calling the Secretary General and telling him that the U.N. won’t get another dime from U.S. taxpayers unless he submits to an independent investigation and orders all agencies to cooperate with Israel.
</blockquote>
The UN’s Oil-for-Food program, initiated in 1996, was intended to feed the Iraqi population after the first Gulf War. But the program was used by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to generate billions in illegal revenue.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Whistleblower Accuses UN Of Blocking Aid To Gaza

Crime

Whistleblowers

In a move that made it easier for media around the world to vilify Israel for causing a “famine” in Gaza, a U.N.-affiliated watchdog group secretly changed its metrics to make the requirements for declaring a “famine” much easier.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which was originally developed in 2004 by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Security Analysis Unit and serves as the world’s most widely recognized hunger assessment, normally requires a threshold of 30% of children in an area suffering from acute malnutrition to declare a famine, and uses detailed weight and height measurements to decide whether a child is suffering from acute malnutrition.
But in their July 29 report, the metrics were changed so that 30% became 15% and the measurement for determining malnutrition was mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), a far less reliable guide to malnutrition.
“A chart included in the notice shows less than 8 percent of children in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis suffer from acute malnutrition ‘based on MUAC,’” <a href="https://freebeacon.com/israel/un-backed-famine-watchdog-quietly-changed-standards-easing-way-to-declare-famine-in-gaza/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> reported. &#8220;<a href="https://freebeacon.com/israel/un-backed-famine-watchdog-quietly-changed-standards-easing-way-to-declare-famine-in-gaza/">That figure is 16.5 percent in Gaza City, just above the new 15-percent threshold</a> but well below the 30-percent level the IPC traditionally uses.”
“In all of the famines that have been declared, they&#8217;ve been using the 30-percent global malnutrition measurement, most of which have been based on the weight-for-height metric—which, again, is much harder to collect, much more burdensome, and it&#8217;s 30 percent,” an experienced aid worker told the Free Beacon. “So, this asterisk that&#8217;s been added for Gaza essentially says that they&#8217;re going to allow a 15-percent global malnutrition rate measured by MUAC. &#8230; I think many people would say it&#8217;s like lowering the bar or making it more possible, essentially, to declare whatever it is that they&#8217;re going to declare.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“If you keep pulling the thread here, you start to understand this is one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on the world,” former National Security Council staffer Richard Goldberg, who checked humanitarian aid on Capitol Hill for a decade, said. “There is no famine in Gaza—the data thresholds don’t support that claim—and yet we have the United Nations changing the rules to fit the desired political outcome.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee <a href="https://x.com/GovMikeHuckabee/status/1955471389001126080">stated</a>, “This is a highly technical report but reveals how UN-Backed Famine Watchdog Quietly Changed Standards, Easing Way To Declare Famine in Gaza to aid Hamas and blame @Israel and @IsraeliPM.”

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid continue to enter the Rafah border crossing

UN-Affiliated Hunger Group Quietly Changed Standards So Israel Could Be Accused Of Gaza Famine

famine

Food

Global Politics

The Israel Defense Forces eliminated five armed terrorists who posed as workers for the World Central Kitchen organization that is helping feed people in Gaza. The World Central Kitchen itself corroborated the IDF claim.
The IDF released the following statement, headed, “Armed Terrorists Operated Under the Cover of a Fake Emblem of an International Organization Placed on a Vehicle in the Gaza Strip &#8211; And Were Eliminated From the Air.”
<blockquote>
The IDF announces that in a targeted airstrike last week, five armed terrorists were eliminated while near a vehicle marked with the emblem of the international humanitarian aid organization “World Central Kitchen” (WCK), despite having no affiliation with the organization, and while posing a threat to our troops.
The terrorists deliberately affixed the emblem and wore yellow vests in an attempt to conceal their activity and avoid being targeted, cynically exploiting the status and trust afforded to aid organizations.
Representatives from COGAT’s Gaza District Coordination and Liaison Office verified the information with the WCK organization, which confirmed that the vehicle seen in the Gaza Strip bearing the organization’s emblem had no connection to its operations.
In recent days, the vehicle was identified in the Deir al-Balah area, with several armed terrorists nearby that posed a threat to the troops located in the area. In response, an Israeli Air Force aircraft eliminated the terrorists.
Hamas and other terrorist organizations exploit the humanitarian effort to advance terrorist objectives at the expense of the welfare of the population in Gaza. The IDF, through COGAT, will continue to work in cooperation with international aid organizations to prevent their exploitation for terrorist purposes.
</blockquote>
Israel then released <a href="https://videoidf.azureedge.net/f04e0b34-75e2-47b0-b1e7-763ff0088771">footage</a> of the armed terrorists who used a vehicle marked with the WCK emblem.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
❗️WATCH: 5 armed terrorists operating within a vehicle marked with a fake “World Central Kitchen” emblem, despite having no affiliation with the organization. They wore yellow vests and cynically exploited the trust given to aid groups to conceal their activity.<a href="https://twitter.com/cogatonline?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cogatonline</a>… <a href="https://t.co/fiKHqKSXFK">pic.twitter.com/fiKHqKSXFK</a>
&mdash; LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) <a href="https://twitter.com/LTC_Shoshani/status/1955302018295210126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial">End of Summer Sale &#8211; Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
The World Central Kitchen released this statement on X:
<blockquote>
WCK was contacted by Israel&#8217;s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), and confirmed the vehicle and persons of interest were not affiliated with WCK. We strongly condemn anyone posing as WCK or other humanitarians as this endangers civilians and aid workers. The safety and security of our teams are our top priority.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WCK was contacted by Israel&#39;s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), and confirmed the vehicle and persons of interest were not affiliated with WCK. We strongly condemn anyone posing as WCK or other humanitarians as this endangers civilians and aid… <a href="https://t.co/unCohUdyu8">https://t.co/unCohUdyu8</a>
&mdash; World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) <a href="https://twitter.com/WCKitchen/status/1955316399846437138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
After five terrorists were caught in Gaza wearing NGO World Central Kitchen gear, and after they had already tried posing as journalists and UNRWA workers &#8211; we can’t help but wonder:
What will they dress up as next? Our guess: a Disney princess. <a href="https://t.co/CiboLUpYcw">pic.twitter.com/CiboLUpYcw</a>
&mdash; Israel ישראל (@Israel) <a href="https://twitter.com/Israel/status/1955547448665051208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Menu