The only way such a story makes sense is if you accept the preposterous claim that Israel is committing genocide. And that’s exactly the goal of the blood libel mongerers. Opinion.
On June 1, 2025, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claimed that Israeli forces fired on civilians near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution site in Rafah, killing 31 and wounding over 100. Within minutes, headlines worldwide declared a massacre. Only one problem: it never happened.
Israel denied the entire allegation. No tanks were deployed in that area, no airstrike took place, and no IDF units fired into the crowd, according to the official statement. It published films of the area taken at the time the shooting allegedly took place and there was no shooting or violence of any kind. The Washington Post retracted its article.
But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that the reports were true. What exactly would Israel’s motive be?
Why would the IDF open fire on hungry Palestinian Arabs coming for food at a humanitarian center it helped establish with U.S. backing?
This is where the narrative collapses. The only way such a story makes sense is if you accept the preposterous claim that Israel is committing genocide.
And sure enough, that’s exactly how this was framed. Al Jazeera’s scrolling headline during coverage of the incident was: “GENOCIDE IN GAZA.” But even if one holds that view (however wrongly), the Rafah story didn’t fit. The location, the alleged victims, the Israeli role in the aid distribution site—it didn’t add up.
So why was this lie manufactured?
According to Abu Ali Express, a respected intelligence-linked Telegram channel, Hamas had a clear motive: to undermine the new food distribution system that operates outside its control. Hamas is losing grip on the population and resents any humanitarian effort it cannot manipulate. Therefore, it shoots at civilians taking food from their warehouses and trucks without permission and it shoots at people on their way to GHF sites.
Supporting this claim, Abu Ali points out that Hamas issued a long, detailed statement about the alleged incident within 30 minutes—suggesting it was prepared ahead of time.
And where was the evidence? No tank footage. No photos of IDF soldiers gunning down civilians. No list of casualties. Just unverified photos of injured people and a few AI-manipulated images passed around social media.
Also curious: three different people in three different news outlets claimed a brother was killed in the incident. Is that significant?
The Western media continue to treat Hamas’s word as equal to Israel’s, despite Hamas’s long history of manipulating journalists, faking footage, and staging tragedies. This isn’t just moral cowardice—it’s complicity in spreading blood libels.
We’ve seen this play before: the Jenin “massacre” that wasn’t. The Gaza beach bombing that wasn’t. The Al-Ahli hospital “airstrike” that wasn’t. Now we have Rafah.
If you’re going to accuse Israel of machine-gunning hungry civilians, you had better bring proof. Not propaganda.
