English and Hebrew editions of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

On June 27, Haaretz published an exposé claiming that “IDF officers and soldiers told [the media outlet] they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present.”

These are serious allegations indeed, and it didn’t take long before the story migrated into Western media, including Reuters, CNN, and NPR, among others.

Let’s examine the serious flaws in the reporting, as well as the agendas behind the story.

Massacre Libels

The past few weeks have seen plenty of Palestinian claims that the IDF is “massacring” unarmed Gazans while they wait for food being distributed by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

These claims have been found to be, at best, questionable, and at worst, outright lies.

HonestReporting board member Salo Aizenberg has addressed the various charges on X:

🧵Gaza “aid massacres” are fake, a Hamas ploy to harm the GHF, amplified by willing media 1/
➡️Hamas killed Gazans in many confirmed cases
➡️Key source: Hamas operative Mahmoud Basel
➡️Reports trace back to 1 Gaza reporter
➡️Claims cite anonymous “medics”
➡️Gazan witnesses lied pic.twitter.com/Ij0wCnZIbc

— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) June 23, 2025

Military expert Andrew Fox has written a comprehensive takedown of the most recent Haaretz story and makes the following point:

“The army has deliberately fired at Palestinians.”

A grim and damning line, if true. However, the story soon begins to collapse under the weight of its contradictions. A quoted soldier allegedly describes the IDF creating a “killing field,” complete with heavy machine guns, mortars, and grenade launchers. Yet this supposed “killing field” results in — wait for it — just one to five casualties per day. That’s not a massacre; well, not of Gazans. Perhaps of journalistic standards by Haaretz.

Fox rightly points out that if IDF soldiers were really that bloodthirsty and were employing heavy armaments to target Palestinians, the death toll would be significantly higher. Ultimately, the charges are meant to demonize the IDF by attributing evil intent to its soldiers.

It is also important to note that in many of these stories, the source of the casualty figures is Mahmoud Basel, the head of Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense organization, who has also been identified as a Hamas operative by the IDF.

Throughout this war, footage from Gaza has found its way onto social media courtesy of Palestinians armed with cellphones. While the GoPro footage of Hamas’ October 7 rampage was an all-too-accurate window on reality, much of the subsequent imagery coming out of Gaza has been highly questionable and has been used to create false narratives and blood libels.

The lack of footage of the so-called “massacres” taking place near aid distribution centers is therefore puzzling. If such bloodshed was taking place, how is it that it has not been documented, particularly given the narrative advantage this would give the Palestinian side were it to be true?

Deliberate Mistranslation

More lies from Haaretz: @YairElsner caught that the English version claims IDF soldiers were told to fire *at* Palestinians at Gaza aid sites.

Conversely, the original Hebrew version says they were told to fire *toward* masses congregating near the sites to “keep them away.” pic.twitter.com/ZhElul1Ym4

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 27, 2025

There’s a significant difference between the English version’s firing “at” Palestinians, which implies deliberately targeting them — as opposed to the original Hebrew firing “toward” crowds in an attempt to keep them from approaching.

It may be subtle, but this linguistic sleight of hand changes the entire framing of the story. One is effectively shooting to kill or injure, while the other amounts to warning shots.

Who is Deliberately Shooting at Palestinians?

Aizenberg highlights that Hamas is responsible for shooting at Palestinians. And when we say “at,” not “toward,” we mean it.

Critical confirmation that Hamas has killed many Gazans to pin blame on Israel and disrupt GHF: PA’s official newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported on June 19 that Hamas Al-Sahm “death squads” shoot civilians, citing locals, to maintain control of aid. 2/ https://t.co/dFtAjrqUjN

— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) June 23, 2025

Haaretz, however, does not consider the possibility of Hamas firing at its own people, nor that terrorists could be present within the mass of Gazans.

Fox addresses this:

The author admits they don’t know who is shooting at civilians near these aid distribution centres. Still, rather than consider the possibility that, for example, Hamas might be involved, the article shifts with the loaded line:

“The IDF does not permit armed individuals in these humanitarian zones without its knowledge.”

Get it? If someone’s firing, and the IDF doesn’t permit any shooters other than themselves in the area, well… wink, wink. Conspiracy complete.

There’s no mention of the possibility that gunmen (Hamas, criminal gangs, or rogue actors) could infiltrate these chaotic areas without IDF permission, nor is there any curiosity about how IDF soldiers are getting wounded near those same food sites. Not exactly an idle question, especially in light of some of the video footage released in recent weeks showing Hamas opening fire on their own people.

In a glaring discrepancy, Haaretz’s subheader also refers to IDF soldiers being “ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present,” giving the impression that there are no terrorists or potential assailants in the vicinity. Later, however, we learn that “there were also fatalities and injuries among IDF soldiers in these incidents.”

So, if IDF soldiers were being killed and injured, who does Haaretz think is shooting at them?

And if terrorists are firing at the IDF, is it not possible that innocent Palestinians are being caught in the crossfire as well as being deliberately targeted by Hamas for daring to take food aid from an Israeli-backed organization?

And are all those Palestinians in the crowd unarmed? Only in the past few weeks, the IDF killed two Hamas terrorists disguised as women. No wonder IDF soldiers are nervous about their own security under these trying circumstances.

Double Standards

It would be naive to suggest that every soldier in the IDF or any other comparable army behaves in an exemplary fashion. Only last September, The New Yorker published a database of what it said is the “largest known collection of investigations of possible war crimes committed [by the US military] in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11—nearly eight hundred incidents in all.”

Some of the alleged crimes are shocking. All of this is not to claim that the IDF is necessarily more moral than the American military, although there is certainly a good case to be made. The point is that nobody would condemn the entirety of the US Army as an immoral entity that brings shame to its country because of the behavior of a minority of its troops.

And, like the US Army, it’s a sign of a military that respects the laws of war and humanitarian law that the IDF has already launched investigations into the allegations made in the Haaretz story.

As Fox says:

Could some soldiers accidentally miss and hit someone? Yes. That is tragic and warrants investigation. However, the article itself acknowledges that the IDF is already examining those incidents. To jump from that to “deliberate killing fields” is not responsible reporting. It is narrative laundering.

The IDF is not perfect. It is also not meant to be a police force or responsible for crowd control. When Fox refers to “chaotic areas” around the food distribution sites, he is highlighting the need for IDF soldiers to maintain some semblance of order on the ground, both for their own safety and for that of the Palestinians seeking food for themselves and their families.

Israeli soldiers are effectively being asked to carry out crowd control duties in the middle of a war zone — something that they have not been trained to do. There may be plenty of criticism of this to go around, but it further adds to the likelihood that any deaths of Palestinians are a result of mistakes and not deliberate targeting.

But Haaretz is Israeli. Why Wouldn’t It be Accurate?

This is not the first time that an irresponsible and agenda-driven Haaretz story has created international headlines and resulted in opprobrium against Israel.

In 2014, we highlighted the agenda of Haaretz owner Amos Schocken, who openly admitted that his newspaper is anything but objective. Unable to exercise any meaningful influence on domestic politics, Haaretz uses its English-language website and print newspaper to encourage external pressure on Israel.

🧵Haaretz has a long record of fabricating or distorting news to push an anti-Zionist agenda. Its publisher, Amos Schocken, admitted the paper sees itself not as a journalistic outlet but as a tool to “shape Israel”—especially for foreign audiences. 1/ https://t.co/kwc4yFC0jl

— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) June 28, 2025

While Haaretz is a product of Israel’s vibrant democracy and press freedom, it also plays a major role in the demonization of Israel.

Its “killing field” story, sadly, confirms this.

The author is the Managing Editor of HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.