Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas attends a virtual meeting, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sept. 3, 2020. Photo: Alaa Badarneh / Pool / File photo via Reuters.

A Palestinian Authority (PA) libel against Israel is making the rounds again.

The PA is accusing Israel of genetically engineering rats and mice that can identify “children the elderly and diabetics,” which Israel then released into the Gaza Strip to attack the population.

Fatah official in Khan Yunis Shadi Khdeir: “There is also information that the Zionist enemy released genetically engineered mice in the northern Gaza Strip area, which we are seeing for the first time in the Strip.

These mice reproduce at an enormous and wild rate, attacking children and pouncing on them while they sleep in tents.” [emphasis added]

[Fatah-run Radio Mawtini, Facebook page, May 31, 2026]

There indeed is a rat plague in Gaza, which likely is caused by the overabundance of “humanitarian” food entering Gaza. IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) estimates the Gaza population needs 62 tons of food a month.

However, the so-called humanitarian food organizations and the UN, who possibly care more about their virtue-signaling than the needs of the people, have flooded Gaza with 300% to 400% more food than Gazans can eat. A total of 370 tons entered in just the first month and a half after the ceasefire.

The hundreds of tons of food sitting in warehouses have become humanitarian aid for hungry rats and not for satisfied Gazans.

However, as is Palestinian Authority policy, whenever a problem exists, it blames Israel.

The libel that Israel has developed rats of an unnatural size and temperament, rodents that particularly attack “the weak and diabetics,” and mice that “pounce on children while they sleep” is so absurd that the PA feels the need to keep repeating it so it will be believed.

Palestinian Media Watch can document how the PA actively developed this libel. The PA launched it in April:

Palestine Broadcasting Corporation Director in the Gaza Strip Rafat Al-Qudra: “These rodents are genetically engineered. Clearly, they were deliberately introduced into the Gaza Strip, so that they would attack the tents of the uprooted people and attack the weak.

These rodents – if I tell you they are the size of a cat … These rodents are large and attack the weak, meaning they attack children and the elderly, particularly diabetics … A woman who did not feel that a large rat -… [it] ate the toes of her foot, and she did not feel it, but only felt some wetness and was shocked to discover she had lost part of her leg … I am almost sure that this is part of the occupation’s [Israel’s] war against the Gaza Strip.” [emphasis added]

[Fatah-run Radio Mawtini, Facebook page, April 28, 2026]

The PA’s Palestine Broadcasting Corporation’s Director in the Gaza Strip Rafat Al-Qudra delivered the ultimate “proof” that Israel is behind it, saying that only Israel would desire something like this:

Fatah-run Awdah TV host: “We welcome our guest [Palestine] Broadcasting Corporation Director in [the Gaza Strip] Rafat Al-Qudra … What about the diseases spreading among the civilians between the tents … by the spread of rodents and mice between and inside the tents?”

Palestine Broadcasting Corporation Director in the Gaza Strip Rafat Al-Qudra: “A video was published by one of the civilians showing a new type of these mice … The Israeli occupation responded to this, or the Israeli media … that these rodents or large mice, also known as jerboa are genetically developed and introduced into the Gaza Strip … Where did these come from? … No one is interested in the spread of these diseases and these rodents and insects, other than the Israeli occupation to add a new war on the civilians…

[They] commit new crimes by introducing diseases and epidemics and spreading them among the civilians, through these insects and rodents.” [emphasis added]

[Fatah-run Awdah TV, Facebook page, May 21, 2026]

If the PA leaders were honest and cared about their people, they would demand the “humanitarian” organizations stop food deliveries until the warehouses were empty. But that will likely never happen, as the PA is having too much political pleasure screaming to the world about Israel’s genetically engineered super rats to care about its own people’s suffering.

The author is the Founder and Executive Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.