FIRST ON FOX: A new study disputes claims that Israel committed genocide in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, arguing that allegations of starvation, indiscriminate bombing and deliberate civilian killings lack verifiable evidence.
The report by researchers from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, "Debunking the Genocide Allegations: A Reexamination of the Israel-Hamas War" (2023-2025), contends that the genocide narrative has been driven by faulty data, uncritical sourcing and a humanitarian system vulnerable to manipulation.
A key element of the genocide accusations is the claim that Israel deliberately starved Gaza’s population. The study argues that "claims of starvation prior to March 2, 2025, were based on erroneous data, circular citations, and a failure to critically review sources." While U.N. officials and rights groups maintained that 500 trucks a day were needed to prevent famine, prewar U.N. figures show Gaza averaged 292 daily in 2022—only 73 of them carrying food.
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"That was completely adequate to meet demand," report co-author Danny Orbach told Fox News Digital.
The study says Israel regularly surpassed the food supply needed during the war, averaging more than 100 trucks a day through March 2025. During a ceasefire-for-hostage deal, that number climbed to about 600 daily.
"The idea that Hamas didn’t seize aid is absurd," Orbach said. "In every conflict, armed groups take the bulk of humanitarian supplies. We have documents and testimonies proving Hamas did so."
The report argues that genocide allegations spread through what Orbach called an "inverted funnel of information." Journalists and aid workers in Gaza often depended on Hamas-linked translators and fixers, whose accounts filtered into U.N. reports, mainstream media and online platforms.
"The average Westerner sees dozens of reports about Israeli crimes and assumes they must be true. But they all trace back to a handful of Hamas-affiliated sources," Orbach said.
The second factor is "humanitarian bias"—the tendency to exaggerate conditions to prompt action. "Organizations warn of famine before it happens, relying on dubious facts to change reality. Questioning becomes an immoral act," Orbach said.
The genocide allegation also rests on claims that Israel intentionally targeted civilians, but the study acknowledges civilian deaths while finding no evidence of a systematic policy of massacre.
Orbach cited BBC data showing that between May 2024 and January 2025, 550 people were killed in designated safe zones—just 2.1% to 3.5% of total casualties, even though half of Gaza’s population was concentrated there for much of the period.
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"That indicates the zones were relatively safe, despite Hamas using them to launch rockets," Orbach stated.
The report notes that context is crucial, stating that Hamas deliberately positioned itself in civilian areas, used human shields, and blocked evacuations to increase civilian casualties and international condemnation of Israel.
"Hamas exposes its own people to danger intentionally so Israel will be blamed," Orbach said.
While critics have accused the Israeli Air Force of indiscriminate bombing, the study finds that strikes generally targeted military objectives, though civilian casualties were inevitable.
"The IDF is the first army in history to issue focused warnings, deliver large-scale aid into enemy territory, and sacrifice surprise to protect civilians," he said. "You cannot fight an enemy embedded in 500 kilometers of tunnels, dressed as civilians without massive destruction."
The study pays particular attention to casualty figures published by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, claiming they were manipulated to create misleading impressions of the demographics of the dead. It presents alternative statistical models suggesting combatant fatalities may have been underreported, distorting the civilian-to-combatant ratio.
The report says that genocide requires systematic intent to destroy a people—something it finds absent in Gaza. "You don’t see the hallmarks of genocidal warfare here," Orbach said. "There are no campaigns of rape, frontal massacres or close-range executions. In other conflicts in the Middle East, dozens of such atrocities occurred in just a few hours of fighting."
Orbach and his fellow authors conclude that allegations of genocide against Israel rely on politicized narratives, selective data and the exploitation of humanitarian discourse.
"Analyzing devastation or civilian deaths without understanding Hamas’ tactics is absurd," he stated.
