42 Comments
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Aviva's avatar

Mountains that nearby? How old are these photos, and what are they really of?

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Sheri Oz's avatar

I assume you are referring to the second video -- the one taken by GHF. I understand how you could think the hilly bit is a mountain. I checked it out and found other images of the GHF site in Rafah from different angles and they all had that hilly bit on one side at least. Perhaps it is a hill constructed by the IDF for security reasons.

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Yom Tov's avatar

They are sand banks that Israel erected around the aid distribution site

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Aviva's avatar

Too far in the distance.

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Sheri Oz's avatar

I don't see mountains

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Ezekiel Detroit's avatar

Thank you Sheri. It has the too-familiar smell of Hamas propaganda. It makes absolutely no sense that IDF would massacre hungry civilians. IDF has spent the war risking their own lives by telegraphing their strategy so those same people could escape from attacks on terrorist locations. It makes very good sense that Hamas might kill their own citizens and blame Israel. They have done that. It keeps their population under control. It feeds the antisemite press some vile pablum that they thrive on. Will that yellow press also tell us that tanks and navy vessels opened fire as well. Never mind the absurdity of Israel blasting their own humanitarian project. Such weapons would have been devastating and left marks easy to identify. The disturbing thing other than useless loss of life (if it occurred at all) is the drooling and unquestioning publication of more blood libel.

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Hillel Goldberg's avatar

Same old Anti Israel media , quoting news from Hamas without knowing the facts . BBC , the Guardian, CBC, CNN , Hamas trying to kill civilian leaders who don’t follow their orders .

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Up From The Slime's avatar

Hamas shoots Gazan civilians trying to get aid from an Israeli-backed aid point and claims the IDF did the shooting. From their perspective, it's a win-win-win:

1) It generates another anti-Israel propaganda narrative.

2) It disposes of a score of people willing to defy Hamas's orders to stay away from the aid point.

3) It dissuades other Gazans from trying to reach the aid point.

Hamas, however, has a problem: it has conditioned Gazans to believe they are in imminent danger of starvation. That makes win #3 much, much weaker because Gazans now think their choice is death by Hamas enforcement or death by starvation. That's the kind of desperation that can break a dictatorship's grip on its population.

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Sheri Oz's avatar

And it is breaking

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E. E. Negron (Emerald)'s avatar

I hope so. This claim is so absolutely absurd and that so called journalists aren’t digging deeper or even acknowledging that it is absurd is beyond me.

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Rebekah Lee's avatar

Thanks for your sober and reasoned analysis.

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Cynthia Lazar's avatar

Excellent article. Andrew Fox had a similar analysis and discussed the very different wounds that result from sniper fire, vs gun fire vs a tank attack or air strike. None of the doctors' reports hold together.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mrandrewfox/p/war-by-other-means?r=3lxt44&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

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Sheri Oz's avatar

It's great when experts in different spheres come to the same conclusion.

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Yom Tov's avatar

It has become a non story because it can no longer be blamed on Israel. Palestinians were killed but by Hamas, so no one cares

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Lioudmila Levina's avatar

First video: IMHO it looks like looting the UN truck with flower in khan yunis. There has been this accident when around 100 trucks have been looted by gazans. For me it does not look like aid distributed by GHF.

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Sheri Oz's avatar

I did write that it was in Khan Younis and not Rafah. The IDF showed this to show how Hamas kills Gazans trying to get aid no matter how, and not Israel.

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Lioudmila Levina's avatar

So the looting was in khan yunis. I think it is a looting because all gazans carried white sacks and GHFs’ aid was in boxes.

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Sheri Oz's avatar

It was nowhere near any ghf site

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Lioudmila Levina's avatar

I am just lazy to see a map.

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Peter R Kohli's avatar

Always remember Al Jezeera belongs to the Qatari government, you know the ones who are now the man child Trump’s bestest friends.

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Gene Kanofsky's avatar

Sheri Oz, when I first heard about this "MASSACRE," I could not believe it was true. I conducted some research to verify my findings. There is no definitive evidence that says it did happen. The "reliable source" for this incident is very suspect. The Gaza health ministry is not even in Gaza, and it is the same people who give out the casualty numbers en masse. Here in Las Vegas, NV, this story has run its course. I listened to the local and national news outlets. There was no coverage either way. Keep up the good work in publishing facts about what is going on in Israel and the Arab world.

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

'would the presence of foreign journalists in Gaza have ensured accurate reporting'.

Why doesn't Israel allow foreign journalists in Gaza?

I could make assumptions and assert them to be facts, like you do, twisting and turning to suit your desired outcome.

If the IDF are the most moral army in the world and all criticism of Israel is unjustifiable why hide the truth?

Oh, I forgot, all critics are rabid anti-Semites.

It's so simple if you're always right.

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Sheri Oz's avatar

You're such a bore. If you really followed my writing, you would have seen examples of me correcting errors others had pointed out to me. You do not number among these.

I suppose you believed the foreign correspondents reporting out of Gaza in 2014, even though they later told that they were threatened and warned not to report on missiles being set off from civilian sites (and one was just outside the reporter's hotel window) and other stuff Hamas did not want publicized. But go on -- continue to believe Hamas claims without showing the slightest bit of skepticism. Makes life so much easier.

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

An exception proves the rule does it?

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

Why not try answering answering the question?

If anything your response is further evidence of why independent reporting is important.

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

You're very quick to start calling people names!

'Defensive' some might say.

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

'There is a word for people who repeat lies they haven’t verified, especially when those lies come from a terror group with every reason to manipulate the truth: accomplices'

Hmmmm! Yes Sheri!

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

BBC Verify just responded to the criticisms you're repeating, and discredited them.

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Sheri Oz's avatar

I watched this BBC clip. Thanks. It was quite amusing. It reminded me of the interactions in comments between you and me or of two little kids:

One kid: you did this

Other kid: no I didn't

etc.

About why Israel doesn't let foreign reporters into Gaza, I did begin to write you a response and it got so long I decided to turn it into an article. Thanks for the idea.

You cannot prove a null hypothesis. You cannot prove that nothing happened. The onus is on the one accusing the other of something to prove that something actually happened. There is no proof -- no list of casualties, except for a few individuals saying 'my brother was killed' and no videos of it actually happening, something we expect to see in a place flooded with smartphone-documentarians.

Have you read this article? https://mrandrewfox.substack.com/p/war-by-other-means

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

Defensive and snide.

I've read it thanks. It seems to me that BBC Verify answers that.

I'll take a guess at what your article will say, Israel can do no wrong, and all criticism of Israel is anti-semitism.

Could you answer my previous question about how the creation of Israel has provided peace and security for the Jewish people?

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Sheri Oz's avatar

Great idea for a new article. Can I use your question as the title?

Keep them coming....

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

Which questions?

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Sheri Oz's avatar

Could you answer my previous question about how the creation of Israel has provided peace and security for the Jewish people? for one

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Nigel Humphrey's avatar

It's not for me to permit, or too set any conditions. I do wonder though what could have happened if the terms of the Balfour declaration had been adhered to, ie, that,

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".

You cannot put the blame for the ensuing conflict all on the Palestinians and Arabs, or rather you can, but you'd be wrong.

Religion is used as a permissive excuse for doing wrong by both sides, but it's not about anti-semitism or islamaphobia, it's about land.

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Russell Gold's avatar

The biggest problem is the eagerness of Western media to believe and repeat these accusations, even has Hamas has repeatedly been shown to have lied. We expect Hamas to lie; we should be able to expect better of the West.

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Sheri Oz's avatar

You asked me what I think of a "Christianity Today" article. I don't know if you bring this as an example of Israeli crimes or bad journalism.

Let me start with the second paragraph:

"Some people did not comply with instructions from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and attempted to bypass the line, he said. Then, snipers in vehicles and quadcopter drones fired at the crowd, said Sawarih, a Muslim-background believer who came to faith in Christ a decade ago. (Christianity Today agreed not to use his real name, as converts to Christianity face danger in Gaza.) Some people fled while others dropped to the ground to avoid the incoming bullets. Sawarih stayed low and covered his head with his hands until the shooting stopped 40 minutes later."

1. It is not wise not to comply with IDF instructions. If a cop tells you now to bypass a line, would it be smart to bypass it anyway?

2. hmmm. nothing to say about Christians being in danger in Gaza?

3. if the shooting was going on for 40 minutes, where is the footage from people with smartphones who were there? where are images at least of the quadcopter drone?

And the third:

"As the distribution began, he saw frantic people jumping over the bodies of people who died from gunfire, and he heard injured people screaming in pain. Some of the injured had relatives who could transport them to hospitals, but others had no one to help, he noted. In desperation to secure food, no one tried removing bodies from the streets, he said."

Where are the images of bodies lying in the streets and people jumping over them? Where is there even a street? If you have seen the images of the distribution site, you would know that there are no streets.

Let's go on to the fourth paragraph:

"“I will not repeat this visit, not out of fear but because human dignity was trampled underfoot,” Sawarih said. "

And in x posts you can find videos of Gazans thanking Trump and even Bibi for having set up the GHF distribution sites.

That is all I have time for now. I don't see the point, in any case.

Here is the article itself -- the second-last paragraph is cute.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/06/aid-distribution-casualties-israel-gaza-idf-famine-rafah/?vgo_ee=2az0w1IbRzj4ZwHXH8rw8NKsxMnSu7bW9FCaH%2FrfrHh5Vw%3D%3D%3Ai81IxpFkXALkNGDIBmbIqoKmhYUroAHS

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Esther's avatar

Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts.

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