A Telegraph article on the struggles of cancer patients in Gaza ignored Hamas’ role in the territory’s healthcare crisis, and conveyed the pre-determined narrative of Israeli responsibility while failing to reach out to COGAT, the agency responsible for the transfer of medicine and approving medical permits for treatment abroad.
The headline and strap line in the May 31 piece by Henry Bodkin, their Jerusalem correspondent, and Nedal Hamdouna in Gaza, immediately misled readers by suggesting that Israel prevents most medicines from reaching Gaza.
The piece largely focused on a few individual Palestinian cancer patients in Gaza who can’t access the treatment they need, though he writes that “an estimated 13,000 cancer patients” are “trapped” in the territory, and are unable to get adequate treatment.
They base this on interviews with “several cancer patients and clinicians in Gaza”, “external health experts”, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry and (unnamed) NGOs, who, they write, “painted an almost uniform picture of a desperate and often futile search for cancer drugs and diagnostic equipment”.
Their narrow pool of sources, and their “uniform picture”, as we’ll clarify later, is revealing, as they evidently failed to approach any Israeli officials for comment.
Twenty-three paragraphs down, readers are finally told that |there is no evidence that Israel systematically blocks the entry of these medicines and products per se”, while noting in the following paragraph that “Israel hotly disputes” claims by “experts” that the cancer medicine “scarcity” is “a product of the generally insufficient volume of aid allowed into Gaza”.
In the twenty-sixth paragraph, the article reports that “Israel blocks these alleged ‘dual-use’ products because they claim that Hamas or its affiliated groups could subvert them for terror purposes”.
So, in a 1,575 word article which almost entirely focuses on the allegation that Israel is broadly to blame for Gaza’s healthcare woes, only forty-two words – introduced deep into the article – push back against this narrative. Moreover, the word “Hamas” is only used in three sentences, and only once in a context suggesting that the terror group is even possibly and partially to blame for the territory’s healthcare problems.
Moreover, readers aren’t told anything about the basis by which Israel “hotly disputes” the allegation that there is an “insufficient volume of aid allowed into Gaza”.
So, we reached out to COGAT, who confirmed to us that the Telegraph reporters did not reach out to them for a comment on the story. Further, a spokesperson from the agency gave us the following statement:
Regarding the claims concerning the entry of medical equipment: contrary to the allegations, the State of Israel does not prevent the entry of medicines into the Gaza Strip. In fact, since the beginning of the ceasefire, a significant volume of 16,500 tons of medical equipment and medicines has entered the Strip in accordance with requests submitted by international organizations. Accordingly, the State of Israel acts to allow and facilitate the entry of all required medical equipment and continues to facilitate the entry into the Gaza Strip of trucks carrying medical supplies, without any quantitative limitation. This includes cancer medications, insulin pens, anesthetics, X-ray and CT machines, oxygen generators, sanitation equipment, wheelchairs, medical mattresses, hospital beds, syringes, medicines, medical tools, cleaning products, dialysis machines, incubators, plaster casts, and vaccination kits. In addition, hospitals receive an ongoing supply of fuel and medicines based on needs identified on the ground.
It should be clarified that when it comes to equipment defined as dual-use, Israel exercises extra caution and offers international organizations alternatives that allow for a humanitarian response while preventing the Hamas terrorist organization from cynically exploiting the aid for its military buildup.
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In recent months, the Rafah Crossing has reopened for the exit of patients and accompanying caregivers to Egypt. The number of patients departing depends on requests submitted by the WHO and Egypt, which are responsible for coordinating the arrival of patients from the Gaza Strip to the Rafah Crossing.
Accordingly, since the reopening of the Rafah Crossing in recent months, more than 3,100 residents of the Gaza Strip have been able to depart to Egypt.
In addition, it should be emphasized that Israel does not restrict the departure of residents from the Gaza Strip for the purpose of receiving medical treatment in a third country. On the contrary, Israel encourages countries around the world to submit requests for the evacuation of patients from the Gaza Strip, with an emphasis on children and their accompanying family members, and is prepared to assist in the evacuation process subject to receiving an official request from a receiving country.
In accordance with the policy determined by the Government of Israel, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) allows and facilitates the departure of Gazan residents from the Gaza Strip through Israel to receiving countries around the world. This applies both to patients requiring continued medical treatment outside the Strip, and to residents holding dual citizenship, their family members, or residents holding residency visas for a third country. Accordingly, since the outbreak of the war, the departure of more than 44,000 residents from the Gaza Strip has been facilitated.
Accordingly, in recent months, dozens and even hundreds of residents have been evacuated to various countries, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and European Union member states. It should be emphasized that Israel encourages countries around the world to submit requests for the evacuation of patients from the Gaza Strip, with an emphasis on children and their accompanying family members, and is prepared to assist in the evacuation process subject to receiving an official request from a receiving country.
It should also be emphasized that passage is subject to receiving an official request from a receiving country and to the security screening required by the relevant security authorities, in accordance with the entry procedures for the sovereign territory of the State of Israel.
It should be noted that since the beginning of 2025, the majority of requests submitted by countries and organizations have been approved.
We’ve reached out to the Telegraph journalists, providing them with this crucial, detailed information, and asking them to amend their May 31 report to include at least some of COGAT’s response.
The MSM and their editors are so antisemitic they are incapable of printing the truth as that would both denigrate Islam and the fake Palestinian cause invented in the sixties by an Egyptian born Yasser Arafat