Israeli review argues Hamas inflating number of malnutrition deaths in ‘orchestrated campaign’

Hamas has been inflating the toll of Palestinians it says have died of malnutrition, and most of those verified to have died had preexisting medical conditions, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) claims.

COGAT says Israeli security officials and medical experts conducted a review of Hamas’s starvation claims in Gaza, saying it found that the terror group has conducted “an orchestrated campaign as part of a broader effort to discredit the State of Israel and achieve political gains.”

“The thorough review found a significant gap between the number of deaths attributed to malnutrition as reported by Hamas’s health ministry and the cases documented and published with full identifying details in the media and on social media,” COGAT says.

From the beginning of the war until June 2025, the Hamas-run health ministry reported 66 deaths due to alleged starvation. Then, in July 2025, over 133 such deaths were reported by the ministry.

“Despite the allegedly high death toll in July, Hamas’s health ministry did not release the identities of the deceased as it had done in the past,” COGAT charges.

The Defense Ministry body says that on July 19, Hamas announced 18 deaths from starvation, and on July 22, another 15. “However, an in-depth review of various platforms identified only a handful of actual cases. This discrepancy between the numerical reports and the individual publications raises doubts about their credibility,” it says.

“The case-by-case analysis of the published deaths shows that most of those allegedly dying from malnutrition had preexisting medical conditions that led to the deterioration of their health, unrelated to their nutritional status. It was also found that some had even received medical treatment in Israel before the war. This indicates that the documented cases do not represent the condition of the general population in the Gaza Strip but rather selectively present extreme cases involving preexisting illnesses,” COGAT claims.

COGAT notes that in recent weeks, images circulated online of an emaciated four-year-old, Abdullah Hani Muhammad Abu Zarqa, who was claimed to have been suffering from starvation. “A COGAT review found that he suffers from a genetic disease causing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, osteoporosis, and bone thinning, a hereditary illness that also affected other family members. It was further established that four months before the outbreak of the war, the child traveled with his mother, with Israeli approval, to receive medical treatment at Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem,” the statement says.

Another case noted by COGAT is of 27-year-old Karam Khaled Mustafa al-Jamal, who was reported to have died from starvation. “The defense establishment determined that Karam had suffered since childhood from muscular dystrophy and partial paralysis, which caused swallowing difficulties. This was a longstanding medical condition unrelated to the general nutritional situation in Gaza,” COGAT says.

COGAT says that the review, “including by analyzing broader photographic evidence and other available intelligence, concluded that there are no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon among the population in Gaza.”

“The Hamas terrorist organization cynically exploits tragic images and misuses them for a false and timed propaganda campaign aimed at generating pressure and creating negative public opinion against the State of Israel,” COGAT says, adding that it will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with the international community, while rejecting allegations of famine in the Gaza Strip.”

COGAT does not release the full review to the public.