Israeli Military Alleges Hamas Disinformation Campaign Through NBC News

In a striking revelation of media manipulation, recent reports have exposed how Hamas operatives posing as medical professionals used NBC News as a platform to spread misinformation about infant formula shortages in Gaza, while the terrorist organization was actively hoarding supplies meant for starving children.

An NBC News report published on June 28, 2025, titled “Without baby formula, some infants in Gaza are facing a slow death,” featured interviews with doctors who were later identified as Hamas operatives or sympathizers. The report prominently quoted Dr. Marwan al-Hams, identified as Gaza’s Director of Field Hospitals, who claimed formula was unavailable in hospitals and cited malnutrition deaths among children since October 2023.

What NBC failed to disclose at the time was al-Hams’ true identity. On July 21, Reuters reported that al-Hams had been detained by Israeli forces in southern Gaza. Months later, on November 26, journalist Avi Issacharoff revealed that al-Hams was actually a brigade doctor in Hamas’ military wing while simultaneously serving as a field hospital manager for Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under Hamas control.

The article implied that an Israeli blockade was responsible for formula shortages, a claim that was misleading at best. While mentioning eleven paragraphs into the story that no blockade existed at the time of publication, NBC had already established a narrative suggesting Israeli culpability.

Most damning to this narrative was a December 9 social media post by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza native and Atlantic Council senior fellow. Alkhatib shared video evidence of substantial stockpiles of infant formula and children’s nutritional shakes that Hamas had deliberately hidden in “clandestine warehouses belonging to the Gaza Ministry of Health” – the very ministry employing Dr. al-Hams.

NBC’s reporting also featured Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, a pro-Hamas doctor previously featured in Gaza Ministry of Health propaganda materials. His claims were used by a UN Commission of Inquiry to falsely accuse Israel of blocking formula entry, despite evidence that UNICEF had delivered 240 tons of baby food to Gaza just days before the NBC article was published.

This incident reflects a troubling pattern in NBC’s Gaza coverage. The network has consistently failed to identify Hamas connections when quoting officials from Gaza’s Ministry of Health or Civil Defense. For example, Mahmoud Bassal, frequently quoted as a Civil Defense spokesman, was later exposed by the IDF as a Hamas military operative in the Zeitoun Battalion of the Izz-ad Din-al Qassam Brigades, specifically tasked with psychological warfare and propaganda.

Media experts note that this case highlights the challenges of reporting from conflict zones controlled by terrorist organizations. Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, has a documented history of spreading misinformation. NBC itself previously debunked Hamas claims about the Al-Ahli Hospital explosion in October 2023, confirming it was caused by an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket rather than an Israeli attack as Hamas had claimed.

This incident raises serious questions about journalistic standards and due diligence. NBC News claims in its own principles that the foundation of ethical journalism is to “Seek the truth and be truthful in your reporting. Your reporting should be accurate and fair. Ensure that the facts you gathered are verified, sources are attributed and context is provided.”

The revelation that Hamas deliberately withheld essential nutrition from Gaza’s children while simultaneously blaming Israel for the resulting suffering represents a cynical exploitation of humanitarian concerns for propaganda purposes. For major news outlets, it underscores the critical importance of thorough source verification and transparent attribution, particularly when reporting from areas controlled by organizations with established records of media manipulation.