Israel has allowed a group of about ten American and Israeli social-media personalities to film Gaza aid distribution sites run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, even as it maintains a blanket ban on foreign reporters entering the enclave. The government says the sponsored tour is intended to counter “Hamas lies” about conditions in Gaza, where UN agencies have declared an official famine that has already claimed at least 271 lives and left 17,000 children acutely malnourished. More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in October 2023. The media blackout was underscored days later when Israeli shells hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on 25 August, killing Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and four other Palestinian journalists while they were covering an earlier strike. The IDF said the barrage, which it claimed killed six “terrorists,” was not aimed at reporters, yet a second blast minutes after the first brought the overall death toll at the site to at least 19. The Committee to Protect Journalists labelled the hospital strike a “war crime” and said it has documented 189 Palestinian media workers killed during the conflict. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate staged a protest demanding international protection for field reporters, while 28 governments renewed calls for Israel to grant independent press access to Gaza. Domestic debate intensified after several Israeli commentators publicly applauded the killings and urged further attacks on Gaza-based reporters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret over what he called a “tragic mishap,” but his government continues to rely on curated influencer content while barring most foreign media, deepening concerns about transparency and accountability in the conflict zone.