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Israel’s Explicit Blackout Policy Conceals Gaza’s Realities

Funeral procession of an Israeli soldier who was killed in the northern Gaza Strip during the army’s ground operation against Hamas on Tuesday (Reuters)
Funeral procession of an Israeli soldier who was killed in the northern Gaza Strip during the army’s ground operation against Hamas on Tuesday (Reuters)
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Israel’s Explicit Blackout Policy Conceals Gaza’s Realities

Funeral procession of an Israeli soldier who was killed in the northern Gaza Strip during the army’s ground operation against Hamas on Tuesday (Reuters)
Funeral procession of an Israeli soldier who was killed in the northern Gaza Strip during the army’s ground operation against Hamas on Tuesday (Reuters)

Israeli political, military, and media institutions are following a policy of concealing any information related to the repercussions of airstrikes on civilians in Gaza.

These establishments are also obscuring all data concerning Hamas and withholding footage regarding the abducted individuals, alongside a vague stance on the course of Israeli operations in Gaza, considering it part of their military tactics.

Due to this policy, Israelis remain uninformed about the details of thousands of children and women who fall victim to airstrikes conducted from a distance by Israel’s air force, navy, and ground forces.

Hebrew media explicitly declares that it does not publish statements issued by Hamas and does not broadcast appearances of the official spokesperson for the movement, Abu Obeida.

Additionally, it refrains from disseminating Hamas announcements about the number of prisoners killed in the airstrikes, asserting that the figure has risen to 60.

On Monday night, when Hamas announced the death of soldier Noa Marciano due to Israeli shelling, the military informed her family that she was killed in Gaza.

The army affirmed that its information was derived from intelligence sources, not from the tape broadcast by Hamas on this matter, and her words were not aired before her death.

Media outlets justify this decision by stating that they do not wish to be tools in the propaganda campaign of Hamas.

Israelis are compelled to resort to social networks to learn about the fate of their children.

Even on social media, cyber units of the Israeli intelligence occasionally intervene, obstructing their view.

Consequently, they resort to watching Hamas statements on YouTube.

This policy is generating mass discontent among the families of those abducted by Hamas.

These families increasingly feel that the issue of prisoners is not a top priority of the Israeli government, prompting them to escalate their protest activities.

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Syrians Face Horror, Fearing Loved Ones May Be in Mass Graves

People search for human remains at a trench believed to be used as a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus - AFP
People search for human remains at a trench believed to be used as a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus - AFP
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Syrians Face Horror, Fearing Loved Ones May Be in Mass Graves

People search for human remains at a trench believed to be used as a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus - AFP
People search for human remains at a trench believed to be used as a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus - AFP

After losing hope of finding his two brothers among those freed from Syrian jails, Ziad Alaywi was filled with dread, knowing there was only one place they were likely to be: a mass grave.

"We want to know where our children are, our brothers," said the 55-year-old standing by a deep trench near Najha, southeast of Damascus.

"Were they killed? Are they buried here?" he asked, pointing to the ditch, one of several believed to hold the bodies of prisoners tortured to death.

International organizations have called these acts "crimes against humanity".

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on December 8 and the takeover by an Islamist-led opposition alliance, families across Syria have been searching for their loved ones.

"I've looked for my brothers in all the prisons," said the driver from the Damascus suburbs, whose siblings and four cousins were arrested over a decade ago.

"I've searched all the documents that might give me a clue to their location," he added, but it was all in vain.

Residents say there are at least three other similar sites, where diggers were frequently seen working in areas once off-limits under the former government.

- 'Peace of mind' -

The dirt at the pit where Alaywi stands looks loose, freshly dug. Children run and play nearby.

If the site was investigated, "it would allow many people to have peace of mind and stop hoping for the return of a son who will never return", he said.

"It's not just one, two, or three people who are being sought. It's thousands."

He called on international forensic investigators to "open these mass graves so we can finally know where our children are."

Many Syrians who spoke to AFP in recent days expressed disappointment at not finding their loved ones in the prisons opened after the takeover by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

A few kilometres (miles) from Najha, a team of about 10 people, most in white overalls, was transferring small white bags into larger black ones with numbers.

Syrian Civil Defense teams have received numerous calls from people claiming to have seen cars dumping bags by the roadside at night. The bags were later found to contain bones.

"Since the fall of the regime, we've received over 100 calls about mass graves. People believe every military site has one," said civil defence official Omar al-Salmo.

- Safeguard evidence -

The claim isn't without reason, said Salmo, considering "the few people who've left prisons and the exponential number of missing people."

There are no official figures on how many detainees have been released from Syrian jails in the past 10 days, but estimates fall far short of the number missing since 2011.

In 2022, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor estimated that more than 100,000 people had died in prison, mostly due to torture, since the war began.

"We're doing our best with our modest expertise," said Salmo. His team is collecting bone samples for DNA tests.

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch urged the new Syrian authorities to "secure, collect and safeguard evidence, including from mass grave sites and government records... that will be vital in future criminal trials".

The rights group also called for cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which could "provide critical expertise" to help safeguard the records and clarify the fate of missing people.

Days after Assad's fall, HRW teams visiting Damascus's Tadamun district, the site of a massacre in April 2013, found "scores of human remains".

In Daraa province, Mohammad Khaled regained control of his farm in Izraa, seized for years by military intelligence.

"I noticed that the ground was uneven," said Khaled.

"We were surprised to discover a body, then another," he said. In just one day, he and others including a forensic doctor exhumed a total of 22 bodies.