News - Middle East: Google is running a $45 million campaign for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to bolster the regime’s propaganda about its brutal war in the besieged Gaza Strip, downplaying reports of starvation in the Palestinian enclave, a report says.

In a report on Wednesday, Drop Site News revealed that Google is engaged in a six-month, $45 million contract with Netanyahu’s office in an attempt to boost and spread his cabinet’s messaging and downplay the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Signed in late June, the agreement describes Google as a “key entity” in supporting Netanyahu’s public relations strategy, which launched shortly after Israel blocked food, medicine, fuel, and other humanitarian supplies from entering the Palestinian enclave on March 2, sparking concern among Israeli lawmakers about potential public backlash.

At the time, an army spokesperson noted that authorities could launch a digital campaign "to explain that there is no hunger and present the data.”

Since then, Israeli-sponsored ads have widely circulated, denying repeated reports of starvation in Gaza. These ads, managed through YouTube and Google’s Display & Video 360 platform, include a video from Israel’s foreign ministry stating, “There is food in Gaza. Any other claim is a lie,” which has drawn over six million views, largely boosted through paid promotion.

According to official documents, such efforts are described as “hasbara,” a Hebrew term often translated as “propaganda.” Beyond Google, records indicate that Israel also allocated $3 million for ads with the US-based platform X and $2.1 million with the French-Israeli company Outbrain/Teads.

Last year, similar campaigns targeting the United Nations and Gaza authorities were also reported by WIRED, including one ad accusing the world body of “deliberate sabotage” of aid and promoting the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

This is while humanitarian conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate, with the Gaza health ministry reporting that 185 people, including 12 children, died of starvation only in August, the highest monthly toll since the regime launched its genocidal war on the Palestinian territory in October 2023.

Seventy of the reported deaths took place after the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system officially designated Gaza as being in famine. According to health authorities, more than 43,000 children under five are now affected by malnutrition, along with 55,000 women who are either pregnant or nursing.

Such numbers highlight the deepening humanitarian crisis, despite efforts by the Israeli regime to dismiss or minimize its scale.

Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has so far killed at least 63,746 Palestinians and injured 161,245 others, the health ministry said.

Source: Press TV