Arab journalists quoted in the Jerusalem Post on Thursday said that many pictures showing Gaza reportedly suffering from a massive blackout had been staged. Gaza-based journalists said that on two occasions they were asked to cover Hamas events in which senior officials sat in dark rooms with lit candles. Both events took place during the daytime, journalists said, with curtains drawn to give the impression of a blackout.
Hamas claimed earlier in the week that Israel’s refusal to allow fuel shipments through Gaza crossings had led to a widespread blackout that had created a humanitarian crisis. The group held several candlelit marches, photographs from which appeared in many major media outlets. Israeli officials said that Israel never stopped supplying over 70 percent of Gaza’s electricity from Israeli power plants, and charged Hamas with deliberately causing a crisis in order to arouse world sympathy.