After receiving a tip-off from one of our devoted readers, HonestReporting contacted Forbes regarding a quotation that falsely described the number of hours of electricity available to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Hamas terrorist group.
The piece by David Vetter, titled, “How Pioneering Solar Tech Aims To Bring Energy To Gaza’s Refugees,” quoted interviewee Raya Al-Dadah, an expert in sustainable energy technologies at the University of Birmingham (emphasis added):
…just 38% of Gaza’s electricity needs currently are met. People receive less than six hours of power per day, leaving hospitals providing only critical functions such as intensive care units.”
This is demonstrably false. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the OPT, residents of Gaza have received 13 to 15 hours of electricity each day since October 2020. That’s over double the amount stated by Al-Dadah.
The misrepresentation should not have been left unchallenged, given that readers were being misinformed.
HonestReporting contacted Forbes, and to its credit, the article was updated within a matter of hours to include a paragraph immediately after the problematic quote to add context and effectively contradict the claim. The paragraph begins thus:
According to the United Nations, the Gaza Strip received about 14 hours of electricity per day in January.”
While credit is due to Forbes for the swift change, another aspect of the article remains problematic — one sentence alone explains why electricity is an issue at all:
…restrictions on diesel supplies from Israel have led to frequent power outages throughout the territory.”
The conditions in the Palestinian coastal enclave continue to be reflexively attributed to what is in reality a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade. However, forced welfare cuts and slashing of funding for electricity for the residents of Gaza, among other punitive measures introduced by the Fatah-led government in Ramallah, have gone largely unreported by the vast majority of international media outlets. For more on that, read our explainer here.
