Gazans’ suffering under Hamas is compounded, says “Yasmin,” by the feeling that Arabs across the region do not understand what life under Hamas rule is really like. “A lot of the [Arab] media outlets are working for Hamas,” she explains. “They depict Hamas as heroes.” Meanwhile, “If you’re a Gazan citizen who says, ‘I don’t want war,’ you’re branded a traitor.”

Hamas-friendly narratives have long enjoyed a dominant position in Arab media. One quantitative analysis of Al Jazeera’s reporting found that it “has significantly elevated and prioritized” Hamas “and the resistance narrative in its coverage.” Al Jazeera even received an award for its “professionalism” in covering Hamas from Hamas itself. Meanwhile, the movement also enjoys staunch backing from all Iranian government-owned media, with over 210 outlets in 35 countries, as well as Russian state-backed media, which rank among the most influential in Arab media today.

A crucial component of Hamas’s narrative dominance is its control of media and reporting within the coastal strip. Some outlets it administers directly, such as Shehab News Agency and Al-Aqsa Radio. Ibrahim Daher, director of the official Al-Aqsa Radio, told the Washington Post, “We are the leading reason behind Hamas’s popularity… In any Hamas action, we spread the word about it and then stop any rumors about the party.” When news unfavorable to Hamas breaks, he explained, “our policy has always been to keep silent.” Asked about the cost of Hamas’s policies in Gaza, Daher said, “We aren’t interested in showing other things, like any success by the Israelis or how businesses were hurt by the war.” Nongovernment journalists are contained through other means, including arrest, interrogation, and physical abuse. In 2019, after reporting on a corruption scandal that implicated Hamas, independent journalist Hajar Harb was arrested, “threatened with physical harm, and even accused of being a collaborator with Israel. “I’m paying the price of doing an investigative piece about corruption in Gaza,” she said. “How is this fair?”