Report: Google signs $45 million deal with Netanyahu’s office for Gaza 'messaging campaign' denying famine

Google is carrying out a $45 million contract with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to promote government messaging, including ads disputing reports of famine in Gaza, according to an investigation published this week.

The six-month agreement, signed in June, uses Google’s YouTube and its advertising service Display & Video 360, Israeli government documents show. Officials described the campaign as hasbara, a Hebrew term often used for public relations or state advocacy.

One video released by Israel’s foreign ministry in August stated: “There is food in Gaza. Any other claim is a lie.” Records show the clip reached more than 6 million views, boosted by paid placements under the deal.

The campaign began after Israel restricted entry of food, fuel, and other humanitarian aid to Gaza in March. At the same time, the United Nations and aid groups were warning of severe shortages. In August, the U.N. formally declared famine in Gaza City and said conditions in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis were approaching the same threshold.

The U.N.’s food security authority, the IPC, said the famine was “entirely man-made” and reversible. Gaza’s health ministry reported that at least 367 Palestinians, including 131 children, have died from hunger and malnutrition since the war began.

The investigation also found the Israeli government purchased millions of dollars’ worth of ads on other platforms, including $3 million on X, formerly Twitter, and about $2.1 million on the French-Israeli firm Outbrain/Teads.

Some ads went beyond denying food shortages, accusing the U.N. of “deliberate sabotage” of aid deliveries and seeking to discredit pro-Palestinian groups documenting alleged Israeli war crimes.

Google has not publicly commented on the report. Israel has previously said its media campaigns are meant to counter what it calls misinformation about the conflict.