It is one of the defining news stories of our time, regularly dominating headlines around the world.
Gaza’s mounting humanitarian crisis continues to provoke outrage here in Ireland and in many other countries, as images of malnourished children, bloodstained body bags and grief-stricken survivors flood our screens and airwaves.
But how is that same crisis being covered by mainstream media inside Israel?
"For the most part, it simply isn’t."
That’s the assessment of freelance journalist Orly Halpern, who has lived in Israel almost all her life.
"When Israelis (turn on) the TV channels here in Israel, what they see are Israeli soldiers and a lot of destruction of Gaza - and that's about it. It’s very rare that they ever interview a Gazan.
"You don’t see Palestinians or hear Palestinians."
As a journalist working for international news organisations, Ms Halpern's reporting often focuses on the humanitarian realities of the 22-month-old Gaza war. It is the kind of coverage that would rarely get commissioned inside Israel - because she says, there isn’t an appetite for it.
"Israelis don't want to see that they might be doing something wrong. There's no interest, and the Israeli media is complicit in actually keeping the public ignorant of what Israel is doing."
Impact of hunger crisis
Ms Halpern acknowledges that there has been a small shift in public opinion in recent weeks as the hunger crisis grips Gaza, resulting in a "few" more news stories. However, she says they tend to be framed in a negative light towards Palestinians.
For example, images of desperate Gazans crowding around aid trucks are portrayed in a way she says would make people think "these people are like animals".
She adds that most of the reporting ends with the line, "it's Hamas' fault", without examining Israel’s role in the crisis.
Channel 14 - allegations of incitement
The ultranationalist TV channel fast becoming Israel’s most-watched news source.
Channel 14, which counts Netanyahu as a supporter, has denied allegations that its coverage has incited war crimes.
Take, for example, this on-air quote from host Shimon Riklin about the Gazan people.
"We should supply them with neither water nor electricity. Let them drop dead in there!"
Channel 14 did not respond to RTÉ’s request for comment. Nor did the other main broadcasters.
Despite criticism of its coverage, Channel 14 is on track to becoming the second-most watched TV channel in Israel, according to Reporters Without Borders.
'A vital light in the darkness'
However, there are some exceptions in this media landscape. Most notably, left-leaning newspaper, Haaretz.
Haaretz is the longest running daily newspaper currently in print in Israel, and although its circulation is relatively small, it continues to hold considerable influence both domestically and abroad.
In the context of mainstream media coverage in Israel, Haaretz is considered an outlier in terms of its criticism of Israel's conduct in the war, plus its focus on Palestinian suffering.
Gideon Levy is one of its columnists.
"The issue is not (about) political views, not political positions," he told RTÉ News. "The issue is professional journalism."
"If you open Israeli TV or mainstream newspapers, at any given moment, you would think that in Gaza there are 20 people living. You know who they are? The hostages. They are also the only victims."
He describes the coverage as "shameful" and rejects any assertion that censorship is behind editorial decisions not to show the plight of Palestinians.
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"(The censorship) is only concerning capabilities of the army. It's nothing. Where is the censorship in Haaretz?"
"You know, we used to laugh at the Russian media because of the way they are covering the war in Ukraine. But Israeli media is much worse because the Russian media has no other choice.
"Israeli media is free to publish whatever it wants, and they choose just to please the readers and their viewers."
He does, however, add that there are deep concerns inside Haaretz for its future editorial independence.
Last November, Israel's government approved a proposal mandating that government-funded bodies refrain from communicating with Haaretz or placing advertisements in the paper, in protest at its coverage.
"They will not stop there", Mr Levy cautions. "I am very scared that they will try to silence us by legislation."
"Until now we are still free to write whatever we want to. But I don't take our freedom for granted."
Intimidation and threats
Those concerns are echoed by Dr Ayala Panievsky, a researcher at City St George's, University of London. Her research focuses on threats to the media and she has recently written a book on the subject called 'The New Censorship'.
Dr Panievsky previously worked in left-leaning Israeli politics but has spent recent years monitoring and analysing Israeli news output.
And while she agrees with Gideon Levy that there isn't much formal censorship, she also believes an underlying atmosphere of political intimidation could be forcing some journalists to self-censor.
"It's not old-school censorship in terms of raids on newsrooms or jailing journalists. Not yet. But it is certainly all these other forms of intimidation, threats and incitement of the public against journalists," she said.
"Successive Governments and allies have been threatening journalists and newsrooms using all kinds of different weapons. They are threatening news outlets’ financial stability, they are using legal warfare, they are suing journalists and newsrooms."
This point is also highlighted in the RSF - Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index. Since 2022, Israel has dropped from 86th to 112th in the index, in part due to "disinformation campaigns and repressive laws".
It also points out that "journalists identified as Arab face more intimidation while working and foreign journalists are experiencing increasing difficulty obtaining accreditation".
National trauma
So, what else could be behind the Israeli media’s apparent hands-off approach to the Gaza humanitarian crisis?
Dr Panievsky suggests the events of 7 October, when Hamas-led gunmen stormed into southern Israel killing and taking people hostage, are still foremost in many people’s minds.
"For sure, there is the national trauma of 7 October and everything that happened since. And I must say that when it comes to 7 October and the human suffering, the Israeli mainstream media has done a very comprehensive professional job covering it… Now the media continues to focus on the stories of the hostages, but not the other side."
"Also, in times of war, people are rarely asking to see the casualties on the other side. But this is reality. And if you're not showing us that, then you are not a journalist, you're an entertainer."
For journalist Orly Halpern, the prospect of military service may also be a factor in the media’s approach.
"Everyone here, all the men, have to continue doing reserve duty until they're 45. So, it's just much easier to believe what your leaders are telling you about the war and not question it. I think deep down, people probably know. But they continue to reject it because it's just too much."
"There's an expression in Hebrew, יורים ובוכים. It means 'we shoot and we cry’. So yes, we're killing innocent people, and we feel bad about it. But you know, we're just doing what we need to do for this military campaign etcetera.
"But what we're seeing now is that for the most part, we aren’t even crying. We’re just shooting."
