Local Palestinian media denied claims by the ‘Israeli’ Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) that senior Hamas figures in Gaza had submitted requests to leave the enclave with their families, calling the reports “fabricated lies” aimed at undermining public trust.

 

The sources stressed that the individuals named in the ‘Israeli’ report were either not Hamas officials or had left Gaza under unrelated circumstances. 

 

For example, Anwar Atallah, cited by ‘Israel’ as a Hamas leader, had already traveled to Turkey weeks earlier to accompany his injured daughter, after losing his wife and another daughter in an airstrike. 

 

Similarly, Dr. Osama al-Ashqar has lived outside Gaza for four years for medical treatment, and his family denied filing any requests to leave.

 

Former Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Mohammed al-Madhoon, who lost three children in the current war, and engineer Alaa al-Batta also rejected the claims, describing them as blatant disinformation.

 

The sources said the timing of the narrative, amid mass forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, was intended to erode public support for the resistance and sow confusion, reflecting what they called ‘Israeli’ “media bankruptcy.”