Former Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant has admitted that the much-publicised “huge tunnel” allegedly discovered along the Philadelphi Route was, in fact, a fabrication. The trench, showcased in images last August and widely reported in Israeli media, was no more than a shallow water drainage channel—not the vast underground smuggling network once claimed.

Gallant’s revelation comes as a stark confession that the story was deliberately exaggerated to delay a prisoner exchange and frame the Philadelphi corridor as a critical smuggling artery. This narrative served not only to heighten public fear but to justify ongoing military operations and the continued blockade of Gaza.

For Palestinians, this is yet another confirmation of how misinformation is weaponised to prolong suffering and derail any path to justice. The deliberate distortion of facts reinforces a pattern of manipulation aimed at sustaining international support while suppressing Palestinian voices and rights.

Beyond the embarrassment of this propaganda unraveling, the real damage lies in the human toll. While false claims were spun, Gaza remained under relentless assault, its people starved and displaced, with truth buried beneath rubble and rhetoric. The question remains: how many more lives must be shattered before facts outweigh fiction?