AP Misleads on Electricity for Gaza Strip

In an article about the Coronavirus crisis from the perspective of Middle Easterners and others who have suffered severe hardship for years, the Associated Press misleads about the availability of electricity in the Gaza Strip. In today’s article, “Survivors of world conflict offer perspective amid pandemic,” Joseph Krauss and Fares Akram report: “Long before the pandemic, Gazans were forced to adapt to daily hardships. Most only have a few hours of electricity a day, the tap water is undrinkable, and the unemployment rate is about 50%.” (Emphasis added.)

The word “few” is vague and imprecise. It could mean as little as three, and it could also refer to an unspecified minority of the total. It  does not, however, suggest more than half.

Indeed, according to figures provided by United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, every single day this month, Gazans have had electricity for at least half of each 24-hour period. Accurate language would be that “Most have electricity for just over 12 hours a day.”