The San Francisco Chronicle has its own professional standards; it just doesn’t choose to follow them. Case in point the paper’s August 19, 2026, article, “A Northern California trauma surgeon went to Gaza. What he saw still haunts him,” by G. Allen Johnson.

The Chronicle’s statement on standards and practices acknowledges that its credibility “relies on a foundation of trust,” adding: “We also owe it to our readers to avoid printing falsehoods, even when they are uttered by the subjects of our reporting.”

Yet Johnson’s article uncritically published a set of remarks containing claims that are false in virtually every conceivable way. Those remarks were made by Feroze Sidhwa, a California doctor who is featured in a propaganda film, “American Doctor,” focusing on volunteer physicians in the Gaza Strip.

In its writeup on the film, the San Francisco Chronicle quotes Sidhwa:

“The situation in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating. There is nowhere near the agreed upon amount of aid being let in. Just imagine a life without electricity. Nothing has been rebuilt. None of the sewage systems that have been destroyed have been brought back online.”

Every aspect of his remark purporting to be factual is demonstrably false. Yet the Chronicle neither challenged nor clarified any of those claims. In failing to do so, the paper showed that it does not adhere to its own standards and, consequently, that its reporting lacks credibility.

Consider each of Sidhwa’s factual claims in turn.

False Claim: “The situation in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating.”

Far from “rapidly deteriorating,” even the United Nations has acknowledged that the situation in Gaza is substantially improving.

According to a recent press release by the U.N., known for skewing data against Israel, there has been a “significant scale-up in food and nutrition assistance” in Gaza, corresponding with an “overall improvement in malnutrition rates.” Further evidencing this, a July 2026 UNICEF survey found that the weight-for-height z-score in Gaza ranged from 0.2% – 0.8%. This is at or below what it was before the war in Gaza and substantially lower than that of neighboring Arab states Jordan and Egypt. Food prices have dropped by nearly three quarters, and since the ceasefire hospital bed capacities have grown by 50% and over 18,000 tonnes of medical supplies have entered the territory.

False Claim: “There is nowhere near the agreed upon amount of aid being let in.”

According to the Civil-Military Coordination Center, the U.S.-led coordination mechanism for aid delivery into Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire, “figures show weekly truck deliveries into Gaza rose from approximately 1,300 to 4,200….” The ceasefire agreement stipulated a requirement of 600 trucks per day, equating to 4,200 trucks per week. Exactly the amount of aid agreed upon is being let in, contrary to Sidhwa’s claim.

Aid being brought into the Gaza Strip.

In terms of tonnage, a more precise measurement, the amount of food entering Gaza far exceeds what is necessary. The World Food Programme claims that 80,000 metric tonnes of food must enter Gaza every month. Between the start of the ceasefire and July 19, 2026, an average of over 200,000 metric tonnes of food has entered Gaza monthly. 

False Claim: “Just imagine a life without electricity. Nothing has been rebuilt.”

As former U.N. special coordinator and current Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov has emphasized, progress on reconstruction is stalled by Hamas’s refusal to disarm. This is a core requirement of the current ceasefire agreements, including the U.S.-led 20-Point Peace Plan endorsed by the U.N. Security Council in resolution 2803.

Still, critical infrastructure is being rebuilt or repaired. Examples just since late 2025 include the Nahal Oz, Birkat Sa’id, and Bani Suheila water lines and the Kela electricity line, providing electricity and water to the people of Gaza.

False Claim: “None of the sewage systems that have been destroyed have been brought back online.”

There are multiple publicly available reports of successful rehabilitations of sewage networks, including in the Gaza Governate and in al-Maghazi. It is worth noting, however, that Gaza’s sewage systems were ruined by years of Hamas’s mismanagement, including digging up pipes to turn into rockets aimed at Israeli towns.

Failed Journalism

Good journalism requires asking the hard questions, holding public figures accountable, and delivering the facts to audiences, not propaganda.

This is precisely how G. Allen Johnson and the San Francisco Chronicle failed. Sidhwa is given space to use misinformation to push a political agenda. He repeatedly alludes to the idea that U.S. taxpayer dollars are involved in the situation he is simultaneously lying about.

That is exactly where a good journalist should step in to challenge the narrative with the facts or, at the very least, provide the opposing narrative. Even the Chronicle acknowledges this, that it owes its readers not to print falsehoods, “even when they are uttered by the subjects of [its] reporting.”

Unfortunately, good journalism is hard to find at the Chronicle, which has refused to correct Sidhwa’s claims despite being informed of these issues by CAMERA.

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