The rocket-pocked zone surrounding Gaza is not only one of the biggest political fault lines in the Middle East. It is also the front line of the desperate propaganda war being waged by Israel and its Palestinian foe, Hamas.

Within hours of Israel launching its offensive against Gaza, lobbyists, spin-doctors and public relations experts were mobilised to head off critical reaction around the globe.

“The problem is that the numbers are not very flattering,” one pro-Israel lobbyist said, commenting on the huge disparity between the 360 Palestinians and four Israelis killed in the conflict.

Hamas, whose leaders have been driven underground by Israeli attacks, has relied on the shocking images of civilian casualties in Gaza, taken by local media workers, to rally support for its cause, and looked to the fury of the Arab street and firebrand preachers to mobilise grassroots support.

The Jewish state is mindful of the public relations disaster of the 34-day offensive during the Lebanon war of 2006 and took one early measure to avoid a repeat.

The Israelis have prevented foreign journalists from entering and reporting from Gaza, thereby limiting the scope of the coverage from the Palestinian side.

With the stakes so high, the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem, which represents some 400 journalists, has taken its petition for access to Gaza – whose borders are sealed both by Israel and, by treaty, by Egypt – to the Supreme Court. In an open letter it protested against the “unprecedented restriction of press freedom. As a result the world's media is unable to accurately report on events inside Gaza at this critical time.” While restricting foreign media access to the battle zone, Israel has launched a vigorous propaganda offensive to put its point of view across to the world, with its army yesterday unveiling its own YouTube channel showing battlefield footage of airstrikes on Hamas militants loading rockets on a truck to fire at Israel.

“The blogosphere and new media are another war zone. The important thing is to get the truth out there,” Major Avital Leibovich, an army spokeswoman, said.

The stakes are high for Israel, intent on smashing Hamas before world opinion forces it to put the brakes on its devastating airstrikes on one of the most densely populated conurbations in the world.

According to Uri Dromi, a former government press adviser and air force colonel, the key to Israel’s campaign, in terms of the international reaction, was the timing.

He said: “The timing was perfect. No one was there. Obama was in Hawaii. Bush was in Texas. Condoleezza Rice was away. It was a twilight zone. It was the perfect time for Israel to do something which we believe is justified, but will always come up against problem opposition.”

However, Mr Dromi admitted that the administration will struggle to win hearts and minds if footage of those suffering in Gaza continues to be shown. “When you have a Palestinian kid facing an Israeli tank, how do you explain that the tank is actually David and the kid is Goliath?

“That is why the television kills us. Newspapers are better because they give context.”

However, he adds: “Only when you don’t win the war decisively, that’s when you need the PR war. I would rather win the real war.”

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