How fake news is thickening the fog of war in Israel and Gaza

Hundred of deceptive or manufactured social media posts mean sites like X can no longer be fully trusted

A medic carries a Palestinian child injured during Israeli air strikes into a hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

A man walks past images of Israeli hostages snatched by the Palestinian militant group Hamas last week in a surprise attack into Israel, plastered on a wall outside the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv. AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at the airport en route to neighbouring Israel for crisis talks after a tour of Arab nations, in Amman. AFP

An Israeli soldier adjusts his rifle as he stands on a tank near Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel. Reuters

Lorries carrying humanitarian aid destined for Gaza wait for the reopening of the Rafah border, in the city of Egyptian city of Al Arish. Reuters

Palestinians search for casualties under the rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Reuters

Members of a Palestinian civil emergency team react after several colleagues were killed in Israeli strikes, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Reuters

US citizens wait at the port of Haifa to be evacuated to Cyprus, amid the battle between Israel and Hamas. AFP

Paramedics from the Emergency Medical Services, the only health organisation that is operational in Sderot, Israel, pray before starting work. EPA

Israeli soldiers patrol in armoured personnel carriers at an undisclosed position in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. AFP

People rally in support of Israel outside the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver, Colorado. AP

Children in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Getty Images

Residents of Gaza City evacuate as Israel continues bombing of the Gaza strip. EPA

Protesters participate in a rally in support of Palestinian people, on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil. EPA

A Palestinian house razed by Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip on October 15. Reuters

A man rearranges Jewish prayer books after a synagogue was hit by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip into Ashkelon, southern Israel. Reuters

Volunteers clean up at the synagogue in Ashkelon. Reuters

Laden aid lorries wait for the opening of the Gaza-Egypt border in North Sinai, Egypt. Getty Images

Injured Palestinians arrive at Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip, an enclave sealed off by Israel and hit by sustained retaliatory air strikes after the surprise Hamas attack. Getty Images

Rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel by the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. EPA

Palestinians sit by a building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah, Gaza. AP

Lorries carrying humanitarian aid to Palestine line up on the desert road from Cairo, heading for the Rafah border crossing into Gaza. Reuters

Palestinians wait at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. AP

Palestinian children wounded in Israeli air strikes are brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir El Balah, Gaza. AP

Palestinians charge their phones using solar power as electricity supplies remain cut off in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Reuters

Palestinians wounded in Israeli air strikes are carried into Al Aqsa hospital in Deir El Balah, Gaza. AP Photo

Palestinians queue to refill water containers at Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza. AFP

Palestinians attend to the wounded after Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. Reuters

Residents carry a few belongings as they begin to evacuate following an Israeli warning of increased military operations in the Gaza Strip. EPA

Internally displaced Palestinians take refuge at a UN school, in the Rafah refugee camp, in the south of the Gaza Strip. AFP

A wounded boy is rescued from the rubble after Israeli air strikes, in Khan Younis. Reuters

An area with destroyed buildings is deserted after residents of Gaza city began to evacuate. EPA

Palestinians in Khan Younis search for casualties under the rubble in the aftermath of Israeli air strikes. Reuters

Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip was bombed by Israeli forces in retaliation for last week's incursion by Hamas into Israel. Reuters

Khan Younis is in the southern Gaza Strip, where more than a million people in the north have been urged to travel by Israel as it carries out an anticipated ground invasion.

Palestinians search for casualties in Khan Younis. More than 1,500 people have been killed and injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza in the past week. Reuters

A rescue worker searches for casualties under the rubble of a building in Khan Younis. Reuters

A mourner grieves for a relative killed by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. AP

Palestinians evacuate a wounded youth after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. AP

Palestinians flee northern Gaza as Israeli ground forces prepare to enter the Strip. AP

Palestinians have formed convoys to flee northern Gaza. AP

Traffic queues as Palestinians flee northern Gaza for the south. AP

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. AP

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A black-clad Hamas fighter raises a hand-held rocket launcher to his shoulders and fires. Seconds later, an Israeli Apache attack helicopter explodes in a ball of flames.

It's an astonishing clip that shows the fury and intensity of conflict over the Gaza Strip that had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media.

Except it doesn't.

Despite the claims made for its authenticity, the scene is actually taken from a video game, Arma 3, which creates simulated battle scenes with surprising accuracy.

The conflict raging between Israel and Hamas has produced a flood of misinformation on social media, much of it on X, formerly known as Twitter, which this week was labelled a “fog of war machine” by the magazine Slate.

A distorted narrative

Hundreds of posts seen by millions of users have created a distorted narrative of what is really happening on the ground. They have not just deceived gullible teenagers glued to their phones, but world leaders too.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden declared that “I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”

Despite rumours, the president had seen no such thing. He was reacting to unverified reports that Hamas had beheaded children in its assault on an Israeli kibbutz.

Some of this genuinely fake news might seem almost comical were it not for the power of platforms like X, TikTok and YouTube shaping opinions around the world.

A video on Facebook and X does not show Irish football fans waving Palestinian flags but are supporters of two Moroccan teams.

Another clip on X allegedly of Hamas capturing Israeli generals actually shows the arrest of Nagorno-Karabakh separatist leaders by Azerbaijan's security service.

A photograph of an aircraft filled with Israeli men flying home to enlist in the military is a fake generated by AI – a clue being passengers' hands with six fingers.

Another clip of a Hamas hang-glider killed after crashing into power lines and posted to Reddit is in fact a tragic accident in China first shown on YouTube three months ago. The post was later deleted by the user after fellow Reddit users said it was inaccurate.

Footage on TikTok of buildings in Gaza surrounded by smoke and red flames is actually football fans in Algiers celebrating a win with flares and fireworks.

A video posted by a Malaysian right-wing influencer, Ian Miles Cheong, and viewed over 12 million times, claimed to show Hamas going door-to-door hunting down Israelis. “Imagine if this was happening in your neighbourhood, to your family,” he wrote. It is actually footage of Israeli police conducting a raid on a house.

Other examples seem more sinister.

Sinister posts

A video, seen over a million times, claims to show Gazans faking deaths caused by Israel, when a person lying on the ground suddenly comes back to life and runs away. It is actually a video satirising Covid restrictions shot in Jordan.

A video posted on X, accompanied by a broken heart emoji, is not a kidnapped Israeli child with her Hamas abductor, but a family filmed at a military academy in Egypt in September.

Other posts mimic genuine media outlets or repost genuine footage from Gaza, but from earlier conflicts months or even years ago.

An account on X posted misinformation from a supposed BBC reporter called Verona Mark, who does not exist.

While it has since been suspended, it fooled British politician Chris Clarkson – a Conservative Member of Parliament – who launched a blistering attack on the broadcaster.

Outlets as diverse as Al Jazeera and the Jerusalem Post have also suffered from fake accounts, including claims that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been taken to hospital.

Despite its low user numbers for a social media platform, X is often the first port of call for misinformation.

Since Elon Musk took over, dozens of content moderators have been laid off. A verified user “blue tick” can now be bought for a $8 monthly subscription via Twitter Blue.

Musk says he is committed to free speech and that “our policy is that everything is open source and transparent.”

However, Slate says that X is now “a degraded site that can't be trusted for sensitive breaking news”.

Debunking false claims

The BBC now has an entire department called Verify to fact-check news. In the days following the first Hamas attack and Israeli's response, monitoring social media about the conflict has become a full time job.

Ironically, much of this monitoring happens on X, where BBC Verify staff member Shayan Sardarizadeh has debunked a host of false claims and reports that have been seen by millions.

These include a photo that wrongly claimed Netanyahu was sending his son to fight in Gaza and a video claiming to show Israel's use of white phosphorus which was actually a Russian attack on Ukraine in March.

The motives of those posting misinformation are varied.

They may be trolls acting on behalf of state actors like Iran, or simply supporters of the various waring sides making trouble. Many simply post what gets the most likes to raise their profile.

Most are eventually debunked on the platforms they appear, but not before they have been seen by millions in their original state.

The BBC's Sardairzadeh writes that “the main challenge remaining for X is addressing the issue of Twitter Blue accounts, whose false posts are not only boosted by the algorithm in feeds, but also monetised.”

The awful truth is what is really happening in Gaza and Israel is far more horrifying than the false claims on social media.

As Sardarizadeh says: “War is not a game for retweets and likes on social media.”