Israel war: Misinformation and unverified claims spread as conflict rages

In the fog of war, the rushed environment for information circulating online allows for misinformation and unverified claims to spread amid reports about the conflict.

The war between Israel and Hamas is the latest conflict to see an influx of misinformation and contested claims flood social media platforms, like X, formerly known as Twitter.

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While Hamas has been blocked from most major social media platforms and typically relies on platforms like Telegram to spread its propaganda, accounts tied to the terrorist group still push out false or unverified claims regarding the conflict to win the online propaganda war, according to NBC News.

One of the most prominent misinformation posts was shared by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and it claimed to show children killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes, but instead, the post included an image from Syria from 2013. Omar later removed her repost of the post on X.

Images of babies “murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters” were posted by the Israeli government and presented to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to the country last week. The graphic images have been disputed by critics of Israel, with one attempting to claim they were generated by artificial intelligence using an unreliable AI detection website.

There are also unverified claims, including that the Israeli Defense Forces was trying to strike evacuation routes for Palestinians to leave Gaza. On the Israeli side, there is a claim that Hamas has planted improvised explosive devices on the southern route and tried to stage it as Israeli airstrikes. An analysis of multiple videos by the Financial Times showed it is difficult to prove where blasts from this claim originated.

A bit of misinformation being spread from supporters of Israel includes alleged footage of the laser defense system known as Iron Beam. One video shared on TikTok purporting to be of the system was actually video from the video game Arma 3, according to Newsweek.

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The rapid spread of information and disinformation has increased with each new conflict as social media continues to grow across the world. The most recent conflict to see a flood of misinformation and unverified claims flood platforms like X and TikTok was the war in Ukraine, which saw false stories like the early war false story of the “Ghost of Kyiv” spread.

Israel declared war against Hamas, the first time it had declared war since 1973, shortly after the attacks earlier this month. The conflict has killed at least 5,000 people in Israel and Gaza since the first attacks by Hamas, according to the Associated Press. The State Department has said that at least 30 Americans are among the dead in Israel.