Several investigations have debunked an influx of claims on social media platforms regarding the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict in Gaza.
Fake news and disinformation have been rampant on platforms like X since the conflict began on Oct. 7 when Hamas initiated a multi-pronged surprise attack by launching a barrage of rockets and infiltrations into Israel, saying the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.
Israel responded with Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and has bombed the besieged city nonstop since, killing at least 3,785 Palestinians, including at hospitals, refugee camps and a thousand-year-old Greek Orthodox church housing the displaced.
Hospital blast
Particularly, the bombing of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Tuesday night, which claimed 471 lives, has been a source of conflicting claims as Hamas blamed Israel for hitting the hospital during its massive bombing campaign and Israel accused a misfiring rocket from Palestinian resistance groups – a version backed by the United States.
Countless X users shared alleged videos of Hamas’ "failed launch" that hit the Gaza hospital. However, it was determined that most of the footage used belonged to an old video from August 2022.
Moreover, a fake account claiming to be an Al-Jazeera reporter operating under the name Farida Khan spread disinformation, claiming the attack was carried out with the "Hamas Ayyash 250" rocket.
The self-proclaimed reporter, who alleged to have witnessed the attack, also claimed that Hamas had the video of the missile hitting the hospital.
However, the account was fake, and there was no such reporter at Al-Jazeera.
Al-Jazeera issued a warning statement, stating that the account had no connection to its news service and advising people to verify information before publishing it.
Hamas allegations
Several reports about Hamas fighters kidnapping Israeli children, and killing or raping Israeli women have been refuted, with the footage in question showing Hamas fighters saying they will not harm any women, elderly, children or worshippers, or simply being outdated.
The allegation that Hamas fighters "beheaded 40 Israeli babies," also repeated by U.S. President Joe Biden in remarks later walked back by the White House, has been widely debunked, with Israeli military officials personally telling Anadolu Agency (AA) they did not have such information or evidence to confirm the claim.
Hamas has been accused of deliberately targeting Israeli elementary schools, citing "secret documents found in the bodies of dead Hamas fighters," but the claim is not accurate, either. After the conflict broke out on Oct. 7, Israel announced schools in central and southern regions were closed.
The alleged moment of attack on an Israeli music festival in the Negev Desert has also been disproven after it was revealed a video from a Bruno Mars concert in Tel Aviv was being circulated to make it appear as if it was recorded during an attack by Hamas.
The claim that "Hamas is executing Palestinians trying to escape conflicts" was also invalidated since the footage used is from 2013 and depicts a tragic incident in the southern part of the Syrian capital, Damascus, where at least 41 civilians were killed. This incident is unrelated to recent events involving Hamas or the Palestinian territories.
Manipulation has been rampant about pro-Palestine protests in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the rest of the world, as well.
Claims that Palestinians are "brutally beating Israelis" in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem have been proven false, as the videos actually show Israeli forces attacking Palestinian activists.
Refugee influx
The claim that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned "the terrorist attack that friendly Israel is facing" has also been false as the president did not make such a statement.
The conflict has also stoked xenophobic fears that Türkiye would start hosting refugees from Palestine, with prominent journalist Fatih Portakal claiming Ankara was considering admitting some 500,000 Palestinians to Türkiye.
No such preparation is taking place in any institution and the claims are entirely baseless.
Türkiye is also not helping Israel by "sending vegetables and fruits," contrary to claims. Türkiye has not provided any official aid to Israel as suggested in these reports. Independent businesses engaged in international trade have their own agreements to conduct maritime trade with each other, and this trade is being portrayed as "Türkiye aiding Israel."
Israeli protests
The claim that half a million Israelis are protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been false, as the footage used in news reports is from protests against judicial reforms on March 4, 2023.
A video depicting a group carrying sacks on their backs was shared on social media, claiming that it showed Egyptians delivering aid to Gaza.
It was determined that the footage in question was circulated with this claim on Sept. 7, 2023, regarding the Egypt-Libya border, not Gaza.
A claim circulated on social media that a photograph showing a bomb hitting a residential area depicted the moment Israel bombed Syria. It was determined that the photograph actually showed the moment when Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, not Syria.
Holocaust vs. Palestinian genocide
The genocide unfolding in Palestine also bears chilling similarities to the Holocaust in that Israel has been pursuing a systematic policy of "extermination" against Palestinians much in the way the Nazis sought to eradicate Jews in a campaign supported by their bureaucracy.
Israel has committed all five acts of genocide against the Palestinians, all of which fall under the definition of "genocide" in the U.N. Genocide Convention, which was established after World War II.
Mirroring the dispossession and expulsion of thousands of Jews in Germany, Israel has forcibly displaced 6.4 million Palestinians since 1948, massacring indiscriminately and stealing their homes and businesses.
The Gaza Strip, which has been under a blockade since 207 when Hamas took control, is quite often likened to an open-air prison with 2.3 million, mostly children, trapped there for decades. In brutality, recalling the gas chambers where Jews were killed with chemical weapons, Israel killed hundreds of Gazan civilians using internationally banned phosphorus bombs that burn bodies and buildings.
Zionists, whose ideology was founded on "racism," see the Palestinian people as the greatest demographic threat against the State of Israel, like Hitler saw the Jews as the biggest threat to the Aryan race. They wanted to create a homogenous ethnostate in "the promised land," similar to Nazi Germany’s motivation to usher in the Messianic Age.
In Nazi Germany, Jews and other minorities were labeled "Untermensch," meaning "sub-human." They were often depicted as "pests" or "rats," something Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant echoed two days after the conflict began as he called Palestinians "human animals."
Addressing fake news
Türkiye’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, on Tuesday urged both media outlets and civil society organizations to launch "common initiatives" to address fake news.
"We call on all media organizations as well as relevant civil society organizations to create common initiatives focusing on addressing both the supply and demand side of fake news. Fighting against disinformation must be a comprehensive effort involving all of us," Altun said on X.
Altun said journalists and media organizations have a challenging job in times of tension and conflict as they "need to report accurate information and fight disinformation campaigns conducted by all sorts of groups."
However, he added, it is not only the job of news professionals to ensure the veracity and credibility of information circulating in traditional and social media channels.
In the age of social media, Altun said, consumers of news are "often active participants in the dissemination of both accurate and fake news."
"Disinformation is not an innocent exercise and those who participate in it unwittingly must understand that they have a responsibility too," he said.