Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Oct 05, 2025

Warnings on social media as 'manipulated' photos and videos about Israel-Gaza conflict go viral

Warnings on social media as 'manipulated' photos and videos about Israel-Gaza conflict go viral

Misleading videos shared by a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been viewed over 300,000 times.

As violence between Israeli and Palestinian groups worsens, misinformation relating to both sides is spreading on social media.

Twitter placed a "media manipulation" warning on a tweet by Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that was shared with his 97,000 followers.

The tweet in question featured a 28-second video that claimed to show Hamas firing rockets towards Israel during the latest round of violence - footage he said was evidence of a "war crime".

However, it has since emerged that the video in question is at least two years old.

Mr Gendelman shared the tweet with his 97,000 followers


Mr Gendelman's tweet, written in Arabic and posted on Tuesday morning, had said: "Here's more clear evidence that terrorist militia Hamas deliberately fires rockets from inside residential neighbourhoods in Gaza. This is a terrible war crime.

"A third of rockets fired at Israel fall inside Gaza killing civilians and children."

With the words "#Gaza now" written across it in red in English and Arabic, the video captures 17 rockets firing one after the other from an area next to the building the camera is recording from.

Three further rockets are then fired from slightly further away followed by another explosion in the same area.

However, reverse image searching of the clip showed it was posted on YouTube in 2018 - and the description says it was filmed in the Syrian city of Daraa. The tweet has since been deleted.

This is a screenshot of the same video on YouTube in 2018


Twitter placed a warning on Mr Gendelman's tweet before it was deleted, identifying it as "media manipulation".

The social media giant's policy states that it places this warning on content when they have reason to believe that "media or the context in which that media is presented are significantly and deceptively altered or manipulated".

This is a screenshot of the TikTok video shared on Twitter by Mr Gendelman


Mr Gendelman also shared another video - this time from TikTok.

The caption translates to: "Hamas, as usual, is trying to mislead the media and public opinion by staging fabricated plays, and now it has shown young men alive as if they were corpses, but their efforts are not convincing and the bodies are moving. We expose the lies of Hamas!"

However, a search for the TikTok account watermarked on the video shows that this clip was posted back in March.

The user's profile states that they are based in Nazareth, but there is no apparent evidence of a connection to Hamas.

The account mostly shares videos of the user riding on motorcycles and in off-road cars.

This is a screenshot of a photo shared on Facebook


Fake news is also being shared against Israel.

A controversial Kashmiri cleric shared this photo, which he says depicts a journalist crying outside al Aqsa mosque.

The mosque was where the fierce clashes between police and protesters that sparked the recent escalation took place.

The photo was shared in 2019 on the Asian Cup football tournament's Twitter page


However, the picture was taken during the Asian Cup football tournament in 2019.

Facebook has flagged the cleric's post as "false information".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×