Modern technology hasn’t cleared up the fog of war – it’s created new spaces for it to thrive.
Online, multiple false claims about the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict have gone viral, just four days in.
Here are some of the top falsehoods and the truth behind them, as explained by Associated Press.
CLAIM: Senior Israeli general Nimrod Aloni was captured by Hamas militants during their deadly Saturday incursion.
FACT: There’s no truth to this claim, a spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces confirmed. Aloni was seen Sunday at a meeting of top Israeli military officials.
Aloni clearly appears 10 seconds into a video posted to the Israeli military’s official YouTube channel of top IDF officials discussing the war on Sunday. Sunday’s date can be seen on a slide in the background.
The IDF also published online four images from the meeting. The one on the lower right shows Aloni on the far right.
CLAIM: US President Joe Biden has announced US$8 billion ($12.4 billion) in military aid to Israel.
FACT: An image of a memo being widely shared online was fabricated, and Biden (pictured) has not made any such announcement, the White House confirmed on Monday.
CLAIM: A video shows Hamas fighters parachuting onto a sports field before attacking Israeli citizens.
FACT: While Hamas did employ paragliders to get some fighters across the border between Gaza and southern Israel, the footage of the sports field shows parachute jumpers in Cairo, Egypt, and has been online since at least September.
CLAIM: Two videos show Russian President Vladimir Putin warning the US to “stay away” from the latest Gaza war.
FACT: Both videos circulating online are months-old clips of Putin speaking about the Russia-Ukraine war, not the conflict in the Middle East, which have been miscaptioned in English.
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