This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel Military engagements. Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip Military engagements. Impacts and repercussions. Other theaters Red Sea crisis. Attacks on U. IsraelβHezbollah conflict. IranβIsrael proxy conflict. Assassinations and deaths of prominent individuals. Misinformation and disinformation involving the distribution of false, inaccurate or otherwise misleading information has been a prominent and ubiquitous feature of the Gaza war.
A variety of sources, including government officials, media outlets, and social media influencers across different countries, have contributed to the spread of these inaccuracies and falsehoods.
The New York Times described the start of the Gaza war as releasing a "deluge of online propaganda and disinformation" that was "larger than anything seen before". It described the conflict as "fast becoming a world war online" and stated that Russia , China , Iran and its proxies had used state media and covert influence campaigns on social media networks to support Hamas, undermine Israel, criticize the United States and cause unrest.
State Department's Global Engagement Center called coverage of the conflict as being swept up in "an undeclared information war with authoritarian countries". During the conflict, the Israeli government and Israeli cyber companies have deployed artificial intelligence AI tools and bot farms to spread disinformation and graphic, emotionally charged and false propaganda to dehumanize Palestinians, sow division among supporters of Palestine, and exert pressure on politicians to support Israel's actions.
At the peak of the campaign it used hundreds of fake accounts posing as Americans on X, Facebook and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments, focusing on U. ChatGPT was deployed to generate many of the posts. The campaign also involved the creation of three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles. On 7 October , deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri based in Lebanon , claimed the Qassam Brigades had "captured senior officers from the occupation army " in the October 7 attacks.
