Top Israeli Disinformation Narratives Investigated by Misbar in 2025

The year 2025 marked the halting of the Gaza war, one of the most devastating wars in recent history, which was accompanied by large volumes of misinformation and disinformation.

The fragile ceasefire, however, has not put an end to the misleading content. Instead, many disinformation campaigns adapted to the post-war moment, shifting their focus toward denying documented crimes, minimizing humanitarian suffering, discrediting journalists and witnesses, and reframing Israel’s conduct through selective data and manipulated visuals.

Throughout 2025, Misbar fact-checked dozens of misleading stories, sometimes fabricated and amplified by radical Israeli officials or even Israeli ministries. The disinformation did not stop at misleading the audience, but also directly threatened the lives of people in Gaza, ultimately resulting in the killing of some of them.

This roundup highlights the most significant Israeli disinformation narratives investigated by Misbar in 2025.

Denial of Famine and Starvation

One of the most persistent and dangerous Israeli disinformation themes in 2025 was the systematic denial of famine and starvation in Gaza. As humanitarian agencies, medical professionals, and international bodies had been warning of widespread hunger and malnutrition before the ceasefire, Israeli officials, pro-Israel accounts, and coordinated networks worked to cast doubt on these assessments through selective data, distorted statements, and the discrediting of individual cases.

In August, the United Nations officially declared a famine in Gaza City, following six months of a complete Israeli blockade on aid entry. Although the report was based on verified figures, Israel rejected it.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused the committee of changing its criteria. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the report as “an outright lie.” The Israeli military described it as “biased and false,” while the COGAT claimed Israel had implemented concrete measures to increase the flow of aid.

Misbar found that Israel’s denial relied on distorted data, attacks on the report’s methodology, and misleading claims about aid volumes fell far short of Gaza’s actual needs.

The disinformation did not stop at denying the crisis at large but shifted to attacking individual cases. Israeli officials and pro-Israeli accounts denied that the malnourished children, Mohammed al-Mutawaq, whose image was featured in the New York Times, Dana al-Haj, whose body appeared emaciated, and Karim Muammer, had ever suffered from malnutrition, attributing their conditions to a congenital muscular disorder or genetic diseases, or even denying they were originally from Gaza.

The disinformation pattern extended to fatal cases, with Israeli officials claiming that Marah Abu Zuhri, a 20-year-old Palestinian woman, and infant Zainab Abu Halib, who both died suffering from severe malnutrition, had died solely of leukemia or intestinal illness. 

Misbar’s team investigated each claim and confirmed that all individuals suffered from severe malnutrition. Mohammed al-Mutawaq’s mother confirmed to Misbar that he was born healthy and later developed acute malnutrition due to prolonged food shortages under the Israeli blockade, a fact corroborated by medical diagnoses. In Dana al-Haj’s case, whom Israeli accounts claimed was from Morocco, the photographer publishing her images verified to Misbar that her photos were taken in Deir al-Balah.

For Karim Muammer, while he has Fanconi syndrome, doctors at Nasser Hospital confirmed that famine conditions and prolonged food deprivation had severely worsened his health. For Marah Abu Zuhri, Italian hospital officials and lab tests disproved claims that leukemia was the sole cause of death, showing she arrived with profound physical deterioration consistent with severe malnutrition, which directly contributed to her death. Misbar also found that infant Zainab Abu Halib died from severe malnutrition caused by the lack of appropriate infant formula under the blockade.

Denying the famine did not stop, even after the ceasefire. The official Israeli account of the state of Israel on X claimed that UNRWA admitted there was “no famine” in Gaza. The claim circulated only three days after the ceasefire, with officials asserting that Gaza has enough food for everyone for three months. 

Misbar investigated the claim and found that what UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini meant was pre-positioned aid outside the Strip, not available food inside.

Israeli Disinformation Campaigns Kill a Journalist and Threaten Lives of Several Others

Beyond denying the famine, Israeli disinformation campaigns in 2025 increasingly focused on discrediting those documenting the war itself. Smear campaigns were directed against Palestinian journalists. These campaigns, in some cases, led many users, including Israeli officials, to incite military action against the targeted journalists.

In May, photojournalist Hassan Eslaiah was killed after a years-long campaign of disinformation. The first public incitement effort against him was in 2018. After October 7, Israeli media outlets, lobbying organizations, and government officials incited against him for documenting the October 7 attack. A misleading video accusing Eslaiah of riding a motorbike with a grenade in his hand during the attack was weaponized against him. Misbar’s investigation found that Eslaiah was innocent of the misleading accusations, confirming he was not the one holding the grenade.

Anas Zayed Fteiha was another photographer who was subjected to a similar incitement campaign. After Fteiha photographed children receiving food at community kitchens, German media outlets, Israeli government-linked accounts, and pro-Israel advocacy groups alleged his photograph was staged, accusing him of spreading “Hamas propaganda” through his photojournalism.

In an interview with Misbar, photojournalist Anas Fteiha directly refuted Israeli claims, explaining that the footage cited by German media was filmed on July 22 at a community kitchen in western Gaza City. He confirmed that he was filming a video — not staging scenes. Additional photographs shared with Misbar further show Fteiha filming men receiving meals, contradicting claims that he selectively focused on women and children.

At the center of the smear campaigns against Eslaiah, Fteiha, and many other journalists is HonestReporting, a U.S.-based Israeli media watchdog that has positioned itself as an arbiter of journalistic ethics. 

Misbar’s team has been observing the organization for two years, finding that its allegations against Palestinian journalists are often without evidence or are based on misleading evidence that does not withstand scrutiny.

Misbar’s investigation into the group’s funding, personnel, and coordination reveals deep institutional ties to Israeli government bodies, military frameworks, and state-backed propaganda initiatives, indicating a high likelihood of falsehoods in the group’s claims of independence.

Denying Killings and Civilian Harm

Israeli disinformation campaigns sought to deny killings and downplay civilian harm in Gaza, both during and after the war.

In March, Israeli forces killed 15 Palestinian medics and first responders in Rafah and buried their bodies in a mass grave. Israeli officials claimed the ambulances were “suspicious,” uncoordinated, and used by militants approaching without lights or emergency signals.

A recovered video from one of the victims’ mobile phones, along with eyewitness testimony from the sole survivor, forensic evidence, and footage released by the U.N. and the Palestinian Red Crescent reveal that the Israeli narrative was misleading. The evidence showed that the ambulances had their lights on and medics were in identifiable humanitarian uniforms. 

Similar misleading campaigns targeted several people injured and killed by Israeli attacks. In May, Misbar investigated a coordinated attempt by pro-Israel accounts to discredit a viral photo of a double-amputee Gazan girl by claiming it was AI-generated. Misbar verified the photo is real, identifying the child as 3-year-old Rahaf Saad, who lost both legs in an Israeli airstrike on her home in Al-Nuseirat in September 2024.

Another campaign targeted the baby Sham Muharab, falsely asserting that her amputated arm was merely hidden under bandages. Misbar talked with Nahed Hajjaj, the original photographer of Sham’s photo after her amputation, confirming that she lost her right arm as a result of an Israeli bombing of her family’s home and later died from the severity of her injuries. 

The campaigns continued after the ceasefire, as Israel continued targeting and bombing civilians. In November, Israeli accounts attempted to cast doubt on the killing of Palestinian child Nasiba Qreiqea by exploiting a name-labeling error. The photographer who took Nasiba’s image and Nasiba’s mother confirmed to Misbar that Israel killed her in June 2024. The name confusion stemmed from a corrected reporting error that was promptly fixed.

In December, Israeli military officials claimed it killed two “suspects” posing an immediate threat after crossing the so-called Yellow Line, which marks the Israel-controlled area inside the Strip. Reviewing the local reports, Misbar found the “two suspects” were Fadi and Goma Abu Assi, aged eight and 11, who were gathering wood to help their disabled father. 

Soon after the misleading claim targeting Abu Assi children, pro-Israel influencers and former officials launched a campaign to deny Israel’s responsibility for the killing of three-year-old Ahed al-Bayouk in southern Gaza during the ceasefire. The campaign used a viral video showing a child running toward aid trucks to falsely suggest that Ahed died in a truck accident. Misbar traced the footage to a different location, confirmed that the child in the video survived, and verified that Ahed was killed while playing near her family’s tent in al-Mawasi.

The Israeli campaigns also persistently sought to refute the suffering of displaced Palestinians. A prominent example of this was the recent campaign that cited the debunked AI content of displaced Gazans during Storm Byron to dismiss genuine documentation of Gaza’s suffering, claiming Gazans were the original creators of these fake videos. Misbar found that all of the cited AI videos originated from foreign TikTok accounts, mostly based in Pakistan, with some based in Thailand and the U.S.

Taken together, these cases reveal that children, journalists, and vulnerable civilians were regularly the target of Israelo disinformation campaigns. The campaigns were systematic and adaptive, and even after the ceasefire, they continued to evolve.

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