Amidst the continuing Israeli barbaric war on Gaza, which has resulted in a significant loss of Palestinian lives and injuries, social media users supportive of Israel have exploited hashtags like "#Pallywood" and "#Gazawood" to romanticize the war and doubt the authenticity of Palestinian suffering by accusing them of faking deaths and injuries.
Systematic Campaign Shares Israeli Propaganda
A pervasive Israeli social media campaign emerges, alleging the falsification of media depicting casualties and injuries in Gaza. These claims often circulate under hashtags like “#Pallywood” and “#Gazawood.” This campaign is not recent and was deployed before the 2017 Gaza war.
The campaign contends that individuals shown in videos and images, including victims, injuries, and deceased individuals, are filmed by actors, citing various claims.
Over the years, Israel has consistently downplayed Palestinians' portrayal of themselves as victims of Israeli aggression. In 2014, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterized Palestinians by stating, "They want to pile up as many civilian dead as they can. They use telegenically dead Palestinians for their cause."
Misbar Debunks Widely Shared Hashtag Posts
The hashtags’ users started circulating a video clip on May 6, alleging that it shows Palestinians staging scenes inside a hospital room. In the video, a woman can be seen standing and laughing while in front of the cast during her performance.
Misbar’s team conducted a comprehensive reverse image search and found the video was shared out of context. The circulated video is behind-the-scenes footage from a 2024 Palestinian series titled "Bleeding Dirt."
The hospital room and actors featured in the video can be seen in an episode uploaded to YouTube by Bashar Al-Najjar, the director of the series.
Another video, shared by the users, has been circulating since February, claiming to show "#Pallywood at its best." The footage features a Palestinian doctor participating in a rescue operation for a "terrorist" who was allegedly shot by a sniper from Israeli forces at the entrance to a hospital in Khan Yunis.
On May 2, Dr. Mohammed Alkandar, a Kuwaiti medical volunteer who joined other doctors to aid Palestinian injuries during the war, shared a video on his Instagram account. In the video, he appears alongside the injured individual from the circulating video, who was rescued by Dr. Amira.
Dr. Alkandar and Ibrahim, the injured individual, narrates the incident, thanking Dr. Amira for her bravery in rescuing him amid the danger of Israeli snipers.
The video was also shared by the official Instagram account of Dr. Ameera Alasouli, who conducted the rescue operation to save Ibrahim.
In another incident within the same campaign, users shared a video featuring an interview with a mother whose son was suffering from malnutrition. The users claimed that the child's mother was intentionally starving her child for "Pallywood" scenes.
One X user shared the video along with a claim suggesting that Palestinians might be exploiting their children for #Pallywood photos. The accompanying claims question how the mother appears well-fed while her child is malnourished, implying inconsistencies in the situation.
Misbar's team referred back to the original interview on March 14, in which the publisher shared that Fadi al-Zant is a child from the northern Gaza Strip who is suffering from severe malnutrition due to drought conditions. The child urgently requires treatment to prevent his condition from worsening and potentially saving his life.
The MATW Project Arabic Instagram account also shared the same interview, appealing for donations to help save Fadi's life.
As of April 1, Gaza's Health Ministry reported that 32 individuals, including 28 children, had died of malnutrition and dehydration in hospitals across northern Gaza. Save the Children organization confirmed on April 2 that 27 children had died due to starvation and disease.
Earlier in March, officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) discovered cases of "children dying of starvation" in Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza. In the southern part of Gaza, where aid accessibility is somewhat better but still significantly inadequate, U.N. agencies revealed in mid-February that 5 percent of children under the age of 2 were suffering from acute malnutrition.
Furthermore, Children are particularly vulnerable during famine and other hunger crises, as they face a heightened risk of death. This risk stems from both starvation itself and from preventable diseases that become more lethal due to the debilitating effects of malnutrition on their bodies.
Pro-Israel users also circulated another video depicting grilled chicken being prepared in Northern Gaza, which they used to refute claims of famine severely affecting Palestinians for over 30 days, as reported by various media outlets. Commenting on the video, one user stated, "It appears that there is no famine in Gaza after all."
Misbar’s team noticed that the video was shared on May 1, marking the 208 day of the war as written in the shared video. Aid convoys carrying food started reaching northern Gaza on February 28. This suggests that the video was shot after goods started arriving in Northern Gaza, not during the drought that hit Northern Gaza.
According to the AP, the entry of aids marks the first significant delivery in a month to the devastated and isolated area. The United Nations has issued warnings about the deteriorating situation, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing worsening starvation amid Israel's offensive.
That does not mean that Northern Gaza is no longer facing famine nowadays.
On May 6, the head of the United Nations World Food Program stated that northern Gaza is now in a state of "full-blown famine" following nearly seven months of war. However, issuing a formal declaration of famine is complicated by political factors and challenges in confirming the number of casualties.
According to Cindy McCain in a recent NBC interview, severe Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza, a territory heavily reliant on external food assistance, have pushed civilians in the most isolated and devastated areas beyond the brink. The situation is worsening, with famine now spreading south in Gaza.
A spokesperson for the WFP later informed The Associated Press that one of the three criteria for declaring a famine in northern Gaza has already been met, with another close to being fulfilled. This development underscores the urgency of efforts to document the deadly consequences of hunger.
Recent Updates of Israeli’s Barbaric War on Gaza
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israel has killed at least 34,971 Palestinians and injured 78,641 since October 7.
The Ministry has revealed the discovery of 80 bodies from three mass graves within a sector of the al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City.
Concerning Israel's invasion of Rafah, the Israeli military has forced Palestinians to evacuate further from eastern Rafah as it escalates its offensive in the southern Gaza region.
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Behind-the-Scenes Footage Does Not Show Gazans Faking Deaths and Injuries Amid War
