Online Controversy: How Hamas, Russia and the United States have influenced the international media and the Israeli War on the War in Gaza
Iran, Russia and, to a lesser degree, China have used state media and the world’s major social networking platforms to support Hamas and undercut Israel, while denigrating Israel’s principal ally, the United States.
According to government officials, the amount of online propaganda is larger than they have seen before, as a reflection of the world’s political division.
“It is being seen by millions, hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Rafi Mendelsohn, vice president at Cyabra, a social media intelligence company in Tel Aviv, “and it’s impacting the war in a way that is probably just as effective as any other tactic on the ground.” There are at least 40,000 fake accounts online after Hamas attacked Israel.
It is feared that the content could inflame a wider conflict because of its political slant and emotional charge. The foreign minister of Iran has warned of repercussions if Israel continued to press on with its campaign in Gaza.
“It’s just like everyone is involved,” said Moustafa Ayad, executive director for Africa, the Middle East and Asia at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Influence campaigns by China, Russia and Iran were detailed last week by the institute.
The Spanish arm of RT, the global Russian television network, for example, recently reposted a statement by the Iranian president calling the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza on Oct. 17 an Israeli war crime, even though Western intelligence agencies and independent analysts have since said a missile misfired from Gaza was a more likely cause of the blast.
Another Russian overseas news outlet, Sputnik India, quoted a “military expert” saying, without evidence, that the United States provided the bomb that destroyed the hospital. Posts like these have garnered tens of thousands of views.
Rubin is the head of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.
In the first few days of the conflict, a profile on X that bore characteristics of an inauthentic account posted 616 times, though it had previously featured content mostly about cricket. A cartoon claimed that the Palestinian resistance toward Israel was seen as terrorism, while the Ukrainians fought against Russia for self-defense.
What do we know about the operation Gaza City of the Israel Defense Forces, as revealed by the latest satellite images and conversations with the Pentagon and the Space Agency
A second satellite image from a European Space Agency satellite taken on Nov. 1 showed evidence that Israeli armor had advanced to within three-quarters of a mile (a little over a kilometer) of the coast. Eyewitness videos also appeared to document heavy fighting in the neighborhood of Tal Al Hawa, on the southern end of Gaza City near the coast.
Based on the satellite imagery, the Israelis probably have a brigade consisting of several thousand troops operating in the northwest part of the city alone, says Sean MacFarland, a retired three-star general in the U.S. Army who conducted operations against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
“They’re pushing in with ground forces, but their objective does not appear to be holding territory and setting up checkpoints,” agrees Seth Jones, who oversees the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
But even if the other two axes also contain about a brigade, that wouldn’t be nearly enough to fully occupy or even conduct a building-by-building sweep of a dense, urban environment like Gaza City, says Gentile.
They may choose to conduct operations inside, or control the city from the outskirts. Such raids might allow them to destroy tunnels and other key parts of Hamas infrastructure without committing to a full occupation.
Satellite images and social media posts from both bystanders and Israel Defense Forces were examined by NPR. Based on what images and conversations the military experts have, here is what we know so far about the operation.
High-resolution satellite imagery taken by the company Planet on Oct. 31 shows roughly two-dozen Israeli armored vehicles stationed near the road, presumably to control access.
He thinks that Israel may be more likely to use aircraft and infantry to strike at individuals. Jones thinks it’s designed to go after infrastructure.
On October 31, Israeli fighter jets launched an air strike on a section of the refugee camp just north of Gaza City. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the strike was conducted with intelligence gathered by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service.
The Israeli military said dozens of Hamas fighters were killed, along with a senior Hamas commander. Many injured civilians were depicted in photos from the site, which showed a crater similar to the collapsed tunnel beneath it. The health ministry in Gaza reports that nearly 200 people have died, and 120 are still missing.
A former Pentagon intelligence officer who now works for Pax warns that the incident shows a dangerous new phase in operations. In the opening weeks of the war Israel conducted strikes on predetermined targets. Now they’re striking quickly at “dynamic targets” with little warning or no warning for civilians in the area.
Israel has tried to warn civilians in broad terms to leave northern Gaza, says Alex Plitsas, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in the Middle East programs group. He says that they’ve asked people to leave, and that they’ve attempted to clear the battlefield.
“While Israel has a right to defend itself, that right is not unlimited,” he says. The principle of proportionality is what he says they must operate under. “Any attack they make, the military gain can not be outweighed by the civilian harm,” he says.
The United Nations human rights office warned that the strikes on the camp could amount to war crimes.
The Iraq War and the Status of the Organization of Joint Operation (COOPER) in Iraq: A Brief Report on the 2006-2007 Operation
Gentile, who was in Iraq in the summer of 2006, says that the numbers will grow. Both Hamas and Israel view this as an important battle.
They were only treating burns that had saline and Illium. There’s no post-wound care, no antibiotics, hospitals were performing surgery without anesthesia because they had no choice,” he says.
It’s hard to imagine Israel being able to maintain international support unless it can demonstrate that it is trying to help civilians and minimize casualties.
Humanitarian conditions on the ground are an issue for the operation. “That needs to get addressed, and addressed very, very quickly.”