Fake Mossad account spreads misinformation about airstrike that killed aid workers in Gaza
Palestinians inspect a vehicle with the logo of the World Central Kitchen wrecked by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Social media users are falsely claiming that Israel said the deaths of seven aid workers caused by this and two other strikes were actually due to roadside bomb planted by Hamas. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
CLAIM: Israel said that the deaths of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen in the Gaza Strip Monday night were caused by a roadside bomb planted by Hamas.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. No Israeli officials have publicly made such a statement. An X account impersonating the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad wrote soon after news of the incident broke that it appeared to have been caused “by a side bomb planted by Hamas.” The Israeli military said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Tuesday that the deaths “occurred as a result of an IDF strike.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the country’s forces had carried out an “unintended strike” in Gaza.
THE FACTS: Following the Israeli airstrikes that killed the World Central Kitchen workers and led the charity to suspend delivery of vital food aid to Gaza, social media users claimed that Israel had blamed Hamas for the incident.
“‘A Hamas roadside bomb killed the aid workers —Israel,’” reads one X post that had received approximately 7,900 likes and more than 3,400 shares as of Tuesday. “I’ve never known a roadside bomb to jump onto the windscreen of a vehicle clearly marked as aid workers. It’s incredible Hamas can do this without any air strike capacity. (They’re mocking us).”
Many posts included footage of a vehicle with a large hole going through the World Central Kitchen logo on its roof, printed there so that the vehicle could be identified from the air.
But no Israeli officials have publicly said that a roadside bomb planted by Hamas killed the aid workers.
An X account called “Mossad Commentary,” which impersonates Israel’s intelligence agency, made such a claim in a post on Monday at 3:49 a.m. Israel time.
“The IDF is investigating an incident in which 5 foreign aid workers were killed in Gaza which appears to be by a side bomb planted by Hamas for our forces in Deir al-Balah,” it reads.
Mossad Commentary, which uses Mossad’s logo as its profile picture, is not affiliated with the Israeli intelligence agency and has previously made false claims about the Jewish state. For example, a post from October 2023 states that Yemen had “officially” declared war on Israel. The AP reported at the time that Yemen’s internationally recognized government had done no such thing.
Mossad’s website links to its official X account, which is called in Hebrew “The Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks.” Its most recent post is from September 2020.
The Israeli military told the AP in February that Mossad Commentary is “clearly not an official account.” Mossad Commentary did not respond to a message from the AP on X sent after the World Central Kitchen strikes.
Prior to Mossad Commentary’s post, the Israeli military wrote on Telegram at 1:34 a.m. local time Monday that “following the reports regarding the World Central Kitchen personnel in Gaza today, the IDF is conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”
The military said in a statement to the AP Tuesday afternoon that the incident “occurred as a result of an IDF strike.” Around the same time, Netanyahu acknowledged in a statement that “unfortunately, in the last day, there was a tragic incident of an unintended strike of our forces on innocent people in the Gaza Strip.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s top military spokesperson, said in a statement early Tuesday morning that officials are reviewing the incident at the highest levels and that an independent investigation will be launched to “help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again.”
World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, said it had coordinated with the Israeli military over the movement of its cars, the AP has reported. Three vehicles moving at large distances apart were hit in succession. They were left incinerated and mangled, indicating multiple targeted strikes.
The dead include three British citizens, Polish and Australia nationals, a Canadian-American dual national and a Palestinian.
World Central Kitchen was key to efforts by the U.S. and other countries to open a maritime corridor for aid from Cyprus to help ease near-starvation conditions in Gaza’s north. Those efforts were threatened when the charity suspended food deliveries Tuesday.
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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
