Fake videos used to deny Gaza flood crisis on social media

Displacement camps in the Gaza Strip experienced severe flooding on November 6 and 7 due to heavy rainfall, causing significant hardship for residents, according to videos shared on social media. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that around 1.4 million Palestinians—about 65% of Gaza’s population—are living in tents and makeshift shelters.

OCHA, citing the Site Management Coordination (SMC) group, said the floods destroyed more than 6,000 family shelters and damaged another 17,000. The International Organization for Migration and SMC estimated that about 761,000 people in displacement sites are at risk of flooding this winter.

Meanwhile, AI-generated fake videos spread across social media platforms attempted to cast doubt on the reality of the situation, and were circulated by accounts supportive of Israel. Among these, one video with over 250,000 views on X showed children crowded in a tent flooded with muddy water, while another depicted women standing by a wall with water reaching their waists. Some images contained anomalies, such as a woman’s head turned 180 degrees, indicating the use of artificial intelligence to generate or alter the footage.

In this context, Reuters documented the situation and published images of the floods in Gaza’s camps. However, some of the fabricated clips gained wide traction, including posts with sarcastic captions about residents’ suffering, such as one account commenting: “Israel’s brutality is unprecedented in human history 💔.”