Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor of Middle East studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar who studies misinformation, told NBC News that he found that the source of the “40 babies beheaded” allegations largely stemmed from a viral Israeli news broadcast clip that did not specifically refer to the allegation.
Nicole Zedeck, a correspondent for the privately owned Israeli news outlet i24NEWS, said in the video that Israeli soldiers told her they’d found “babies, their heads cut off.” The video has been viewed more than 11 million times on X, according to its view counter. In another tweet, Zedeck wrote that soldiers told her they believe “40 babies/children were killed.”
“Somehow those two bits of information were connected, the story became ‘40 babies were beheaded,’ and in the British press today, about six or seven newspapers had it on their front pages,” Jones said.
An IDF spokesperson, Doron Spielman, told NBC News on Tuesday that he could not confirm i24NEWS’s report.
Unverified reports of ‘40 babies beheaded’ in Israel-Hamas war inflame social media - NBC News