Fact check: Has Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu been killed?

Speculation has been rife on the status of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu following a widely circulated viral video.

Social media platforms were flooded with questions asking whether the Israeli leader had been targeted in an air strike after a screengrab was shared of him speaking – with viewers noticing what looked like six fingers on one hand.

However, despite posts claiming that the original upload had been deleted,the picture had never been shared via official Israeli government media channels or from Netanyahu’s own account.

Officials have confirmed that reports were fabricated, with no indication that Netanyahu was targeted in an attack or had left Israel.

Netanyahu’s most recent upload to X was a video of him speaking at a press conference on Thursday, addressing Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Iran.

It was captioned: ‘We are not waiting. We are initiating, we are attacking, and we are doing so with force.’

Why do people think Netanyahu might be dead?

A video of Netanyahu giving an update on Israel’s war against Tehran, appearing to show his right hand with six fingers, gave rise to speculation that the clip had been faked as a cover because the Israeli PM had died.

After it emerged that Netanyahu was alive and well, several users quickly dismissed the clip as a poorly made AI deepfake.

Experts have warned that AI often experiences difficulty recreating certain human features, with badly simulated fingers a key telltale sign the video may be faked.

But there was a different explanation for the misleading Netanyahu video.

Analysts explained the widely shared screenshot had been frozen in a way that appeared to show an additional finger at what was actually the edge of Netanyahu’s hand.

A closer look at the leader’s raised hand shows he had just four fingers and a thumb – in line with the vast majority of people.

The clip is just the latest example of how fast misinformation spreads online during times of conflict and uncertainty.

Where is Netanyahu now?

All evidence suggests Netanyahu is continuing to direct his military campaign from Israel.

On Thursday, the Israeli PM announced at a press conference, his first since the latest war began, that Israel had killed several of Iran’s top nuclear scientists.

He said that the ‘moment of freedom’ for Iranian people was drawing near, telling the country’s citizens: ‘At the end of the day, it depends on you. It is in your hands.’

His address also dropped a subtle indication that the campaign could be entering its final stages as many of his aims had been met.

‘We can already say with certainty: this is no longer the same Iran, this is no longer the same Middle East, and this is not the same Israel’, he declared.

The leader’s last update his social media channels was a clip of his speechshared on Friday.

However Netanyahu’s online absence for the last 24 hours is not unusual, given that he does not routinely share posts during the Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, which runs from Friday to Saturday evening,

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