How AI fuels global belief in unverified claims of Israeli atrocities

It may be too late now – AI is already echoing recycled stories from legacy media – but the evidence of Israeli atrocities at Gaza Health Foundation (GHF) food sites has always been hanging by a thread. And now, that thread seems to be snapping.

The entire mound of accusations against Israel, suggesting that they were wantonly gunning down hungry Gazans at food distribution sites, was largely based on the testimony of one man: a sacked GHF worker with a grudge. The Telegraph reported that he had warned his former employees that he could be their “best friend or worst nightmare,” and that the “gloves are off.” 

Former U.S. Army green beret, Anthony Aguilar’s testimony of horrifying atrocities has been circulating both on social media and also in major news outlets, and only later found to be riddled with falsehoods. His claim to have witnessed an 8 year old boy named Abdul Muhammad Hamdene ("Abboud") being executed by the IDF was found to have been false when Abboud turned up alive and well, featuring in an interview on Fox.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a press release on July 31 announcing that “at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food” since May 27. The UN body asserted that most of these killings “were committed by the Israeli military.” However, despite the many photographs and videos circulating in every direction coming out of Gaza, not one of the thousands of alleged killings was caught on camera. In the absence of any credible evidence, it seems to have been hanging heavily on Aguilar’s report.

His compromised report was picked up and reported by legacy news (the traditional, established news outlets) including the BBC, NYT, PBS, USA Today, and many others, who all ran with the story as if it was fact.

To be fair to the legacy media, there have been several more “situation updates” from the UN even this month, including claims that the number killed has increased to 2,146. That’s an absolutely astonishing number. Yet not only are there no photos or videos of any actual killings, but there are absolutely no documentary records or independent confirmations either – only anecdotes.

When Grok is asked to fact check, here is the response:

“Evidence includes witness testimonies, medical records of gunshot wounds, and videos analyzed by CNN and others showing IDF gunfire at aid crowds. UN reports over 2,146 deaths near GHF sites by Sep 2025, sourced from local data. IDF denies deliberate killings, citing warning shots; GHF rejects claims of incidents. Sources like HRW, Haaretz, and BBC cite whistleblowers, but full independent verification is limited amid ongoing conflict.”

It’s widely acknowledged that the IDF fired warning shots, but whether they killed anyone remains disputed. Gunshot wounds could just as easily have been caused by Hamas, which has reportedly killed both civilians and GHF workers, according to the claims of the aid organization. Yet despite the lack of verified evidence, the UN has reported thousands of deaths attributed to the IDF.

“If the UN is telling the truth, this would constitute the largest military atrocity committed by a liberal democracy in at least half a century, by a wide margin,” asserts Gary Geipel in Quillette. “For context, according to official tallies, US troops murdered between 347 and 504 civilians during the 1968 My Lai Massacre in Vietnam,” he continues, before outlining the problems with the UN’s fact finding.

Despite the discrediting of Aguila’s testimony, the legacy media has not retracted nor corrected any of the claims, despite the insistence of the GHF that the reports of killings have been part of a deliberate slander campaign against their food distribution, which by-passed not only the Hamas terror group but also the inefficient UN aid distribution efforts.

In an interview with ALL ISRAEL NEWS, Rev. Jonnie Moore, head of the GHF, told Joel Rosenberg, “Certain nefarious actors decided to issue a global disinformation campaign, to discredit the effort, when the exact opposite should have been happening. Everybody should have been celebrating what was going ahead.”

Instead, staff are receiving death threats. Anti-Israel activists scrawled “Death to the GHF” on the driveway of CEO John Acree, claiming that the aid distribution sites are deliberate death traps.

Ultimately, AI works by scraping the news that it finds from sources that are considered credible. The UN, the BBC, the New York Times and similar institutions all fit into that category. If their information is flawed, guess what, trusted AI tools like Grok and Chat GPT will be flawed too.