A claim spreading rapidly on social media alleges that Israel has killed 380,000 children under the age of five in Gaza. The number has racked up millions of views and has even been repeated by figures like Francesca Albanese. The problem is simple: the figure is mathematically impossible.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there were roughly 341,790 children under five living in Gaza before the war. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs places the number even lower, at around 320,000. In other words, the total population of children in that age group does not reach the number being claimed as fatalities.
For the allegation to be true, every single child under five in Gaza would have had to be killed. That claim collapses immediately when confronted with reality, including recent footage showing Gazan toddlers alive, receiving food and water.
This is not a mistake or a rounding error. It is a recycled antisemitic trope portraying Israel as uniquely monstrous, untethered from facts or data. When false claims like this spread unchecked, they do not just misinform — they incite hatred and make real-world harm more likely.
That is why calling out dangerous disinformation matters.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
