BERLIN, Oct 14 (The African Portal) – After 738 days in captivity, the remaining living Israeli hostages have been released from Gaza. At the same time, social media has been flooded with false and misleading claims surrounding the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza and the freed hostages — fueling confusion and polarizing public sentiment. The DW Fact check team has investigated some of the most viral examples.
Did none of the female hostages survive in Gaza?
Claim: “All of the female hostages are dead. Where is the outrage? Savages”, wrote Laura Loomer, an influential far-right activist, following the news of the release of Israeli hostages on October 13, 2025.
DW Fact check: False
This claim is not true, and here’s why: On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry (updated on June 22, 2025), a total of 57 deceased hostages have been brought back to Israel so far. Israel says that the bodies of at least 27 killed hostages who were abducted on October 7 are still being held by Hamas.
On October 13, 20 living hostages were released by Hamas — an entirely male group, according to media reports. But several female hostages had already been freed in earlier exchanges.
Especially during the first ceasefire in November 2023, several children and female hostages were released from Hamas captivity. Also, on January 19, 2025, Hamas released 33 hostages, including three women: Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari.
Four female Israeli soldiers — Karina Ariev, Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy — were released on January 25, 2025.
A total of 117 hostages have been released so far, including many women and children. According to the Israel Defence Forces, there are no more living Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity.
Old footage used to show the celebration of the new ceasefire
Claim: “Hamas is the only army in the world that wears civilian clothes during war and puts on uniforms during ceasefires”, an X user wrote, sharinga picture allegedly showing the uniformed Hamas fighters during celebration of the recent ceasefire in Gaza. The post quickly went viral, garnering over 2.5 million views. The same claim has since been shared across multiple platforms — including Facebook— and in different languages, such as Spanish, Persianand Polish.
DW Fact check: Misleading
Some users in the commentsinterpret the image as being taken after the current ceasefire went into effect. That is not what this is. A reverse image search reveals that the photo is actually a still from a longer video. It is circulating with similar claims, for instance in Russian, stating: “As soon as there is a ceasefire, Gaza is full of pumped-up, armed men in military uniform”.
These posts suggest the footage is from the latest ceasefire, but the video is old and unrelated to current events. A 17-second video was already postedon January 26, 2025. Back then, the people in Gaza were celebrating the peace deal that was in effect from January 19 to March 18, 2025.
A luxury car to celebrate the ceasefire?
Claim: A video showing a luxury car driving through the rubble of destroyed buildings was shared on X with the caption: “Nothing like rolling out in your brand new $170,000 BMW M4 to celebrate the end of the ‘Gaza Genocide’ that never existed”.
DW Fact check: False
While the video really shows a BMW M4 driving through a destroyed area, the video is not linked to recent events in Gaza.
Using reverse image search, DW can trace the video back to at least May 2025, months before the current ceasefire.
The claim also exaggerates the car’s value: while the BMW M4 is a high-performance vehicle, the 2025 base model startsat approximately $80,875, depending on configuration and market. The $170,000 figure likely refers to a heavily customized or limited edition version, not the standard model shown in the video.
Also, the claim states that the “Gaza genocide” never existed. But the UN commissions as well as at least two Israeli NGOsand the International Association of Genocide Scholarshave described the scale of the killings as a genocide.
Did Israel use a booby-trapped Teletubby in Gaza?
Claim: “BREAKING — Gaza Civil Defense: We found booby-trapped children’s toys and canned food that the occupation deliberately planted to cause more casualties,” an X user wrote, in reference to Israel. The postwas viewed 3.5 million times.
Attached to the post, were photos of a Tinky Winky stuffed animal, the famous purple character from the Teletubbies children’s program, lined with an improvised explosive device (IED).
DW Fact check: False
The images are not current – they are screenshotted from a July 2018 videoof Yemen, as we found via reverse image search.
That video was created by Project Masam, a Saudi-funded humanitarian group that clears landmines in Yemen. In the original video, a person can be seen cutting open the toy and removing the explosive.
Yemen is one of the world‘s most landmine-contamined countries, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
While the photo was clearly taken from a different context, the caption itself appears to be attributable to the Gaza civil defense agency. MultipleArabmedia outlets reported on Saturday that a spokesperson made the claim about children’s toys. However, DW Fact check did not find any proof of that.
Credit: DW
