An Israeli-Arab man who posed as a soldier and said in an interview on social media that the troops deliberately killed Palestinian women and children in Gaza daily was arrested, Israeli Police said on Wednesday morning.
The suspect, a 19-year-old resident of Abu Ghosh, outside Jerusalem, gave the interview in English on an undisclosed social network that the police said had “significant exposure and many views.” Since October 7, police have been monitoring social media, but primarily for incitement.
Police released a portion of the video interview. The man, wearing a jacket with an Israeli flag on the sleeve, tells the interviewer, “We kill everybody.”
“Everybody?” the interviewer asks.
The suspect nods his head and says “Yes.”
“Even the children?” the interviewer asks.
The suspect nods his head again and says, “And the children.”
He went on to claim the soldiers killed babies, including a one-day-old baby.
Investigators discovered that the man was not a soldier.
It wasn’t clear who the interviewer was or if he was aware that the person he was interviewing was not a soldier.
Online incitement targeting Palestinian teens has also been traced back to the Palestinian Authority and local Palestinian clergy.