The Lie:

• Viral X accounts claiming to be “in Gaza” are reliable firsthand sources of information.

The Truth:

• X’s new country-of-origin and VPN-warning features reveal that many of these high-impact accounts are run from foreign countries, often hiding their true location.

Background

• Many high-visibility X accounts commenting on events in Israel and Gaza describe themselves as reporting “on the ground” or as local journalists, but users have had no way to verify whether these claims were accurate.
  
• Without transparency about an account’s true location, users could not easily determine whether viral posts reflected direct eyewitness reporting or commentary coming from elsewhere, including coordinated influence networks.

Truth Explained:

• Between Nov 20–23, 2025, X released a new transparency tool that shows the actual country an account is based in, along with warnings for VPN or proxy masking. https://opentools.ai/news/elon-musks-x-twitter-stirs-controversy-with-new-country-of-origin-feature
  
• The update immediately exposed dozens of high-impact anti-Israel and U.S. political accounts whose stated identities do not match their true locations. Why this matters: When an account appears to be in one place but is operated from another, users cannot accurately judge credibility, proximity to events, or whether the content reflects genuine reporting or coordinated influence efforts.
  
• Examples revealed in the first 48 hours https://x.com/home:
  
  • “Gaza Notifications” — based in Turkey, with 18 username changes.
    
  • “CounterAIPAC” — based in Egypt.
    
  • Muhammad Smiry (“local Palestinian journalist”) — based in Indonesia.
    
  • Motasem A. Dalloul (“Gaza reporter”) — based in Poland, linked to a UK App Store region.
    
  • “American Voice” — 206k-follower “U.S. conservative” persona actually based in South Asia, 15 username changes.
    
  • “Ghada” — viral “Gaza starvation” account — based in Egypt, 3 username changes.
    
  • Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) — flagged by X for VPN/proxy masking.
    
  • Additional networks posing as Western users were revealed to be posting from Qatar, Turkey, Yemen, Sudan, and Russia.
    
• These findings align with X’s stated goal: to give users more context about account authenticity and help identify potential coordinated inauthentic behavior. https://opentools.ai/news/elon-musks-x-twitter-stirs-controversy-with-new-country-of-origin-feature

Quotes

• On the exposure of “Gaza” accounts operating from abroad:
  Eyal Yakoby: “BREAKING: Thousands of ‘Gaza’ accounts posting daily about ‘starvation’ and ‘Israeli crimes’ aren’t based in Gaza.”
  
• On multiple high-visibility accounts being traced back to Turkey:
  Eitan Fischberger: “Turkey again. You know who has a significant presence in Turkey? Hamas — just saying.”

Takeaway

In the new era of transparency, one rule stands above all: don’t believe everything you read — especially from accounts pretending to be something they’re not.