Did you see a claim on social media this week that Hamas is holding 500 Americans hostage in Gaza? It’s gone viral, with some of the biggest accounts on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, claiming the White House admitted the stunning number recently. But it’s simply not true.
The false claim that 500 Americans are being held hostage in Gaza can likely be traced to Mario Nawfal, an X user who often goes viral with sensationalist claims on the social media platform.
“JUST IN: The White House admitted Hamas is holding nearly 500 Americans hostage in Gaza. Via: U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee,” Nawfal tweeted on Tuesday.
And while Nawfal didn’t provide a link to Blackburn’s claim, if you take a look at Sen. Blackburn’s X account, you can see a similar claim on her official account.
“The White House admitted Hamas is holding nearly 500 Americans hostage in Gaza,” Blackburn tweeted on Tuesday.
But Blackburn is incorrect about the number of hostages being held by Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces have said 230 people are being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the latest figures released by the IDF. And obviously not every one of those 230 people are Americans.
Where did Blackburn get this number that 500 Americans were being held in Gaza? It appears the senator is conflating the number of Americans trapped in Gaza right down during the Israel-Hamas war with the number of hostages.
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