Israeli content creators have racked up hundreds of thousands of views in a recent viral trend on TikTok deriding the struggles of child victims of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
The youths film themselves posing as representatives of a fictional humanitarian organisation and call their family members and friends to ask for donations for Palestinian children. Those called usually react with rage, shouting and swearing before the callers reveal themselves in the videos uploaded to the platform as humorous pranks.
Israeli social media influencer Yakir Bar Zohar shared a video in which he asked passersby for donations for children in Gaza.
In the clip, which has received thousands of likes and shares, a man agrees to his request to donate to “hungry children”, but Bar Zohar is surprised and asks if he is sure he wants to donate “to the children who are going to be terrorists”.
Many videos in this spirit can be found circulating on TikTok, most were posted by young people and teenagers, but some were made by soldiers.
In one video, shared with the text, “We pranked my father (an extreme right-winger), that we donate money for children in Gaza”, a soldier asks her father to donate to the children in Gaza because “they should also be taken care of”.
Her father responds: “Let them go to hell and everyone who contributes to them.” After he directs a stream of curses at the ‘representative’, she reveals her identity and laughs.
In another video posted last week, a young woman asks her mother to donate to “innocent children in Gaza”.
Her mother responds: “Innocent Gazan children? There’s no such thing”. She then wishes the children in Gaza “death in agony, death in bad agony, in stoning, that they will burn in hell all the people there”.
In another video, the caller’s father says he would be happy to host children from Gaza in his home. He adds that he “will tie them to some pole”.
Israel’s war has had a devastating toll on children in Gaza.
Reports indicate that at least 14,500 children have been killed, thousands injured, about 17,000 left unaccompanied or separated from their parents, and nearly one million forced to flee their homes.
As of October 2024, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza estimated that over 35,000 children had lost one or both parents.
In addition to death and injuries caused by Israel’s attacks, Palestinians have also faced severe hunger and the risk of famine throughout the war in what a UN expert concluded was an “intentional and targeted starvation campaign” by Israel that was “killing more people than bombs and bullets”.
MEE has previously reported on Palestinian children and infants who have starved or frozen to death amid a lack of food and shelter.
According to OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, over 3,000 children and 1,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women in Gaza have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition since January.
While a slight improvement in food consumption was noted during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israel’s renewed blockade has raised fears of severe starvation once again.
‘I love this trend’
The majority of commenters praise the videos as being funny or witty, or agree with the statements made by the callers’ relatives.
Several users said they agreed that “there are no innocents [in Gaza], from young to old”.
One commenter, who received over 1,000 likes, agreed with the angry response from a parent, saying: “This should be the opinion of every sane citizen in the country and in the entire world”.
In the most popular video found by MEE on TikTok, a young woman asks her father to donate because “we are demolishing their homes and we need to build for them.”
In response, her father says, “I’ll come and demolish your house, too,” and continues to curse and threaten her throughout the call.
The video received more than 100,000 likes and over 3,500 comments.
One wrote, “I love this trend, I’m dying,” and another said, “Offensive, racist, humiliating – I am loving it.”
While a majority of the comments supported the videos, recent reshares on other social media platforms have been slammed as “hateful” and “dehumanising”.
