No, this video does not prove that Hamas is using hyper-realistic dolls to fake child casualties

By: Siri Christiansen
December 13 2023

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Screenshots of social media posts claiming that Hamas has bought realistic baby dolls to fake child casualties in Gaza.

What is the claim?

A video of hyper-realistic baby dolls has gone viral on social media, where users are claiming the dolls have been bought by Hamas to use as fake child corpses. 

In one of the earliest videos found by Logically Facts, published by an Israeli TikTok account on December 3, the video features subtitles stating, “It turns out Hamas bought hundreds of silicone baby dolls to emotionally manipulate public opinion around the world, and in this way, they exert pressure on the State of Israel.” It has been viewed over 78,000 times as of December 12.

The video has also been shared on Facebook by the pro-Israeli account The Hallelu Foundation, where it has been viewed around 23,000 times. In the caption, the Hallelu Foundation claims that the price of the silicone baby dolls is $60 in China.

Source: TikTok/X/Screenshot

Other archived posts on TikTok and X can be viewed here, here, and here. 

What did we find?

A reverse image search of the first clip in the video led us to an exact match in a Facebook video published by the women’s entertainment page Tyla. The video explains that the dolls are hand-made by a small business called Elie’s Enchanted Cradle, and was published on January 11, 2023.

(Source: Facebook/TikTok/Screenshots)

The Facebook post includes a link to Elie’s Enchanted Cradle’s Instagram account, where the original video clip can be found. Looking at the artist’s TikTok page, we also found the second clip used in the video. Both clips were published back in 2022, and because they are of high quality and do not have any watermarks or text in them, it is likely that these videos were used to create the viral video. 

Elie’s Enchanted Cradle’s owner, Elie Davies, told Logically Facts that the claim is “ludicrous.” The artist dolls cost between £3,000-£6,000, take over 100 hours to make, and the company does not offer shipping to the Middle East.

“If you take a look at my social media accounts you will see that I only make one [doll] every 2-3 weeks because it takes a long time to create, and it would be impossible to create hundreds of dolls for Hamas in a short space of time,” said Davies. “I have been making these dolls for 8+ years now and I am in touch with almost every single client of mine. No, they are not being used in war.”

(Source: Instagram/TikTok/Screenshots)

The clips in the video therefore predate the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and neither the video nor its caption provide any further evidence of a link between Hamas and the dolls. A fact check by Lead Stories reached the same conclusion.

Additionally, the idea that Hamas would have to import hyper-realistic dolls from China to display child casualties also doesn’t tally with the current casualty records in Gaza. 23 percent of deaths recorded between October 7 and 26 were children between ages 0-9, according to data from Palestinian health authorities – statistics deemed credible by international bodies. This also correlates with Gaza’s demographics, as nearly half of the population is under 18 years of age.

The doll video ties into the larger, so-called “Pallywood” narrative, where footage of civilian harm is mocked online as evidence that Palestinians are using crisis actors or dolls to fake casualties or injuries.

The claim appeared just a few days after a video of Palestinians grieving and holding a dead baby went viral as social media users, and the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, claimed the body was a plastic doll. However, several fact-checking organizations, including Logically Facts, identified the baby as a five-month-old Palestinian boy named Muhammad Hani Al-Zahar. A similar debunked claim involving footage of a dead child appeared in October.

Screenshots of the viral posts on X in October 2023. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The verdict

There is no established link between the dolls in the video and Hamas, and the clips used in the video prelude the current Israel-Hamas war. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.