Benjamin Netanyahu quashes death rumours with live appearance — ‘I’m alive and you're all witnesses' | Watch

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday appeared to poke fun at rumours about his death on the internet, declaring to the world that he was alive.

In his first public, live appearance since rumours of his death began to circulate on the internet, Netanyahu declared, "First of all I just want to say, I'm alive and you're all witnesses."

"Now that I dispatch this piece of fake news, I wanna give you an update on operation Roaring Lion," he added, before proceeding to provide details on Israel's military operations against Iran, which was struck by Tel Aviv and Washington on 28 February, sparking conflict in the Middle East.

Some users on social media, however, claimed that the footage showed Netanyahu with six fingers on one hand, which has become a notorious marker of AI-generated content, with artificial intelligence routinely messing up images involving human hands.

With Iranian strikes continuing against Israel and other Gulf nations hosting US bases, the claim spread quickly, sparking rumours that the Israeli prime minister was either dead or seriously wounded in strikes by Tehran.

Iranian state media too picked up the rumours of the internet and amplified them, while users also shared a purported Al Jazeera report confirming Netanyahu's death — a claim that was subsequently junked by fact checkers.

Netanyahu, however, was not entirely quiet while rumours circulated online.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu posted a video with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to dismiss the rumours.

In the video, the American envoy was heard saying, "Mr Prime Minister, I wanted you to know that the President [Donald Trump] wanted me to come and make sure you're okay," before bursting into laughter.

"Yes, Mike, yes. I'm alive," a smiling Netanyahu is seen responding, before the two continue their conversation.

Meanwhile last week, on Sunday, Netanyahu had posted a clip of himself at a coffee shop on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

After taking coffee from the cashier, Netanyahu also held up his hands to show fingers on each, directly addressing the AI claims.

When his aide asked him about the rumours of his death, Netanyahu responded with a pun. In Hebrew slang, the word for "dead" can also mean being "crazy about" something. "I'm crazy about coffee. You know what? I'm crazy about my people," he said in Hebrew.

Rumours of Netanyahu's death is yet another instance of how AI is fuelling misinformation about the war. Earlier, a viral video claiming destruction of the US aircraft carrier Gerald R Ford had surfaced, before it was debunked as AI generated content.