Iran vows to kill Benjamin Netanyahu ‘if he is still alive’

Iran played on rumours that the Israeli PM is dead

Rumour has been spreading in the last few days that Netanyahu is dead following on from an alleged deleted tweet and speech which many claimed was AI.

While these theories have been largely disproved, Iran has decided to fuel the fire by releasing a statement saying that the that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has vowed to kill "child-killer Netanyahu if he is still alive".

The real climax to the theories came on the evening of the 12 March, when the Government Press Office of Israel live streamed an address by Netanyahu in which he spoke for over half an hour.

However, it was one moment where the Israeli PM appeared to have six fingers on both hands which sent the internet into meltdown.

The shot appeared to show him with one extra digit on both his hands, causing many to accuse the video of being AI generated to cover for his absence.

AI notoriously struggles to generate hands and fingers, facilitating the link to be made in this theory.

However, multiple fact-checking sites confirmed the footage to be genuine, attributing the six fingers to an optical illusion of the camera angle, lighting and form of the hand.

While many of these theories have been disproven or non-confirmed, the fanfare was enough to force a response from the Prime Minister's office, posting a screenshot of the speech on the 12 March to X alluding to Netanyahu's safety.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that his office confirmed that he his fine.

In a statement to Turkish news site Anadolu Ajansi, it said: "These are fake news; the Prime Minister is fine."