Ibrahim Hilal

On the evening of October 11, 2025, a car carrying five diplomats from the Amiri Diwan of Qatar was involved in a traffic accident on the Sharm El Sheikh-Taba Road, about 50 kilometers from Sharm El Sheikh, while they were on their way to prepare for the reception of the Emir of Qatar and participate in the Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit.

The accident resulted in the death of three Qatari diplomats: Saud bin Thamer Al Thani, Abdullah Ghanem Al Khayarin, and Hassan Jaber Al Jaber, and the injury of two others, including the driver.

After the incident, social media platforms were flooded with claims of a "premeditated assassination." These claims, along with misleading news and fabricated images, aimed to sway public opinion toward an unsubstantiated narrative.

Speculations Turn into Disinformation

The claim that the Qatari delegation in Sharm El Sheikh was assassinated first surfaced at 12:14 AM, within an hour of the incident. This claim originated from a Yemeni account named "Abdullah Ali Hizam" (@bdllhlyzm1), created in 2022, which uses the Yemeni flag as its background and primarily engages with other Yemeni accounts. The account alleged that the Israeli Mossad was responsible for the "assassination of the Qatari delegation" in Sharm El Sheikh.

Approximately 14 minutes later, another post describing the incident as an "assassination" appeared, published by an account named "Hafidat al Murabiteen" (@BFgmhDsU6iO3xuG), a Moroccan account created in 2020 with a randomly generated handle. The account, which exclusively publishes and reposts political news, appears to be managed for propaganda purposes rather than being a personal account.

At 12:38, an account named "Mar88 @mr8816098" published a post asserting that the Qatari delegation was subjected to an "assassination attempt." The account @mr8816098 is a Qatari account created in 2023 with a username consisting of random numbers, which suggests it is not genuine.

At 1:02, an account named "Ahrar Qatar @QatariAr" posted confirmation of the "assassination of the Qatari delegation" by means of an "orchestration of a horrific accident for their vehicle."Investigation into the "Ahrar Qatar" account revealed it was established in 2014. The account consistently publishes content critical of Qatar's ruling regime and reports on the ruling family's alleged corruption.

Amplifying the Assasination Narrative

From the date of the incident, October 11th, to October 15th, approximately 2,400 posts discussing claims of the "assassination of the Qatari delegation" were monitored. Despite their limited number, these posts garnered over 16 million impressions on social media platforms, achieving widespread reach.

Posts describing the incident as an "assassination" were linked to the hashtag #حادث_شرم_الشيخ (The Sharm El Sheikh Incident). The hashtag and phrase were used together in a large number of posts to spread the claim. Nonetheless, the phrase "assassination of the Qatari delegation" circulated more widely than the hashtag itself.

This is evident in the search results for both phrases and peak times; activity surrounding the phrase "assassination of the Qatari delegation" peaked on October 12th, between 5 and 6 PM. During this hour, only 14 accounts published approximately 321 posts on the topic.

Analysis of account activity during peak hours revealed inauthentic, amplified behavior. "Amira @amira397135," an account created in March 2025, was one of the active accounts exhibiting this behavior.

This account's recent creation, coupled with its approximately eight thousand posts, raises suspicion. Attempts to access its content on X triggered a warning about restricted activity. Upon bypassing this warning, it was discovered that the account had not published any original content; all posts were identical comments, reposted frequently and verbatim across several posts.

The same pattern appeared on another account named "Mary Mimo @MaryMimo586671". The account was created in February 2024 and has published 19,000 posts since its inception, divided between posts the account re-shared and comments that – like the previous account – were a single phrase that the account repeatedly posted as a comment at short intervals.

Similarly, an account named "Amal" (@km1831175), established in 2023, has posted over 24,000 times since its inception. After bypassing X's warning about suspicious activity, an examination revealed that all of its posts were identically worded comments, published at very short intervals, with no original content.

Although these accounts did not specify their geographical location on X, analyses showed that the majority of posts under the phrase "assassination of the Qatari delegation" came from Saudi Arabia, accounting for about 41%, followed by posts under the hashtag #حادث_شرم_الشيخ (The Sharm El Sheikh Incident) with nearly 31%. The United States came next, followed by Egypt, where the percentage of posts did not exceed 11%.

Who is Leading Interaction with the Assassination Allegation

Analysis showed the activity of a group of well-known accounts that sought to confirm the "planned assassination" narrative; among them was the account Rizam Al Shalian Al Hathli 🇸🇦 (Wamdat Qalam) @BattalX7Z", who identifies himself as a "security and civil protection consultant". This account reposted a picture of the Qatari delegation's wrecked car, claiming it bore bullet marks to prove that the incident was an assassination attempt, but the picture later turned out to be fabricated.

The account "Dr.Sam Youssef Ph.D.,M.Sc.,DPT @drhossamsamy65" published about four posts, relying on a post by the account "Eddie Cohen" to confirm the assassination of the Qatari delegation in Egypt.

The Egyptian platform Matsada’sh which specializes in fact-checking, refuted this post, noting that it was completely fabricated.

Matsada’sh’s verification clarified that there are no reports published on the BBC’s website that include the image attached to Sam's post. The image attached to the post, bearing the BBC logo and an account name "Adasa Masr," appears to be clearly modified by adding holes and blood, and the BBC logo.

The account "Mona Elshazly (منى الشاذلي) @MElshazly153322", a recently created Egyptian account that identifies itself as belonging to an activist residing in the United Kingdom, published a video of the account owner claiming that the Qatari delegation was subjected to an assassination attempt, without providing any evidence to support this claim. The account is known for regularly publishing controversial content and unethical leaks, which it justifies as "opposition".

The account of Abdulla Al Ghudhaib (@abdulla74967366), a Saudi account created in 2023 that identifies itself as a "political and military analyst," also reposted the same image, signed with the "BBC" logo, showing the Qatari delegation's car with bullet holes, without verifying its source or the accuracy of its content.

The Egyptian political activist residing in the Netherlands, Amr Abd ElHady, also republished the same claims, without providing any clear evidence to support them. In his posts, he accused the Egyptian regime of orchestrating the assassination of the Qatari delegation in coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This was re-iterated by another Saudi account named "Saud Al Nufa’i", a recently established account dating back to February 2025, which published a post describing the incident as "the assassination of the Qatari delegation", accusing Egyptian or Israeli intelligence of being behind it.

Through disinformation and the circulation of unsubstantiated claims, a group of Saudi and Egyptian accounts abroad attempted to promote a narrative describing the Qatari delegation incident in Sharm El Sheikh as a "planned assassination." Subsequently, newly established and automated accounts amplified this narrative by publishing dozens of comments and professionally designed graphic images, with the aim of attracting attention and directing public opinion toward the assassination narrative.