Gaza war garners global spotlight following the Baptist Hospital massacre — report

AMMAN — Data gathered using digital listening tools indicates that there were over 311 million online conversations on the war waged by the Israeli occupation against Gaza, generating 1.5 billion interactions, from 7 to 20 October. 

These figures are based on an analysis conducted by Makana 360, a data driven communications consulting firm, and the Politics and Society Institute (PSI), a Jordanian non-profit research organisation. 

The results of the analysis were presented during a press conference on Sunday under the title: “The War of Narratives: An Analysis of the Conversations and Interactions in the Digital World about the War on Gaza”. 

The report detailing the results noted that the war on Gaza is attracting global attention, which witnessed a “linear” growth after the Baptist Hospital massacre. 

It also showed that X accounted for 96.5 per cent of conversations on this topic, especially following the restrictions on content implemented by Meta, which removed over 1.6 million posts in Arabic and Hebrew related to Hamas on social media platforms. 

Geographically, the US was the main source of conversations and interactions, followed by India, and Saudi Arabia. English was the most widely used language in conversations, followed by Arabic, then Spanish, according to the report. 

In terms of “tone”, emotions of sadness and anger prevailed in most conversations around the world, while African and Asian continents in particular showed more love and support for Palestinian resistance, the report revealed. 

It pointed out that positive engagement with the Palestinian narrative increased in Europe and the US after the Baptist Hospital massacre. 

Over 500 people were killed, the majority of whom were children, in the Israeli air strike on the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.

The report also showed that 45 per cent of related content was visual, including photos and videos, while 55 per cent was written. 

Youth between the ages of 18 and 35 years accounted for the highest share of engagement (80 per cent). Males contributed to 66 per cent of conversations, compared to a 34 per cent participation rate for females, according to the analysis. 

Jordanian voices 

On a regional level, the report indicates that the official Jordanian narrative was the most widely spread based on the volume of digital engagement, followed by Saudi Arabia’s official narrative. 

The analysis recorded around 3.1 million online conversations (posts, videos, etc.) and around 43.8 million interactions (likes, shares, comments) about Gaza on digital platforms in Jordan. Moreover, there were 38,000 relevant news items from 117 local digital media outlets. 

The analysis also tracked 588,000 online conversations and four million interactions related to Gaza in Jordan in one day, after the Baptist Hospital massacre, 83.5 per cent of which were on X. 

The report stated that Jordanians increased their English content by 42 per cent by October 20 compared with October 7. This report also showed that that Jordanians realised the importance of supporting the Palestinian narrative on a global level. 

The report added that Jordanians attempted to address the international community through their content by focusing on topics like international law, human rights, civilian lives, collective punishment and double standards, among others.