Israel releases Netanyahu’s new photo amid death rumours: ‘Ordering elimination of Iranian officials’

Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday shared a photo of Benjamin Netanyahu which they said was taken while he was ordering the elimination of Iranian officials, as false rumours claiming Netanyahu has died continued to buzz on social media. The picture comes a day after Netanyahu posted a video on social media where he was seen interacting with civilians in Israel and in another video he was seen in a cafe drinking coffee and mocking the death rumours report. The Prime Minister of Israel’s official X handle posted the new image of Netanyahu shortly after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the killing of Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani and Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani. In X post, the Prime Minister of Israel posted the image and wrote, “Photo: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the elimination of senior Iranian regime officials.” > אומרים שאני מה? צפו >> pic.twitter.com/ijHPkM3ZHZ— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 15, 2026 אומרים שאני מה? צפו >> pic.twitter.com/ijHPkM3ZHZ The speculations claiming Netanyahu’s death were aired by Iranian state media and spread online in Iran. The video earlier posted by Netanyahu showed him at a cafe in Jerusalem’s outskirts as his aide asked him about the viral rumours. The Israeli prime minister mocked the rumours of his death and said, “I’m crazy about coffee. You know ​what? I’m crazy about my people.” The rumours of Netanyahu’s death appears to have originated from a recent press conference where a screenshot of Israeli prime minister purportedly showed “sixth finger” and netizens claimed it was a deep fake generated by artificial intelligence. The “sixth finger” claim quickly spread online and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, reportedly announced threatened to “pursue and kill” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “with full force.” Netanyahu refuted all the claims in the video he posted in a cafe and showed five fingers each in his hands purposely in order to challenge the claims being made. But netizens again pointed out that the coffee which he was holding wasn’t spilling and other flaws in the video, raising artificial intelligence flak.