Maria Julia Cassis, a 28-year-old barista from Brazil residing in North London, was in the middle of a meal at her terraced home when her 6-year-old son rushed into the dining room, visibly shaken. His puzzle game on an Android phone had been interrupted by a disturbing video featuring Hamas militants, frightened Israeli families, and blurred graphic footage. A message from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs displayed on a black screen informed the young boy, "WE WILL MAKE SURE THAT

Cassis recounted how the ad had left her son shocked, prompting her to promptly delete the game from his device. It remains unclear how the ad found its way into her son's video game, but her family's experience is not unique. Reuters has identified at least five other instances across Europe where the same pro-Israel video, featuring footage of rocket attacks, fiery explosions, and masked gunmen, was encountered by gamers, including several children.

In one case, these ads were observed within the popular "Angry Birds" game developed by Rovio, a company owned by SEGA. Rovio acknowledged that these ads with disturbing content had mistakenly appeared in their game and stated that they were being manually blocked. Spokesperson Lotta Backlund did not disclose the specific ad partner responsible for providing the ad.

David Saranga, head of digital at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed that the video was indeed a government-promoted advertisement but expressed uncertainty regarding its appearance in various games. He explained that the graphic nature of the ad campaign was intended to convey the severity of the situation in Israel, emphasizing, "We want the world to understand that what happened here in Israel is a massacre."

Reuters reached out to 43 advertising firms listed as "third-party data partners" on Rovio's website in an attempt to identify the source of the ad in the games. Of these partners, 12 responded, including Amazon, Index Exchange, and Pinterest, and stated that they were not responsible for the ad's placement in Angry Birds.