STORY: "When he first saw it, he was shocked, he looked quite disturbed. He knew it was something he wasn't supposed to see."Maria Julia Assis's 6-year-old son was playing a puzzle game on his phone at home in London when the game was interrupted by a video showing Hamas militants, terrified Israeli families and blurred graphic footage. "One of the first images that appeared for him was a child's backpack with lots of blood. So, he looked very distraught and he came running to me and said something like, 'Mom, what is this bloody ad doing on my phone? I didn't click anything.' The text on-screen says 'Hamas is ISIS' and saying something about they are slaughtering children, children are being kidnapped, your child could be kidnapped next. So it was very disturbing."Assis said that the graphic images, which Reuters is not showing, left her son shaken and she quickly deleted the game.Her family isn't alone. Reuters has documented at least five other cases across Europe where the same pro-Israel video was shown to gamers, including several children.Reuters has not been able to establish how the ad came to Assis's son's video game.In at least one case, the ads were played inside the popular game "Angry Birds." Its developer Rovio confirmed that these graphic ads have made it onto their game in error - and were now being blocked manually.Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' head of digital, David Saranga, confirmed that the video was a government-promoted ad.But he also added he had "no idea" how it ended up inside various games.Saranga said the footage was part of a larger advocacy drive by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. It's spent $1.5 million on internet ads since Hamas' October 7 attack on civilians in southern Israel ignited war in Gaza. Saranga said that officials had specifically instructed advertisers "to block it for people under 18".Communications Professor at California State University, Nancy Snow, says these pro-Israel ads are part of the government's effort to shape the war's narrative."These ads coming from the government of Israel, they're not surprising because this is again the start-up nation. Israel has been very open about using digital diplomacy but engaging in a public opinion war worldwide." To try to find out who placed the ad in the video games, Reuters contacted 43 advertising firms that game developer Rovio listed on its website as "third-party data partners." 12 of those partners responded, including Amazon and Pinterest, and said they were not responsible for the ad appearing on Angry Birds.Reuters found no evidence of a similar Palestinian digital advertising effort, save for a few Arabic-language videos promoted by West Bank-based Palestine TV, a news agency affiliated with the Palestinian Authority.Rules on advertisements vary by country. In Britain - where Assis and her son live - it's the Advertising Standards Authority that monitors publicity campaigns. The authority said that while it was not currently investigating any ads from the Israeli government, in general, any publicity with graphic imagery should be "carefully targeted away from under-18s."Assis says she doesn't want this type of content being on her son's mind."He has asked me about the children who are being killed. And you know, it's very complicated to talk about this, because, well, it's a complicated subject. It's not something that you're prepared to explain to your child at such a young age." "I don't see how it is okay for them to be advertising inside games. Even if it's like maybe more adult games, I don't think it's a space where you should be doing basically propaganda, so I don't see how it's appropriate."