Old video from 2019 falsely linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict

By: Annet Preethi Furtado
October 27 2023

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Screenshots of the viral claim that a video shows Hamas militants being bombed by Israelis amid the Hamas-Israel war in October 2023. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What's the claim?

A video circulating on X (formerly Twitter) is being shared with the claim that it shows Hamas members en route to an attack on Israel during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war when they are hit by an Israeli bomb. The video shows an armed man filming another armed individual in a moving vehicle with a convoy behind them., which is then struck by a bomb. 

One X user shared the video with the caption, "I GoPro! All coward #HamasTerrorists will soon be in the dustbin of history where they belong #HamasislSIS." One such X post has over one hundred thousand views. Archived posts can be found here and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts on X. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

The video, however, is from 2019 and precedes the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

What did we find?

Using a reverse image search on keyframes from the viral video, we found a longer version uploaded to YouTube on March 4, 2019 on the official channel of Syrian media outlet Orient. This video is 24 seconds long and is titled: "تطاير جثث عناصر ميليشيا أسد بعد انفجار استهدف رتلاً عسكرياً - سوريا," which translates to "Bodies of Assad militia members fly after an explosion targeting a military convoy - Syria."

In 2019, Arabic news reports also extensively covered this video. A report from Waseelatv featured screenshots from the video and reported that the incident was believed to have occurred in Deir ez-Zor, in eastern Syria, when a convoy of military vehicles linked to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was the target of a bombing.

Screenshot from Waseelatv's 2019 news report featuring a screen grab of the viral video. (Waseelatv/Screenshot)

Another 2019 report from Orient featured the 25-second clip and stated that the convoy was captured on camera just before an explosive device detonated one of the vehicles. However, the exact time of the incident was not specified. The report noted that the explosion occurred shortly after an officer filming the clip exclaimed, "God and the Syrian army."

Logically Facts couldn't independently verify the viral video's origin or context. However, since the video has been available online since at least 2019, it is clear that it does not show visuals from the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

2019 operation against ISIS stronghold in Syria

In February 2019, CTV News reported that U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian forces initiated their final offensive to eliminate the Islamic State group's presence in the last remaining small pocket they held in eastern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, noted that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were advancing cautiously due to the presence of mines planted by ISIS gunmen.

On March 10, 2019, the SDF launched an operation to clear the Islamic State's Baghouz enclave reported Reuters. Baghouz is located in the town of Al-Baghuz Fawqani in the Abu Kamal District of Deir ez-Zor, Syria.

The verdict
A video from 2019 is currently being shared with a false claim that it shows Hamas militants being bombed on their way to attack Israel during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.