Unrelated video falsely shared as Hamas housing weapons at al-Shifa Hospital

By: Annet Preethi Furtado
November 21 2023

Share Article:

Screenshots of the viral claim that this video shows weapons in Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza, found by the IDF amid the Israel-Hamas war. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

Amid the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict, Israel has claimed that al-Shifa Hospital, the primary medical facility in the Gaza Strip, was being utilized as a military base by Hamas, an allegation denied by the organization. CNN reported, quoting a U.S. official who claimed to have knowledge of American intelligence, that Hamas has a command node under the al-Shifa hospital, utilizes fuel intended for it, and that its fighters gather in and around the hospital. 

Despite these allegations, hospital administrators, and Hamas have consistently denied the accusations, reports AP. On November 14, 2023, Israeli Defence Force (IDF) forces entered the hospital in search of Hamas fighters.

What's the claim?

A video depicting a room stocked with arms and jackets is circulating alongside the claim that it shows equipment found by the IDF at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital.

A user on the X platform shared the video with a Malayalam caption that translates to, "The Israeli forces reached the tunnel built by Hamas terrorists under al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza." The archives of such posts can be found here and here.

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

This video was also shared on Facebook, accompanied by captions such as "Reality in Shifa Hospital: IDF (Israel Defence Force) finally entered the tunnels near Shifa hospital (claimed to be the hospital where any IDF attack is considered a violation of humanity), and this is what they found in the first storage room, where medicines and hospital appliances were expected to be kept."

Screenshot of a Facebook post. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this video is from August 2023, predating the Israel-Hamas conflict that began on  October 7. It originates from the Beituniya area of Ramallah, where the IDF conducted a raid on a Palestinian arms-making workshop.

What did we find?

On November 16, the IDF released a video showing weapons that were allegedly discovered in Gaza's al-Shifa hospital. However, there is no evidence indicating that the viral video was released by IDF amid the Israel-Hamas war claiming that it shows a Hamas stockpile of weapons in or under the hospital.

Through a reverse image search on keyframes from the viral video, we found that the footage actually shows an IDF raid on an arms workshop in Ramallah, Palestine, in August of this year. Initially posted on a Telegram channel titled "חדשות ישראל בטלגרם," which translates from Hebrew to English as "Israel News on Telegram," on August 31, the Hebrew description claimed that security forces seized two assault rifles and six pistols near Ramallah during an operation targeting lathes.

Screenshot of the video shared on the Telegram channel חדשות ישראל בטלגרם in August 2023. (Source: Telegram/Screenshot)

The Times of Israel, in an article published on August 31, reported that Israeli forces raided a workshop in Beitunia, a Palestinian town in the central West Bank near Ramallah, which was allegedly being utilized for arms manufacturing. The report detailed the discovery of numerous weapons and military components, along with the arrest of a suspect. The report also included photos of the workshop raided by Israeli forces and the weapons reportedly confiscated, with credits to the Israel Police.

Furthermore, on September 1, the Israel Police's official X account shared a video of the raid in Beitunia, captioned, “7 weapons lathes, 6 pistols, 3 M16 rifles, and weapons parts were seized after raiding several places in Beitunia in the Ramallah area…” The video shows police personnel breaking the shutter of a shop, seizing weapons, and apprehending an individual.

Israel Police footage of a raid in Beitunia. (Source: Israel Police/X)

Visual cues in the video

To authenticate the content, we compared keyframes between the official video posted by Israel Police and the viral footage. Notably, a segment in the viral video at the 11-second mark displayed what appeared to be fabrics in beige and black shades arranged on a rack. Adjacent to them were black jackets on hangers, with 10 bottles positioned at the bottom. This matched a segment in the official video posted by Israel Police at the 0:06-second mark.

Comparison of screen grabs from the viral video and official video posted by Israel Police. (Source: X/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

Another keyframe at approximately the 0:17-second mark of the viral video, displaying a brown shelf with numerous guns next to it, also aligned with the 0:06-second keyframe of the video uploaded by the Israel Police.

Comparison of screen grabs from the viral video and official video posted by Israel Police. (Source: X/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

These comparisons show that the footage is from a raid by Israel Police on a workshop in Ramallah at the end of August 2023, and is unrelated to the ongoing conflict that broke out on October 7.

The verdict

The video being circulated with the false claim that it shows the IDF's discovery of a Hamas stock of weapons in al-Shifa hospital predates the alleged discovery in November 2023 and actually shows weapons found in a raid on an arms-making workshop in Ramallah in August. Therefore we have marked this claim as false.