A video showing a woman wailing besides two bodies wrapped in white sheets as a man consoles her and adjusts the sheet is being shared online by official Israel X accounts falsely claiming that the scene is staged.
The video has gone viral claiming Palestinians were caught pretending to be killed in the ongoing conflict. Both the official Israel X handles - Embassy of Israel to the USA and Israel handle have now deleted their tweets with the false claim.
The Gaza strip which is controlled by Islamic militant group Hamas has been under constant bombardment by Israeli airstrikes after the attack by the militant group on October 7, 2023.
Several pro-Israel accounts have been using the term 'crisis actors' to peddle the bogus conspiracy falsely accusing Palestinian civilians of staging their injuries or deaths. BOOM has previously debunked several such pieces of misinformation.
The viral video was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the Embassy of Israel to the USA official Twitter handle on October 30, 2023, with the caption, ""A visible miracle, a return to life." Hamas uses fake news and propaganda to lie to the world. Actors are put in body bags to be mourned on television as seen in this @CNN video clip where a body bag miraculously raises its head."
The other body in the video appears to be that of a child.
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The same video was posted by Israel's official Twitter handle with the caption, "Reminder: The Gaza Ministry of Health=Hamas. Bodies can’t move their heads."
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BOOM has previously fact-checked Israel's official handle for sharing misinformation.
The same video has been picked by several right-wing X handles with the same false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from outside a hospital in Gaza where the bodies of those killed during the ongoing Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza strip, were kept outside.
We found that the original video which is 46 seconds long was posted on Telegram by @PalpostN on October 28, 2023, with the caption when translated from Arabic reading, "Press coverage: From “Farewell to the bodies of the martyrs who died during the Israeli aggression on the Central Governorate in the Gaza Strip.”"
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Time Of Gaza X handle also posted the same video on X later that day. The sequence of events can be seen in the below.
In this original video, there is no red circle on the body, and it can be clearly made out that the body is not moving. A man who approaches the woman opens the white sheet thus moving the knot at the top.
The viral video used to make the false claim has zoomed into the footage and added a red circle. The quality of the footage is also poor adding weight to the false claim.
We can also see in other visuals outside the hospital of several bodies with many people mourning the deceased.
The same woman and man can be seen sitting with the bodies beside them in photos below posted on X with the caption, "This morning, scores of dead bodies lay out on the ground of Al-Aqsa hospital." on October 28, 2023.
In the fourth photo the same man and woman are seen. Here the bodies are tied up.
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BOOM found other visuals where the man wearing a blue t-shirt and blue jeans can be seen helping to transport the bodies.
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The same courtyard seen in the above photos can be seen in the below news report from October 25, 2023, on the Al Aqsa hospital in Gaza that has been overwhelmed since the Israel - Hamas conflict began after October 7 Hamas attack and subsequent Israeli retaliatory Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
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A version of the misinformation also claims that US news outlet CNN aired the viral video. BOOM was unable to independently verify the same. However, we have reached out to CNN via email. The article will be updated if we get a reply.
(Additionally reporting by Sujith A)