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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

War & conflict fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about war & conflict. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,834 published reviews in this topic

dpaWar & conflict

Des milliers de Marines américains viennent de débarquer en Israël.

Publisher’s rating: Non, la séquence date de juin 2022, soit bien avant l'attaque du Hamas en Israël, le 7 octobre 2023. Les images montrent l'arrivée de soldats américains sur une base de l'Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (Otan) en Roumanie. A ce jour, les Etats-Unis n'ont, en outre, pris aucune décision concernant le déploiement de troupes en Israël.

FACTLYWar & conflict

The viral video shows Hezbollah’s anti-ship missiles displayed in response to the recent deployment of US warships in the Eastern Mediterranean

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video presented as Hezbollah’s response to the recent deployment of US warships in the Eastern Mediterranean. FACTLY’s review says the footage does show Hezbollah anti-ship missiles, but challenges the claimed timing and connection: it reports that the video dates to 2019 and is not related to the recent movement of US warships. To investigate the video’s provenance, FACTLY says it ran a reverse image search on keyframes. That search found a 2019 news report with screenshots resembling the viral footage. The review also describes comparing the circulating clip with the earlier video and says they are the same, supporting its conclusion that the footage was old rather than a recording of a response to the recent deployment. The review identifies the missiles shown as C-802 anti-ship missiles and says reports from 2019 also featured the footage. Thus, the material fact it disputes is not what the video depicts, but the post’s framing of when and why the video was made: the review traces it to 2019, not to the recent movement of US warships.

המשרוקיתWar & conflict

לפי האמנות [הבינלאומיות] השונות, כשיש חשש ש[הסיוע ההומניטרי] מגיע לכוחות האויב, אז יש צידוק למצור מהודק לגמרי

Publisher’s rating: ללא ציון

The review examined a statement by Likud MK Amit Halevi in an interview about whether Israel should allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Halevi argued that international conventions justify a “completely tight siege” if there is concern that aid reaches enemy forces. The investigation focused on what international law says about siege, starvation, and humanitarian relief, consulting INSS researcher Tami Kaner and discussing her analysis with retired-colonel lawyer Pnina Sharvit Baruch. It also set out the relevant treaty conditions rather than treating the mere existence of a concern as the only test. On siege, the review reported that it is a lawful method of warfare when directed at enemy forces and aimed at a military objective, but that civilian harm must be proportionate and not excessive in relation to that objective. It noted that the restrictions Israel imposed were described as intended to prevent weapons and supplies reaching Hamas, while acknowledging that civilian harm may result. The review also explained that the law’s treatment of aid depends on conditions: a party may require inspection and monitoring, and an obligation to permit aid is qualified where there is serious reason to fear diversion, ineffective supervision, or military or economic advantage to the enemy. The qualification is important: the review did not present those rules as an unrestricted license to deny aid or starve civilians. Kaner told the investigators that even where Israel has valid grounds to restrict or halt aid, it remains bound by the prohibition on starving the civilian population. The review’s conclusion distinguishes permissible action against enemy forces from starvation of civilians, which it says is expressly prohibited. Thus, the evidence supports a conditional legal basis for restrictions and siege, but not the claim if read to mean that any concern by itself justifies an entirely sealed siege without regard to civilian protection, proportionality, and the rules governing aid.

dpaWar & conflict

Iemand in Gaza in een lijkzak schrijft een sms op zijn telefoon.

Publisher’s rating: Nee, de foto toont een Thais kind dat Halloween viert in een winkelcentrum in Thailand. De foto verscheen al in oktober 2022, dus voor het huidige conflict in Israël en de Palestijnse gebieden, op een Thaise website en een Facebookaccount.

The claim attached to the image was that someone in Gaza was pretending to be dead while using a phone. The review identifies the image as a real photograph but says the person in it is a child in a Halloween costume, not someone in Gaza. It describes the image as showing “een persoon die in een lijkzak lijkt te zitten, maar desondanks met diens telefoon in de weer is” and notes that the accompanying post called it “Een wonder! Een ‘lijk’ in Gaza dat sms’t op zijn telefoon.” (S1) To investigate the image’s origin, the review reports using a reverse image search. That search led to a Thai article dated 29 October 2022 about a Halloween costume contest at a shopping mall. The article included photographs of two Thai children dressed as undead figures; one wore a white shroud-like costume, and the final photo showed that child holding a phone. The review says this Thai article predates the current conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories. (S1) The review also reports corroborating matches: the same photograph and other images from the costume event appeared in a report by Thai broadcaster Amarin TV, posted on YouTube on 30 October 2022, and the children’s photographs could still be found on the Facebook profile of Surattana Sawadkit, identified in the Thai article as their mother. Taken together, the reported image trail places the photograph at a Thai Halloween event in 2022, rather than in Gaza. (S1)

بيم ريبورتسWar & conflict

الدعم السريع يحتفل بحصر أكثر من مليون جندي

Publisher’s rating: مفبرك

The claim concerned an image framed as an Al Jazeera Sudan news item. It said the Rapid Support Forces’ commander had ordered a count of his forces a month earlier and that the counting committee was celebrating after the total passed one million. The review investigated the image and the claim it conveyed, rather than documenting an actual count of RSF personnel.

بيم ريبورتسWar & conflict

رفع درجة الاستعداد في بورتسودان تحسباً لهجوم الدعم السريع

Publisher’s rating: مفبرك

The claim concerned a social-media image styled as a news item from Al Jazeera Sudan. It said a joint security committee had raised Port Sudan’s readiness to its highest level because of a possible Rapid Support Forces attack on the city. The review reports that Beam Reports checked Al Jazeera Sudan’s official accounts on X and Facebook and found no report there confirming the claim. The article describes the circulating item as an image frame, rather than reporting that the purported security announcement was independently verified. Beam Reports also says it searched the official website of the Sudan News Agency for evidence of a security committee meeting or a readiness increase in Port Sudan, and found no such report. On the basis of those checks, the review concludes that the claim was fabricated. The evidence presented is the absence of confirmation in the named outlets; the excerpt does not describe separate confirmation from security officials or other independent sources.

tafnied - تفنيدWar & conflict

رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس يعلن أن حركة حماس هربت إلى سيناء في سيارات الإسعاف، كانت تختبئ تحت الأقبية وتترك الفلسطينيين والأطفال تقتل، ويقولون مقاومة

Publisher’s rating: الادعاء "مضلل"، والبحث العكسي أظهر أن فيديو اتهام الرئيس الفلسطيني قيادات حماس، بالهروب لسيناء في سيارات إسعاف "قديم"، وسبق نشره في عام 2009، وذلك على خلفية اعتماده على دعاية صهيونية، في أثناء الحرب على غزة وقتها، وفقًا لتقرير المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

El Detector / Univision NoticiasWar & conflict

Este video muestra un atentado simulado por los palestinos para acusar a Israel de atacarles en el marco del conflicto entre Hamas y el gobierno israelí.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a video of a car explosion and people appearing to be injured, said to show Palestinians staging an attack so Israel would be blamed during the Hamas-Israel conflict that began on October 7, 2023. The review examined the video circulating with that allegation and described what it depicts: a man leaves one car, gets into another and drives away; the first car then explodes, people run and lie down, and others appear to load them into a van. The accompanying post characterized the scene as manipulation by Palestinians. (S1: “En el video escuchamos a una persona que muestra una pantalla en la que se ve una calle con dos autos, uno a cada lado de la vía.”; “Poco después, el primer automóvil explota y aparecen corriendo varias personas que se lanzan al suelo como si hubiesen sido afectadas.”) The review’s provenance checks point away from the claim’s setting and timing. It reports using a Yandex reverse-image search on a screenshot, which found the footage had already been published by 2017. It also notes a date visible in the video itself: October 30, 2016. Arabic text on-screen was translated by Google Translate as “terrorist crimes in Iraq”; the review therefore says the footage was not established as having been recorded in Israel or the Palestinian territories. Together, the earlier publication and the on-screen clues contradict identifying this as a staged Palestinian incident from the conflict that began in October 2023. (S1: “Una búsqueda inversa en Yandex con una captura de pantalla de la grabación revela que esta ya había sido publicada, al menos, en 2017.”; “En varios momentos del video se aprecia, en la parte superior derecha de las imágenes, una fecha: 2016.10.30.”; “según el traductor de Google, dicen ‘crímenes terroristas en Irak’.”)