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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

FACTLYWar & conflict

Recent video of Israeli soldiers detaining a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video presented as recent footage of Israeli soldiers detaining a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank. FACTLY’s review says the video instead shows an incident in Hebron in 2017 involving an 8-year-old boy. It reports that reverse-image searches of screenshots from the circulated video led to the same footage published by B’Tselem, whose title identifies the boy’s age, location and month and year of the incident. According to the account quoted in the review, the boy was Sufian Abu Hitah. On 19 March 2017, soldiers took him to several homes and demanded that he identify children allegedly involved in throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail at the Kiryat Arba settlement. The review says local women later helped return him to his mother. These details identify the video as old footage of a different event, not recent footage of a 13-year-old being detained amid the ongoing conflict. The review also records a qualification: IDF officials disputed B’Tselem’s account of why the boy was taken, saying he was suspected of throwing a Molotov cocktail and was led home. That disagreement concerns the circumstances of the 2017 incident; it does not support the claim that the footage is recent or depicts a 13-year-old.

Fact CrescendoWar & conflict

এই ভিডিঅ'টোত ইজৰাইল আৰু হামাছৰ মাজত বৰ্তমান চলি থকা যুদ্ধত পেলেষ্টাইনৰ সাংবাদিকৰ মৃত্যু হোৱা দেখা গৈছে।

Publisher’s rating: বিভ্ৰান্তিকৰ

The claim concerns a video circulated during the current Israel–Hamas war, said to show a Palestinian journalist being killed in an Israeli strike. The investigation describes footage in which two Palestinians flee a conflict area, an explosion is heard, and the camera falls while continuing to record. It says the post’s caption identified the cameraman as a journalist killed alongside a medic. The review’s conclusion is that the footage is not from the current conflict: it dates to 2014. [S1: “ভিডিঅ’টোত দুজন লোকক সংঘাতজৰ্জৰ অঞ্চলৰ পৰা পলাই যোৱা দেখা গৈছে।” and “এই ভিডিঅ’টোৰ শেহতীয়া ইজৰাইল-পেলেষ্টাইন সংঘাতৰ সৈতে কোনো কাৰণতে কোনো সম্পৰ্ক নাই।”] To investigate, Fact Crescendo says it examined the viral video, noticed an Al Jazeera logo, then used reverse image searches on key frames and keyword searches on Google. It reports finding the same footage in an Al Jazeera documentary uploaded to YouTube in July 2016. According to the review’s account of that documentary, Palestinian cameraman Khaled Hamad recorded events in Gaza’s Shuja’iyya neighbourhood during Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge. [S1: “আমি ভাইৰেল ভিডিঅ’টো ভালদৰে পৰ্যবেক্ষণ কৰি আমাৰ তদন্ত আৰম্ভ কৰিলোঁ, য’ত আমি আল জাজিৰাৰ ল’গ’টো আৱিষ্কাৰ কৰিলোঁ।” and “তেতিয়া ২০১৬ চনৰ জুলাই মাহত ইউটিউবত আপলোড কৰা আল জাজিৰাৰ এখন তথ্যচিত্ৰত একেটা ভিডিঅ’ পাইছিলোঁ।”] The review further says that Hamad’s camera kept recording after he was killed, and cites a Guardian report dated 21 July 2014 that described his death during Israeli artillery fire in Shuja’iyya. These details support the distinction at issue: the footage depicts a death associated with the 2014 Gaza conflict, not the later war in which the clip was recirculated. [S1: “হামাদৰ ফুটেজ বেছিভাগেই তেওঁৰ, আৰু শেষ উশাহ লোৱাৰ পিছতো তেওঁৰ কেমেৰাটো ৰোল হৈয়েই আছিল।” and “২০১৪ চনৰ ২১ জুলাইৰ এটা বাতৰিত দ্য গাৰ্ডিয়ানে হামাদৰ মৃত্যুৰ বিষয়ে কেপচন দি প্ৰকাশ কৰিছিল”]

المرصد الفلسطيني ” تحقق”War & conflict

الصحفي “إيدي كوهين” عن الفيديو الذي يوثق اللحظات الأولى لقصف مدرسة أبو عاصي التي تضم آلاف النازحين “عزيزي الغزواي هذه قنبلة دخان لو فسفور ما كنت بتحكي الآن”.

Publisher’s rating: المقطع مجتزأ من فيديو صوره صانع المحتوى أحمد حجازي والذي أكد لـ”تحقق” وجوده لحظة إطلاق القنابل الفسفورية، وهو ما أكده أيضاً الخبير العسكري اللواء واصف عريقات والباحث سعد الوحيدي، أن القنابل التي تظهر في نهاية الفيديو هي قنابل الفسفور الأبيض، بالتالي فإن الاجتزاء كان بهدف التشكيك، وتوظيفه في سياق مضلل.

Factcrescendo ThailandWar & conflict

Hamas fighters created a fake video to depict a pile of corpses.

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerns a video circulated as showing a staged pile of corpses connected to the Israel-Hamas war. The review says it examined the viral clip’s keyframes with InVid: WeVerify and then performed a reverse image search. Those checks led it to an earlier upload on Al-Badil’s official YouTube channel, rather than to footage of a recent event in Gaza.

المرصد الفلسطيني “تحقق”War & conflict

إخلاء سبيل الطاقم الطبي والمواطنين في المستشفي التركي، والإبقاء على طاقم الانعاش من قبل جنود الاحتلال.

Publisher’s rating: لا صحة لاقتحام الاحتلال مستشفى الصداقة التركي الفلسطيني جنوبي مدينة غزة، وفق ما أكده لـ”تحقق” الزميلة هند الخضري ومدير العلاقات العامة في الإعلام الحكومي في غزة محمود الفرا، كما أن المستشفى خرج عن الخدمة كلياً وأقفل بشكل كامل اليوم الأربعاء بفعل الحرب وغياب الوقود.

dpaWar & conflict

Foto zeigt eine Leiche in Gaza, die auf dem Handy eine SMS schreibt

Publisher’s rating: Das Bild ist falsch zugeordnet und hat nichts mit den aktuellen Kämpfen im Gazastreifen zu tun. Es entstand 2022 bei einem Halloween-Kostüm-Wettbewerb in Thailand.

The image circulated with the claim that a “corpse” in Gaza was writing a text message on a phone. The investigation says the photograph does show a person wrapped in a white shroud, sitting and leaning toward a smartphone, but that the Gaza interpretation is incorrect. The image was instead taken at a Halloween costume competition in Thailand in 2022. [S1: “Doch diese Interpretation stimmt nicht.”; “Es entstand 2022 bei einem Halloween-Kostüm-Wettbewerb in Thailand.”] To trace the image, dpa reports conducting a reverse image search. That search led to a report about the Thai Halloween competition, where the same photograph appeared, and to video coverage showing it as well. The review also points to matching scene details in other competition photos, including an orange blanket on the straw bale where the shrouded person is seated. [S1: “Eine Bilderrückwärtssuche mit dem gezeigten Foto führt zu einem Bericht über einen Kostüm-Wettbewerb an Halloween in Thailand im Jahr 2022.”; “Details aus dem Foto sind auch auf anderen Bildern zu erkennen, welche den Halloween-Wettbewerb zeigen; etwa die orange Decke auf einem Strohballen, auf dem die Person im Leichentuch sitzt.”] The review further traces the photographs to a Facebook page apparently belonging to the costumed children’s mother. It says the images there retain a posting date of 29 October 2022. Together, their appearance in coverage of the Thai event, the matching visual details, and the original-photo provenance establish that the image does not document the current Gaza conflict or substantiate the allegation that deaths there were staged. [S1: “Ursprünglich stammen die Fotos von einer Facebook-Seite, die offenbar der Mutter der verkleideten Kinder gehört.”; “Auch dort sind die Bilder noch mit dem Veröffentlichungsdatum 29. Oktober 2022 zu finden.”; “Das Foto hat somit keinerlei Bezug zum aktuellen Gaza-Krieg und liefert keinen Beleg für eine angebliche Inszenierung von Todesopfern.”]

dpaWar & conflict

Deze video toont een grote pro-Palestijnse demonstratie in Frankrijk.

Publisher’s rating: De video toont in werkelijkheid een menigte voetbalfans van de Braziliaanse voetbalclub Palmeiras São Paulo op 6 oktober 2023.

The claim concerns footage of a crowd moving through a city with fireworks and chanting, presented on social media as a large pro-Palestinian demonstration in France. The review identifies the footage instead as showing Palmeiras São Paulo football supporters in Brazil. It says the crowd was on 6 October 2023, the date associated with the video’s original online posting, rather than at a French protest. To investigate, the review reports conducting a reverse image search. It says that search led to an original post on X by a Brazilian football account, posted at about 1 a.m. Netherlands time on 6 October. The post’s caption described the scene as the route taken by Palmeiras fans to Allianz Park. This provides a specific source and contemporaneous context for the footage, rather than relying on the social-media claim about France. The review also places the crowd near the club’s stadium: it says the people in the video are on a railway bridge a few hundred metres from Allianz Park, Palmeiras’ home ground, and that this location can be established using Google Maps. The match context is consistent with that identification: Palmeiras played Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores semi-final on the evening of 5 October 2023 and lost on penalties. Taken together, the post’s caption, the stadium location, and the match timing support the review’s conclusion that the video shows football fans in São Paulo, not a demonstration in France.