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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.

5,837 published reviews in this topic

Factcrescendo Sri LankaWar & conflict

Hamas Militants Entering Israel Via Parachutes !!(Video)

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a video of parachutists landing near a building, shared as footage of Palestinian fighters entering Israeli territory during the Israel–Hamas war. The review says it investigated that specific circulating video and concluded it was filmed in Egypt, not Israel. It describes the clip as an old, unrelated video being presented in the setting of the then-ongoing conflict. [S1: “The video showing a group of parachutists landing on a building is widely circulating on social media with the claim that it shows Palestinians fighters entering Israeli territory amidst the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine.”] To check the location, the review reports that it reverse-searched a frame from the clip. It then used keyword searching to identify Egypt’s Military Training Academy and compared the building in the video with the Military College in Egypt shown on Google Maps. The review says the buildings matched and that Google Lens and Google Translate were used to interpret the sign outside the building as reading “Military College.” [S1: “The similarity confirms that the viral video was shot in front of the Egypt Military School.”] [S1: “The results mentioned that it reads ‘Military College’.”] The review also compared the building’s exterior logos with the Egyptian Military College logo. On that basis, it places the footage in front of the Egypt Military College in Cairo and rejects the video’s claimed Israeli setting. Its conclusion is specific to the video examined; the excerpt does not establish the provenance of other parachuting footage or make a general claim about events in Israel. [S1: “We also compared the logos seen outside the building and Egyptian Military College logo.”] [S1: “Instead the video shows a scene of parachutists landing in front of the Egypt Military College.”]

DoğrulaWar & conflict

Videonun Hamas’ın kaçırdığı kız çocuğunu gösterdiği iddiası

Publisher’s rating: Yanlış

The claim concerned a video said to show a girl kidnapped by Hamas during the Gaza conflict. The review traced the clip to a TikTok video using the logo visible in the footage and identified the account name shown there as “@izzeddin_masama.” Although the account could not be accessed as of October 11, 2023, the review says an archived link was available. That archive showed the video had been posted on September 8, 2023, about a month before the conflict began. The review therefore concluded that the clip predated the conflict and did not show a girl kidnapped by Hamas during it.

dpaWar & conflict

Deze video toont Israëlische evacuatie van een luchtmachtbasis nabij grens met Gaza na de aanval van Hamas op 7 oktober.

Publisher’s rating: De video ging op 14 september 2023 al rond online en wordt dus onterecht gekoppeld aan de situatie die ontstond na de terreuraanval van Hamas in Israël op 7 oktober. Er werd in september niet gesproken van een evacuatie. De beelden werden gemaakt in het zuidoosten van het land, op zo’n 60 kilometer van de Gazastrook.

The claim attached footage of two F-16s being carried on trucks to an evacuation of an Israeli airbase near Gaza after Hamas’s 7 October attack. The review examined that same video and checked both where it was filmed and whether the footage was already circulating before the attack. To locate the scene, investigators used road signs visible in the video: Ar’ara BaNegev, Arad and route number 80. They compared the junction and its signs, electricity mast and traffic lights with Google Maps and Street View. This placed the filming on route 25, at a junction about 60 kilometres from the Gaza border. The trucks approached from the east and turned onto route 80 heading north. The review notes that Gaza lies west, and that the trucks would have continued on route 25 if they were travelling toward it. The location and route therefore do not support the claim that the transport was an evacuation near the border. The review also traced the video to a Telegram post dated 14 September 2023, before the 7 October attack. It says the post included this footage and another video of the same transport, but offered no further context about the convoy. The investigators could not establish exactly when the videos were filmed or why the aircraft were being transported. They concluded that the footage was neither filmed near Gaza nor a response to the later attack.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Recent video of Hamas militants beheading an Israeli boy

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a video circulating during the Israel–Palestine conflict that began on 7 October 2023. The specific claim was that the video showed Hamas militants beheading an Israeli boy. The review concluded that the footage instead showed a 2016 killing in Syria, and that it was unrelated to the current conflict. Its account identifies the perpetrators as Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki militants and the victim as a Palestinian child in Handarat, north of Aleppo. The review describes a reverse-image search of screenshots from the circulating video. It says this led to screengrabs in an Ohtuleht article from July 2016, which reported that the footage showed Nour al-Din al-Zenki militants beheading a Palestinian boy in Handarat. The review also says other news reports described the victim as a 12-year-old Palestinian boy whom the fighters claimed belonged to a pro-government militia; it reports that the Syrian government identified him as a Palestinian boy from the Handarat refugee camp. Thus, the evidence described in the review addresses the video’s provenance and location, rather than establishing that the footage depicted an Israeli child or Hamas. The review places the video in the 2016 Syrian war and says it had no connection to the Israel–Palestine conflict underway when the footage was shared.