Claim: A video shows a Palestinian journalist recording a video of himself and a Palestinian medic as they rescue victims, before being bombed and killed by Israeli forces.
Fact: The video, while entirely true, has been shared out of context. The killings did not take place recently. In fact, they occurred in 2014.
On 25 October 2023, the Facebook page ‘Beyaz Gazete’ posted a video (archive), which shows two individuals trying to find shelter amidst what appears to be intense bombing. It is captioned in Turkish as follows:
“Yaralıları almaya giden sağlık çalışanları İşgalci İsrail ordusu tarafından bombalandı…
[Healthcare workers who went to pick up the injured were bombed by the occupying Israeli army…]”
The following text is also superimposed on the video:
“İŞGALCİ İSRAİL SAĞLIK ÇALIŞANLARINI BOMBALADI
[OCCUPIER ISRAEL BOMBED HEALTH WORKERS]”
What’s going on in Gaza?
On 7 October 2023, the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades — the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza — launched (archive) a “surprise attack” on Israel via sea, land, and air. In response, the Israeli government formally declared (archive) war on Hamas on 8 October 2023.
According to a 30 October 2023 update by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed and over 21,000 injured since the 7 October attack. Similarly, at least 1,400 Israelis have been killed and upwards of 5,400 injured.
Ever since the 7 October attack, a flood of misleading, old, and out-of-context pictures, videos, and claims have surfaced in the media.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check observed that at the 0:18 mark, a shell struck the person filming the scene, as well as his colleague. A few seconds later, the following text appears on the screen:
“Both Fouad Jaber and Khaled Hamad were killed by this missile.
Khaled’s camera continued to record after he died.”
We searched the two names and came across reports by multiple media outlets, such as the Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera, VICE News, MadaMasr, and Al-Monitor, which identify Khaled Hamad as a Palestinian journalist and videographer and Fouad Jaber as a Palestinian paramedic.
Israel had targeted Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighbourhood on 19 July 2014 in its offensive against Hamas fighters at that time. A 20 July report in The Washington Post says, “13 Israeli soldiers were slain” that day and “almost 100 Gaza residents have died in [the] past 24 hours”. Al Jazeera recorded the damaged neighbourhood through a drone camera here.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had also released a statement just days after the killings of Fouad Jaber and Khaled Hamad. “A Palestinian cameraman was killed in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah on Sunday, according to news reports and the journalist’s colleague,” the CPJ wrote.
It added: “Khaled Reyadh Hamad was working on a film for the local Continue Production Films about the dangers Palestinian medics face while working in Gaza, the company’s owner, Alaa Alool, told CPJ. Hamad was accompanying an ambulance in Shijaiyah when the vehicle was hit by a shell fired by Israeli forces, Alool said. A second shell hit, killing the journalist and Fouad Jaber, a Palestinian medic, Alool said.”
Moreover in 2014, Alaa Alaloul — Hamad’s boss and founder of Continue Production Films — also shared a picture of his blood-soaked press vest.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the video appeared with missing or misleading context here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook. It was posted as Reels here, here, here, here, and here.
The video was shared on Instagram here, on TikTok here, and on X (formerly Twitter) here and here.
Conclusion: The video is from 2014 and is entirely true; however, it was misleadingly shared in the context of the 2023 escalation.
Background image in cover photo: Ahmed Abu Hameeda
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com