Claim: Hamas bombed and sank the American naval ship the USS Liberty killing 34 American crew members and wounding 171.
Fact: The USS Liberty was attacked in 1967 by Israel, 20 years prior to the founding of Hamas.
On 22 October 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted (archive) about Hamas attacking the US Navy during the current war in Gaza, and wrote:
“⚡️ BREAKING
Hamas just bombed the USS Liberty, killing 34 American crew members and wounding 171 in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula. ”
USS Liberty
The USS Liberty was an American technical research or espionage ship. It was tasked with gathering and analysing foreign communications and electronic signals that may have had national defense interests, beginning in 1964.
Several days before the attack, the USS Liberty was on a voyage in the Sinai Peninsula, having been ordered to go to the north coast of Sinai, Egypt to collect data. A few days after the order, the Six-Day War broke out between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq on 5 June 1967. During the war, the US remained a neutral party but the ship was still given orders to reduce proximity. However, it failed to receive the orders until after the attack.
On 8 June 1967, the USS Liberty was overflown by an Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft during the morning hours leading up to its attack. The aircraft flew so close to the ship that crew members reported it was enough to rattle the deck, and the pilots waved at them. Despite the overflights, Israel did not mark the ship as neutral. Later Israeli naval observers identified the Liberty as a US Navy supply ship, marking it as neutral on their control table. However, confusion arose after reports of artillery fire that allegedly came from a ship in that region, leading the Israeli naval command to dispatch torpedo boats to investigate. But the boats were later called back due to uncertainties about the target’s identity.
By the afternoon, Israeli Mirage fighter jets arrived at the Liberty’s location and misidentified it as a hostile vessel due to its speed and trajectory, after which they were ordered to engage. The jets conducted an initial air attack, which killed eight crew members and wounded 75, and two additional Israeli planes armed with napalm bombs later continued the assault. The attack persisted until the ship’s GTR-5 marking was spotted, leading to concerns that the ship was American.
The Liberty’s crew made efforts to signal distress, including raising a large American flag after it was knocked down in the attack and using lamps to signal their identity after communication tools were ruined. However, Israeli torpedo boats continued their approach, and one torpedo struck the Liberty, killing 25 more crew members and inflicting severe damage. The torpedo boats then spotted US Navy life rafts and the GTR-5 marking, leading to an end to the assault.
The ship was decommissioned soon after the attack. In total, 34 Americans were killed and 171 were injured and the incident remains one of the most controversial events of the Six-Day War.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first looked into the claim in the caption, namely that Hamas had attacked and bombed the USS Liberty. However, we failed to find any credible reports that Hamas had attacked any US naval ship.
Additionally, a quick search revealed that the USS Liberty was accidentally bombed in 1967 during the Six-Day War by Israel. The details of the 1967 attack and the one mentioned in the viral claim were identical as well, including the name of the ship, the location of the attack, and the number of crew members that were killed and wounded. The 1967 attack was committed by Israel, and upon realising an American ship was attacked, the Israeli government immediately admitted responsibility and made offers to pay compensation to the victims.
Finally, Hamas could not have committed the attack even back in 1967 as the organisation did not exist until 1987, according to the Journal of Palestine Studies.
Thus Soch Fact Check rates the claim as false.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claim on X here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The USS Liberty was not attacked by Hamas recently. It was actually attacked accidentally by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com