Claim: Hamas operatives killed an Israeli woman, cut open her stomach, and took the fetus out to die slowly.
Fact: The government of Israel has publicly shared a comprehensive list of all children, men and women killed on 7 October 2023, Soch Fact Check did not find any mention of a pregnant woman whose stomach was cut open and her fetus taken out. The only infant killed on the day was a 9-month-old named Mila Cohen and she was shot dead as her mother held her in her arms. There is no credible evidence or news source to support the claim.
On 10 October 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user, and news editor of 9TV Network, Aditya Raj Kaul shared a tweet alleging that Hamas terrorists brutally murdered a pregnant Israeli woman by cutting open her stomach and letting her unborn child die outside her womb.
Following are the exact words of the X post (archive): “A pregnant woman in Southern Israel was found by Hamas terrorists. They dissected her body. Her stomach was cut open and they took the fetus out with the umbilical cord. And let the unborn child die slowly out of his mother’s womb. This is what inhuman savages Hamas do to people.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check searched the internet for any mainstream news organisations which reported the claim, with the following key terms: “pregnant woman” “stomach” “fetus” and “umbilical cord”. We found that no such incident was reported by any credible media outlet such as the BBC, Associated Press, or others nor any official state source. While several media outlets have described horrific incidents where civilians were killed by Hamas, this particular incident was never reported.
We also checked the official website of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) which publishes updates on the ongoing conflict with Hamas. However, the IDF has also not reported such an incident in any of its press releases or the news articles shared on its website.
In October 2023, Shari Mendes, who was described as a volunteer for the IDF’s Rabbinate corps, told the Daily Mail that a baby was cut out of a pregnant woman and beheaded and then the mother was beheaded.” The same statement is also attributed to Eli Beer, the head of a volunteer EMS squad in Israel. The New York Post quotes him repeating the claim regarding the pregnant woman.
However, Israeli media have shared the complete list of people who have been killed by Hamas since 7 October 2024. Soch Fact Check reviewed these lists thoroughly and did not find any mention of a pregnant woman and her child, the only infant killed on the day was a 9-month-old named Mila Cohen and she was shot dead as her mother held her in her arms. This is also confirmed by The Intercept, in an article here.
Soch Fact Check translated a copy of this list to English using Google Translate. It can be viewed here.
We also found a fact-check by Alt News, claiming that a video shot in Mexico in 2018 is being falsely associated with the claim that it shows Hamas militants cutting open a pregnant woman’s stomach and killing her fetus.
Some social media users replied to the claim by pointing out a separate but similar incident which they believe is the original event Kaul has quoted out of context. We found an article from 14 September 2022, published on Arab News, with the headline “40 years on, survivors recall horror of Lebanon’s Sabra and Shatila massacre”. The article mentioned “a pregnant woman who had her baby ripped out of her stomach,” and another woman, “also pregnant, they ripped the baby from her stomach.”
We also came across Kaul’s replies to the users who questioned his claim on Twitter. In one reply, he cited a “friend on ground” in Israel as his source, and claimed that he had photographic evidence but he “cannot post it”. In his reply, he passed a remark where he pin-pointed and compared Hamas to “Islamist terrorists in Kashmir”.
He wrote, “We have seen similar instances of rape and murder by Islamist terrorists in Kashmir where you have remained silent always. So better don’t become a supporter or spokesperson of Hamas.” It is necessary to note that Soch Fact Check has verified claims related to incidents of violence in Kashmir by Islamist militants.
However, these replies and the lack of any reports on the incident, suggest that Kaul had no credible evidence or source for his claim. Furthermore, his pointed comparison of two separate events that happened in two different situations, carried out by different groups, betray a bias in his reporting.
Virality
Aditya Raj Kaul’s post (archive) on X received over 16,500 reposts, 32,900 likes, and was viewed 10.3 million times.
On Facebook, we found the claim here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. We found that most of these posts were made by social media users with Indian names.
Conclusion: No evidence or news reports exist to substantiate the claim that Hamas cut open a pregnant Israeli woman’s womb to kill her unborn child.
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CORRECTION: A previous version of this article mistakenly stated that Hamas attacked Israel in October 2024, not 2023.
Background image in cover photo: Al Jazeera Media Network
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