Claim: A video shows Hamas fighters paragliding into Israel amid the recent escalation between Israel and Palestine.
Fact: The video is unrelated to the Palestine-Israel escalation. It is old and shows paragliders flying around the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo.
Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 via sea, land, and air. In response, the Israeli government formally declared war on Hamas on 8 October 2023. Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues as of writing time.
At least 700 fatalities have been reported in Israel, while officials in Gaza have reported at least 413 deaths, according to a report.
Fact or Fiction?
On 8 October 2023, Facebook user Muhammad Umar Abdi posted a video claiming that it shows Hamas Mujahideen entering Israel using paragliders.
The video is captioned:
“حماس کے مجاہدین اسرائیل میں داخل ہو رہے ہیں
یہ کوئی ہالی وڈ یا بالی وڈ فلم کا سین نہیں یہ ہیں رئیل ہیروز جنہوں نے دشمن کو گھر میں گھس کر مارا ہے
اللہ پاک فلسطین کو کامیابی عطا فرمائے آمین
[Hamas Mujahideen are entering Israel
This is not a scene from a Hollywood or Bollywood movie, these are real heroes who have killed the enemy by entering the house 👊❤️
May Allah give success to Palestine, Ameen].”
Soch Fact Check found the video to be misleading. A reverse-image search of keyframes on Yandex turned up a similar photo of the building featured in the viral video. The name juxtaposed on the building is “الكلية الحربية”. We searched this term on Google and found this is the building of the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo. A comparison graphic below based on key indicators confirms this.
Hence, the viral video is old and unrelated to the Hamas attack.
However, as far as the recent escalation between Israel and Palestine is concerned, Hamas fighters did fly into Israel using motorised paragliders, as reported by multiple media outlets, including CNN, Business Insider, Sky News, Telegraph, The Independent, and Washington Post.
The Al Qassam Brigades released a video that shows them paragliding into Israel.
Virality:
On Facebook, the video was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here.
It was found here, here, here, here, here, and here on Twitter.
Conclusion: The video does not show Hamas militants paragliding into Israel. It in fact shows the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo.