Footage of Palestinian journalist dying from 2014, not current Israel-Hamas war | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Post implies video shows Israeli airstrikes killing a Palestinian medic and journalist in October 2023

An Oct. 30 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a cameraman speaking to a medic outside in an urban environment amidst the sound of explosions. The cameraman asks the medic where they should go before an explosion strikes near them, causing the camera to fall to the ground.

"Palestinian journalist films the moment an Israeli strike kills him and a fellow medic on live TV," reads on-screen text included in the clip.

Commenters appeared to believe the video was captured during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

"Let place the blame at Hamas feet (sic)," reads one comment.

The post received more than 1,000 likes in four days. Similar versions of the claim were shared on Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: Missing context

The implied claim here is wrong. The video does show the death of a journalist, but it was filmed during an Israeli airstrike in July 2014. It predates the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Video was filmed nearly a decade ago

The video wasn't captured during an October airstrike by the Israeli military.

An extended version of the video was shared on YouTube by Al Jazeera on July 20, 2016, as part of a segment on Gaza. The Al Jazeera logo can be seen in the bottom-left corner of the Instagram video.

The Al Jazeera video's caption states the clip was captured two years earlier, during a July 20, 2014, Israeli air raid in Shujayea, Gaza. The cameraman, Hamad, was filming paramedics aiding civilians until he was caught in the middle of a direct attack and killed.

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Hamad's death was reported on at the time by outlets such as The Guardian and Vice.

At the time, Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas were at war, in a similar way to the two parties' ongoing conflict in Gaza. Reuters described the 2014 conflict as "some of the worst fighting" between the two sides, as Israel devastated Gaza neighborhoods with airstrikes and Hamas launched rockets at Israeli cities.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact and Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video of Palestinian journalist dying is from 2014 | Fact check