Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
A Hamas militant gets shot in the head.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to a Reddit post from two years ago, indicating that the viral clip is not taken from the recent Israel-Hamas conflict that started in October 2023.
A further search led us to this American Military News report, dated September 28, 2017, sharing another version of the video and stating, “During the fight against ISIS, an Iraqi soldier gets shot in the head while trying to show off what he can do with a machine gun.”
“After waving to the camera and spraying a number of rounds over a ridge with no particular target, he looks back towards the camera and begins to drop his weapon. Almost immediately, an incoming round hits him in the head, dropping him to the ground and sending his hat flying into the air. The Iraqi soldier was believed to be shot by an ISIS sniper near Fallujah in 2014,” read the report. Similar reports can be seen here and here, confirming that the viral video is from 2014.
Also Read: No, Ratan Tata Hasn’t Announced Rs 10cr For Afghanistan Cricketer Rashid Khan
Result: False
Sources
American Military News report, September 28, 2017
Star report, October 29, 2014
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
