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
Video shows Israeli military driving a bulldozer into a hospital in Gaza, running over patients.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker came across several reports, quoting witnesses who claimed that civilians were buried under earth moved by Israeli army bulldozers in the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, which Israeli soldiers raided over several days this week.
The UN humanitarian affairs coordination office reportedly said in an update that on Saturday Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital and according to media reports “an Israeli military bulldozer flattened the tents of a number of internally displaced persons outside the hospital, killing and wounding an unconfirmed number of people”. We, however, could not find the viral video across these reports.
We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to a clearer version of the video on Youtube, dated September 4, 2013, stating that Army bulldozers ran over bodies in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.
A relevant keyword search led us to this Al Jazeera report on Youtube, dated August 26, 2013, stating that a bulldozer sweeps away dozens of bodies of victims of the Rabaa massacre in Egypt.
“New pictures of the massacre of the dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in on August 14 showed a bulldozer sweeping away dozens of bodies of victims of the massacre, ignoring the warnings of the demonstrators,” read the description, translated from Arabic.
We learnt that on August 14, 2013, Egyptian security forces forcefully dispersed two sit-ins by supporters of the late Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in Nahda and Rabaa al-Adawiya squares, in what was later described as one of the darkest and deadliest days in the country’s modern history, when hundreds were indiscriminately killed during protests.
“Egyptian forces used armoured vehicles and bulldozers, in addition to ground troops and snipers on rooftops carrying live ammunition, to attack the square from all sides and close off safe exits, according to witnesses and human rights organisations,” read an Al Jazeera report, confirming that the viral video is not related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Also Read: Fake Screenshot Of Pakistan Interim PM’s Tweet Confirming Dawood Ibrahim’s Death Goes Viral
Result: False
Sources
Youtube video, Al Jazeera, August 26, 2013
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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.
