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
Paratroopers with Palestinian militant group Hamas landing in Israel.
Fact
Video shows paratroopers during a drill over the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo in September 2023.
Several social media users are circulating a video, claiming to show fighters with Palestinian militant group Hamas “parachuting down into Israeli territory” during the ongoing conflict that began on October 7 and has claimed close to 2,200 lives so far.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Also Read: Viral Image Of Netanyahu Sending His Son To The Army Is From 2014
Fact Check
Newschecker noticed that multiple users had pointed out in the comments of the social media posts that the video was from Egypt. We also saw that the building seen in the video had an Arabic inscription in the front. When we ran the image past the translate function in Google Lens, the text read, “Military College”.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search, which led us to a photo of the Egyptian Military Academy published on the website of the Egyptian Defence Ministry on August 26, 2023. A comparison indicated that the building seen in the viral video is the same. Images found on Google Maps, corresponding to the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, further proved that it was the same building.
We also saw, with the help of Google Maps, that the Egyptian Military Academy is far away from Gaza.
Newschecker then contacted Hossam Alwakil, editor-in-chief of Arabic fact-checking outlet tafnied.com, who sent us a Tiktok video, dated September 27 , 2023, uploaded by a user, mahmoum_mohamed. A comparison with the viral clip further proved that it was the same video, while the Arabic text seen in the Tiktok video, when translated from Arabic, stated that it showed the preparations before the graduation ceremony at the Egyptian Military Academy. Alwakil said that the graduation ceremony of the 117th batch of the college is scheduled on October 13.
He sent us similar videos of the preparations, which were uploaded in September, well before the current conflict escalated.
Also Read: Old Video Of Air Strike Linked To Recent Israel-Palestine Conflict
Conclusion
A video of paratroopers at the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo has been falsely claimed to show Hamas fighters entering Israeli territory using parachutes.
Result: False
Our Sources
Egyptian Defence Ministry Website: Photo on 26th August 2023
Egyptian Military Academy, Google Maps Photos
Conversation with Hossam Alwakil, editor-in-chief, tafnied.com
This article was originally written for Newschecker Hindi by Runjay Kumar
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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.
