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Decimated communities. Burned-out buildings. Survivors mourning loved ones killed amid smoke and debris. These are the all-too-real scenes of Israel and Gaza.
But in the days since Hamas militants launched an Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the deadliest in years, online misinformation has distorted the facts around the conflict.
Outdated and fictional images and videos are being characterized as if they are from Israel and Gaza.
As if the real toll was not enough: At least 2,200 people in Israel and Gaza have been killed in the attacks, The Associated Press reported Oct. 11. The death toll includes at least 22 Americans and over a dozen more unaccounted for.
Politicians have clouded the information environment with unproven claims that U.S. taxpayer money and a recent deal with Iran funded the massacre.
Here are the viral misleading claims about the conflict that PolitiFact has fact-checked so far.
Several videos that predate the attacks in Israel and Gaza have been taken out of context and shared as if they depicted recent events.
One video claimed to show Iranian lawmakers chanting "death to America" after Hamas’ attack. But this video is from 2020 after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Different footage purportedly showed Palestinians paragliding into Israel to kill civilians. Although legitimate news reports did describe armed paragliders launching from Gaza, this video was filmed in Egypt before the attack.
Another post claimed to show Hamas militants "dressing up as Jewish soldiers." In reality, it was a behind-the-scenes clip from a 2022 Palestinian short film.
Videos of a 2021 pro-Palestinian rally in Chicago and what appears to be rapid rocket fire from 2020 also were shared as if these events happened recently.
Fictional video game footage is being shared as a real depiction of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, echoing a similar trend we’ve documented in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Numerous social media posts have mislabeled footage from the video game Arma 3 as coming from Israel and Gaza.
Arma 3 is a combat simulation game released in 2013. Users can customize it to create new terrains, weapons, aircrafts and scenarios. These creations, also called "mods," can be shared with other gamers. More than 20,000 mods are available for download, said Czech game development studio Bohemia Interactive, which made Arma 3.
"This means that players of Arma 3 can recreate and simulate any historic, present or future conflict in great detail (thanks to its advanced game engine). This unique freedom of the Arma 3 platform comes with a downside: videos taken from Arma 3, especially when the game is modified, are quite capable of spreading fake news," the game’s developers said in a statement addressing the misleading use of Arma 3 footage.
A viral document across social media platforms claimed to show President Joe Biden authorizing $8 billion in military aid to Israel. But the memo was altered.
The original memo, published July 25 on the White House website, announced it had authorized up to $400 million to aid Ukraine.
The U.S. is sending multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel and will supply the Israel Defense Forces with munitions. But additional U.S. aid requires approval from Congress.
Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, were quick to blame Biden for Hamas’ attack, claiming that a recent hostage-release agreement gave Iran access to $6 billion that it used to fund Hamas’ attack.
Although Iran has long supported Hamas, neither Israel nor the White House have said that there’s a direct link between Iran and Hamas’ attack.
In August, the U.S. announced an agreement with Iran to free five U.S. citizens detained in Iran in exchange for the release of five Iranians imprisoned in the U.S.
The agreement also allowed Iran access to $6 billion of its own funds that had been frozen in South Korean banks. The money comes from Iranian oil revenue and has been frozen since 2019, when Trump banned Iranian oil exports and imposed sanctions on Iran’s banking sector. (The $6 billion is not, as Trump falsely suggested, American taxpayer money.)
U.S. officials said Iran has not accessed the funds. Also, the deal limited how Iran could use the money; it can be used only to pay for humanitarian items, such as medicine and food. Experts say the unfrozen money for Iran might indirectly benefit Hamas in time.
Additionally, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., claimed the Biden administration "wanted Israel to stand down after the attack" by Hamas. But that’s Mostly False.
Scott, a Republican presidential candidate, said he was referring to a now-deleted post by the State Department’s Palestinian Affairs outpost in Jerusalem that condemned the Hamas attacks while urging "all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks."
But this framing clashed with U.S. policy and subsequent comments from Biden that clarified U.S. support for Israel and its right to retaliate, which came in before Scott’s swipe.
RELATED: Read all of our Israel coverage
Our Sources
PolitiFact, "Video shows Iranian lawmakers chanting ‘death to America’ in 2020, not 2023," Oct. 9, 2023
PolitiFact, "Video that predates Hamas October 2023 attack mischaracterized amid violence," Oct. 9, 2023
PolitiFact, "Behind-the-scenes footage of short film isn’t Hamas propaganda," Oct. 10, 2023
PolitiFact, "Widely shared video of pro-Palestinian rally in Chicago is from 2021," Oct. 10, 2023
PolitiFact, "Old video mischaracterized as showing Hamas attacking Israel in 2023," Oct. 10, 2023
PolitiFact, "Viral clip shows video game footage, not violence in Israel," Oct. 9, 2023
PolitiFact, "Video clip of aircraft shot down is from video game, not Israel-Hamas conflict," Oct. 9, 2023
PolitiFact, "Memo showing White House approved $8 billion to Israel is altered," Oct. 11, 2023
PolitiFact, "Fact-check: What Trump said about ‘$6 billion to Iran,’ immigration, economy at New Hampshire rally," Oct. 9, 2023
PolitiFact, "The US freed $6 billion in Iranian money. Did it help fund Hamas’ attack on Israel?," Oct. 9, 2023
PolitiFact, "Donald Trump wrong that US tax dollars went to Iran, Hamas," Oct. 11, 2023
PolitiFact, "Fact-checking Tim Scott on Biden administration's early response to Hamas attacks in Israel," Oct. 10, 2023
PolitiFact, "Video game footage mischaracterized as showing a rocket attack in Israel," Oct. 11, 2023
PolitiFact, "This is a video game, not combat in Ukraine," May 23, 2022
Bohemia Interactive, "Arma 3 footage being used as Fake News," Oct. 10, 2023
The Associated Press, "What to know on the fifth day of the latest Israel-Palestinian war," Oct. 11, 2023
The Associated Press, "US death toll in Israel-Hamas war rises to 22 as Blinken heads to Israel and US makes military moves," Oct. 11, 2023
The New York Times, "The Long Wait for Help as Massacres Unfolded in Israel," Oct. 11, 2023