Get PolitiFact in your inbox.

Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke November 7, 2023

Video does not show Israel bombing hospitals; footage predates the current crisis

If Your Time is short

  • This footage has been online since July 2016. Posts from that time identify the location as Syria.

What appears to be closed-circuit television footage that shows explosions in a medical facility is being mischaracterized as violence in the Israel-Hamas war continues. 

"Israel Zionist blowing up people in hospitals," reads text above the video. 

A Nov. 3 Instagram post sharing the footage was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

These video clips have been online since at least July 2016. 

Featured Fact-check

AMC Media Production, which describes itself as a "Middle Eastern documentary film production company" that emerged in 2012 amid the Syrian Civil War, posted the footage on YouTube that year with this description, translated from Arabic to English by Google: "Moments documenting the crime: ‘The airstrike that targeted Omar bin Abdulaziz Hospital in mid-July." 

The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders told The Washington Post in November 2016 that Omar bin Abdul Aziz Hospital in Aleppo, Syria, had been attacked 30 times since "government-allied forces besieged the area in July." 

"Over the course of 45 days this summer in June and July, Omar Ibdn Abdel Aziz was hit by at least three airstrikes," The Intercept said in July 2016. The Syrian Civil War continues.

But we rate claims this video shows Israeli airstrikes in 2023 False.

 

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Ciara O'Rourke

Video does not show Israel bombing hospitals; footage predates the current crisis

Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!

In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.

Sign me up