Fact Check: Old video from Syria falsely linked to Israel-Hamas conflict

Hyderabad: A disturbing video of a man brutally beheading a boy while everyone around chants Allah Hu Akbar, has gone viral on social media. Users are linking it with the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

The post was shared with the caption: “Allah Hu Akbar & then beheaded the innocent kid... Reminded me of Kashmir gen o cide. They're not humans, their faith makes them worse than animals...So-called sickular-liberals are supporting these p!gs?”

(Watch it at your own risk)#IStandWithIsrael #HamasTerrorists’

What going on?

The war between Israel and Hamas broke out in early October 2023. How much is a militant Islamist group that has controlled Gaza since 2006? Thomas fighters fire rockets into Israel and storm Southern Israeli cities and towns across the border of the Gaza Strip killing hundreds of soldiers and civilians. How much didn't stop there, they also kept a number of people as hostages. This led to huge disruption in Israel which eventually came out as a deadly retaliation operation. One day after the October 7 attack by Hamas, Israel formally declared war against Hamas.

Since then, a number of unrelated videos from past wars have been shared on social media.

Fact check

NewsMeter found the viral video is old and unrelated.

After running a keyword search, we found a media report on ALJAZEERA titled ‘Syria war: Rebels ‘behead 12-year-old boy’ on video' dated 20th July 2016.

According to the report, ‘A video circulating on social media appears to show Syrian rebels beheading a Palestinian boy who they accused of being a pro-government fighter. The video, posted online on Tuesday, shows a group of men in the back of a truck cutting off the head of the terrified boy. Before the gruesome murder, the men accuse the boy of being a member of the Liwa al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigade), a Palestinian armed group fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.’

The same report was also found on an Estonian news outlet Ohtuleht, along with visuals.

Another similar media report on the Independent confirms that the boy was a Palestinian from the Palestinian refugee camp of Handarat on the edge of Aleppo.

Hence, it is quite evident that the viral video is nowhere related to the ongoing war between Israel-Hamas.