The Hamas – Israel ceasefire and the fake news surrounding it

Israel and Hamas have agreed a ceasefire on 15 January 2025, which took effect on 19 January 2025, starting with the exchange of three Israeli female hostages held in Gaza since 7 October 2023 and 90 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. This event has generated several instances of false news. Here are some of them:

• Fact Check: Video of Israeli parliamentarians crying miscaptioned as response to ceasefire deal (REUTERS)

“A 2023 video showing people in Israel’s parliament crying after a screening of footage from Hamas’ 7 October 2023, attack on Israel was shared with false captions saying it showed members of the parliament crying over Israel’s January 2025 ceasefire deal with Hamas.

A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 19 January. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party opposed the deal by resigning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

A video showing people crying, opens new tab and consoling each other was posted online with the caption, „Knesset members cry over the ceasefire deal and Ben Gvir is gone.”

A journalist with Israel’s Channel 14 shared the video in a Nov. 1, 2023, thread on X, saying it showed members of the Knesset, Almog Cohen, Ohad Tal, Naama Lazimi and former Knesset member Shirley Pinto, leaving a screening in the Knesset in tears.

Clips from the video also featured in a longer video uploaded to the outlet’s YouTube channel on the same day saying it showed Knesset members after the screening of a film showing footage from the 7 October massacre prepared by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

A Knesset spokesperson also told Reuters the scenes in the video show Knesset members after a 1 November 2023, screening of footage from the 7 October Hamas attack.

Reuters previously addressed the same video in 2023, when it was shared with false descriptions saying it showed Knesset members reacting to news of Hamas killing Israeli military forces.

A spokesperson for the Knesset said in a WhatsApp message on 9 November, 2023, „These are reactions of Knesset Members exiting the screening of the film prepared by the IDF spokesperson, which presents documentation of part of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on 7^th October within Israel.”

Local media reported that the 1 November 2023, screening of a 43-minute-long video showing uncensored footage from the attack left several Knesset members in tears and one of them fainted, opens new tab.

VERDICT

Miscaptioned. The video shows people in the Israeli parliament after a screening of footage from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, not Knesset members crying over the Gaza ceasefire deal in January 2025.”

Another fake story is one that circulated mainly in the social media:

• Fact Check: Video of Hamas firing guns in air predates 2025 ceasefire announcement (REUTERS)

“A 2007 video of Hamas fighters firing guns during training has been falsely portrayed as showing uniformed militants celebrating the ceasefire announcement in January 2025.

Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal on 15 January, agreeing to halt fighting in Gaza. The ceasefire began on 19 January, with Hamas releasing three Israeli hostages and Israel releasing 90 Palestinian prisoners.

Social media posts shared the video, opens new tab showing people in military outfits firing in the air with the caption, „Hamas fighters miraculously found their missing uniforms, helmets, body armour & balaclavas. These items disappeared for 15 months while they deliberately hid among civilians & caused unimaginable casualties…”

However, the clip can be seen in a longer video, opens new tab titled „Hamas fighters train for possible Israel attack,” uploaded to The Associated Press’ Archive YouTube channel on 21 July 2015.

Nicole Meir, media relations manager at The Associated Press, said in an email that the video shared online is an AP video from 2007 of Hamas fighters training and that it was published on AP’s Archive YouTube channel in July 2015.

VERDICT

Missing context. The video does not show Hamas fighters celebrating the January 2025 ceasefire deal announcement. It dates from 2007.”

• Another incorrect story linked to the release of Israeli hostages was flagged by CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis) which describes itself as “a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East.”

“In August, a CBS News memo regarding the Jewish state’s capital city instructed all employees: “Do not refer to [Jerusalem] as being in Israel.”

This week, the media giant further chipped away at Israeli territory.

“Damari, who is 28, and Steinbrecher, who is 31, were taken from the same kibbutz,” anchor Errol Barnett’s intoned in special report Jan.19 covering the release of the three Israeli hostages Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen.

Damari and Steinbrecher’s home, Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where they were brutally kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, is not a settlement. The kibbutz is located well within internationally recognized Israeli territory. It is nowhere near the disputed West Bank.”

• The Eli Feldstein affair (FakeReporter)

This is a major story which predates the ceasefire and hostages release agreement of 15 January 2025 but had a serious impact on the negotiations between the Israeli government and Hamas which went on for more than a year. FakeReporter describes itself as “founded by activists, experts, and cyber researchers to protect Israeli society from malicious activity online.” Here is a brief outline of the Eli Feldstein affair:

“Media manipulations, and baseless conspiracies are spread almost daily by politicians, media figures, and online influencers. The reason: the arrest of Eli Feldstein, who served as an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Eli Feldstein was arrested on October 27, 2024, and on November 21, an indictment was filed against him for providing secret information with the intent to harm state security. Alongside him, a reservist was charged with providing him with the information, which was classified as top secret, in violation of the law. From the moment the affair was exposed until today, FakeReporter have identified more than 20 false claims and lies in the discourse. We wrote the „debunking” on the subject so that you can read and understand the facts.”

Among the claims debunked by FakeReporter are:

• The document leaked by Feldstein to the German newspaper Bild and published on 6 September 2024 was obtained by Feldstein without the knowledge of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who claimed t have found out about it from the media. In fact, Feldstein testified during his interrogation that he informed Netanyahu about the document.
• Netanyahu claimed that the document leaked to Bild revealed Hamas leadership strategy of negotiations. In fact as FakeReporter writes: “According to a publication in Haaretz, IDF sources said that this was a document written as a recommendation by a mid-level commander. They added that the document was not up-to-date at the time of its publication. According to an article by Ronen Bergman in Yedioth Ahronoth, „This is a document of little importance, certainly not Sinwar’s instructions, and the recommendations contained therein were not accepted”.
• The defendants are accused of delivering information to the enemy. FakeReporter writes: “The defendants are not accused of delivering information to the enemy, but of stealing the document, possessing it, and delivering it with the intent to harm state security. The meaning of the section dealing with delivering the document with the intent to harm security is that the defendants were aware that delivering the document would harm state security – not that they delivered it to the enemy.”

 

Article within the project „DISINFO4BLACKSEA / Investigating the impact of disinformation targeting the Israel-Hamas war in the Black Sea region”, with the support of the Media and Information Fund.

The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.