Since Wednesday, November 22, Israeli accounts and pages on social media have been circulating a video claiming to show members of Hamas emerging from a tunnel and surrendering to Israeli army forces during ground battles in the Gaza Strip.
Hidden Location Details Raise Scene Doubts
Misbar analyzed the video and identified elements that cast doubt on its authenticity, suggesting it might be propaganda footage amid the ongoing campaign led by Israeli accounts during the ongoing war on Gaza.
The video was filmed at night in a confined dirt area, depicting a tunnel from which several individuals emerged. It quickly presents scenes devoid of any contextual details about the location and its surroundings. This absence appears deliberate, as if there was an intentional effort to conceal the nature of the location and its details.
Hamas Fighters Are Not Wearing Similar Clothes During the Gaza War
Israeli accounts claim that the fighters emerging from the tunnel are members of the resistance, and a careful examination of the images shows that they seem more like members or soldiers in regular armies or security forces, such as police. Their appearance and uniforms differ from the attire of resistance fighters amidst the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza
The individuals in the video are wearing uniforms and shoes, and one of them is wearing a green military quilt.
Checking the latest videos published by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, it becomes clear that during recent battles with the occupation forces, its members always wear various sports or light clothing, such as jeans and sports or light shoes. Some even appear barefoot in several scenes, illustrating a general attire adopted by the resistance members in this war, as they do not typically don uniforms.
The Nature of Hamas Tunnels
Some estimates indicate that Hamas's network of underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip is the largest in the world after that of underground facilities built by North Korea. This is what Israel has repeatedly confirmed in its statements about the size of the network of resistance tunnels linked together beneath the ground in Gaza.
Some Western media outlets describe these tunnels as the “Gaza metro” or the “spider maze,” given that they are a large and complex network, and that resistance members preserve them well. The individuals in the video published by Israeli accounts, if they were from the resistance, could therefore have stayed inside the tunnels and used them to get away from the Israeli forces that showed up at that location.
The Video Does Not Show Any Resistance by Hamas Fighters
Resistance members appeared in most of the images published during the ongoing war, showing their resistance to Israeli forces penetrating the Gaza Strip. They engaged in close-range and long-distance clashes in various locations.
The video published by Israeli accounts, however, depicts them surrendering without any resistance to Israeli forces, despite the fact that there was a distance between the Israeli soldiers and the tunnel entrance.
Furthermore, It shows that these individuals emerging from the tunnel carrying weapons, indicating readiness for engagement, yet no such action occurred.
Additionally, Israeli forces are shown using night searchlights to illuminate the distance to the tunnel, rendering them vulnerable to potential targeting at night. Typically, night scopes are used in such cases instead of lamps.
Scene Cut Without Revealing People’s Features
The video was only a few seconds long, during which a voice was heard from someone who came out of the tunnel speaking in Arabic and saying, “No one shoots, we will surrender.” But when the camera approached, the faces of those who were supposed to have surrendered did not appear, and filming stopped before their features were shown.
Al-Qassam Brigades Publish New Images of Attacks on Israeli Forces in Gaza
Israeli accounts circulated the video after the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, published a video on Wednesday, November 22, claiming to document moments of clashes with occupation soldiers, the killing of some of them, and the damage to military vehicles in several areas of Gaza City.
The video published by the movement shows new scenes of vehicles being damaged by Al-Yassin shells, as well as an explosive device being attached to one of the tanks penetrating the strip, in addition to shooting from a close range at a number of soldiers in one of their vehicles.
On Wednesday evening, November 24, the Israeli army announced that one of its soldiers was killed and two were seriously injured in battles in northern Gaza, bringing the death toll to 392 since the start of the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.
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