This Is Not a Recent Photo of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh in Lebanon
The Claim
A photo shows Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visiting Qassam Brigade units in southern Lebanon days before they fired rockets into Israel.
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Amid the recent clashes between Israel and Lebanon, social media users, mainly pro-Israel, circulated a photo of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visiting Qassam Brigade units in southern Lebanon days before they fired rockets into Israel.
The photo’s publishers blamed Haniyeh for the recent clashes between Israel and Lebanon.
In addition, the Israel Foreign Ministry's official Twitter account published the photo, blaming Hamas for being "behind the attack!"
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral photo and found the claim to be misleading.
After conducting a thorough reverse image search, Misbar’s team found Haniyeh’s photo to be outdated.
2020 Photo of Ismail Haniyeh Resurfaces Online
The photo was not shot recently in Lebanon, as claimed. However, the photo has been online since September 6, 2020.
A Twitter account published the photo, stating that the photo features Haniyeh during his visit to the Islamic Community Center in Sidon, Lebanon.
This is Gaza, a Twitter account, tweeted a thread regarding the photo, proving that the photo is old and citing that "the guards seen in the photo with Haniyeh are wearing COVID masks."
The user accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of using an outdated photo as a justification to bomb the Gaza Strip yesterday.
Who Is Ismail Haniyeh?
Ismail Haniyeh is the current head of Hamas’s Political Bureau and a former Palestinian prime minister.
Haniyeh, who took over for Khaled Meshal as head of Hamas in 2017, was re-elected to the position in the movement's internal elections in 2021. Following Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections of 2006, he was also selected as the head of the Palestinian Authority.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas' political bureau, condemned Israel's recent aggression against Gaza via Al Jazeera and stated that "the Israeli occupation is fully responsible for the brutal aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque, and we affirm that our people and their resistance will not stand idly by."
Israel Strikes Lebanon and Gaza
Hours after beginning airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, Israel's military claims it conducted airstrikes in Lebanon on targets it claimed to belong to Hamas.
Tensions rose as Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem twice this week, prompting the bombardment in the early hours of Friday. This was followed by a series of rocket launches from southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military reported that 34 rockets were fired from Lebanon on Thursday, 25 of which were intercepted, and at least four of which landed inside Israel.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Lebanon or Gaza.
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This Photo Dates Back to Israel’s 2022 Raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque
