A video shared widely on social media shows a bulldozer moving over individuals covered in white. The accompanying claim suggests that the footage captures an Israeli bulldozer running over incapacitated and severely injured Palestinian patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital. In this article, we fact-check the assertions made in the post.
Claim: Video of an Israeli bulldozer running over severely injured Palestinian patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Fact: The visuals are from the Rabaa massacre that occurred in Egypt in 2013, depicting the use of bulldozers by the armed forces against protest encampments. These visuals are unrelated to the current Israel-Palestine conflict. Nonetheless, there are reports of Israeli forces bulldozing tents that housed displaced Palestinians near Kamal Adwan Hospital. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Recent reports from news agencies have highlighted Israeli forces bulldozing tents that sheltered displaced Palestinians near Kamal Adwan Hospital (here & here). The currently trending video is being shared in connection with these news reports. Few media agencies have wrongly reported the currently viral visuals as from Gaza, leading to traction on social media platforms. However, it is important to note that this video is not from any recent incident but is, in fact, a ten-year-old footage from Egypt.
An Internet search with pertinent keywords yielded a 2013 news report by Al Jazeera that featured similar visuals. As per this report, the visuals are related to the Rabaa massacre, wherein the visuals show a bulldozer sweeping away the dead bodies of the victims. This establishes that these are not related to the recently reported Iareli incident.
In August 2013, a large number of people in Egypt rallied in the streets, calling for the return of the country’s initial democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi. He had been compelled to step down as General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, then the Egyptian Army Chief, orchestrated a coalition and assumed the presidency of Egypt.
The 2014 investigation report by Human Rights Watch detailed the use of bulldozers by the armed forces against protest encampments. This information strengthens the assertion that the viral video is inaccurately associated with the recent incident in Israel-Palestine.
To sum it up, old visuals related to Egypt’s Rabaa massacre in 2013 are passed off as Israeli forces bulldozing Palestinians at Kamal Adwan Hospital in 2023.
