This October 7, Hamas, a group considered terrorist by the European Union and the United States and which controls the Gaza Strip (Palestine), launched an attack on Israel. Through the Maldita.es WhatsApp chatbot (+34 644 229 319) you have asked us about some of the images and videos that have gone viral, which are either decontextualized or old.

One of the contents that has circulated the most during the first days of the conflict has been that it states that Israel has bombed “the third oldest church in the world”, in relation to the Orthodox church of Saint Porphyry, in Gaza.. On October 9, 2023, when this content was disseminated, there was no evidence that this had occurred. The institution itself has published on its official Facebook account that the building is “intact” and “functioning at the service of the community.”

Another of the messages that have been shared the most on social networks has been an alleged video from the British network BBC that claims that an investigation by the investigative journalism portal Bellingcat shows that Ukraine smuggled weapons to Hamas.

“Analysis of secret data showed that Ukraine provided the majority of weapons to the Palestinian Hamas movement,” says an alleged video published by the BBC. However, it is a montage that uses the BBC logo. There is no trace that it has even been broadcast by the public broadcaster in the United Kingdom.. Furthermore, both Bellingcat and its founder, Eliot Higgins, have stated on their Twitter accounts, now called X, that the video is “100% false.”

Another common occurrence in any misinformation crisis is fire videos.. On this occasion, a recording has circulated showing what appears to be alleged building fires in Gaza following the attacks by the Israeli army.. But it is a hoax.

The video, which is now circulating without sound, is of a football celebration and was recorded in Algeria in 2020. In the original, background music is heard that has been removed to make it pass as Gaza.

In addition to decontextualized images, when there is a tense situation it is also common for a WhatsApp chain to go viral that says that images about the event in question will be circulated in order to hack your cell phone.

This case has not been an exception. “Photos of the fighting in Jewish settlements will begin to be uploaded to WhatsApp (.,..) Do not open it, it will hack your phone in 10 seconds and cannot be stopped in any way,” says the viral chain that has circulated on WhatsApp. However, it is a hoax. The message that moves does not provide any evidence and is the same as others that we have already denied at Maldita.es. Furthermore, the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) has already stated that these types of messages tend to “be a hoax.”