Video Showing a Child Supposedly Being Shot Is From a Movie, Not the Israeli-Palestinian War

A search query on X, formerly Twitter shows results of this tweet with a post claiming to show Israelis staging a video of an attack on children by Palestine’s militant group Hamas. 

The video, also shared on this tweet shows a boy sprawled on the ground with a production crew directing him to position himself as though hurt from a possible attack.

Background

Killing and maiming children during war and conflicts, is one of the six grave violations on children, according to the United Nations Security Council. While war affects everyone, children are regarded as collaterals from the impacts of these atrocities. According to a press release by UNICEF, hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian children have been killed and more injured since October 7, 2023. 

Verification

Going by the TikTok account name visible in this video, an advanced search on Google provides results with a TikTok account containing the same video. According to the dates attached to this post, this video was uploaded on the platform on April 21, 2022. More details reveal that the video was part of a behind-the-scenes film being produced by the crew seen in the clip. 

The caption shared alongside the video reads, “Behind the scenes of filming the scene of the settlers’ enemies attacking the child Ahmed Manasra.”

Another similar search on Google with keywords; ‘Ahmed Manasra film’ shows that allegations that this clip shows a staged attack on children have been circulating since 2022. This Tweet included in a publication by Reuters shows another variation of the claims attached to this video accusing Palestinians of allegedly staging a killing. 

In fact, Reuters says that Awni Eshtaiwe, the director of this film confirmed that the video was taken during the filming of his short movie. In this publication, the film is identified as ‘Empty Place’ published on Estaiwe’s YouTube channel. Certainly, minute 1’10” – 1’27” of the short film on YouTube confirms the results of the production. 

Verdict

Claims that this video shows Israelis staging an alleged attack by Hamas are false.

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