The Palestinian Observatory “Tahaqaq” Debunks Three Deceptive Western and Israeli Claims Regarding the War in Gaza

Various foreign and Israeli social media pages and accounts engaged with three different video clips, framing them with misleading claims in support of the Israeli occupation since the beginning of the Israeli war in Gaza. The first claim cast doubt on the reaction of a Palestinian nurse when she discovered that the patient brought into the hospital was her daughter. Skeptics alleged that the video was a staged performance, agreed upon by the nurse and the cameraperson to appear as victims.

As for the second video, its distributors claimed that it showed Hamas militants destroying a cross inside a church in Gaza.

The third claim revolved around the American-Palestinian supermodel Bella Hadid allegedly supporting Israel. This was based on a video circulated by its claimants, stating that Hadid condemned what Israel faced on October 7th of the previous year, and that she “cannot remain silent” and hence stands with Israel.

Our team verified the accuracy of each claim by researching publicly available sources and contacting relevant sources. Here’s what they found:

The video featuring a woman witnessing young men bringing an injured person to the emergency department, only to later realize that the injured person was her daughter, is authentic. Upon closer examination, it is revealed that the lady is a nurse wearing a white nurse’s uniform, and the injured person was admitted to the Indonesian Hospital in the north of Gaza City. Dr. Atef Al-Kahlout, the hospital’s director, confirmed that

The woman in the circulated video is the nurse Ghada Abu Aida, who has been working for years in the nursing department.

Dr. Essam Nabhan, the head of the nursing department at the hospital, also confirmed that Ghada Abu Aida is one of the core nursing staff at the hospital, working 12-hour shifts daily. He further added,

“In cases of emergencies, such as the Jabalia massacre and others, we call upon teams from all internal sections of the emergency department. At the time of the massacre, Abu Aida was performing her duties in the reception section after she heard a distress call from the alert system regarding the Jabalia massacre, and we needed all the nursing staff. She was surprised to find several of her family members in the hospital after the video.”

Dr. Nabhan pointed out that

Her daughter Sewar was injured during the shelling of Jabalia, and her health is currently stable. She was shocked at the moment of filming when she realized that Sewar was injured, and later she discovered that her son had also been martyred during the same shelling.

Additionally, the head nurse provided us with records confirming that she is a nurse and works at the Indonesian Hospital, which is why she was present at the reception section for the wounded.

These findings refute the misleading claims and provide a more accurate understanding of the events surrounding these videos.

The second video showing an attack by armed individuals on a church and the destruction of the cross and church contents was falsely claimed to involve members of Hamas vandalizing a church.

After researching the original source of the circulated clip, it was revealed to be old, dating back to June 5, 2017. It documented an attack by ISIS militants on a church in Marawi City, Philippines, and had no connection to the Israeli war in Gaza or Hamas as falsely claimed.

The third video featuring American-Palestinian fashion model Bella Hadid was claimed to depict her supporting Israel. The video showed her discussing the events of October 7th of the previous year and condemning what Israel faced at that time, stating that she cannot remain silent and therefore stands with Israel.

Upon investigating the origin of the circulated clip, it was found that it was taken from an awareness event organized by the Global Lyme Alliance and was published on their YouTube channel on December 12, 2016.

Bella Hadid participated in the event, but she didn’t mention Israel in her speech. After closer examination of the circulated clip by our technical team, it was determined to be inauthentic and subjected to deep fakery through artificial intelligence techniques.

This was evident from the inconsistency between Bella Hadid’s speech and her lip movements, which appeared unnatural. Additionally, her head movements, when analyzed closely, indicated that the voice was cloned using artificial intelligence techniques. The voice in the video had an echo and was larger than her natural voice, as confirmed by a comparison with her previous videos.

Further examination by slowing down the circulated clip revealed distortions at the end of each word she spoke, confirming that the voice was cloned using artificial intelligence techniques and was not her real voice.