Fact Check: Is the Viral clip of Palestinian Journalist dying on camera  recent casualty in Gaza?

Disturbing images and videos capturing the harrowing impact of Israel’s siege of Gaza in the aftermath of a Hamas attack on October 7 have inundated social media platforms. One such video, claiming to document the final moments of a journalist and a medic in Gaza following an Israeli air strike, has garnered attention.

In the footage, two men can be seen attempting to flee a conflict-ridden area, while the person behind the camera discusses their options for evading the shelling. Suddenly, a deafening noise erupts, causing the camera to fall to the ground. The lifeless hand of the cameraman comes into view, yet the recording persists. On-screen text reads, “Both Fouad Jaber and Khaled Hamad were killed by this missile. Khaled’s camera continued to record after he died.”

A social media post captioned with, “In two weeks we have witnessed heartbreak after heartbreak, and this footage adds to another horror, killed in the line of duty,” has circulated along with the video.

Upon investigation, India Today uncovered that while the video is related to the Israel-Palestine conflict, it is almost a decade old.

It stated that upon close examination, the video prominently displays Al Jazeera’s logo in the lower-left corner. A keyword search led to the same footage in an Al Jazeera documentary uploaded to their YouTube channel in July 2016.

According to the channel, this footage was recorded in 2014, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, which aimed to halt alleged rocket fire from Gaza. The two individuals featured in the video, as identified by Al Jazeera, are video journalist Khaled Hamad and medic Fouad Jaber.

The incident reportedly unfolded in Shuja’iyya, one of the Gaza Strip’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Israel contended that Shuja’iyya harbored Hamas “terror tunnels.” At the time, Hamad, 24, was employed by a local media company in Gaza City known as Continue Production Films.

As described by Alool, Hamad was accompanying an ambulance in Shijaiyah when it was struck by a shell fired by Israeli forces. A second shell followed, resulting in the unfortunate deaths of Hamad and Jaber. Hamad’s camera continued to record, even after he was struck, capturing the moments beyond his final breath.

On that fateful day, more than 60 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were reported to have lost their lives in the clashes between Israeli and Hamas forces in Shuja’iyya.

In light of this thorough investigation, it is evident that the video in question is nearly a decade old and unrelated to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas that began on October 7, 2023.