A post shared on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, claims to show a BBC video published a video alleging that Bellingcat researchers said Ukraine supplied Hamas with weapons.
ZELENSKY THROWN UNDER THE BUS -‼️ as Bellingcat publishes that Hamas gets most weapons from corrupt Ukraine onselling Western supplies‼️‼️‼️😡 ☠️
01:00 🗣”If investigated – the US will have a formal reason to leave NATO” they write, which means the alliance will crumble. Is the… pic.twitter.com/ObyZCtxoyT
— M ll (@miroslavadamekx) October 11, 2023
Verdict: False
The BBC did not publish this video, nor did Bellingcat make the claim. There is no evidence that Ukraine supplied Hamas with weapons.
Fact Check:
Social media users have been sharing a video claiming that the BBC reported Bellingcat researchers found that Hamas got weapons from Ukraine for its attack on Israel.
However, the claim that BBC published the video is false. A search of the BBC’s X account and website did not yield any results for this claim. Shayan Sardarizadeh, a reporter for BBC Verify, confirmed on X that the media organization did not publish any such video.
A fake video posted in pro-Kremlin circles with BBC branding and logo is falsely claiming that BBC News and @bellingcat are reporting that the Ukrainian government has provided weapons to Hamas.
The video is 100% fake. Neither BBC News nor Bellingcat have reported that. pic.twitter.com/bQdeBW3LPp
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 10, 2023
A fake video posted in pro-Kremlin circles with the BBC branding and logo is falsely claiming that BBC News and @bellingcat are reporting that the Ukrainian government has provided weapons to Hamas. The video is 100% fake. Neither BBC News nor Bellingcat have reported that,” Sardarizadeh tweeted.
A search of the Bellingcat X account and website did not yield any results for this alleged video. Neither did a wider internet search. Bellingcat denied the claim it did not make any such claim. (RELATED: Hamas Official Falsely Claims Group Did Not Kill Any Civilians)
We’re aware of a fake BBC video circulating on social media falsely claiming that Bellingcat has verified Ukrainian weapons sales to Hamas. We’ve reached no such conclusions or made any such claims. We’d like to stress that this is a fabrication and should be treated accordingly. pic.twitter.com/kX7R8ZVPzr
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) October 10, 2023
There is no evidence Hamas used weapons supplied by Ukraine. If Hamas was using weapons supplied by Ukraine, then media outlets would have covered it, yet none have. Experts told Check Your Fact the claim is false. (RELATED: Video Claiming Showing Israeli Missile Attack On Gaza Predates The Current Conflict)
“I am confident this is categorically false, without any strategic logic or empirical evidence. Ukraine has no interest in helping Gaza and many reasons not to cross the US on this. But how can you disprove a pure fabrication?” Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institute told Check Your Fact in an email.
“I am aware there was such a claim on the internet but it has been proven to be false. It also makes no sense for Ukraine to supply weapons to Hamas and risk alienating its primary supporter, ie the USA,” C. Ross Anthony, a senior economist at RAND Corporation and the director of RAND’s Israeli/Palestinian Initiative, said in an email to Check Your Fact.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s chief of military intelligence, told Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda that Russia supplied Hamas with weapons taken from the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“We know for sure that weapons captured from Ukraine were supplied by the Russians to the Hamas group. These were mainly infantry armaments. There is some information that something was sent to Hezbollah but at the moment, we don’t know for sure,” Budanov said. Budanov did not provide any evidence for this claim, and Check Your Fact could not verify the veracity of Budanov’s claims.
There are several images of weapons used by Hamas during its attack on Israel that were seized by Israeli security forces. For example, Fox News published an article with images showing rows of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), rockets and other ammunition used by the terrorist organization. Calibre Obscura, a weapons researcher, also has published images of the weapons used by Hamas.
Further materiel left behind by al Qassam in S. #Israel: YM-2 AT mine, locally made “Tandem 85” dual HEAT projectile, explosives, locally made M26-pattern grenades (Offensive and defensive), PG-7V projectile, RPG-7, AKM-pattern and Type 56-1 AK rifles, and kit.
📸via @shailevy6 pic.twitter.com/TF3GPpFAMP
— Cᴀʟɪʙʀᴇ Oʙsᴄᴜʀᴀ (@CalibreObscura) October 12, 2023
More al Qassam weapons found in Sufa outpost by Shayetet 13: Hungarian AMD-65 AK and other AK variants (East German, Egyptian Misr, AK-103-2, Type 56) and a possible M16/M4. #Israel pic.twitter.com/d6wb1RUXTl
— Cᴀʟɪʙʀᴇ Oʙsᴄᴜʀᴀ (@CalibreObscura) October 12, 2023
“Homemade rockets. Modified AK-47s. Decades-old Soviet machine guns. Cheap, second-hand, and purloined weapons comprised Hamas’ deadly makeshift arsenal that fueled a devastating, multi-pronged attack on Israel over the weekend,” CNN’s article on the weapons used by Hamas partially reads.
Check Your Fact has fact-checked several claims from the Israeli-Hamas conflict. Check Your Fact recently debunked a claim that Qatar threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing in Gaza does not stop.
Note: Check Your Fact is working to debunk false and misleading claims from the recent event. Please send tips to [email protected].