A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, claims to show an Israeli Apache helicopter firing on the Nova music festival.
BREAKING:
Footage has emerged of an Israeli helicopter killing many people at an October 7 concert in Israel.
The IDF basically fired on everyone fleeing that concert using helicopters.
Still unconfirmed. pic.twitter.com/cEWiEpUB4y
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) November 9, 2023
Verdict: False
The video shows Israeli helicopters engaging Hamas terrorists, not firing at the Nova Music Festival.
Fact Check:
Social media users have been claiming that footage shows Israeli helicopters killing festival goers. 260 people died at the festival, according to BBC News.
BREAKING: Footage has emerged of an Israeli helicopter killing many people at an October 7 concert in Israel. The IDF basically fired on everyone fleeing that concert using helicopters. Still unconfirmed,” one post reads.
This claim, however, is false. The video, which was posted to social media platforms over a month ago, shows Israeli helicopters fighting with Hamas terrorists, not firing on the music festival.
Israeli AH-64 Apache attack helicopters engage Hamas militants with 30mm chain gun fire and Hellfire missiles pic.twitter.com/mkgMAawY30
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 9, 2023
An IDF spokesperson told Check Your Fact that the “post of an airstrike on the Nova festival is a fake.”
“On October 9, a video was published on the IDF’s official Twitter account describing IDF attacks in the Gaza Strip. The purpose of the strikes was to stop the murderous terrorists from penetrating into Israel to commit brutal and inhumane crimes. The viral post of an airstrike on the Nova festival is fake. For reliable and verified updates, follow the IDF’s official social networks,” the spokesperson said.
The video was posted to X by the IDF in a longer compilation of Israeli strikes against Hamas. Check Your Found found no visual evidence of Apache helicopters killing festival-goers, though there is visual evidence showing Hamas killing the attendees.
GeoConfirmed, an account that geolocates footage of various conflicts, also debunked the claim on X, showing that the footage was not taken at the festival. Some social media users pushing the false claim pointed to a Ynet article as evidence, but the actual article does not state the Israeli Apaches killed festival attendees.
“After the pilots realized that there was tremendous difficulty in distinguishing within the occupied outposts and settlements who was a terrorist and who was a soldier or civilian, a decision was made that the first mission of the combat helicopters and the armed Zik drones was to stop the flow of terrorists and the murderous mob that poured into Israeli territory through the gaps in the fence,” reads the article.