FALSE: Video of Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas and placed in cages

Information is being spread online claiming that members of Hamas placed Israeli children in cages. The authors attach a video and indicate that laughter from the kidnappers can be heard off-screen.

However, this is false. We found the video from which the screenshot was taken. It was filmed on October 4, before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The user who filmed the children identified themselves as their relative. The video contains elements indicating that it is humorous and that no harm was intended toward the children.

Through reverse image search on Google Images, we found several other videos, screenshots of which are being circulated online. These videos also show the TikTok username @user6903068251281. We found this account, but there were no videos with children on the page. Instead, on October 8, the account owner posted a video responding in Arabic to the question: “Are these Zionist children?” The video description contains a link, presumably to the video with children in cages, but the author restricted access to it.

The Palestinian media and education verification organization, Kashif, published a translation of the user’s words. The man stated that the children in the video are his relatives, and he posted the video three days before the Hamas attack on Israel, on October 4.

On October 9, fact-checkers from the Israeli organization FakeReporter published a link to the original video, but the link is no longer valid, and we were unable to find the video in the web archive. They also added screenshots of the deleted video with children in cages. The screenshot shows an avatar that matches the photo on the TikTok account with the username @user6903068251281. Fact-checkers stated that the post was shared at least 5 days ago. The video description also includes several hashtags: “oppressed in my country,” “Gaza, Palestine, Amman,” “the Chinese have no solution,” and a smiling emoji. Using the last hashtag, we found several humorous videos on TikTok.

Fact-checkers from Maldita.es found another video published by a user with the mentioned username on October 8th. In this recording, there are children who were filmed in the first video, sitting on the doorstep of a house. The author added a comment from another user to the video: “Let them go before they turn white.” Like the previous video with children, this user also deleted the post.

In addition, fact-checkers from Tjekdet have determined that the recording has two audio tracks — the original and overlaid laughter. This laughter sound is popular on TikTok among Arabic-speaking users, typically used in humorous videos.

Despite this particular video not being related to the crimes of Hamas, the militants of the group did indeed kidnap and kill Israeli children. After the group’s attack on Israel, journalists and eyewitnesses began reporting numerous war crimes. Specifically, a few days after the liberation from the militants of the Kfar Aza kibbutz, located near the border with Gaza, it became known about the mass executions of civilians, including children, women, and the elderly. On October 12, the office of the Prime Minister of Israel published photos of killed infants. Hamas denied accusations of killing children.

As of October 24, according to Israeli military data, 224 people were held captive by Hamas, including 20 children and between 10 and 20 individuals over the age of 60.