The posts distributed soon before the United Nations’ leading court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), purchased Israel to stop military operations in Rafah “instantly”, a landmark judgment most likely to increase mounting global pressure on Israel more than 7 months into the war.
On the 2nd day of hearings, the legal representative for Israel, Gilad Naom, informed the court that “Almost 700 hundred tunnel shafts have actually been recognized in Rafah, from which around 50 tunnels cross into Egypt” (archived link).
“These tunnels are utilized by Hamas to provide itself with weapons and ammo. It might possibly be utilized to smuggle out of Gaza captives or Hamas senior operatives.”
However the image supposedly revealing a Hamas tunnel in between southern Gaza and Egypt in reality reveals an underground passage near a border crossing about 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north.
Northern Gaza tunnel
A reverse image search on Google caused the exact same image released by Getty Images on January 7, 2024, and credited to Noam Galai (archived link).
Its caption checks out: “A view inside a tunnel that Hamas supposedly utilized on October 7th to assault Israel through the Erez border crossing on January 07, 2024 in Northern Gaza.
“As the IDF have actually pushed into Gaza as part of their project to beat Hamas, they have actually highlighted the militant group’s comprehensive tunnel network as emblematic of the method the group embeds itself and its military activity in civilian locations.”
Below is a screenshot contrast of the wrongly shared image (left) and the image released by Getty Images (right):
Professional photographer Noam Galai likewise published the image on Instagram, as part of a series of images from the exact same tunnel (archived link).
He composed: “In the pictures here you can see Israeli soldiers protect a fear tunnel that Hamas utilized on October 7th to assault Israel through the Erez border crossing.”
The Israeli military swore to damage the Gaza tunnels, which a research study from United States military college West Point stated numbered around 1,300 and covered over 500 kilometres (310 miles) at the start of the war.
Egypt, a veteran arbitrator in the dispute, has actually turned down claims of smuggling tunnels running underneath the buffer zone.
AFP reported in 2015 that the Egyptian army had actually ruined 1,600 tunnels running in between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Nevertheless, since June 11, 2024, AFP has actually not had the ability to individually verify whether any tunnels still exist as the location is limited by the Egyptian armed force.
AFP has actually unmasked other false information connected to the Israel-Hamas war here.