“Hamas fighters shooting down Israel war helicopter in Gaza (sic),” reads a post published on Instagram on October 8, 2023.
Shared by a Nigerian account, the post has been liked more than 110 times, with commenters believing the clip to be real.
The video appears to show a soldier aiming a missile launcher at an attack helicopter flying at low altitude. As the helicopter drops decoy flares, the shooter fires, striking the helicopter on the third attempt.
The same claim and video also circulated on Facebook here and here and was shared in Arabic and Bengali.
Israel declared war on Hamas a day after the militant group launched shock land, air and sea attacks from Gaza on October 7, 2023.
In the days that followed, Israel retaliated with sustained assaults on what it called Hamas targets in Gaza (archived here).
Power, food and water supply to the Palestinian enclave were also cut by the Israeli authorities.
However, the claim that the video showed a Hamas fighter shooting down an Israeli war helicopter is false.
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