A video made with the help of the game Arma 3 showing a sniper expertly kill several Hamas fighters, is going viral on WhatsApp and Indian social media platforms without any context that it is a simulation.
The viral video shows a Hamas militant fighter standing on a balcony seen through the scope (viewfinder) of the sniper's gun. The sniper, who is crouched on a hill top at a distance, takes out the fighter and other armed militants stationed at a seafront facing building.
More than 1400 people in Israel and nearly 2700 people in Gaza were killed after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive against Israel on October 7, 2023 prompting retaliatory actions from Israel in response including indiscriminate airstrikes and an impending ground offensive.
The Israel-Hamas war has also seen a flood of misinformation and disinformation online including video game clips peddled as real footage of the conflict.
Various versions of the viral sequence are being shared on WhatsApp and Facebook.
The caption with the video claims, "Hamas terrorists are killed with these types of weapons. He is dying without even knowing where the firing is coming from." (sic)
Find more such Facebook posts here.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found the viral video is a military simulation created using Arma 3 a tactical shooter simulation video game. The game includes photorealistic terrains and environments.
Arma 3 is part of the popular Arma video games developed by Bohemia Interactive.
BOOM has debunked a number of videos made with Arma that are shared as war footage over the years.
We took a screenshot from the viral video and ran a reverse image search which led us to a YouTube channel featuring a 3 minutes and 48 seconds version of the video.
The YouTube channel Markus Ram posted the clip on October 9, 2023 and titled it as 'Sniper 🇮🇱 Israel kills Hamas fighters'. The description of the video stated that it was a "PC military simulation created with Arma 3".
The About section of the YouTube channel states, "SNIPER Computer simulations that are fun."
BOOM has emailed the YouTube channel. The story will be updated if we get a response.