Several official Israel X (formerly Twitter) handles and other pro-Israel accounts shared a CCTV footage and an unrelated video to falsely claim that Palestinian youth Mohammed Nazzal had not suffered any injures after being released from Israeli prison. Nazzal (18) was recently released from an Israel prison among several other Palestinian prisoners as part of a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas last week.
BOOM found that the claims are false and Nazzal sustained fractures in both of his hands. The same was also independently verified by Arabic fact-checking website Misbar and the BBC. We also found that an unrelated video of another Palestinian youth Mohammed Shattara was being shared falsely as Nazzal.
As soon as the week-long truce between Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas ended, the former resumed its attack on Palestine where Hamas is based. The renewed bombardment has killed over 700 Palestinians taking the total number of Palestininandeaths since October 7, 2023 to over 15,000. In Israel the official death toll stands at about 1,200.
Israel government's official X handle tweeted CCTV footage of Nazzal leaving the Israeli prison with the caption, "CCTV footage shows Mohamed Nazal leaving prison and boarding the bus with two perfectly working arms." This was accompanied by a screenshot of a tweet claiming Nazal was tortured while in prison.
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BOOM has previously fact-checked misinformation posted by Israel's official handle about the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine.
Another verified X handle @OliLondonTV posted a video of a young Palestinian boy hugging people and using his arms freely comparing it with a photo of Nazzal's fractured hands in a sling.
The caption read, "Palestinian man, Mohammed Nazal, who was serving a jail sentence in Israel for terror-related offenses before being exchanged for Israeli hostages, claimed both his arms were broken by Israeli police officers while in jail. After being released, he is seen embracing relatives with both of his arms intact and perfectly normal. However, shortly after greeting his relatives his arms were placed in casts while he was paraded in several staged Hamas propaganda videos where he claimed his arms had been broken prior to his release from prison."
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Right-wing Indian columnist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra also posted the same video making the same false claim and targeting Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair. BOOM has previously debunked misinformation posted by Mitra.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the claims that the Palestinian youngster Mohammed Nazzal did not have any injures after being released from the Israeli prison is false and that he sustained injuries on both his hand.
We were able to establish that Nazzal did indeed sustain injuries on both his hands, based on independent reports from different media outlets. We also found that the second video showing a young Palestinian boy hugging his relatives after being released from Israeli prison is not Nazzal but Mohammed Shattara.
Arabic fact-checking website Misbar debunked the false claim that was tweeted by Israel's official handle and accessed his medical records which confirmed that post his release from the Israeli prison, medical examinations showed fractures in his fingers, particularly in the index and thumb on both hands.
Misbar also included the the X-ray copies they received from Nazzal's family that showed the extent of the fractures in his fingers.
Nazzal (18) was arrested in August and held till recently, without any official charges in an Israeli prison. He was released along with other Palestinians held prisoners by the Israel government, as part of the week long truce deal between Hamas and Israel. After his release, Nazzal alleged that he had been tortured in prison.
His interview can be seen below where he narrates how his fingers were broken while in prison.
Below is a tweet with another interview of his to a media outlet, with English subtitles.
BBC in its report, verified Nazzal's medical reports by two independent doctors in the UK, who confirmed that x-rays taken from Palestinian doctors in Ramallah showed fractures on both of Mohammed's hands.
Unrelated video of Palestinian youth Mohammed Shattara falsely shared as Mohammed Nazzal
We also found that the video being shared as Nazzal of a Palestinian youth hugging his relatives after his release from the prison is Mohammed Shattara.
We found several posts reporting about Shattara, including by Muhammad Shehada, a writer and civil society activist from the Gaza Strip.
In the below tweet thread from November 29, 2023, we can see Shattara's face clearly visible. It bears no resemblance to Nazzal, and establishes that he's a different person.
The caption in Arabic translates to, "Muhammed Shattara, who is from Jerusalem was transferred to a hospital to receive treatment as a result of his skin rash, infections, and swelling in his fingers, due to poor conditions and torture inside Israeli prison after he was released."
Additionally Shattara is reported to hail from Jerusalem, whereas Nazzal is from Jennin.