Does this video show a Hamas fighter attacking an Israeli soldier? No, that's not true: this footage previously went viral as a meme and is originally from the video game called "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3."
The claim originated from a video (archived here) published on TikTok by @beomeeya4 on November 22, 2023. The Korean caption in the video, as translated by Lead Stories staff, reads:
Hamas beating up an Israeli soldier who shoots at children?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Dec 17 17:14:40 2023 UTC)
On November 18, 2023, this footage went viral (archived here) as a meme on TikTok by @austin_but_yes with over eight million views.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Dec 15 17:31:39 2023 UTC)
In the comment section of this TikTok video, one user asks: "what game is this," to which several people responded: "Modern Warfare 3." An indication confirming that this footage is not authentic but rather from a video game is the presence of experience points visibly shown in the video after one character hits the other. Following an extensive image search conducted by Lead Stories, it was observed that the landscape in the background of the footage resembled the Afghan map (archived here) featured in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3."
This is what the scene looks like on "Call of Duty":
(Source: Call of Duty screenshot taken on Fri Dec 15 17:37:12 2023 UTC)
