DigitEye India Fact Checkers
As Israeli forces began search for tunnels inside the Gaza civic are, several claims have emerged and one among them showed a correspondent of Russia’s state news network Russia Today (RT) entering a tunnel shown and guided by the Hamas.
Some users claimed that Hamas granted access to a Russia Today reporter to visit their tunnel network, while many Palestine civilians were not given the same previlege when attacks were taking place. It was shared on Twitter as below:
As Israel begins targeting Gaza Terror Tunnel Network, Hamas Terror groups gives access to Russia Today journalist to visit the Tunnel Network.
This is the RT on ground report from underneath Gaza.
This is the Gaza Metro. pic.twitter.com/UcPfJlHhL1
— 🇺🇸 𝑰 𝑨𝒎 𝑲𝒆𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒚𝒂 🇮🇳 (@Kesariya_Meenu) November 7, 2023
The caption reads: “As Israel begins targeting Gaza Terror Tunnel Network, Hamas Terror groups gives access to Russia Today journalist to visit the Tunnel Network. This is the RT on ground report from underneath Gaza. This is the Gaza Metro.”
Here is another claim with the same video clip:
FACT CHECK
When Digiteye India took it up and checked for its veracity, it found the video to be an old one from June 2021. The key frames from the video were searched in Google Reverse Image Search and a report by RT Arab channel covered the same on June 14, 2021.
As per the tweet, the RT team ventured into the Saraya al-Quds tunnels beneath the ground of Gaza to assess their depth and inspect for Gaza Metro, after the damage from the previous conflict in 2021.
خاص.. فريق آرتي يدخل أنفاق سـرايا القدس تحت أرض غزة ويرصد عمقها وعمليات الترميم بعد الحرب الأخيرة#غزة #فلسطين pic.twitter.com/SUdaaIl1VW
— RTARABIC (@RTarabic) June 14, 2021
Hence, the video was old and not related to the current Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Claim: Hamas Terror groups give access to Russia Today journalist to visit the Tunnel Network beneath the city of Gaza.
Conclusion: False, the videoclip belongs to an RT Arab channel’s coverage of tunnel network in Gaza on June 14, 2021.
Rating: Misrepresentation — 
