Original article (in BCS) was published on 12/1/2024; Author: Dino Šakanović
The video circulating on social media, allegedly showing an Egyptian teenager delivering aid to Gaza residents via a hole in the border wall, is misleading. This footage actually comes from a 2012 documentary about Palestinian life in the West Bank, around which there is a separation wall.
On December 21, 2023, the video was shared on the Facebook page of Iranian state media, Sahar Balkan. It shows a teenager handing out pastries through a wall opening. The video’s description falsely claims that an Egyptian teenager is providing aid from Egypt to Gaza through a hole in the border wall.
An Egyptian teenager delivers bread to Gaza residents by making a hole in the border wall between Egypt and Gaza.
This same video, accompanied by the same erroneous assertions, was also spread across various private Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as on multiple Facebook pages (1, 2).
Subsequently, variations of the original post surfaced (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12), in which the boy from the video is quoted as allegedly saying, ‘So far, I have delivered more than a thousand loaves of bread to my brothers.’
Towards the end of December, the online news portals Vimedia, Sandzak live, and Sandzacke novine also reported on this story. These portals added that the boy in the video is named Fahd, described as an Egyptian child who created an opening in the solid wall between Gaza and Egypt to smuggle bread to the hungry people of Gaza, as per Vimedia’s report:
Fahd is an Egyptian child who punched a hole in the solid wall between Gaza and Egypt and smuggled bread across the border to hungry Gazans (Vimedia)
Is there an Egyptian teenager in the video?
The video, showing a boy passing a bagel through a wall opening and claiming to depict an Egyptian teenager aiding Gaza, emerged simultaneously in our region and English-speaking countries on December 21, 2023. The authenticity of these foreign language reports has been scrutinized by fact-checking websites December 22, 2023 and Newsmobile on December 30, 2023.
Both Misbar and Newsmobile concluded that while the video itself is authentic, the description accompanying its December 2023 circulation is inaccurate. As Misbar established, the video comes from the 2012 documentary “Infiltrators” by Palestinian director Khaled Jarrar:
The original video being circulated is a scene from the documentary film called “Infiltrators – Mutasallilun” by Palestinian director Khaled Jarrar. This documentary, filmed in 2012, shows the difficulties of Palestinians in the West Bank with the separation wall.
The clip currently being shared online was initially published by the private Jordanian TV station Alghad news on December 8, 2015. Alghad news clarified in their description that the footage was from Jarrar’s documentary, depicting the smuggling of pastries through an opening in the wall erected by Israel.
Therefore, contrary to the recent claims, the video does not depict the border wall between Egypt and Gaza. Instead, it shows a barrier in the West Bank, constructed by Israel, which serves to restrict Palestinian access to the occupied territories and Israeli settlements there.
Given the fictional nature of the story about an Egyptian teenager delivering aid to Gaza residents through a hole in the Egypt-Gaza border wall, the boy’s alleged claim of distributing 1,000 loaves of bread to Gaza residents is also deemed false and fabricated.
We assess the claim that the video portrays an Egyptian teenager delivering bread to Gaza residents through a hole in the Egypt-Gaza border wall as disinformation.
The purported statement from the boy, claiming to have delivered 1,000 loaves of bread to Gaza residents, is assessed as fake news. As it is impossible to ascertain the originator of this alleged statement on social media, all related publications are classified as the distribution of fake news.