The protracted, often bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict exploded into a hot war on Oct. 7, 2023, when the militant Palestinian group Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel and Israel retaliated by bombarding the Gaza Strip. More than 20,000 people, the vast majority of them Palestinians, were reportedly killed during the first two months of the war alone. The violence is driven by mutual hostilities and territorial ambitions dating back more than a century. The internet has become an unofficial front in that war and is rife with misinformation, which Snopes is dedicated to countering with facts and context. You can help. Read the latest fact checks. Submit questionable claims. Become a Snopes Member to support our work. We welcome your participation and feedback.
On May 6, 2024, an X user shared footage of a man filming a woman in a hospital bedroom and claimed the video was staged by Gazans to win sympathy for the Palestinian cause and encourage donations to Hamas.
The X user wrote: "More deep fake videos from #Gaza . This is how they make the soppy videos which buys #Hamas more donations."
(X account @pietpetoors)
The X account @GAZAWOOD1 initially posted the video and asked whether the footage actually depicted a hospital.
The account's name, "GAZAWOOD - the PALLYWOOD saga," was a reference to a conspiracy theory that claims Gazans and the wider Palestinian diaspora use media manipulation or distortion to win sympathy in their conflict with Israel. Both words are portmanteaus — of Gaza and Hollywood, and Palestine and Hollywood — that suggest Gazans and Palestinians use Hollywood effects to create fake videos. The X account's bio also suggests many videos from Gaza are "fake" and part of "a massive production."
However, @GAZAWOOD1 later told Snopes they did not believe the video actually showed Gazans staging a hospital scene.
The X user said:
I have other videos where Gazans fake hospital scenes, but this is not one of those scenes.
Other X users also shared @GAZAWOOD1's post, which had amassed more than 212,000 views at the time of this writing. One person branded the footage "emotional blackmail," while another described it as "more Hamas lies."
Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to the @GAZAWOOD1 X account also posted the clip.
However, the video actually showed behind-the-scenes footage of a Palestinian television drama called "Bleeding Dirt" ("Nazeef Al-Turaab"), which is why we rated this claim "False."
Another X user posted a different version of the clip where the woman could be heard speaking. Snopes found the scene in the 19th episode of the series (at the timestamp 14:20):
All episodes of "Bleeding Dirt" were found on the official YouTube channel of Arabian TV network Al Araby 2. The show was centered around the Palestinian resistance to Israel, according to an article by news outlet Middle East Monitor.
Snopes has fact-checked numerous claims relating to Gaza and the Israel-Hamas war.