The posts circulated shortly before the United Nations’ top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah “immediately”, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the war.
On the second day of hearings, the lawyer for Israel, Gilad Naom, told the court that “Nearly 700 hundred tunnel shafts have been identified in Rafah, from which approximately 50 tunnels cross into Egypt” (archived link).
“These tunnels are used by Hamas to supply itself with weapons and ammunition. It could potentially be used to smuggle out of Gaza hostages or Hamas senior operatives.”
But the photo purportedly showing a Hamas tunnel between southern Gaza and Egypt in fact shows an underground passage near a border crossing about 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north.
Northern Gaza tunnel
A reverse image search on Google led to the same photo published by Getty Images on January 7, 2024, and credited to Noam Galai (archived link).
Its caption reads: “A view inside a tunnel that Hamas reportedly used on October 7th to attack Israel through the Erez border crossing on January 07, 2024 in Northern Gaza.
“As the IDF have pressed into Gaza as part of their campaign to defeat Hamas, they have highlighted the militant group’s extensive tunnel network as emblematic of the way the group embeds itself and its military activity in civilian areas.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared image (left) and the photo published by Getty Images (right):
Photographer Noam Galai also posted the photo on Instagram, as part of a series of images from the same tunnel (archived link).
He wrote: “In the photos here you can see Israeli soldiers secure a terror tunnel that Hamas used on October 7th to attack Israel through the Erez border crossing.”
The Israeli military vowed to destroy the Gaza tunnels, which a study from US military academy West Point said numbered around 1,300 and covered over 500 kilometres (310 miles) at the start of the war.
Egypt, a long-time mediator in the conflict, has rejected claims of smuggling tunnels running beneath the buffer zone.
AFP reported in 2015 that the Egyptian army had destroyed 1,600 tunnels running between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
However, as of June 11, 2024, AFP has not been able to independently confirm whether any tunnels still exist as the area is restricted by the Egyptian military.
AFP has debunked other misinformation linked to the Israel-Hamas war here.
