FACT CHECK: No, Photo Does Not Show Building Where Hamas Chief Was Assassinated

Jesse Stiller | Contributor

A photo shared on Facebook claims to show a damaged building where Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by an Israeli strike.

Verdict: False

The photo in the post predates the assassination by two years. The image is of the compound where Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a similar strike.

Fact Check:

Chief Hamas leader Haniyeh was killed by a strike in the Iranian capital of Tehran July 31, The Associated Press reported. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed Israel for the attack and warned that “revenge was our duty” and vowed retaliation against the country, according to the outlet.

The Facebook image appears to show a damaged building with a blown-out window circled, indicating where the strike occurred. “This is how a precision strike looks like: a single missile through the window, and only Haniyeh and his bodyguard are dead. Nobody else in the building is even injured,” the post reads. “Don’t f*ck with Israel.”

The photo predates the assassination of Haniyeh by two years. The image, cited by CNN and other outlets in August 2022, shows the residence where Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri was at when he was killed by a U.S. strike in Kabul, Afghanistan. CNN reported that the location was confirmed by geolocation and verifying the authenticity of the photo at the time.

An image of the building where Haniyeh was killed appears in a thread from The New York Times, which features a different building than the one provided in the Facebook post. The image, shared by an Iranian official to the Times, shows the structure with a different presentation and with significantly more damage. (RELATED: No, Video Does Not Show Hamas Leader Before His Death)

The building that was struck was located in the Zafaranieh neighborhood in northern Tehran, adjacent from the Saadabad Palace, according to the Times. The image originated from Iranian Revolutionary Guard Telegram channels and appeared to be confirmed by satellite imagery taken by Maxar Technologies days before, the outlet reported.

Misinformation surrounding the death of the Hamas leader has circulated in the wake of the strike. Check Your Fact recently debunked a photo reportedly showing Haniyeh before his death.

Jesse Stiller

Contributor

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