ARMA 3 video game footage shared as Hamas attacking Israeli tanks

What's the claim?

A video of army tanks moving on a highway and later exploding after being attacked has been shared on social media with the claim that Hamas destroyed Israeli army tanks amid the ongoing war. The text overlaid on the video reads: “Surprise attack on Israeli tanks." A TikTok user shared the video with the caption, “Free Palestine.” An archive of the post can be found here.

Screenshot of video shared online. (Source: TikTok/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this is a video game visual and not a real incident.

Here are the facts

Logically Facts closely examined the video and found that it was likely created digitally. This can be seen from characteristics like the movement of vehicles and trees that look fake and formatted.

A Google search led us to the same video uploaded on the YouTube channel named "JT-F19" on November 13, 2023. It was captioned: “TODAY! Hezbollah Anti-Armor Rockets Bombard and Destroy a Row of Israeli Merkava Tanks.” The description clearly states: “This video is a virtual game simulation. The battle simulation may differ from the actual one. We simulate articles that appear in the news. ARMA Game Play Video.” Arma 3 is a combat simulation game created by Bohemia Interactive, a game development company based in Prague.

At 0:03 seconds into the video, we can see a tank explode on the road in front of a tall tower. The same clip can be seen in the viral video at the timestamp of 0:02 seconds. We can see that the original video has been zoomed in, flipped, and shared as depicting real events.

Comparison of TikTok video and YouTube video. (Source:TikTok/YouTube/Screenshots)

At the timestamp of 0:36 seconds in YouTube video, we can see the movement of army tanks/vehicles, the tower near the road, and the surroundings, all match the visuals seen at 0:30 seconds in the viral video. It is to be noted that here, too, the original video has been flipped and shared. 

Comparison of TikTok video and YouTube video. (Source: TikTok/YouTube/Screenshots)

This YouTube channel, "JT-F19," regularly posts content created via video game simulations. The About section of this account also states: “​​I used ArmA 3 to create this Military Simulation.”

Similar simulations can be found on other video game videos, posted on similar YouTube channels like — LPR and PRO LRR —  posted on November 13 and 10, 2023. 

Logically Facts has previously debunked many videos that were falsely linked to real-time incidents like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. Read here and here.

The verdict

The footage displays low-resolution visuals from a video game called Arma 3. It does not depict real-world events. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.