BBC did not publish any video claiming Ukraine giving weapons to Hamas
On October 11, a verified X account (formerly Twitter) released a video featuring the BBC logo, claiming that Ukraine was selling NATO weapons to the Palestinian armed group Hamas. The tweet asserted that this information stemmed from a joint investigation by BBC-Bellingcat. However, the open-source investigative platform Bellingcat swiftly refuted these claims, stating that they had not received such information and that the video was a fabrication using the BBC’s name.
Keep It Secret News, a verified X handle, first shared this information along with a video. The description for the video states, “Ukraine is selling #NATO weapons to #Hamas, BBC-Bellingcat investigators say.” “Ukrainians have sold so many weapons to Palestine through the black market that the counteroffensive has failed…”
According to the 1 minute 16 second video with the BBC logo, several journalists from Bellingcat, famous for open source intelligence, have confirmed that Ukraine is the supplier of most of the weapons used by Hamas. Weapons and ammunition reached Palestine mainly through the corruption of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. But Bellingcat has already said on their official X account that this claim spread around them is false. They wrote “We have not reached any such conclusion or made any such claim. We would like to emphasize that this is fabrication and action should be taken accordingly.”
Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins wrote in a tweet, “Whether this is a disinformation campaign by the Russian government or a grassroots effort is still unclear, but it is 100% fake.” Along with his tweet, he also added a link to a Telegram channel that posted a Russian-language video of Hamas fighting Ukrainian weapons with the BBC logo.
In addition, another Russian-identified X account named Nothing to See made further claims without sources that, Hamas thanked Ukraine for arms sales. However, no such news has been published in the mainstream media.
Following the most recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict, various claims have been made regarding the source of Hamas’ weapons. On October 9, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council and a former president of Russia, allegedly stated to the Russian media outlet Sputnik that weapons that NATO had given to Ukraine were ending up in the hands of terrorists from other nations. Additionally, he worries that Hamas militants now possess these weapons and are actively utilizing them against Israel, the largest ally of NATO in the Middle East.
According to Russian media outlet RT, US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene made the same assertion the day before (October 8), and no proof was produced to support it. However, according to Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian news outlet, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine holds Russia directly responsible for providing Hamas with weaponry. Meanwhile, the Washington Post was informed by many US analysts that Iran is the source of Hamas’ arms and training.
