Claim:

Video shows IDF soldiers demolishing the Palestinian Legislative Council Building in Gaza, days after capturing it.

Rating:

Context:

While IDF soldiers were photographed inside the Legislative Council Building on Nov. 13, 2023, the video that went viral on Nov. 15 claiming to show its destruction is of a different building in Gaza. It is unclear at the time of this reporting if the actual Palestinian Legislative Council Building in Gaza has actually been destroyed.

In November 2023, as the Israel-Hamas war raged on, social media users shared a video they claimed showed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers demolishing the official building from which Hamas' legislative body rules over the Gaza Strip.

This video has been the primary evidence put forth for the claim that the IDF demolished the Legislative Council Building. The only problem is that the demolished building was not the legislative building  — the video was filmed some four miles from it.

Shortly after the video had gone viral, online sleuths geolocated the video to a location in Northeast Gaza — a region named Juhar al-Dik that had been devastated by the IDF during the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza:

The Legislative Council Building at issue is not located in this now largely uninhabited region, but is instead located in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City. It looks nothing like the building in the viral video, and is shown here, shot from Aljondy Almajhool Park across the street from its entrance, in a user uploaded photo on Google maps:

(Google/Chavez Ghassan)

Images that went viral on Nov. 11, 2023, apparently shot from this same park, show IDF soldiers posing in front of that building:

On Nov. 13, Times of Israel reported that IDF soldiers had entered the building, and shared an image from social media of IDF soldiers in the main hall of that building:

On Nov. 14, the IDF announced they had captured several buildings that were key to Hamas' power, as reported by the Times of Israel:

The video that went viral on April 15 that purports to show the destruction of the above building, however, was taken over four miles away and appears to have no link to the government building:

Snopes has not identified any reporting confirming the destruction of the actual parliamentary building that does not cite as a source the video shown in the viral tweet. As a result, Snopes does not know what condition the Legislative Council Building is actually in as of this writing on Nov. 16. The Rimal district has seen heavy bombardment in the 2023 conflict.

Because the video in question shows the destruction of an unrelated building in Juhar al-Dik, however, the claim is False.

Sources:

Fabian, Emanuel. “IDF Says It Has Captured Hamas Parliament, Government Seat and Police HQ.” Times of Israel, 14 Nov. 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-proclaims-it-has-captured-hamas-parliament-government-seat-and-police-hq/.

“Breaking the Silence › Testimony › ‘Check It out, There’s Nothing at All Left of Juhar al-Dik.’” Breaking the Silence, https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/database/456701. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.

Fabian, Emanuel. “Gallant: Hamas Has Lost Control in Gaza; Gunmen Who Fired from Hospital Entrance Killed.” Times of Israel, 13 Nov. 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/gallant-hamas-has-lost-control-in-gaza-troops-kill-gunmen-who-fired-from-hospital/.

“IDF Soldiers Selfie, behind Them Is the Building of Palestine Legislative Assembly in Gaza.” X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/aldin_aba/status/1723380637799772254. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.

Israeli Military Forces Raid Juhor Ad-Dik Area In The Eastern Gaza Strip - Islamic World News. 30 Oct. 2023, https://english.iswnews.com/31469/israeli-military-forces-raid-juhor-ad-dik-area-in-the-eastern-gaza-strip/.

“The Hamas Parliament Building Was Demolished.” X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1724814029355405462. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.