Accounts on “X” published a video clip showing people holding pictures of the former commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, claiming that he is in Gaza after the ceasefire. The clip was accompanied by the following text: “The people of Gaza raise a picture of the martyr Qassem Suliemani. Soleimani is still victorious.”
Kashif verified the video via “Google Images” and found that it was taken from an old video clip and that the claim is misleading. The video dates back to a festival organized by the Islamic Jihad Movement in Gaza in May 2021.
On 29/5/202 , Al Jazeera Mubasher’s Facebook account published live coverage of the “Sword of Jerusalem, the Date is Near” festival, organized by the Islamic Jihad Movement and its military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades. Upon examining the coverage, the Observatory team found that the circulated clip falls between 3:50 and 3:57 minutes.
On 30/5/2021, Shams News Agency also published a report that included photos from the event showing people carrying pictures of Qassem Soleimani. The report was titled: “In pictures, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani at the ‘The Promise is Near’ Festival… Present despite the absence!”
For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades announced in a statement on its official website dated 29/5/2021 that the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine and its military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, organized on Saturday 29/5/2021 “a massive public festival in the Al-Saraya Square in the center of Gaza City under the title “The Sword of Jerusalem . . . The Promise is Near” in honor of the martyrs of the Battle of the Sword of Jerusalem and in celebration of the victory of the resistance.”
Qassem Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and was killed in a US missile strike that targeted a convoy at Baghdad airport on 3/1/2020.
The ceasefire agreement between the Israeli occupation and Hamas in the Gaza Strip entered into force on Sunday, 19/1/2025, after Israel announced that it had received the names of three female detainees who were released on the same day. Israeli occupation forces released 90 female prisoners and children from Ofer Prison, southwest of Ramallah, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
| Sources of Claim | Sources of Verification |
| Sadiq Al-Muhammadawi NIHAD KHOURSHEED Alia | Al Jazeera Account – Live Shams News Agency Saraya Al-Quds BBC Middle East Shehab Agency |