Fabrication of audio recording in Israel attack on Gaza

Link to the newspaper article here

In this piece of news published last 19 October on the newspaper L’Orient today, there are two references to a potential fabrication of an audio recording which could be key evidence to prove that Israel attacked a hospital in Gaza and tried to pass it off as Palestinian authorship. First, there is a reference to the timestamp of the video. Second, we find a reference to the speaker’s linguistic and phonetic output, which did not look credible, according to two independent Arab journalists. Is this a case of voice disguise? recording tampering?

Fragment from the original piece (our highlight):

Later in the evening, Israel’s official account on X released a video aimed at corroborating the Israeli narrative, supposedly demonstrating an Islamic Jihad missile hitting Gaza.

However, the video, which has since been removed, because of its timestamp. Several internet users noted that the video was filmed at 8 p.m., nearly an hour after the attack occurred.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army claimed to have “proof” of Islamic Jihad’s responsibility for the attack.

“According to our intelligence,” Hagari said during a press conference. “It was an Islamic Jihad rocket that had misfired.”

The evidence presented included a voice recording that Israel said it had intercepted, featuring two unidentified Hamas operatives discussing the explosion, with one asking, “Was it fired from our side?”

“Yes, it seems so,” replied the other operative.

Interestingly, the question was asked again, and the same response was provided.

“Surely, it’s no coincidence that the rocket exploded by mistake over a hospital? " asked the first fighter. “It’s because they’re firing from the cemetery near the hospital,” replied the second.

According to two independent Arab journalists, who spoke to UK’s Channel 4 News the recording was a fabrication because of “the language, accent, dialect, syntax and tone, none of which is credible.”