Fact Check: Has Gal Gadot Joined Israeli Army To Fight Hamas?

Gal Gadot has drawn criticism and praise after dedicating her social media accounts to supporting the people of Israel, amid her native country's ongoing conflict with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Wonder Woman star, 38, has been showing her support for Israel on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, following an unprecedented attack by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants on southern Israel on October 7.

Hamas said the attack was retribution for worsening conditions for Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The group is estimated to have taken more than 200 hostages from 25 countries and has threatened to kill some of them.

Human rights organizations have called for an urgent ceasefire after Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and put the territory under a siege that has caused a shortage of water, food and electricity for the millions living there.

As of Wednesday, more than 1,400 people had been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military. An estimated 8,525 people had been killed in Gaza, according to authorities there, the AP said.

Amid the subsequent military strikes over the past several days, ground units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been expanding operations in Gaza.

The Claim

With the IDF stepping up attacks on Gaza, James J. Marlow, who is a foreign and defense analyst and broadcast journalist, shared a photo of Gadot on November 1.

"Israeli actress Gal Gadot who played Wonder Woman in the Hollywood movie turns up [...] for army service," Marlow captioned the photo.

The image, which has been viewed more than 1.9 million times, showed a casually dressed Gadot smiling and saluting at the camera as she carried a large backpack.

Marlow did not provide a date of when the photo was taken. He also did not state where he had obtained the photo from.

Shortly after Marlow shared the post, he addressed the influx of responses that questioned the age of the photo.

"TO CLARIFY: This is NOT a new picture and when it was sent to me today, I automatically posted it without checking," he wrote. "But many have liked it and the words do not say it is from today. So I hope this clarifies the post."

In another post, Marlow suggested that he did not delete the photo as it had already gained a large number of likes.

The Facts

While the exact date the photo was taken is unclear, it was posted in a discussion on Reddit back in October 2019.

An accompanying caption described the photo as having been taken when Gadot was enlisting in the Israeli army at the age of 18.

Gadot served her mandatory two years in the IDF as a combat fitness instructor—and she has since said that the stint helped her acting career.

"I think it's mostly the discipline," she told Chicago Fox affiliate WFLD in August. "And the fact that have to work well in a group. It's not about you, you're not number one. Right now we're doing something for a greater objective and when you film a movie, the greater objective is to make a great movie."

In the ongoing stream of posts that Gadot has shared on Instagram, none of them mention her enlisting in the Israeli army.

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Gadot via email for comment.

The Ruling

False. While Gadot did serve in the IDF, there is no evidence to suggest that she has enlisted amid the current Israeli-Hamas conflict.

Although it is undated, the photo of Gadot that was posted on X is several years old.

Gadot has continued to support Israel by sharing a series of posts regarding the hostages taken by Hamas. She has made no mention of joining the Israeli army.

FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK

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