The post circulated a day after Iran launched an attack on Israel on October 1, 2024, firing a barrage of missiles at the country in the latest escalation, amid weeks of rising violence and tensions in the region.
Tehran said the attack – which took place as Israel said it was mounting a ground offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon – was in response to the killings of Iranian-backed militant leaders (archived link).
It was the second time Iran directly attacked Israel, following a missile and drone strike in April in retaliation for a deadly Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
However, the video circulating online predates the conflict and was not shot in Israel.
It was shared in a similarly false context Facebook And TikTokand also in English here, here And here.
Celebration of Algeria
Through reverse image and keyword searches on Google, AFP found several videos looks like the clip (archived links here And here).
Text next to a video says that football fans then shoot off fireworks and flares in the Algerian capital Algiers CR Belouizdad won the national football championship in 2020 (archived links here And here).
AFP geolocated the video by identifying clues in the footage, including a grassy roundabout Place Al Mokrani and a billboard with illuminated edges, located on the side of a high-rise building.
Below is a screenshot comparison of Place Al Mokrani from the fake message (left) and from Google Maps (right) with elements highlighted by AFP:
Below is another screenshot comparison of a billboard on a building in the video (left) and the same location on Google Maps (right) with elements highlighted by AFP:
In 2023, AFP debunked messages sharing the same video shortly after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which was sparked by the Iran-backed Palestinian group’s October 7 attack.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli official figures, including hostages who died in captivity.
Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,825 people, the majority of them civilians, according to Health Ministry figures in the Hamas-held territory. The United Nations has described the figures as reliable.
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Middle East conflict here And here.
