Claim: A video shows 400 rockets being fired by Gaza, Palestine, into Israel, with Israel’s Yoav Galant saying “400 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza hit residential buildings”.
Fact: The video is old and does not show footage from the recent escalation between Israel and Palestine. Galant’s comments have been wrongly presented.
On 11 May 2023, Facebook page ‘Christians United for Israel – UK’ uploaded a video (archive) showing rockets in the air. The post, which includes four hashtags — “#PrayforIsrael,” “#DefendIsrael,” “#Israel,” and “#CUFI” — was captioned as follows:
“Amazing! The terrorists of Gaza fired dozens of rockets towards Israeli cities and Israel’s Iron Dome shoots them out of the sky!
Let’s continue to pray for Israel’s safety. And praise the Lord that Israel’s ingenuity is protecting them.”
The Israel-Palestine conflict has escalated recently, as “Israeli fighter jets pounded targets in the Gaza Strip and more rockets were launched into Israel by Palestinians”, according to a report (archive), despite “efforts to reach a ceasefire”.
A related claim is that Israel Defence Minister Yoav Galant said approximately “400 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza hit residential buildings”.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and found that it first emerged in 2021.
It was posted by @RuthKiryati (archive) on Twitter, as well as by Israeli Internet personality Hananya Naftali (archive) on Facebook on 16 May 2021.
אשדוד קיבלה את המראה הכי יפה בשמים pic.twitter.com/yVeoJZRFB0
— Ruth kiryati Israel News (@RuthKiryati) May 15, 2021
The video was also published on 12 May 2021 by the Daily Mail here (archive).
As for the second claim regarding comments by Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Galant, that is misleading as well.
Galant did indeed speak about 400 rockets being fired but he did not specify if any of those hit a target, according to The Times of Israel (archive).
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the video posted with the false claim here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook and here, here, here, here, and here on Twitter.
The video appeared with the second claim here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The video is from 2021 and does not show footage from the recent escalation between Israel and Palestine. Israel Defence Minister Galant’s comments have been wrongly presented.
Background image in cover photo: Raimond Klavins
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