Claim: A video shows Israeli soldiers running away after Iran’s attack on Israel.
Fact: The video actually shows Israeli soldiers running and screaming during a rocket attack launched by the Palestinian resistance from Gaza during the Seif al-Quds battle in May 2021.
Following Iran’s attack on Israel, X account @RTarabic shared a video of Israeli soldiers running and screaming in panic during a rocket attack, writing, “صراخ وهلع وبكاء.. شاهد رد فعل جنود إسرائيليين عندما وصلتهم الصواريخ الإيرانية التي أطلقتها إيران في الأول من أكتوبر الجاري نحو إسرائيل.
#إيران #إسرائيل #حرب #ترند #فيديو #viral #اكسبلور”
[Translated from Arabic: Screaming, panic and crying.. Watch the reaction of Israeli soldiers when they received Iranian missiles launched by Iran towards Israel on October 1st.
#إيران #إسرائيل #حرب #ترند #فيديو #viral #اكسبلو]
Iran’s attack on Israel
On 1 October, Iran launched almost 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel, according to the BBC. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the attack involved more than 180 missiles, aligning with reports from Iranian state media, which stated that approximately 200 missiles were launched, the report added.
Citing Israeli media reports, the BBC added that multiple air force bases were hit, but no aircraft sustained damage, and that “only administrative buildings and peripheral components were hit,” according to the IDF. In civilian areas, the damage was classified as “only minor”, the report quoted the IDF as saying, while adding that it was likely caused by shrapnel from intercepted missiles.
However, the BBC also reported that their correspondent found several badly damaged cars, and a crater between 8 to 10 metres deep, near Mossad’s headquarters just north of Tel Aviv, that was said to have been caused by a missile impact. Around 100 houses were damaged, according to the nearby municipality of Hod HaSharon. Emergency services treated two individuals with light injuries from shrapnel in the Tel Aviv region, along with others who sustained minor injuries due to falling while moving to shelters.
According to Al Jazeera, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack was in response to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut, as well as the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. The report further stated that the IRGC claimed its attack was specifically aimed at three military bases in the Tel Aviv area. According to Iranian state media this attack, which was accompanied by a large-scale cyber assault, also marked the first use of Iran’s new Fatah hypersonic ballistic missiles, the report added.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes of the viral video and found that this video appeared as early as 2021 and therefore it is not linked to the 2024 Iran attacks. A post on X linked it to a conflict that took place in May 2021. When we investigated the event further, we found two news reports about a similar attack on Israeli soldiers. However we cannot confirm if the video is from the same “11 day war” that the news reports are about.
One of these reports was published by Anadolu Agency, a Turkish state-run news agency, titled “The ‘resistance’ in Gaza calls its operations against Israel ‘Sword of Jerusalem’” The report stated that Palestinian resistance factions launched an operation dubbed “Sword of Jerusalem” against Israel in the early hours of Tuesday, on 11 May 2021. The joint military command, excluding Fatah, announced that it began the attack with a missile strike on Jerusalem, followed by heavy rocket fire on Tel Aviv and surrounding areas. The operation was a response to the Israeli aggression, especially the raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in Jerusalem.
The report further added that, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza had killed 20 Palestinians, including nine children, and injured 95 others. At the time, Israeli forces had also stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque twice a day before, injuring over 520 Palestinians. The Palestinian resistance had given Israel a deadline to withdraw forces from these areas but launched around 150 rockets at Israeli targets after the deadline passed, causing injuries and significant damage.
Another report by Al Mayadeen English, an independent Arab satellite channel, titled, “Seif Al-Quds: The battle which ushered in a new era of Palestinian armed struggle.” added that, the Seif al-Quds (Sword of Jerusalem) battle marked a major shift in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This “11-day war”, which took place between 10 and 21 May in 2021, involved unified Palestinian resistance factions launching rocket attacks on Israel in response to incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Unlike previous confrontations, the Palestinian factions operated as a coordinated front, creating what became known as the ‘Joint Room’ of resistance, the report added. Israeli attempts to undermine this united front, such as a planned bombardment of attack tunnels, were largely ineffective, and the battle’s outcome emphasised the growing strength of regional coalitions supporting the Palestinian cause, including Hezbollah and other groups, according to the publication.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the footage is not related to the recent conflict as it was found online as early as 2021.
Virality
The claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here on X. Archived here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, it was shared here and here.
Conclusion: A video circulating on social media was misattributed to Iran’s recent missile attack on Israel. It is, in fact, from the 2021 Seif al-Quds battle, during which Palestinian factions launched rocket attacks on Israeli military positions. This video has no connection to Iran’s missile strikes on Israel from October 2024.
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Background image in cover photo: Al Jazeera
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