Claim: Social media video shows thousands of people gathered in Masjid Al-Aqsa and chanting slogans of “Labaik Ya Allah” after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.
Fact: The claim is misleading because the video is old, from April 2023. The crowd shows people praying during the last nights of Ramzan in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
On 7 October 2023, the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, launched an attack on Israel by sea, air, and land. The Israeli government then officially declared war against Hamas and struck Gaza on 8 October 2023.
Fact or Fiction?
On 8 October 2023, a verified account Shafi Ullah Haqqani shared a video (archived) on Facebook with the caption,
سبحان اللّٰہ!
فلسطین: مسجد اقصیٰ میں لاکھوں لوگ جمع ہوگئے.
فضا اللّٰہ اکبر کے نعروں سے گونج اٹھی!
Translated [Subhan Allah! Palestine: Millions of people gathered in Al-Aqsa Mosque. The mosque echoed with slogans of Allahu Akbar]
The video shows combined footage of Al-Aqsa Mosque during twilight and nighttime.
The post was also shared on YouTube, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), implying that it shows a huge crowd of Palestinians gathered in Al-Aqsa Mosque after the situation escalated into a war between Hamas and Israel.
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes of the video but could not find any evidence that it was widely shared before 7 October 2023. However, a watermark “Fawaz Tobasy” could be seen in the video.
Screengrab of video showing watermark of photographer
A keyword search with his name on Google showed a Facebook page and Instagram account with the same name. The person is a photographer based in East Jerusalem.
The same videos were published by the photographer on his Facebook page and Instagram account on 18 April 2023. The Arabic language hashtag #مشاهد_من_احياء_ليلة_القدر_في (Scenes from the Night of Qadr revelation) also indicates that these images and videos are from the last 10 nights of Ramazan, also known as Lailatul Qadar.
Virality
The misleading claim received 1.8k views on Facebook. The archived versions can be seen here, here, and here.
On Instagram, the video received 7000+ likes and was shared more than 1000 times. The archived versions are available here, here, and here.
It was shared here, here, here, and here on YouTube, and was also shared here, here, and here on X (formerly Twitter) between 7 – 10 October 2023.
Conclusion: An old video from April 2023 of a huge crowd congregating in Al-Aqsa Mosque for Ramzan, is being misleadingly shared as people gather after the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023.
Background image in cover photo: iStock