Claim: Yemen dropped leaflets in Tel Aviv, asking citizens to evacuate before the drone strike on 19 July. Additionally, Yemen shared digital posters of the same, as a warning for the residents of Tel Aviv.
Fact: The leaflets, likely made by Palestinians, mock the ones dropped by Israeli forces in Gaza. The leaflets were not originally made or distributed by the Yemeni Armed Forces or the Houthis before the drone strike in Tel Aviv on 19 July 2024.
A few hours after the drone strike in Tel Aviv, which was claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, photos of a leaflet began circulating on various social media platforms. One user shared the photo on X, from an account that has now been suspended, with the caption, “Pack your bags and leave”. The archived version of the post can be seen here. Another user shared the photo (archived) of the same leaflet on X, written in Arabic.
Khaled Beydoun, an author and a professor of law at the Arizona State University, also shared the photo of the leaflet on Instagram (archived here) with the caption:
“Yemen keeps doing its thing”.
Additionally, when Soch Fact Check reverse searched the photo, we also found a digital version of the same leaflet (archived here), which was shared on X with the following caption:
“Yemen’s army continues to display morality.
‘To the settlers and displaced in Tel Aviv you are in a dangerous combat zone, the Yemeni armed forces will work against terrorism in these areas, for your safety evacuate to the Humanitarian zone in Negev’
Or leave the land”.
Yemen strikes in Tel Aviv
Israel’s war on Gaza has heightened tensions in the entire region. In a first, the Houthi rebels of Yemen hit Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday, 19 July. In response, Israel carried out air strikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Yemen, a day later.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have been attacking commercial and military vessels linked to Israel to show their support for the Palestinians. They say their attacks will continue until Israel halts its “siege” of Gaza.
Following the strikes, images of leaflets began circulating on social media, with users claiming that the leaflets were dropped by Yemen, urging Tel Aviv’s citizens to evacuate to the Negev Desert, a humanitarian zone.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse searched the image and found results which suggest that the leaflets were made in an attempt to mock the Israeli forces. A post (archived here) on X by Al Mayadeen, an Arab independent satellite channel, was shared with the caption, “In a scene mocking the occupation and its settlers, activists change the wording of leaflets that the occupation “army” dropped on #غزة previously, asking the residents of “Tel Aviv” to evacuate to the desert #النقب due to the Yemeni strikes.”
An X user responded to one of the posts with the viral claim, saying, “Gazans made this as a joke, Yemen did not drop any flyers lol”. The post can be seen here and the archived version can be seen here.
Another X user posted both the Arabic and the translated versions of the leaflets on X (archived here) with the caption “This is an image of a joke leaflet made by Palestinians in Gaza and ironically reposted after Yemen drone attack on Tel-Aviv. Yemen did not drop them in Tel-Aviv.”
Rana Salahat, a journalist and fact-checker for Tahaqaq, which is a Palestinian platform for fact-checking and a member of the Arab Fact-Checking Network (AFCN) since July 2022, informed Soch Fact Check that the first leaflet was modified using Photoshop. She explained, “The original is a poster that the Israelis dropped on Gaza from their military aircraft. It bears the logo of the Israeli occupation army and its signature. It warns the residents that they are in a dangerous combat zone. ‘The Israeli army is working forcefully against the terrorist organisation (Hamas) in the area of their residence, and everyone in the area is in danger.’”
According to Salahat, the original Israeli leaflet was altered in a sarcastic context to include the slogans, and the signature of the Israeli army was replaced with that of the Yemeni armed forces, following Yemen’s attack. It serves as a warning from the Yemeni armed forces to Israelis, mimicking their warnings to Palestinians. “There is no information proving that the Yemeni armed forces dropped warning posters,” added Salahat.
Further investigation through reverse-image searches led us to images of the original leaflet dropped by the Israeli military in Gaza, including a post here on X (archive) by a Gaza-based human rights organisation, Al-Mezan, from 18 March 2024. We also found an image (archived here) of a similar Israeli leaflet shared by JDN News, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli news website, on 16 April 16th 2024.
Additionally, on 16 April 2024, another user shared images of Israel’s leaflet (archived here) on X, along with the caption, “The IDF dropped warning leaflets on Palestinians in Deir el-Balah (Gaza Strip), warning them not to return to the northern Gaza Strip as it is a war zone.”
While both leaflets share a similar format and the same heading, the original leaflet features the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) logo in the right-hand corner, and is signed by the IDF. In contrast, the mock leaflet displays a QR code in the right-hand corner, the logo of the Yemen’s armed forces in the left-hand corner, and is signed by the Yemeni armed forces.
Moreover, the leaflet in the claim appeared on social media in the aftermath of the strike which was claimed by Yemen’s Houthis. However, the official logo of the Houthi movement, seen below, is entirely different from the one that appears on the mock leaflet.
Houthi Logo
On 19 July 2024, General Yahya Sare’e, the spokesman for Yemen’s Houthis, declared Jaffa as an unsafe area in an official statement (archived here). But he did not call on the citizens of Tel Aviv to evacuate to any humanitarian zones, as stated in the leaflets in the claim.
Soch Fact Check also conducted a keyword search using the terms, “Yemen”, “leaflets”, and “Tel Aviv”, but did not find any official news reports or statements verifying that the Houthis dropped the leaflets shared in the viral claims.
Virality:
Soch Fact Check found that the claim had been shared on X here, here and here. The archived versions can be seen here, here and here.
The digital version of the leaflet was shared here and here. The archived versions can be seen here and here.
It has also been shared on Instagram here and here.
Conclusion:
Yemen did not drop leaflets in Tel Aviv, warning citizens to evacuate, ahead of their drone strike in the city on 19 July 2024. The leaflet shared in the viral claims was made in an attempt to mock the warning leaflets dropped by the Israeli forces in Gaza.
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Background image in cover photo: Reuters
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