A video footage showing an explosion caused by an aerial stike is being shared online as a footage of an Israeli airstrike at a water tank in Gaza, in the backdrop of the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
BOOM found these posts to be false; according to our geolocation the footage was shot near Khartoum International Airport in Sudan, and not Gaza. News reports indicate that the footage shows a fuel tanker in Khartoum belonging to the Rapid Support Forces being targeted by the Sudanese Army.
Islamist militant group Hamas launched one of the biggest military offensives against Israel on October 7, 2023, garnering retributive attack from Israeli forces, with ongoing bombardments on the Gaza strip, and a complete blockade of the area by Israel. So far, the conflict has claimed more than 1,400 lives in Israel, and more than 4,300 Palestinians in Gaza.
Also Read:Image Of Infant Trapped Under Debris Not From Ongoing Israel-Hamas Conflict
A user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video with the caption, "#Israel bombing kids gathering to fill the water left for them from underground."
Yet another user sharing the same video wrote, "Palestinian children gather around a water tank due to severe dehydration, then the Zionists throw a mortar in their midst and film them and broadcast it."
Click here and here to view these tweets.
Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video, which led to the exact same footage being shared by X account Sudan News.
It shared the footage on October 12, 2023, with an Arabic caption, which translates to English as, "An army march targeting a group of Rapid Support militia mercenaries, who gathered to refuel their motorcycles."
Click here to view an archive of the tweet.
Looking through the results of the reverse image search also found the video being shared by news outlet Al Jazeera -Sudan, with an Arabic caption that translates to English as, "A Sudanese army march bombed a fuel tanker belonging to the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum. #video #Aljazeera_Sudan"
Click here to view the above post.
BOOM analysed the video closely and observed structures in the top right corner of some of the keyframes which resembled aircraft.
This suggested that the area seen in the viral footage could be near an airport or an airbase. Taking cue from this, we used Google Maps to locate Khartoum International Airport, and started combing the areas near it closely using satellite view.
We found a place on Google Maps - labelled as "Jet fuel Depot" - 500 meters to the west of Khartoum International Airport, which showed tanks set up in the exact manner as seen in the viral footage.
We compared the area in Google Maps to the one seen in the viral footage, and found them to be a precise match.
Left: Area near Khartoum Airport on Google Maps; Right: Area seen in viral footage
This suggests that the footage was indeed shot in Khartoum, Sudan, and not Gaza.
