A fragment of video that supposedly shows a hit on Tel Aviv’s high-rise during Iran’s missile attack on Israel on October 1 was shared online. Our fact-checking department checked if it was real.
What happened?
Our Perevirka bot received a request asking us to check the following news. On October 1, the Russian First channel ran a story (archive) about the Iranian attack on Israel. A fragment during seconds 39-47 was followed by a comment by assumedly a child who, reacting to an explosion, screams “Aaahhh… Grandmother!.. Mommy!” in Russian.
The same fragment with the same sound and the statement that it’s an explosion in Tel Aviv’s center was shared by X users (1, 2, 3, 4) and on YouTube (1, 2, 3, 4).
Analysis
Russian language spoken in the fragment pointed us to search for the origins of the video first. We have used reverse search and found that the video was first shared on July 30, 2023, when drones hit the tower of the Moscow-City in the Russian capital (which was reported by the Moscow Mayor).
The moment of the impact was documented by eyewitnesses (archive) who were close to the buildings.
In the video made by the same eyewitnesses of the drone attack in Moscow, we have found fragments that were presented as the attack on the Tel Aviv building, with the same voice.
This Moscow video was also used by British and American media to talk about the drone attack on July 30, 2023 (ВВС, CNN).
So, the video used in the Russian First channel story was not from an Iranian missile attack on Israel on October 1, 2024, but from a drone hitting Moscow’s business center on July 30, 2023.
Conclusion: Fake
Author: Olha Yakovleva
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