West Bank fire video is not recent

A post liked more than a thousand times on Threads claims that a video of a large fire in the West Bank was filmed in late April. 

The video, which appears to have been taken at some distance from the fire, shows a huge blaze in the middle of a built-up area.

Posted on 26 April, the caption claims: “Hebron in the West Bank tonight”. It adds, “H@mas are not in the West Bank”, possibly implying the fire was a result of Israeli action following the 7 October attacks on the country by Hamas.

But this video first appeared online two months earlier, and appears to show a fire at a plastics factory in Hebron that broke out on 27 February. 

The post shared on Threads is watermarked with the handle of an Instagram account, which posted the video, alongside several others, it said showed the fire on the day it broke out. 

Misleading images and videos are some of the most common misinformation we see online, and become particularly widespread at times of a major news story such as the current conflict in the Middle East. 

We’ve recently checked several posts wrongly claiming to show events related to the conflict, including a video of people hiding from bombs and an image of the Eiffel tower lit in the colours of the Israeli flag, both of which apparently happened during or after Iran’s strikes on Israel on 13 April, but were actually captured in 2023.

It’s important to check what you’re sharing actually shows what it claims to—our guides on identifying misleading images and videos may help you do this.