Video of crowds cheering on Israel's soldiers is AI-generated
The eight-second clip, which was viewed more than 65,000 times, appears to show crowds waving Israeli flags and cheering on soldiers and military vehicles.
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Screenshot of false Facebook post captured on August 14, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The video was on Facebook, after Israel announced a new plan for its military to "take control" of Gaza City, triggering a wave of criticism from both inside and outside the country (archived link).
More than 22 months into the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the country is gripped by a yawning divide pitting those demanding an end to the conflict and a deal for the release of the hostages against others who want to see the Palestinian militants vanquished once and for all.
Hamas's attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Out of 251 hostages captured during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead.
Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,722 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.
The video, however, was generated by AI.
Made with Veo
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same clip posted on TikTok on July 31, where its Indonesian-language reads: "Hundreds of Israeli military are ready to take revenge against Iranian attack."
But the search engine's "About this image" feature indicates the video was generated with Google AI.
A Google spokesperson told AFP that when a SynthID watermark is detected, it indicates that "the image has been generated or modified with AI".
SynthID is an image identification tool launched in 2023 by Google's DeepMind AI lab, which detects digital watermarks contained in images generated with Google AI (archived here and here).
Both videos are also superimposed with the same watermarks -- the name of the TikTok account across the middle of the video, and the word "Veo" in the bottom-right corner.
Veo is Google's video-generation platform, which allows users to create eight-second clips (archived link).
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Screenshots showing the video flagged as being made by Google AI (left) and the Veo watermark (right)
An analysis of the video also shows it contains visual anomalies indicative of AI-generated content, including blurred and distorted faces and misshapen limbs.
Despite the rapid progress of generative AI, errors such as these are often the clearest sign of fabricated videos of images.
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Screenshots from the falsely shared video with visual inconsistencies highlighted by AFP
AFP has previously debunked other misleading claims about the war in Gaza that relied on AI-generated content.
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