Old Gaza explosion footage misused in posts about India-Pakistan
"India attacked Pakistan," reads the Thai-language caption of a May 7, 2025 Facebook post.
The post includes footage of multiple nighttime explosions. The video bears the logo of Pakistani news outlet ARY News, which shared the clip on its page.
The video was released by the Pakistani army's media wing to news outlets including AFP after the Indian strikes.
The footage surfaced in other posts written in Thai, as well as Burmese, Hindi, Sinhala and English. Urdu-language TV channel 92 News and Thai PBS, Thailand's state broadcaster, also misrepresented the footage in reports about the conflict between India and Pakistan.
The nuclear-armed rivals experienced their worst violence in two decades after India launched deadly missile strikes on its neighbour, with days of repeated gunfire along their border escalating into artillery shelling (archived link)
New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir two weeks prior -- a charge Pakistan denies.
Islamabad said 31 civilians were killed by Indian strikes and firing along the border. New Delhi said 13 civilians and a soldier had been killed by Pakistani fire.
The video, however, is unrelated to the crisis.
A reverse image search using keyframes led to an X post published by Al Jazeera Palestine on October 13, 2023 (archived link). The Arabic-language caption reads: "Scenes showing violent Israeli raids on Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip."
Additional keyword searches found the same clip in a TRT Haber report on October 13, 2023. The Turkish outlet said Israel carried out strikes on 320 targets overnight, killing around 400 Palestinians (archived link).
Sharing a screenshot from the same video, Lebanese news outlet Al Manar also reported the same day that Israeli strikes forced evacuations in Gaza (archived link).
A Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation for the October 7 attack has killed at least 52,653 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which is considered reliable by the United Nations (archived link).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the India-Pakistan clashes here, here and here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
Ex-Pakistan foreign minister warns full-scale war with India closer than ever after recent skirmishes
WASHINGTON — Pakistan's former foreign minister warned US lawmakers and diplomats last week that the 'threshold' for war between his nation and India is lower than ever following clashes in the disputed region of Kashmir last month. 'We're incredibly grateful for the role that the US government — President Trump, Secretary [of State] Marco Rubio — created throughout this crisis in helping us all achieve this cease-fire,' Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the current chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, told The Post in a recent interview. 'But our message has been that the cease-fire is a start, but it is only a start, and what we seek is assistance in our pursuit of peace through dialogue and diplomacy.' 4 Ex-foreign minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned US lawmakers and diplomats last week that the 'threshold' of war between his nation and India is closer than ever following skirmishes in the disputed region of Kashmir last month. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement 'We're all a lot less safe as a result of this conflict than we were before,' added Zardari, the son of the late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. 'The threshold of full-out military conflict between India and Pakistan has been drastically lowered — the lowest it has ever been in our history, as a result of this conflict.' The US-brokered truce between the nuclear-armed nations took effect May 10 after weeks of fighting. India accused Pakistan of sparking the conflict by supporting an April 22 terror attack that left 26 civilians dead in the segment of Kashmir under New Delhi's control. Advertisement 4 India accused Pakistan of sparking the conflict by backing an April 22 terror attack that left 26 civilians dead in the segment of Kashmir under New Delhi's control. AP Most of those killed were Hindus, and Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri pointed the finger at the Kashmir-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the carnage in the resort town of Pahalgam. The Pakistani delegation that came to Washington expressed a desire to coordinate with India on counter-terrorism — but rejected that Islamabad was involved in any way with the attack. 'The Prime Minister of Pakistan offered an impartial international inquiry because we were confident that Pakistan is not involved in this terrorist incident,' Zardari said. 'The international intelligence community endorses this view.' Advertisement 4 The Pakistani delegation that came to Washington expressed a desire to discuss coordinating with India on counter-terrorism — but rejected that Pakistan was involved in any way with the attack. AP 'As things stand now, if there's a terrorist attack anywhere in India,' he went on, 'it immediately means war, and the law of reciprocation means, therefore, if there's a terrorist attack in Pakistan, we are to also treat it as an act of war.' Zardari also said that India's threat to cut off Pakistan's water was 'an existential matter' that would be considered 'an act of war.' 'If we are to engage in a new dialogue with India, make new promises with one another that could potentially lead to new treaties, then it's very important that they abide by the old treaties like the Indus Water Treaty,' he said. Advertisement 4 'I'm optimistic that the president is passionate about peace and that he will be successful in pushing that message here in the United States,' Zardari said of Trump. 'Pakistan is obviously ready.' AP The delegation from Islamabad met with officials in the State Department and Congress and is headed this week to meet with UK and European diplomats in hopes of brokering a more lasting peace. 'We had a military upper hand when we agreed to the cease-fire. We did so on the stipulation that the cease-fire would be the first step,' Zardari said. 'I'm optimistic that the president is passionate about peace and that he will be successful in pushing that message here in the United States. Pakistan is obviously ready.' Reps for the Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg
16 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Adani Visits Chinese Equipment Makers as US Legal Woes Linger
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani traveled to China last week to meet industrial equipment manufacturers, marking what appears to be his first overseas trip since the US unveiled criminal and civil cases against him in November. The visit, including to a solar module maker, underscores Adani's continued efforts to maintain momentum in renewables even as he faces heightened scrutiny abroad. Sagar Adani, who oversees the green arm of the conglomerate's sprawling empire, accompanied his uncle on the trip, according to a social media post by one of the companies he visited.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
India 'hopeful' of reaching deal with US before Trump's tariff deadline
Delhi is "hopeful" of reaching a trade agreement with the US before the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends on 9 July, India's foreign minister has said. In an interview with French daily Le Figaro on Tuesday, S Jaishankar, who is on a four-day visit to Belgium and France, said India and US had already begun trade negotiations before Trump unveiled his 2 April 'Liberation day' tariffs on global partners, including up to 27% on India. "Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi met with Donald Trump in February and they decided to further open access to our respective markets," Jaishankar told the paper. "We are hopeful of reaching an agreement before the end of the tariff suspension on 9 July." Earlier in the day, a US delegation held closed-door meetings with Indian trade ministry officials in Delhi. An unnamed Indian official told Reuters news agency that the recent set of trade talks with US officials had been productive and "helped in making progress towards crafting a mutually beneficial and balanced agreement including through achievement of early wins". Until recently, the US was India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $190bn. India has already reduced tariffs on a range of goods - including Bourbon whiskey and motorcycles - but the US continues to run a $45bn (£33bn) trade deficit with India, which Trump is keen to reduce. Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double this figure to $500bn, though Delhi is unlikely to offer concessions in politically sensitive sectors such as agriculture. Earlier this month, the White House told its trade partners that the US wants them to make their best trade offers, with the deadline fast approaching, Reuters news agency reported. Last week, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he was "very optimistic" about a deal between India and US, which he said said would come in the "not too distant future". In May, Trump made global headlines by claiming that Delhi had offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from the US. These claims were swiftly disputed by India, with the foreign minister saying that "nothing is decided till everything is". Jaishankar had previously emphasised that any trade deal must be mutually beneficial and work for both countries. Speaking separately about US foreign policy under Trump, Jaishankar told Le Figaro he sees the US "looking at things from the perspective of its immediate interest and seeking benefits for itself". "Frankly, I will do the same with them," Jaishankar added. Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
