What was claimed
A video shows a fireworks accident involving a pro-Hamas or-Palestinian protester in Turkey.
Our verdict
False. The video was filmed several months prior to the start of the recent Israel-Gaza conflict.
Video of fireworks accident is not linked to the Israel-Gaza conflict
8 November 2023
A video on social media is being falsely shared with the claim it shows a firework exploding in the hands of a pro-Hamas protestor at a rally in Turkey.
The footage shows a firework being held up in the air after its fuses have been lit. It explodes and falls to the ground where it continues to discharge rockets, causing panic among the crowd.
Many versions of the clip, which has been shared multiple times on Facebook carry the caption: “Pro-Hamas Turkish protester holds the fireworks the wrong way…”. An alternative version is captioned: “Turkey… Pro Palestinian protesters not the sharpest knives in the drawer.”
The video also appears on X (formerly Twitter) where it includes the hashtags “#GazaWar” and “#Israelunderattack”, suggesting the footage captures an incident that took place following the latest outbreak of hostilities which began when Hamas launched an assault on Israel on 7 October.
However, the video was actually filmed in Istanbul during celebrations for the Turkish president’s re-election on 28 May. The incident was reported at the time by Sky News Australia and their report was uploaded to YouTube at the end of May. The incident was also reported by Reuters.
This is not the first time Full Fact has seen videos falsely claiming to depict events associated with the Israel-Gaza conflict. Other examples include footage which does not show a pro-Palestine rally in France but rather a crowd of football supporters in Brazil. Another video claims to show scenes from Gaza but was actually filmed in Algiers.
Misinformation spreads quickly during significant global events and can be difficult to contain. It is especially important to consider whether something shows what it claims before sharing it—you can read more about this in our guide Israel-Gaza conflict: How to fact check misleading videos.
Image courtesy of Elisha Terada
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context the footage was filmed prior to the Israel-Gaza conflict which began on 7 October and shows celebrations in Istanbul for the Turkish president’s re-election.