Footage shows panicked Israeli citizens running and screaming during Iran’s recent airstrike.
This is not true. The video actually shows fans of the musician Louis Tomlinson outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A viral video is being shared with the claim it shows panic in Israel during Iran’s recent drone and missile attack. But, the footage actually shows scenes in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires.
The footage shows people running and screaming at night and has been shared widely on social media with the caption: “ISRAELIS in FULL PANIC as IRANIAN missiles land in ISRAEL.”
Iran reportedly launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel on the night of 13 April 2024, which were mostly intercepted by the Israeli military and Jordan, US and the UK. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—a branch of its armed forces—reportedly said the attack was “in retaliation” against Israel’s “repeated crimes”, including the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on 1 April 2024.
But the video predates Iran’s recent attack and does not show scenes in Israel.
The footage actually shows fans of the British singer Louis Tomlinson gathered in Buenos Aires.
The Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires can be seen in the background of the video and other clues confirm the footage was taken there, including the road layout, trees and a ‘galloping horse’ sculpture that can be seen behind the crowd.
While we cannot confirm exactly when the footage was filmed, it was being shared on TikTok as early as 6 April, before Iran’s attack, with the caption: “#louistomlinson #argentina #buenosaires”. Several other videos have been shared in April 2024 showing Mr Tomlinson’s fans gathered outside the hotel.
The singer shared a video on 7 April showing a meeting with fans in Argentina and Mr Tomlinson said he’d be returning to the country to perform the following month.
Miscaptioned videos are a common form of misinformation we see online, especially during significant news stories like this. It’s important to consider whether something shows what it claims to before sharing it online—our guides on identifying misleading images and videos may help you to do this.
You can find more of our work checking claims relating to the conflict in the Middle East on our website.
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 false because the video actually shows Louis Tomlinson fans in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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