A video showing massive flames of fire emerging from an area is making waves on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Users are sharing this video and claiming to be from the recent explosion that occurred at the Israeli Meron military base.

Sharing this video on X, a user named @SilentlySirs wrote: “Explosions and a massive fire engulfing the #Meron military base”

Furthermore, several users shared this video and made similar claims.

Fact-Check

To determine the reality the viral video, the DFRAC team converted it into some key frames and reverse-searched it on google. We found the same video on the X handle of the IDF posted in May 2021 with the caption: “Barrages of rockets are being fired non-stop from Gaza into southern Israel. Tonight, a rocket hit the city of Ashdod—see the damage for yourself“. 

For further investigation, we did a keyword search in this regard and discovered some news articles published by the Times of Israel on May 15, 2021 featuring the same video. As per news articles, rockets fired from Gaza hit an apartment building in Ashdod, while another landed in the Ashdod port, hitting a fuel reservoir and causing a massive explosion that sent huge flames into the night sky. No injuries were immediately reported in either incident.

Conclusion

It is clear from DFRAC’s fact-check that the viral video alleging to show the recent explosion occurred at Israeli meron Base is misleading. Originally, the video was from May 2021 when rockets fired from Gaza caused a massive explosion in Ashdod port

Analysis: Misleading