Video footage from the Lebanon-Israel border is from 2021, not the latest Gaza war
A TikTok post added a caption to the video that reads: “Lebanon 10/13/2023
CLAIM: A video clip shows people in Lebanon climbing a barrier on the border with Israel after war was declared following Hamas’ invasion of Israel in early October.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video is from a May 2021 protest in a Lebanese border village, held in solidarity with Palestinians amid the fourth Gaza war.
THE FACTS: Amid continued fighting in the second week of the Israel-Hamas war, some on social media are misrepresenting a years-old video as footage from the current conflict in Gaza.
The clip shows demonstrators in the southern Lebanese village of Odaisseh scaling a wall erected by the Israeli army along the Lebanon-Israel border. It then briefly pans to other protestors watching from a nearby road.
A TikTok post added a caption to the video that reads: “Lebanon 10/13/2023. People trying to cross the border to help Gaza!” It had received approximately 378,800 views as of Monday.
Although the footage shows a real protest on the border of Israel and Lebanon, the events occurred during the 2021 Gaza war.
The video was first shared online more than two years ago. Moreover, multiple images taken at the demonstration include details matching the footage that is again circulating on social media.
For example, a man wearing a black shirt with a distinctive yellow pattern can be seen in the clip climbing the border wall beside a man in a white top. The same man appears atop the wall on the rightmost side of a May 15, 2021, photo.
Another photo from the same day shows demonstrators standing on a road in front of a columned building. Each column has a maroon disc in its center. The building is also visible in the clip being shared online.
Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians traveled to the Lebanon-Israel border in 2021 to protest Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, the AP reported at the time. Some protestors climbed the border wall during the May 15 demonstration, triggering Israeli fire that wounded one person.
The current Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7 after Hamas launched a deadly incursion into southern Israeli towns. It is now the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead as of Monday. More than a million people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected Israel invasion that seeks to eliminate Hamas’ leadership.
