What was claimed
A video shows the Netanyahu family home on fire after an Iranian missile strike, which killed Iddo Netanyahu, the prime minister's brother.
Our verdict
False. This video is not from the Middle East conflict but of a house fire in New Jersey in the United States. There is no evidence that Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother has been killed, and the Israel Defense Forces says this claim is incorrect.
A video of a burning building is being shared on social media alongside unevidenced claims that the brother of Israel’s prime minister has been killed by an Iranian missile strike.
One example, shared on Facebook, is captioned: “Reports coming in that Netanyahu’s brother Iddo Netanyahu has lost his life after an Iranian missile strike targeted Netanyahu’s family home!!!.”
It is accompanied by footage of a large house engulfed in flames, and a picture of Dr Iddo Netanyahu.
But this clip is unrelated to the conflict in the Middle East, and in reality captures scenes of a major house fire in New Jersey in the United States in February.
Another version of the claim posted on X, which includes a higher-quality version of the video, has been viewed more than three millions times.
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We matched that video with footage shared on Facebook on 9 February by an account which describes itself as the “Atlantic County Firefighters’ Association Photographer”, with the caption: “Happening Now: Park Place, Galloway, NJ.”
The same account has also posted other videos of the New Jersey fire from different angles. The incident was also reported by local news, and the same house can be seen located in Galloway Township on Google Street View.
As of 11 March, according to Reuters, 12 people had been killed in Israel as a result of an Iranian strike but at the time of writing, there has been no reporting from legitimate news outlets or any official statement from Israel that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s brother has been killed or injured.
The Israel Defense Forces told Full Fact that “this is not correct information”.
Since the outbreak of the current widespread conflict in the Middle East we have debunked a number of misleading and miscaptioned videos and images spreading on social media.
It’s important to consider whether content you see online comes from a reliable and verifiable source before sharing. Our Full Fact guides can help you do this.
Update 13 March 2026
This article was updated to include a statement from the Israel Defense Forces.
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 footage is of a house fire in New Jersey in the US, not the Netanyahu family home after being hit by an Iranian missile strike.
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