A video shows a huge explosion at the headquarters of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, in Tel Aviv.
This isn’t what the video depicts. It actually shows an explosion at a chemical storage depot in Tianjin, China, in 2015.
A video is being shared with false claims it shows a “huge explosion” at the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad in Tel Aviv.
The clip is circulating on Facebook with the caption: “Massive explosion reportedly at the Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv.”
It shows a large fire burning near two skyscrapers, before several large explosions occur and a huge fireball goes skyward. People can be heard speaking and swearing in English reacting to the explosions.
The video accompanied by this caption began being shared on 1 October, following an attack that day by Iran where the country launched over 180 missiles at Israel.
Missiles were reported flying over Tel Aviv, and striking areas around the headquarters of the spy agency Mossad on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
However, this is not what the video being shared depicts.
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It actually dates from 2015, and depicts a chemical blast at a warehouse in Tianjin, China, in August 2015.
The same video is available on YouTube, uploaded by Hong Kong Free Press in 2015, titled “Tianjin Explosion: Another View”, with the caption: “First-hand footage of the blasts in Tianjin's Binhai New Area on 12 August, 2015”.
The clip was recorded by an American man living in Tianjin.
The blasts occurred at a chemical storage depot, killing 173 people, and injuring more than 700 others in one of the deadliest industrial accidents in Chinese history.
In 2016, the head of the chemical factory, Ruihai Logistics chairman, Yu Xuewei was handed a suspended death sentence and jailed for his role in the disaster. He was one of 49 staff and government officials jailed for their role in the firm’s illegal operations.
Full Fact has previously debunked false claims in 2022 shared with the same video that it showed a fire started by a Russian airstrike in Ukraine.
During global news events it’s important to consider whether videos and images shared on social media really show what they claim to. Our guides to verifying misleading content can help you do this.
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 does not show a recent attack on Israel, but an explosion at a chemical storage depot in China in 2015.
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