Video of explosion is from Ukraine, not Israel

A video being shared online with the suggestion it shows recent scenes in Israel is actually year-old footage from Kyiv, Ukraine. 

The clip, which seemingly shows a missile hitting a building and a large explosion at night, was shared on 12 August on both Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) with captions saying: “The Iron Dome has completely failed”. Israel’s Iron Dome defence system is designed to protect the country from incoming short-range weapons by using interceptor missiles. While there have been reports of the Iron Dome malfunctioning, this is not what the clip shows. 

The footage is actually of an air attack on Kyiv on 30 August 2023 in which two people were killed by the debris of intercepted Russian missiles falling on buildings, a park and a school, according to Ukrainians officials. A higher quality version of the clip with different audio was shared by the BBC with the caption: “Missile debris explodes over Kyiv”, as well as by several other media outlets. 

The same clip also appears at the start of a longer video compilation that has circulated widely on social media in recent days with many posts claiming it shows “northern Israel under rocket attack by Hezbollah”. Other clips in the compilation video do appear to have been first shared in relation to recent scenes in Israel.

Israel has been engaged in escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Lebanese military group Hezbollah to the country’s north since the 7 October attack, as well as the ongoing war in Gaza. Many countries have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon. 

Miscaptioned videos are a common form of misinformation and we’ve seen many examples concerning the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. You can read our guide for tips on how to verify this type of misleading content yourself.