Two old photos show Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, not Russia attacking Ukraine
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on February 25, 2022 at 18:21
- Updated on March 4, 2022 at 17:05
- 2 min read
- By AFP Mexico
- Translation and adaptation James OKONG'O
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
One of the images was published on Facebook in Kenya on February 24, 2022.
“BREAKING: As Russia's Putin announces a 'military operation' in Ukraine, Ukrainian Interior Ministry confirms that its capital Kyiv is under attack from Russian cruise and ballistic missiles. War has begun (sic),” reads the post’s caption.
Other posts containing the same image and a second one, also showing a nighttime explosion, were published on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in Mexico (here, here, here, here, here), and debunked by AFP Fact Check in Spanish.
The claims about the images surfaced shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. AFP reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration sent troops into the country and unleashed airstrikes that Ukrainian authorities said have left dozens of people dead.
However, the two images on social media are unrelated to the war in Ukraine.
Gaza photos
A reverse image search found that one of the photos, showing two columns of smoke rising from a residential area, , was published in articles here and here. It shows airstrikes carried out by Israel on Gaza.
The image, credited to AFP photographer Mahmud Hams, was taken in 2021 when Israel responded with airstrikes to rocket attacks by Hamas .
The second picture showing a fireball and a pall of black smoke also shows an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, this time in 2018. It is also credited to AFP photographer Hams.
The 2018 round of fighting in Gaza was triggered by clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security personnel in Jerusalem's Old City amid rising tensions over the potential eviction of many Palestinian families.
March 4, 2022 This article has been updated to add metadata.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
