Video shows wildfire in Los Angeles, not Israel

"A massive blaze in central Israel," reads the Thai-language caption to the Facebook video shared on April 24, 2025.

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Screenshot of the false post, taken on April 29, 2025

The 34-second clip -- which has accumulated more than 328,000 views and 2,400 shares -- shows flames sweeping across a mountainside and engulfing a nearby house.

The posts circulated after a wildfire near Jerusalem broke out on April 23 amid an intense heatwave. The blaze prompted evacuations in several communities, forced highway closures, and disrupted train services.

The raging wildfires scorched approximately 2,500 acres (1,000 hectares) of land before being fully contained about 20 hours later. No deaths were reported (archived link).

Another blaze broke out on April 30 around the same areas and prompted the defence minister to declare the situation a "national emergency" (archived link).

The footage was also shared alongside a similar claim in other languages, including English, Arabic, Bengali, and Burmese.

But the clip dates back to earlier in 2025, when the deadliest wildfires in California history swept through the state.

A reverse image search using keyframes followed by keyword searches on Google found a similar video in higher quality posted on the Instagram account lahikerdude on January 8, 2025 (archived link).

The video's caption indicates that it was filmed on the night of January 7 at the Rubio Canyon road of Altadena, a popular hiking area overtaken by the Eaton Fire.

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Screenshot comparison between the false post (left) and the original post

Using visual clues and details in the post, AFP was able to geolocate the road where it was filmed (archived link). 

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Screenshot comparison of video in the false post (left) and its location visible on Google Maps street view, with similarities highlighted by AFP

Media outlets, including NBC's WJAR 10 and TheWrap, also used the clip in reports published in January about the firestorm's devastation witnessed by local residents (archived here and here).

Two destructive wildfires -- the Palisades and Eaton fires -- in Los Angeles were declared fully contained by firefighters on January 31 after burning for more than three weeks, killing about 30 people and displacing thousands more (archived link).