Gaza war footage falsely linked to Kashmir attack

"Breaking News: Al Jazeera Channel has released new footage of the Indian Army's attack on Sialkot, Pakistan," reads an April 30 Facebook post sharing a video of people fleeing air strikes featuring the logo of broadcaster Al Jazeera.

Gunmen killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22, with authorities describing the incident as a "terror attack" and the worst such attack on civilians in years (archived link).

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing the attack. Pakistan has denied any role and called New Delhi's claims "frivolous" (archived link).

India's army said its troops had exchanged gunfire with Pakistani soldiers overnight along the de facto border with contested Kashmir -- which it says has taken place every night since April 24.

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Screenshot of false post taken May 1, 2025

The video was shared elsewhere on Facebook, X and Instagram in posts claiming it depicted an Indian attack on Pakistan.

However, the video predates the attack in Kashmir and circulated in old reports about Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza.

A reverse image search on Google found the footage used in a longer report about injuries after strikes on the Indonesian hospital in Gaza published on Al Jazeera's YouTube channel on November 9, 2023 (archived link).

"The Palestinian interior ministry has reported 'a number of injuries' among thousands of displaced people who are sheltering in the yards of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza," reads part of the video description.

The same footage can be seen at the report's 5:06-mark.

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Screenshot comparison of the video shared in false posts (L) and the video on Al Jazeera's YouTube channel

AFP published similar footage of the strike on YouTube on November 9, 2023, titled "Strike hits area near the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza's Beit Lahia" (archived link).

Reports said attacks around the hospital had damaged houses and left the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia in ruins. The hospital, built from donations raised by an NGO, was one of the last remaining hospitals in Gaza (archived here and here).

A week before the attack, the Israeli military had claimed Hamas was using the hospital "to hide an underground command and control center" (archived link).

Following a two-month truce earlier in 2025, Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 in its war against Hamas that was triggered by the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023 attack (archived link).

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday said at least 2,436 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the war's overall death toll to 52,535.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

AFP has debunked other false claims related to the Pahalgam attack.

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