Posts about China parachuting supplies for Gazans misuse old clip
- Published on May 29, 2025 at 10:11
- Updated on May 29, 2025 at 11:23
- 3 min read
- By Carina CHENG, AFP Hong Kong
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"This is the aid that China airdropped to Gaza today," reads a simplified Chinese X post published May 18, 2025. "Chinese aid supplies were airdropped to Gaza. This is not Saudi Arabia's $600 billion. This is not Qatar's $1.2 trillion. This is not the UAE's $1.4 trillion."
The accompanying video shows people running towards boxes being parachuted in among some ruins.
The video circulated online as Palestinians scrambled for basic supplies after Israel imposed a near-total blockade on March 2.
Israel resumed military operations in Gaza on March 18 after talks to prolong a ceasefire stalled. It briefly allowed nine trucks carrying basic aid into the besieged territory on May 19 but humanitarian groups have said the amount falls far short of what is required to ease the crisis (archived link).
Food security experts say starvation is looming for one in five people in Gaza (archived link).
Similar claims about the video depicting Chinese aid in May surfaced in other Chinese posts, as well as in English and Hindi.
However, China's last shipment of humanitarian aid to Gaza predates Israel's blockade. It was shipped from Jordan through a land port on February 18, according to state news agency Xinhua (archived link).
Chinese government announcements of its previous aid shipments do not mention supplies were airdropped (archived here, here and here).
The clip in the posts has also circulated months before Israel blocked aid to Gaza.
A reverse image search led to an earlier version published on TikTok by a Palestinian user calling for aid on September 16, 2024 (archived link).
AFP has not been able to independently verify when the video was filmed but it corresponds to other clips from multiple news reports about the United States airdropping aid to Gaza in March 2024 (archived here and here).
A report from Turkish media organisation Yeni Safak on May 26, 2024 features visuals that show the same tower seen in the circulating video (archived link).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about China airdropping aid into Gaza in May here.
Updates throughout, added links to news reports that feature similar visuals and a second screenshot comparisonMay 29, 2025 Updates throughout, added links to news reports that feature similar visuals and a second screenshot comparison
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