A video of paratroopers skydiving at sunset over the Egyptian Military Academy in Cairo has been falsely claimed online to show fighters with the Islamist militant group Hamas launching its surprise attack on Israel.
The Iran-backed group began its assault on Oct. 7 with fighters paragliding into Israel from the Gaza strip, covered by a barrage of rocket fire.
This prompted retaliatory strikes by Israel on Gaza. More than 1,100 people have been killed in the conflict.
“Palestinian freedom fighters seen parachuting down into Israel territory. #Israel #Hamas #IronDome #Gaza #TelAviv #Palestine,” wrote a Facebook user who miscaptioned the paratrooper video.
The clip was also shared with the same claim on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The video was filmed in front of the Military Academy in Cairo, Egypt. The front of the building can be seen at timestamp 0:09 and on Google Maps.
VERDICT
False. The video was filmed in Cairo, Egypt, not Israel.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
