Footage from 2011 Japan tsunami shared as Israel flooding tunnels in Gaza

What is the claim?

A video circulating widely on X (formerly Twitter) claims that it shows Israeli forces flooding tunnels being used by Hamas fighters in Gaza. The visuals show a massive wave carrying away boats and cars as the water flows into residential areas. One such post was shared with the caption, “Heartbreaking images 💔Palestinians report that the IDF has started flooding the underground tunnels in Gaza with seawater.” Archived versions of such posts can be accessed here and here.

A post claiming that the video shows IDF flooding underground tunnels in Gaza with seawater. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this video is old, from Japan, and unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

What is the truth?

On conducting a reverse image search on keyframes from the viral clip, we found that stills from the original video were published by various media outlets like National Geographic and Mirror U.K., attributing them to the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

We also found an extended version of the video published by ANN News, a Japanese news network, on YouTube on January 7, 2020. The title of this video reveals that it was recorded on March 11, 2011, in Japan's Miyako city. The footage uploaded on X starts from around the 3:48 mark. 

A signboard that reads ‘Miyako City’ and another signboard with directions to several localities in Japan are also visible in the footage. Further, Logically Facts was able to geolocate the video using certain features visible like the stairs leading up to the bridge and the Rasa Chimney in the background using Google Street View.

Screenshots from the video were geolocated using Google Street View (Source: YouTube/Google Street View)

On 11 March 2011, a 9.1 magnitude undersea earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approximately six minutes, causing a tsunami that resulted in the deaths of 18,000 people.

Notably, the Wall Street Journal reported on December 12, 2023, that “Israel has begun pumping seawater into subterranean Hamas tunnels in a bid to flush out the militants”. However, the viral clip is unrelated to this development. 

The verdict

We have marked this claim as false as the viral video is from the 2011 Japan tsunami and is unrelated to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.