Old video of fans throwing soft toys in a football stadium shared as people supporting Palestine

What’s the claim?

Amid the escalating tensions between Israel and Hamas, an old video from February 2023 is being widely shared online. The video clip shows fans at a football stadium throwing hundreds of soft toys onto the ground. A user shared this video with the claim people were throwing the toys in support of Palestinian children affected by the ongoing conflict. The post was captioned, “The Football Ground became a battlefield for the Palestinians.. Thank you all for taking a stand in favor of Palestine.” The post has gathered more than 99,000 views and over 180 reposts. An archive version of the post can be found here.

Screenshot of claims made online (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

The video clip is also viral on Facebook with the same narrative. An archive version can be found here.

What we found

Logically Facts found several news reports from February 2023 that contain similar visuals from different angles. A BBC report dated February 27, 2023, carried a similar video clip as the one in question, stating that Besiktas fans were throwing toys onto the pitch for children affected by Turkey's earthquake in February 2023. It was shot during a match between Turkish soccer clubs Besiktas and Antalyaspor on February 26, 2023. 

According to the report, the match was halted four minutes and seventeen seconds after it began to commemorate the time when the first earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria at 04:17 on February 6. Fans at the stadium yelled anti-government chants after hurling toys into the ground in response to the government's handling of the natural disaster, the report added.

Screenshot of BBC report (Source: BBC/Screenshot)

The same video was also posted on the official YouTube channels of Reuters and The Guardian. According to the description, thousands of plush toys were thrown into the stadium by fans during the match as gifts for children affected by earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in early February 2023.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake devastated southern and central Turkey, as well as northern and western Syria, on February 6, 2023, followed by a series of aftershocks. According to U.N. report, thousands of people were killed, and many more were injured as a result of the accident.

Logically Facts found no mainstream reports of fans throwing toys into the pitch during a recent football match in solidarity with Palestinian children. 

The verdict

The video was shot in February 2023 during a match between Turkish soccer clubs Besiktas and Antalyaspor for the children affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. It has nothing to do with the ongoing war.