Old video of gathering at Al-Aqsa Mosque claims to depict Israel-Hamas war

The war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7; at least 2,750 Palestinians have died, and 9,700 have been wounded. Another 1,000 people are missing, Reuters has reported.

What's the claim?

Since then, social media has been flooded with images and videos supposedly related to the situation. One video shows thousands of people gathered at the Dome of the Rock at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Captions claim the footage shows people gathering to show support for Palestine. Some posts include videos of crowds at the mosque in the day and some at night, with audio of loud chanting. Captions of these posts carried hashtags related to the war, like Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, and so on.

 The video clips and this claim have been shared on X with thousands of views. The archived posts can be found here, here, and here.

The video of the crowds gathered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been circulating on X since October 7, 2023, with this claim. (Source: X/Screenshots)

 The same was posted on Facebook, where it has gained hundreds of views. The archived posts can be found here, here, and here.

The same video and claim are shared on Facebook. (Source: Facebook/Screenshots)

However, this video of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is from April 2023.

What we found

The viral videos carry a watermark “fwaz tobasy” in the first few frames. We found an Instagram account with the same name, in which the user had posted the original version of the daytime video of the mosque on Facebook on April 18, 2023, during the holy month of Ramadan. 

On the same date, he posted another video of the same shot taken at night. The video is from the same angle, with the caption “Celebrating the Night of Destiny In the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Arabic. This same footage was cropped and used in some of the viral videos.

Tobasy also posted a set of photos of the mosque gathering with the hashtags “#You _ see _ them _ kneeling _ prostrating #Scenes_from_the_Night_of_Qadr_revelation_in #The_Blessed_Aqsa_Mosque” in Arabic. He also posted the same on his Facebook account. 

Photographer Fwaz Tobasy posted videos and photos of the gathering at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on April 18, 2023. (Source: Instagram/Screenshots)

Details in the video and the images, such as the red, green, and blue colored tents on both sides of the stairs at the entrance to the Dome of the Rock, are identical to those seen in photos taken from different angles from the April 18 news report. These include a nighttime photo published by AP, according to which it showed a scene from the night of April 17.

Comparison of visual details from the viral video and an AP News article from April 2023. (Source: X/AP News/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

The caption of the image used in the AP report reads, “Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray during Laylat Al Qadr, also known as the Night of Destiny, in front of the Dome of the Rock, in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Monday, April 17, 2023…”

Similar videos from the night of April 17 have been used in a report by Reuters and a video uploaded by a YouTube channel called ShanghaiEye. Further, a video published by Anadolu Agency in an X post also shows a similar scene with tents of the same colors.

Similar video of Al Aqsa Mosque from the night of April 17, 2023. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

We also found an image of the mosque taken earlier during Ramadan 2023, on March 31, in the Associated Press gallery. While this photo shows the worshippers performing Friday prayers outside the Dome of Rock, the arrangement of the tents seen in this does not match the viral video, showing that the footage in the viral video was likely taken post-March.

While we were unable to independently confirm when the viral video was shot, the oldest upload we could find dates back to April 18 and therefore predates the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

What about the audio?

We noted that Tobasy’s original videos only include the sounds of a live Adhan and what sounds like a religious recitation with some music. The nighttime video includes only some music and no chants or recitations. Both videos posted by Tobasy contain no sounds of any loud chants, contrary to that heard in the viral video.

Logically Facts has contacted Tobasy for more details about the video. This story will be updated if and when we receive a response.

The verdict

An old video of a gathering at the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been shared with altered audio to claim it shows visuals of people gathering in support of Palestine during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.