Old video from Gaza shared as 'drone attack targeted at Netanyahu's residence'

What is the claim?

A video comprising some clips of projectiles being launched and a high-rise building being razed to the ground in an explosion is being shared with the claim that it shows a 'drone attack' on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence.

A Facebook user shared the video and wrote in the Indian regional language of Assamese, which translates to: "Hezbollah's attack on Israel. Drone launched at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence." Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.

Screenshots of Facebook posts claiming that the video shows a drone attack on Israel PM Netanyahu's residence. (Source: Screenshots/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts) 

However, the video actually shows a building known as the Palestine Tower, located in Gaza City, collapsing to Israeli airstrikes on October 7, 2023. 

What did we find?

A reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video led us to an X post (archived here) by Reuters Asia published on June 13, 2024. We found that the video in the post started with the same visuals of the multi-storey building collapsing in a blast. The video report identified the building's location in Gaza City.

In addition, we found another X post (archive here) of the viral clip, which dates back to October 7, 2023, suggesting the video is a year old. The post was published by Arab News, an English daily distributed in the Middle East, and contained the same visuals of the building collapsing in the blast. 

We also found the viral clip in a video news report published (archived here) by The Wall Street Journal on October 7, 2023, on its official YouTube channel, titled 'Watch: High-Rise Building in Gaza Crumbles After Israeli Airstrike | WSJ News.' The viral clip can be seen around the 0:12 timestamp of the video report, which also carried visuals from other angles of the building collapsing following a blast. 

The description of the WSJ YouTube video also identified the building as the 'Palestine Tower' in Gaza City and noted that it collapsed after Israel's airstrike on the city.

Taking a cue from this, we found a news report by Al Jazeera about the attack. Headlined 'Israel flattens Palestine Tower amid deadly Gaza bombardment' and published on the same day as WSJ, the report described how Israeli air raids hit Gaza, flattening the major tower in Gaza City after the large-scale assault by Hamas on Israel.

The report added that Al Jazeera's Youmna ElSayed captured the Israeli strike on Gaza's Palestine Tower live while reporting from a nearby building. It also included an X post (archived here) with a video showing ElSayed reporting when the strikes began on the building. Similar visuals from the viral clip can be seen in the video. 

Attack on Israel PM Netanyahu's home

Earlier on October 22, 2024, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone strike that damaged Israeli leader Netanyahu's beachside home in Caesarea, video footage geolocated by CNN showed. However, Netanyahu and his wife were unharmed, as they were not home during the attack, reports confirmed. 

The verdict

The building that is seen collapsing in the viral video shows the Palestine Tower in Gaza City being razed to the ground following an Israeli air attack on October 7, 2023, hours after Hamas launched an attack on Israel the same day. It has no connection with the recent drone attack on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's home, as claimed on social media.