Old video from Israel shared as ‘people in Lebanon welcoming the IDF’

What is the claim? 

A video showing people waving the Israeli flag and serving food and water to armed forces in tanks is being shared to claim it is from Lebanon amid Israel's recent ground operations in Lebanon.

Social media users shared the video, claiming that Lebanese citizens were welcoming Israeli forces by waving Israeli flags. The posts also claim that the people offered food and water and urged the Israeli forces to liberate Lebanon from Hezbollah. 

A user on X (formerly Twitter) posted the video with a Hindi caption: "People in Lebanon have enthusiastically welcomed the Israeli Defense Forces on the streets, waving Israeli flags, offering them water and breakfast, and asking to be freed from Hezbollah. But in India, for some reason, some people consider Hezbollah their 'Abbu' (father)." The post garnered 3,700 reposts and over 10,000 likes. Similar claims can be viewed here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts claiming to show Lebanese citizens welcoming the IDF. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the viral video is not from Lebanon. In fact, the video shows Israeli citizens bidding farewell to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and offering them food and drinks following the October 7, 2023, attack.

What we found

A reverse image search of the viral video's keyframes led us to several Israeli social media posts from October 2023. These posts described how Israeli citizens distributed food and drinks to IDF soldiers. 

India Naftali, a journalist with Israel-based news channel i24 News, posted the same video on X on October 9, 2023 (archived here), stating that as her husband Hananya and other soldiers headed to the front lines, fellow Israelis showed their support by distributing food and water. India also posted this video on Facebook (archived here).

Using this information, we found that India Naftali’s husband, Hananya, a YouTuber and former soldier, shared a picture on his Instagram account (archived here), bidding farewell to his wife before leaving for the military operation.

On October 7, 2023, the Israel-Gaza conflict escalated after the Palestinian organization Hamas attacked Israel. 

We found that part of this video was also shared on Israel's official X account on October 9, 2023 (archived here).

Additionally, we zoomed into a car passing by the military convoy in the video. We saw a license plate with yellow coloring, black numbers, and a blue design and found that this format is used in Israel. License plates in Lebanon feature both Arabic and English numbers.

Screenshot of the vehicle and Israeli license plate visible in the video (Source: X/World License Plate)

A news report from October 10, 2023, used a screenshot from the same video, stating that Israeli AI startups continued working even as employees were mobilized for war and seen running to shelters. As reported (archived here) by news agency ANI, Israeli citizens set up camps nationwide to provide food and supplies to the IDF.

This confirms that the viral video is from Israel and dates back to October 2023. It has no connection to the current Israeli ground operations in Lebanon. However, we were unable to independently verify which city in Israel the video is from.

Israeli Military Operations in Lebanon

Israel intensified its attacks in southern Beirut, resulting in over 2,000 deaths so far. Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, are fleeing due to the escalating conflict. 

The verdict

The video does not show Lebanese citizens welcoming IDF soldiers with food and water. It is actually from Israel in October 2023, with no connection to ongoing Israeli ground operations in Lebanon.

(Translated by Vanita Ganesh)