Israel’s Iron Dome intercepts rockets, but this video is from 2021, not October 2023

Israel’s Iron Dome is a defense system that detects incoming rockets and fires missiles to intercept them before they can land in inhabited areas. 

But amid ongoing violence since Hamas attacked Israel Oct. 7, some people have shared old footage of the Iron Dome intercepting rockets and mischaracterized it as showing recent warfare. 

"#BREAKING," an Oct. 8 X post said. "Iron Dome active at this moment."

"H@m@s rockets being intercepted," an Oct. 10 Instagram post said. 

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

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stated on November 19, 2024 in a Threads post

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hospitalized with “serious health issue.”

This footage has been online since May 2021. 

Israel Defense Forces, the country’s military, posted it on X and Facebook that year, writing that "4,000 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel in the last 10 days."

Another Facebook user sharing the video that year said the scene showed the Iron Dome, which has been operating since 2011, intercepting rockets above the Israeli city of Ashdod.

Multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, reported on a barrage of rocketfire in Ashdod that month — "the worst violence in years" between the Israeli military and Hamas, the Times said then. 

We rate claims that this video shows recent violence between Hamas and Israel False.