On June 16-17, a video was shared on Facebook (1, 2), with the users claiming that it depicted Israeli military aviation. One of the posts claimed the footage was filmed on June 16 in Tehran and showed Israeli military jets freely flying over the city.
The claim that the circulated video features Israeli military aviation is not true. In reality, the video was filmed in Egypt in October 2024 and shows Egyptian military jets.
The same video, accompanied by a false description, also circulated in late October 2024. Specifically, on 26 October, a user uploaded the footage on X, claiming it showed Israeli jets returning home after bombing Iran. Notably, on that same day, Israel did conduct an aerial military operation in Iran, targeting several facilities. However, the jets shown in the footage were Egyptian, not Israeli, and have no connection to Israeli-Iran conflict. Using reverse search tools, it was established that the same footage was shared on October 6 and 7 on Facebook and X, with the users clearly stating that it depicted a unit of Egypt’s air defense forces. However, we traced the earliest version of the video uploaded on the TikTok account castel.ge, where it was also described as featuring jets of the Egyptian army.
To verify the video, the Palestinian fact-checking organization Kashif contacted videographer Mohamed Mahmoud on October 27. He owns the TikTok account Castel.eg. Mahmoud confirmed to Kashif that the jets shown in the video indeed belong to Egypt and that he filmed the footage in early October in the Egyptian city of Shorouk during a military college graduation ceremony.
When closely examining the video posted on TikTok, a vehicle license plate is visible. Although the video quality does not allow all the details to be clearly distinguished, the shape, colors, and style of the plate are noticeable, and these design elements typically differ significantly between countries.
After reviewing vehicle registration plate formats used in Israel, Iran, and Egypt, we had strong grounds to believe the plate in the video is Egyptian. Egyptian license plates are designed in exactly this style. The color schemes differ by region, with blue appearing frequently among them.
As for the license plates used in Israel and Iran, they are entirely different from the one shown in the video.
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