Claim: Multiple videos circulating online show Israeli citizens in distress following Iranian strikes in different parts of the country.
Video 1: A female reporter is seen standing amid a crowd with a microphone. While her words are unintelligible, an elderly man responds, “Muslims, please forgive us.” The clip then cuts to another scene where a different reporter is surrounded by a crying crowd. A man speaks to her, repeating the same plea: “Muslims, please forgive us.”
Video 2: A man appears to be crying, saying, “Iran, please stop. We lose; you win. Please stop.”
Video 3: A reporter stands at a site apparently damaged by strikes. He asks a man, “Do you think the war should end?” The man, visibly distressed and crying, replies, “Please, please stop the war. Iran, please stop.”
Fact: The videos do not depict real-world events. Visual inconsistencies, the presence of AI tool watermarks, and analysis from an AI detection tool strongly suggests that all three videos are likely AI-generated.
On 13 June, Israel launched strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missile sites. Iran responded to the attack by launching over 150 ballistic missiles and more than 100 drones at Israeli targets. Following Iran’s retaliatory strikes, social media users began circulating a range of videos showing Israeli citizens weeping and in distress.
Israel launches strikes in Iran
On 13 June, Israel launched strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missile sites. The strike targeted Iranian nuclear scientists and senior military leadership; among those reportedly killed were Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards Chief Hossein Salami, and IRGC Aerospace Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, as well as six Iranian nuclear scientists.
Israel targeted key sites, including a major oil depot, a natural gas field, and residential areas, resulting in at least 78 people being killed and over 300 injured in Iran, as of 13 June. In response, Iran launched over 150 ballistic missiles and more than 100 drones at Israeli targets. On 24 June, the Associated Press (AP) quoted the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists as saying that up to 24 people had been killed and over 1,000 injured in Israel.
The conflict entered its second week with the US officially entering the war on 21 June. Late Saturday, President Trump announced that the US had struck three main nuclear sites in Iran, and warned that Tehran would face more devastating attacks if it did not agree to peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, calling it a historic move that would prevent a dangerous regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi condemned the attacks as a blatant violation of international law and the UN Charter, warning of serious consequences and asserting Iran’s right to self-defense.
Following the US strikes, Iran retaliated by launching a missile attack on the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a key US military installation. Qatar’s air defenses intercepted the majority of the missiles, and no casualties were reported. This marked a significant escalation, as it was Iran’s first direct attack on US forces in the Gulf during the conflict.
To de-escalate tensions, Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which was declared effective on 24 June. However, just before the ceasefire took effect, Iran launched a missile strike on the Israeli city of Beersheba, killing at least four civilians and injuring 20 others. Israel accused Iran of violating the ceasefire and responded with airstrikes targeting sites in Tehran.
Iran’s military denied launching missiles toward Israel, the AP reported, citing the Islamic Republic’s state-run news agency. However, sirens blared across Israel on Monday, according to the Israeli military, while an official told the AP that two Iranian missiles were intercepted.
Israel’s last wave of strikes targeted Iranian military infrastructure near Isfahan, prompting retaliatory drone launches by Tehran, according to a report by Al Jazeera. “Iran violated the ceasefire, ‘but Israel violated it too’, Trump told reporters earlier in the day on the White House’s South Lawn as he departed for the NATO summit,” the report added.
The US President expressed strong disapproval of both nations for breaching the ceasefire. He used particularly strong language while warning Israel against further military actions that would violate the agreement.
Fact or Fiction?
All three videos displayed signs commonly associated with AI-generated media. Nonetheless, Soch Fact Check conducted a keyword search to verify whether any such incidents were reported; however, we did not find any such reports.
To confirm whether the videos were indeed AI-generated, Soch Fact Check independently analysed each video and identified clear anomalies:
Video 1: The footage exhibited multiple visual distortions, particularly the faces of both the speakers and individuals in the background. In authentic footage, facial features do not warp while a person is speaking. Additionally, AI still struggles with rendering human hands accurately, a failing that is well-documented. In both segments of the video, people’s hands, especially those in the surrounding crowd, frequently appeared blurred or distorted.
Video 2: Despite sounding visibly distressed, the man’s face does not reflect his emotions naturally. His face looks air-brushed, glossy, with no visible wrinkles or lines, as he speaks. This unnatural look is a telltale sign of AI-generated videos.
The video featured a “Veo” watermark in the bottom right corner. Veo is an AI-powered sports camera and analysis platform that combines hardware with advanced AI software to automatically record, track, and analyse sports games. The presence of this watermark suggests that the tool may have been used to create or edit elements of the video, indicating that it is not genuine footage.
We then analysed the video using Hive Moderation, an AI-powered content detection tool. It received an aggregate score of 95.2%, which strongly suggests the presence of AI-generated or deepfake content. A breakdown of the results showed that both the video and its audio had a 0% likelihood of being authentic.
Video 3: In this video as well the both the reporter and the citizen’s faces appear glossy and overly saturated. Additionally, the fire in the background looks unnatural and abruptly transitions from thick black to white smoke. AI stills struggle to replicate complex elements and their behaviours in real-life, strongly suggesting that this video is also AI-generated.
The “Veo” watermark can also be seen here, another sign that this footage is not genuine.
Additionally, the video received an aggregate score of 98% on Hive Moderation. A breakdown of the results revealed that the video had only a 12% likelihood of being authentic. According to these same results, its audio was rated at 98% likelihood of being AI-generated.
Virality
The first video was shared here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook. Archived here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, it was shared here (archive).
The second video was shared here, here, and here on Facebook. Archived here, here, and here.
On Instagram, it was shared here, here, and here. Archived here, here, and here.
The third video was shared here (archive) and here (archive) on Facebook.
On Instagram, it was shared here (archive).
Conclusion: All three videos are likely AI-generated as suggested by the visual anomalies and analysis from AI detection tools. They do not represent real-world events.
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Background image in cover photo: Amir Cohen/Reuters
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