Social media has been awash with images documenting the latest war in Gaza, which erupted in October 2023 after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel. However, some of the photos and videos circulating online have either been published out of context or are unrelated to the conflict. For instance, a video with thousands of reposts on X (formerly Twitter) was alleged to show Egyptians crossing a desert into Palestinian territories to supply aid. But the claim is false: the video pre-dates the Gaza conflict and shows cigarette smugglers near Egypt’s border with Libya.

Reshared more than 11,200 times, the post features an 18-second clip showing hundreds of people carrying makeshift backpacks across a desert.

“These are civil Egyptians crossing the Palestinian border to deliver water and foodstuffs to Palestine (sic),” reads an X post shared by a Nigerian account on October 13, 2023.

The same video was shared in a similar context by other X accounts, including here, here and here, on Facebook (here and here) and on TikTok. The claim was also shared in French.

Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

They also took more than 200 hostages, among them elderly people and young children, based on Israel’s count.

Israel has responded with heavy air and artillery strikes that have killed more than 7,000 in Gaza, according to the latest toll from...

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