Did an Israeli aircraft release a rocket on Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip as they collected drinking water from a reservoir, resulting in casualties, during the Hamas-Israel crisis in October 2023? No, that's not true: The footage was actually taken in Sudan, not Gaza, on October 12, 2023. The terrain in the aerial footage points to a desert-like environment with sparse vegetation and what looks like coarse sand, unlike Gaza's fine beach sand with green grass and trees. A handful of parked aircraft can be seen alongside tanks, which indicates they could be refueling stations or fuel storage facilities.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on October 27, 2023. The caption (translated from Arabic to English by Lead Stories staff) was:
Palestinians in Gaza rushed to the water tanks to draw the last drops of what was left in them, so they gathered around a water pipe to fill their jerrycans with whatever remaining water was available. Israel took advantage of the gathering in this place and killed them all with a missile dropped from a plane that was flying directly overhead. Spread this clip so that people know about the barbarism and aggression of the Zionists.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Sat Oct 28 13:16:25 2023 UTC)
Lead Stories used Google Lens on a screenshot from the video, finding a handful of posts confirming that the footage was taken in Sudan, not the Gaza Strip. The identical footage was shared on the official Sudan News account, a reputable source for updates on the Sudan conflict, via X (formerly known as Twitter). In a statement (translated from Arabic to English by Lead Stories staff), it reported that a Sudanese Army drone was observed surveilling rebel forces, specifically the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during an October 12, 2023, incident where they appeared to be acquiring fuel for their motorcycles through extortion. Al Jazeera Sudan also posted this video on its verified Facebook account on October 12, 2023, showing an identical footage and giving a similar account on the incident.
Funker530, a Canada-based veteran community site specializing in national defense, veteran affairs, global conflicts and military history, broadcast the same footage on its website. "This footage is from the perspective of a Sudanese Army drone as it loiters above RSF rebels who are siphoning fuel. When the drone delivers its payload, the fuel is ignited, which in turn immolates many of the RSF troops," Funker530 said in its caption.
