Does a video posted on TikTok show "Hamas taking Israeli fighter jets" during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel? No, that's not true: The video was first posted on September 14, 2023, and thus predates the current Hamas-Israel conflict.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by @daleupright on October 7, 2023, with the following overlay in English: "Hamas taking Israeli fighter jets."
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Sun Oct 8 13:27:18 2023 UTC)
The video has gone viral on TikTok, being shared by numerous accounts: here, here and here, for example.
The footage does not show Hamas taking Israeli fighter jets during the attack launched by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. This is an old video, dating back to more than three weeks before that date.
In the clip shown on TikTok, the road signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and Roman alphabets: "80," "Ar'ara BaNegev" and "Arad" can be read on the signs. Lead Stories geolocated the video and determined that the trucks transporting the jets are entering the 80 highway from the 25 highway, in the south of Israel. This location is not in the Hamas-controlled areas.
(Source: Google Maps screenshot taken on Mon Oct 9 08:59:00 2023 UTC)
A reverse Google Image search conducted by Lead Stories on October 9, 2023, did not yield any leads as to the origin of the video. Subsequently, a Google search using the keywords "two f-16 jets transported in southern Israel" on October 9, 2023, led to this video (archived here). It was published on X by @Sprinter99800 on September 14, 2023, with the caption "Two F-16 fighter jets transported by ground transport were spotted in southern Israel," weeks before the attack by Hamas against Israel took place.
