On 13 June 2025, Israel launched attacks on more than a dozen targets across Iran under the codename Operation Rising Lion, with the stated objective of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Israel reportedly damaged key nuclear facilities and military installations, killing several of Iran’s top military leaders. In retaliation, Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel under the name Operation True Promise 3.
The United States escalated its involvement by launching direct strikes on Iran under Operation Midnight Hammer. On the night of 21–22 June 2025, seven B-2 bombers and submarine-launched missiles targeted Iran’s key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, severely damaging underground enrichment facilities. The U.S. described the attack as a pre-emptive move to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities, while Iran condemned it as an act of war and vowed retaliation.
Amid these developments, a video (here, here and here) has gone viral on social media showing a building collapsing after an apparent attack, with people recording the scene. It is being claimed that the building was in Israel and was brought down by an Iranian strike. Let’s find out the truth behind this video.
Claim: The viral video shows an Iranian attack on an Israeli building.
Fact: The video is actually from May 2021 and shows an Israeli airstrike on the al-Shorouk Tower in Gaza. It is unrelated to any recent Iran-Israel conflict. hence the claim is FALSE.
To verify the truth, we performed a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video. This led us to a similar video posted on an Instagram account named omaralsersawi. In the caption, it was mentioned: “This is the effect of the Israeli attack on Gaza City, not in Ukraine.” The post was dated 12 May 2021, confirming that the video predates the recent Iran-Israel conflict and is unrelated to the current situation.
Further research into the incident led us to several news reports (here, here and here), including visuals matching the viral video. The building seen in the footage is the al-Shorouk Tower, which was also targeted by Israel in 2014. As per reports from May 2021, Israel intensified its offensive in Gaza and destroyed the 16-storey tower — the third high-rise struck within days. The tower housed media offices, shops, and residential apartments. While Israel claimed it was used by Hamas for military purposes, Palestinian sources said the strike lacked justification. The conflict at the time resulted in numerous Palestinian and several Israeli deaths, with hundreds more injured.
A side-by-side comparison of the building in the viral video and the al-Shorouk Tower confirms that they are the same. This clearly indicates that the footage is from Palestine, not Israel.
To sum up, an old video of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza is falsely shared as footage of an Iranian attack on Israel.
