No, this video does not show emergency services near the recent Tel Aviv explosion site

By: Ankita Kulkarni
August 17 2023

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Context

At least three people were injured in an explosion at an industrial site in Ramat Hasharon city near Tel Aviv, Israel, on August 15, 2023, according to a report by The Times of Israel (TOI). It added that the cause of the explosion was not known, but it quoted police sources stating that the situation was under control.

Following this, a video circulating on social media claims that it shows dozens of emergency service units deployed at the site of the explosion for rescue operations. One such post on X sharing the video states, “#BREAKING #Israel #TelAviv Another footage of an ambulance convoy heading to the site of an explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel.” The post has more than 2,000 views, and the clip is also being shared on Facebook with similar narratives. The archive post can be found here and here.

However, the video is old and unrelated to the recent explosion in Ramat Hasharon city.

In fact

A reverse image search of a screenshot taken from the viral clip led us to the same video posted on X on July 2, 2023. This established that the video was on the internet before the explosion that happened on August 15.

We found the exact video posted on Instagram by Jewish Breaking News, dated July 2, 2023. The caption said, “Late Saturday night United Airlines flight UA091 headed from Tel Aviv to Newark declared an emergency landing triggering a level 2 emergency at Ben Gurion Airport. A massive EMS response awaited the 334 passenger plane which thankfully landed safely. Unconfirmed reports claim an issue was reported with a window on the plane.”

Another report by the Times of Israel on the same date, July 2, included a similar image where we can see several ambulances on the road. The caption given to the image is, “Emergency services gathered at Ben Gurion Airport where a passenger plane made an emergency landing.” The airport is located in the city of Lod, near Tel Aviv.

The Times of Israel report stated that a passenger flight made an emergency landing on July 1 due to a crack in a cockpit window. Following this, dozens of firefighters, police, ambulances, and other emergency services units were at the airport as a precautionary measure, but the landing was safe. It also includes other videos taken from different angles on site where we can see multiple ambulances.

Logically Facts also found similarities in the visuals, such as vehicles, as shown in the below image. 

The verdict

Old video of ambulances gathered before the emergency landing of a flight in July 2023 has been falsely shared as emergency units rushing for the site of the recent explosion in Ramat Hasharon city. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.