Does a video on social media show scenes of Egyptian Bedouin Muslims heading to the border of Gaza to demand the borders be opened for Palestinians and to participate in a jihad "against Zionists"? No, that's not true: The video features two different scenes showing large numbers of trucks traveling together. Both predate the Hamas-Israel conflict that started in October 2023 by more than a year and one has been identified as showing a camel racing event. As such, neither represents a response to the current situation in Gaza.
The video of trucks on a highway was posted on TikTok in 2021, and the video of off-road trucks shows the 2022 running of the Wadi Zalaga Camel Race between two Bedouin tribes. This race takes place on January 10 every year. It is traditional to shoot off guns, and for the trucks to drive alongside the racing camels.
The claim was posted with a video on X (archived here) published by Izlamic Terrorist @raviagrawal3 on October 11, 2023. The post was captioned:
Egyptian Bedouin Muslims their cars to the border with Gaza demanding that the borders be opened for Palestinians to participate in the Battle of Defla and the Al-Aqsa flood jihad against the Zionists.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Oct 17 15:43:57 2023 UTC)
The video clip that appears between 0:06 and 0:25 in the post (pictured above) was posted on TikTok (archived here) on January 11, 2022. This shows the camel races that take place in Wadi of the Zalaga valley in the Sinai peninsula on January 10 every year. The competition is between two Bedouin tribes, the Tarabin and Muzeina. A small text caption in Arabic that appears on the video (pictured below) translated by Google Lens congratulates the victors in the 2022 race:
A thousand million congratulations to Rabi Al-Muzaina in Wadi Zalka 2022
The quality of the video is grainy and shaky, but the camels are visible once the viewer knows where to look. One white camel stands out near the front of the group and several brown camels are close behind. It is traditional for the four-wheel-drive trucks to follow along the course of the 17½-mile race. The race is started not with a pistol, but a machine gun, and there is plenty of gunfire through the duration of the race.
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Oct 17 20:54:08 2023 UTC)
The second video clip appears from 0:0 to 0:05 seconds in and then again from 0:25 to 0:47. This video of trucks driving on a highway with Egyptian flags (pictured below left) was posted on TikTok by @hanisalemalajni on August 1, 2021. The text caption on the video is a reference to their Muslim heritage. Translated by Google Lens it reads:
Egypt's Bedouins are Ali's Children, my dear
The hashtags, which mention the northwestern Mediterranean costal city of Mersa Matruh, translate to say:
#Bedouin_Egypt_Morsi_Matrouh #Explore_Movement_2020 #Do #By Nashama #Stop 🔥🇪🇬
(Source: TikTok screenshots taken on Tue Oct 17 21:52:31 2023 UTC)
It is not clear from the captions and hashtags what is the occasion for this convoy of trucks to display their flags on the highway, but another video posted by the same account on March 23, 2022 (pictured above right) shows trucks flying Egyptian flags parked at the rail of a horse or camel racetrack.
Other Lead Stories fact checks that mention the Hamas-Israel conflict are here.
