Does a video show Israeli air strikes targeting Houthi infrastructure in Yemen during Hanukkah 2024? No, that's not true: An Israeli journalist, Hananya Naftali, published this video on July 20, 2024, which predated Hanukkah by more than five months. In 2024, Hanukkah began on December 25 and will end on January 2, 2025.
The claim appeared in an Instagram video (archived here) where it was published on December 26, 2024. The caption read:
HANNUKAH IN YEMEN: Israeli air strikes are targeting Houthi infrastructure.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Fri Dec 27 14:40:47 2024 UTC)
A reverse image search (archived here) of a still from the video found copies of the false claim, plus a July 2024 Facebook post featuring the same video from Instagram. Hananya Naftali, a self-described Israeli speaker and influencer, originally published the post on Facebook (archived here) on July 20, 2024. His caption read:
BREAKING: Israeli fighter jets struck Houthi terror targets in Yemen's Hodeidah port after months of attacks on Israel.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Hanukkah usually happens in December. In 2024, Hanukkah began on December 25 and will end on January 2, 2025, according to the Farmers' Almanac. Since this video was taken in July, it could not have happened during Hanukkah.
At the time this was written, BBC Verify also had debunked this claim.
More Lead Stories fact checks of claims surrounding Israel are here.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims involving Yemen can be read here.
