Does a video show Chinese fighter jets escorting a Chinese cargo plane over Egypt's Giza pyramids en route to an air-drop of food and supplies to Gaza? No, that's not true: The video shows a May 4, 2025 joint training drill between China and Egypt's military called "Eagles of Civilization 2025," according to an official statement on China's military website. The fighter jets were from Egypt's air force, not China's, and the planes did not continue to Gaza for an air-drop of supplies.
The claim originated in a post (archived here) shared on X on May 18, 2025. The video was introduced by a caption that read:
Looks like a new super-power has arisen. The way China did an air-drop of food and supplies to Gaza, escorted by their own fighter jets just incase the Zionists did something stupid, is amazing.
Flying over the Giza Pyramids enroute, those are iconic images.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: screenshot of X.com by Lead Stories)
There is no evidence that China has conducted air drops over Gaza. A Google search of "China Gaza air drop" only yielded fact checks that pointed out video of low-flying planes dropping supplies onto a Gaza beach were C-17s, which are American made.
China's official military website posted video (archived here) of the Giza pyramids flyover, including this information:
CAIRO, May 5 -- The China-Egypt "Eagles of Civilization 2025" joint air force training concluded at an Egyptian air force base on the morning of May 4, 2025.
This joint training is the first time that the Chinese PLA Air Force has dispatched its various types of troops to Africa to systematical conduct the joint training, demonstrating the long-range force projection, agile force deployment and systematic combat capabilities of the Chinese PLA Air Force.
During the 18-day joint training, the two sides conducted discussions and exchanges on such topics as training mode, air combat tactics, and aerial refueling operations. Participating troops from both sides completed training subjects including counterair operations, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), battlefield search and rescue, and mixed grouping, marking a new starting point and milestone for the military cooperation between the two countries.
A video of the same event was posted on TikTok (archived here) with a caption that read:
#Chinese and #Egyptian #fighterjets flew in formation over the #pyramids of #Giza #china #Egypt
@trendy_viewz #Chinese and #Egyptian #fighterjets flew in formation over the #pyramids of #Giza #china #Egypt ♬ original sound - Trendy_viewz
