Does a viral video on social media show Gazans who are fleeing Palestine arriving in Sweden? No, that's not true: The Ruahel Charity Association soccer team shown in the video represents various cities in the West Bank, not Gaza. The video shows players and coaches on a plane as part of a multi-city tour of Europe in July and August of 2024, when they were scheduled to play in France, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
The implication they were fleeing was made in a July 14, 2024 post to X.com (archived here) on the @Betar_USA account. It began "Wonderful news of gazans arriving in Sweden!". It continued:
We urge many many to leave Gaza asap and flee flee Palestine!!
Here is what the post on X looked like at the time this fact check was written:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com post by @Betar_USA account.)
Not Refugees, Footballers
The video used in the Betar post originated on TikTok July 10, 2025 (archived here) on the Rawahel Charity Association account with the caption about its football club, reading "To Sweden" (shown below translated to English by Facebook) :
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of left lower corner of Rawahel_charity TikTok post.)
Not Gazans, Boys From The West Bank
The Association's Facebook page (translated to English by Facebook) described the trip as a tour of Europe by its U14 soccer team made up of players from the West Bank cities of Tulkarm, Nablus, Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Sulfit and Qalqiliya, none of which is in Gaza:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook post on rawahel2016/ page.)
Gaza and The West Bank are about 20 miles apart at the nearest point and distinct from one another. Gazans are not permitted to freely travel to The West Bank. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, while The West Bank is governed partially by Israel and partially by the Palestinian Authority under a complex arrangement.
Readers interested in more Lead Stories fact checks about the war in Gaza will find them collected here.
