After the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, 2025, unverified claims of strikes by India in Sialkot in Punjab province of Pakistan started doing the rounds on social media. A night-time image of a building burning is viral on social media in this context.
A fortnight after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam had killed 26 people, Indian Armed Forces hit nine sites containing terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK from where attacks against India had been planned and directed. The Union ministry of defence described the action as “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”, with no Pakistani military facilities having been targeted.
Right-wing propaganda outlet @JaipurDialogues, which amplifies misinformation and propaganda on a regular basis, tweeted the image with the caption, “Sunrise in Sialkot.” (Archive)
Verified handle @GlobalUpdates24 tweeted the image linking it to the ‘strikes in Sialkot’. (Archive)
Several others amplified the viral image, linking it to the ‘strikes in Sialkot’. (Archives- 1, 2, 3)
Fact Check
There are two images being circulated with claims related to alleged strikes in Sialkot.
Upon Google reverse image searching the first image, we found that many reports from June 2021 had used the same photo. According to an Al Jazeera report, Israeli fighter jets had launched a series of air raids on the Gaza Strip, during that time, for the second time since a shaky ceasefire ended the preceding month’s 11-day war. The missiles reportedly hit several sites belonging to armed groups northwest of Gaza City and north of Beit Lahia in the besieged territory. The report carried the first viral image, attributed to AFP’s Palestinian photographer, Mahmud Hams.
Mahmud Hans himself had posted the same image on his Facebook profile on June 16, 2021.
#Explosions light-up the night sky above buildings in #Gaza City as #Israeli forces shell the #Palestinian enclave, early on June 16, 2021. (#Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
Posted by Mahmud Hams on Wednesday 16 June 2021
Upon reverse-image searching the second image, we were led to a The Sun article dated May 16, 2021, which carried the same image. These images were taken during the 11-day war between Israel and Palestine, during which dozens of strikes were launched. This particular image is captioned, “Fire erupts from the Andalus Tower as it is destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza”, and has been attributed to AFP as well.
We were able to find this particular picture on Getty Images as well, photographed by Palestinian photographer Mohammed Abed. According to the caption, the image shows smoke billowing from a fire following Israeli airstrikes on multiple targets in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 16, 2021.
As it stands, two images from the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2021 are being circulated on social media with claims that Indian armed forces struck Sialkot in Pakistan.
ALSO READ: War-ravaged Gaza video from April shared as Operation Sindoor aftermath in Pakistan
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