A photograph circulating on social media in June 2025 showed dozens of missiles raining down simultaneously on Tel Aviv.
In mid-June 2025, amid escalating tensions and active military conflict between Iran and Israel, an image began circulating widely on social media, appearing to show missiles raining down on the Tel Aviv skyline at night.
“This is not AI. This is Tel Aviv,” one X post (archived) with the image read, reaching over 27.2 million views, as of this writing.
(X user @White_Ghost187)
The image spread on multiple social media platforms, such as Facebook, where one post (archived) with the pic captioned “Tel Aviv” gained over 32,000 reactions. It also circulated on X, Threads, Instagram and YouTube.
However, this image was not a real photograph of Tel Aviv or any real-world missile strike. It was generated using artificial intelligence (AI) software and it did not depict actual events in Tel Aviv or elsewhere. No reputable news outlet published the image and the original creator acknowledged using AI to generate it.
How the image spread
Besides being spread solely by social media accounts, the image displayed several indicators of AI generation, including overly uniform and stylized smoke trails that lacked the natural variation typical of real missile strikes.
OSINT and disinformation experts were quick to debunk the image. For instance, BBC Verify journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh wrote, “Sorry to disappoint the 11 million users who viewed this tweet and the 127,000 who liked it, but this is AI. It certainly isn’t Tel Aviv.”
(X user @shayan86)
Tal Hagin, misinformation and disinformation researcher, tracked down the origin of the image to Mhamad Yusif Facebook user, stating that “this AI image was created by Mhamad Yusif, an AI Creator on June 13th, 2025″ and noting, ” If you look closely, you can even see his watermark still visible in the image.”
(X user @talhagin)
Google reverse image search results confirmed that Yusif’s June 13 Facebook post was the earliest known upload of the image and that initially social media posts shared the full version of the image, which was later cropped.
The original creator’s Facebook post (archived) can be viewed here:
The watermark included in the original post was cropped out in several viral versions, as noted by researchers including Hagin and Alexandre Capron.
The side-by-side comparison below shows the original image on the left and the cropped version that spread on social media on the right.
(Facebook user Mhamad Yusif, X user @RaymondEze31471/Snopes Illustration)
Under the post, one Facebook user asked why the creator continued using artificial intelligence, to which the artist responded, “The picture flew away. It’s not my fault” (all comments translated via Google Translate). Another commenter noted, “No artificial intelligence images in this topic,” emphasizing the confusion caused by the image being misrepresented elsewhere.
In the comments, Yusif also included the original prompt he used to generate the scene
“A highly detailed cinematic wide shot of glowing fiery trails falling from the sky over a modern city at night. The light trails resemble meteor showers or celestial phenomena, illuminating the cloudy sky in hues of orange and red. Below, the cityscape shows buildings with lights on, some faint smoke rising between them, adding a sense of tension and mystery. The style is ultra-realistic with dramatic lighting and a moody atmosphere, resembling a scene from a high-budget disaster or sci-fi movie.”
Fact-checking organization LeadStories also investigated this image, noting that “authentic coverage of the battle showed defensive weapons streaking upward and far fewer falling projectiles” and the city’s “skyline is defined by more than 50 tall towers, while the image shows a low-slung town.”
For reference, below is an authentic photo from Tel Aviv on June 13, 2025, showing the aftermath of Iranian missile strikes.
(Getty Images)
We have recently fact-checked another video allegedly showing buildings on fire in Tel Aviv, Israel, due to an Iranian missile strike in June 2025. We found the footage was posted online at least a month before Iran launched missile strikes at Tel Aviv.
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