Multiple accounts, including pro-Palestinian and pro-Iranian users, based on their past posts, have been sharing a video across social media platforms since June 2, 2026, allegedly showing Israeli soldiers vandalising a church in southern Lebanon. However, the clip is AI-generated.

Since the war with Israel began on March 2, 2026, more than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, the country’s health ministry reported in its latest casualty toll on May 18, 2026. Reignited by the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have rumbled on since US President Donald Trump first announced a ceasefire on April 16, 2026, with fighting mostly contained to southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military claims it struck more than 30 Hezbollah infrastructure targets in southern Lebanon, including a weapons warehouse, observation posts, and buildings used to advance attacks against Israeli forces.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 2, a pro-Palestinian account, based on its bio, shared a video on Instagram, claiming that it shows Israeli soldiers vandalising a church in southern Lebanon, with the following caption:

“Israeli occupation soldiers boast about vandalising a Christian church in Lebanon”.

The post gained 265,000 views.

Another pro-Palestinian user shared the same clip on X with the following caption: “Watch: Israeli occupation soldiers have published a video showing themselves boasting and celebrating the vandalisation of a church in the town of Debel in southern Lebanon.”

It attracted 170,000 views.

A Lebanese user shared the same clip with the following caption: “Show it in a play programme and pray for peace and normalisation with them, here we are waiting for you at church with an apple.”

It garnered 138,700 views.

Another Lebanese user shared the same clip with the following caption: “Scenes from the Deir Ibleh Church in southern Lebanon, not to share them but so they can see the Lebanese who are inflamed with rage. Stay like that, you dogs, you without dignity or religion, chasing after the Israeli who’s beating you in Jerusalem.”

The post gained 85,300 views.

A user posted the same clip with a similar caption on Facebook, gaining 90,000 views.

An X account shared the same clip with the following caption: “New video shows Israeli soldiers desecrating a Church in southern Lebanon.” It gained 47,000 views.

An American political commentator, Jackson Hinkle, also posted the same clip with a similar caption, accumulating 44,700 views.

The same clip was shared with a similar context on Facebook and Instagram, as can be seen here and here; on X, as seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here; collectively accumulating 170,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to assess the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and the public’s keen interest in the conflict in the Middle East.

A keyword search was conducted to determine whether any such video or incident had been covered by credible mainstream, international, or local media outlets, but yielded no results.

A critical review of the video revealed continuity errors consistent with AI-generated content.

In the first frame, only two religious portraits are visible on the church wall, whereas at the 10-second mark, the same wall displays six. The sudden appearance of additional objects without any scene transition indicates a lack of temporal consistency, a common characteristic of AI-generated videos.

In the opening frames, the wall displays only red religious banners bearing crosses, and the surface appears to be a continuous concrete wall. However, after the 10-second mark, the same section of the wall suddenly features a recessed alcove containing a religious portrait, which was absent in the earlier frames.

At the 17-second mark, a soldier’s foot strikes the floor, accompanied by a loud banging sound. However, at the 18-second mark, the same action is repeated twice without any corresponding audio. The mismatch between physical actions and sound effects is commonly observed in AI-generated videos.

Furthermore, forensic analysis of the video using several tools also showed that the video was AI-generated. Hive Moderation labelled it 83 per cent AI-generated content.

Another forensic tool, Uncov.ai, also identified it as AI-generated content with 94 pc confidence.

Similarly, DeepFake-O-Meter, provided by the University of Buffalo, also revealed high levels of digital manipulation. 

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video shows Israeli soldiers vandalising a church in southern Lebanon is false.

The video is AI-generated.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.