A viral video claiming to show "snakes falling" from the sky in Gaza has triggered widespread discussion on social media. However, fact-checking investigations have found that the footage is AI-generated and does not show an actual incident in the Palestinian territory.
The 14-second clip shows several snake-like objects apparently dropping into a dusty courtyard, while a woman can be heard reacting in panic. The video was shared with claims that Israel was dropping snakes over Gaza, with some social media posts suggesting that Palestinians were circulating the footage as evidence of the alleged incident.
However, investigations by multiple fact-checking organisations, including Lead Stories, Palestinian fact-checking platform Tayqan, Rumor Scanner and TeluguPost, discovered that the video was artificially generated and had been circulating online months before it was linked to Gaza.
The footage shows what appears to be a rural courtyard with several snake-like objects descending from above. A woman recording the scene can be heard speaking in Hindi and warning people about the objects. The video subsequently circulated on X and other social media platforms with captions alleging that Israel was dropping snakes on Gaza.
One widely shared post by the X account @EYakoby on November 11 claimed that Palestinians were sharing the footage as evidence of Israel dropping snakes on the territory. "Palestinian Tik Tok is now claiming that Israel is dropping snakes on Gaza. Over 200,000 likes. Genuinely the most low-IQ movement in history," he wrote.
AI Detection Tools Flag Video
An investigation by Lead Stories, published on November 12, also examined the footage using two AI-detection platforms, Hive Moderation and Sightengine. According to Lead Stories, Hive Moderation gave the video an average AI-generation likelihood score of 70.4%. The platform also assigned a 98.2% likelihood that the speech in the footage was AI-generated. Sightengine recorded a 99% AI-generation likelihood at the 13-second mark of the clip.
However, Lead Stories noted that the readings varied across different frames. Hive Moderation recorded a reading of just 0.1% at the three-second mark, while Sightengine also returned lower readings at certain points. Separately, Tayqan reported that an AI-detection tool classified a sample of frames from the footage as likely AI-generated, with a score of 99.2%.
The detection results, combined with the visual inconsistencies and earlier versions of the video, supported the fact-checkers' conclusion that the footage was synthetic.
Where Did The Viral Snake Video Originate?
Fact-checking investigations traced earlier versions of the footage to South Asian social media content, establishing that the video existed months before it was associated with Gaza.
According to What the Fact, Bangladesh-based fact-checking organisation Rumor Scanner traced the earliest identified version to a Facebook post published on March 12, 2026, by a page called Juvenildo Official. The video was shared as comedy content under a snake-rain theme. Lead Stories also identified a similar version posted on TikTok on April 11, 2026, by the account @user9422679247050.
Tayqan subsequently found an identical version posted on June 18, 2026, accompanied by a Hindi-language caption and comments in the same language. Lead Stories further identified a similar video uploaded to Instagram by the account @mr_wow2027 on September 4, 2026. The account was labelled as AI-generated by Instagram and described itself as an AI video creation profile.
The footage was eventually recirculated in November with claims linking it to Gaza.
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