Fact Check: Roads and high-rise towers burning in Israel? No, viral image is AI generated

Hyderabad: Wildfires have been raging near Jerusalem of Israel since April 30, 2025. The fire scorched nearly 20 sq. kms in the Latrun area - between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, according to the reports.

Many took to social media to share images of the destruction wrecked by the wildfires. Following this an image showing fire engulfing roads, high rise towers and other buildings is going viral on social media.

Sharing the image on the social media platform, Threads, a user wrote, “This is not Gaza. This is Israel… Alhamdulilah” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claims are false. The viral image is generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Times of Israel published a report on 1 May 2025 titled, “Jerusalem hills wildfires under control after nearly 30 hours; no major injuries”

The report stated that the fire had destroyed around 5,000 acres of land, out of which some 3,000 acres were forest, including roughly 70% of the West Bank’s Canada Park. The report did not include any information on fire engulfing high-rise buildings.

Using reverse image search we did not find any news reports or credible social media posts using the image in connection with the wildfires near Israel. However, we found that the viral image was in circulation since January 2025.

A 19 January 2025 Facebook post shared the viral image with the caption, “Los Angeles rebuilding will be finished before the Stadium renovations finish on August 4.”

We also found other social media posts claiming to show visuals of the LA wildfires. In one of these posts, we identified that the viral image is actually a frame taken from a longer video clip. You can see the posts here and here.

NewsMeter has debunked claims regarding these videos in a report titled “Fact Check: Wildfires in Los Angeles? No, this video is Al-generated”, on 11 January 2025.

The video clip showing the viral image was also found to be generated using Artificial Intelligence.

We analysed the viral image using Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool, and found that the viral image is 99.5 per cent likely to contain AI generated content.

The viral image, including the AI generated video of the wildfires, was found to have been created by an Instagram AI artist ‘ai_creatiions’. This video was shared on 10 January 2025, with the caption “AI-generated representation of fires that can cause global warming”. The viral image is a screenshot of one of these AI generated video clips.

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the claim is false and the viral image is AI generated.