Fact Check: Viral Airport Blast Image Actually Shows Israeli Strike on Rafah, Not Afghanistan

Loud blasts followed by gunfire were heard in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday morning amid ongoing clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces, according to media reports.

The violence comes days after Afghanistan's Taliban administration said it remained open to negotiations even as tensions with Pakistan spiralled into an "open war" following Pakistani airstrikes targeting multiple Afghan cities.

Amid this, an image surfaced on the internet. The image shows a town engulfed in flames. Users are sharing the image claiming that it is from Kabul Airport and that the Pakistan Air Force conducted a new airstrike there.

A user shared the picture and mentioned in the post: “Two explosions were heard at Kabul Airport. Reportedly, the Pakistan Air Force conducted a new airstrike.”

You can find the archive link here.

Fact Check:

The claim is false. The image dates back to March 2024 and reportedly shows a fireball erupting during an Israeli bombardment on Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

During our investigation, we conducted a reverse image search. This led us to a March 27, 2024 report by Al Monitor, which used the same photograph in a story about heavy Israeli bombardment in southern Gaza, especially in Rafah.

The same image was also found in a March 2024 AFP report published on www.news24.com. The caption read: “A fireball erupts during Israeli bombardment on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battle between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.”

This shows that the image has been available online since at least March 2024.

We also found on 27 March 2024 AFP shared a video in their YouTube Channel. In the Title AFP mentioned, Fireball lights up skyline as Israeli strike hits Rafah.

In approximately a two-second segment of the video, we found the same explosion visible, matching the viral image.

The team webqoof also debunked it and published, Old Image of Huge Explosion Falsely Linked to Afghanistan-Pakistan Escalations

Hence, we found the viral claim linking the image to an explosion at Kabul airport amid Afghanistan-Pakistan tensions is false. The photograph predates the current developments and actually captures an Israeli bombardment on Rafah in Gaza from March 2024. Sharing old and unrelated visuals in a new context not only distorts facts but also fuels unnecessary panic and misinformation.