FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show The Turkish Army In Palestinian Territory?

A video shared on Facebook purportedly shows Turkish military forces arriving in Palestinian territory.

Verdict: False

The footage actually shows a military convoy in Turkey in 2018.

Fact Check:

Armed conflict broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas earlier this month, the Associated Press reported. A ceasefire between the two took effect early May 21, according to The Washington Post.

The video in the May 14 Facebook post shows military vehicles rolling down a street with crowds on either side. One of the vehicles has a Turkish flag clearly displayed on it. At one point in the video, a man dressed in black can be seen standing on a vehicle while speaking.

“Alhamdulillah the Turkey Army has arrived in Palestine,” the caption claims the video shows. (RELATED: Does This Image Show Egypt Projecting The Palestinian Flag Onto The Pyramids?)

In reality, the event depicted in the footage didn’t take place in Palestinian territories or Israel. The Turkish news outlets Ihlas News Agency and Aksu TV Haber posted videos of the same event from different angles on Facebook and YouTube, respectively, on Feb. 13, 2018. The two outlets reported in the captions that the videos showed people in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, bidding farewell to a military convoy that would proceed to the border for Operation Olive Branch.

The man dressed in black who appears to be speaking atop the military vehicle can be seen in all three videos. Also visible in the videos is a storefront of the Turkish cellphone operator Turkcell.

Launched in January 2018, the Turkish military’s Operation Olive Branch sought to remove the Kurdish militia group YPG from the Syrian city of Afrin and surrounding areas, according to BBC News. Forces supported by Turkey gained complete control of Afrin’s center in March of that year, the outlet reported.

Check Your Fact didn’t find any evidence in media reports of a Turkish military convoy entering Palestinian territory in May 2021 or as part of Operation Olive Branch in 2018.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently criticized President Joe Biden’s administration’s approval of a potential $735 million arms sale to Israel, Reuters reported. Erdogan had previously advocated that action be taken against Israel amid its recent conflict with Hamas, according to the news organization.

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