False: Viral videos falsely claim Israeli nuclear facility attacked
On March 2, 2026, a video posted on Douyin falsely claimed to show “a nuclear power plant in Israel has been destroyed,” with two clips showing an explosion in the distance in what appears to be a city.
The post quickly spread online in China, attracting more than 1,900 likes and 500 comments in three days before it was removed.
Another video with the same claim circulated on other mainland Chinese and Hong Kong platforms, including NetEase, Discuss.com.hk and Facebook. Some versions specifically identified the site as the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center in southern Israel.
Most Douyin users appeared to believe the claim and assumed the footage showed real scenes in Israel.
Multiple fact-checking organizations have debunked the three clips. The Douyin video was confirmed to be AI-generated while the other one was found unrelated to the ongoing war.
The claim is fundamentally false because Israel has no operational nuclear power plant. The Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center is widely believed to support Israel’s nuclear weapons program, according to the Associated Press. There have been no credible reports about it being damaged in recent weeks.
Previous fact-checking investigation
The two clips featured in the Douyin post were previously investigated in 2025 by Taiwan fact-checking organization MyGoPen (archive here), and Palestinian outlet Kashif (archive here).
MyGoPen traced the first clip to YouTube creator “CmlAcyn” (archive here) who had labeled it as AI-generated. However, this account has since deleted its previously featured “apocalyptic” AI videos including this one, and its profile icon has also been changed.
Kashif found that the second clip was produced by TikTok user “cemilaciyan” (archive here) whose profile explicitly states that “All videos on this page are AI.” His post in question was titled “Nuclear Explosion AI Video,” but it is also no longer available on the platform.
The third video linked to an alleged Iranian attack on an Israeli nuclear facility actually shows a 2017 fire in Ukraine. Indian fact-checking organizations Boom and The Quint, as well as MyGoPen and China’s digital news outlet The Paper, traced the footage to a massive fire at an ammunition depot in Balaklika, a town in eastern Ukraine, in March 2017 (archived here, here, here and here).
No alerts or credible reports of strikes
Israel operates two known nuclear research facilities, the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center in the Negev desert and the Soreq Nuclear Research Center in Yavne.
The Negev site is often called the Dimona facility. It frequently attracts media attention due to speculation over Israel’s nuclear capabilities, according to reports by the Associated Press and Anadolu, Turkey’s state-run news agency (archived here and here).
In the article, Anadolu quoted an Iranian news agency naming Negev as a potential target for retaliation. However, as of this writing, no credible news reports or official statements indicate that either facility has been damaged by Iranian strikes.
Tzofar-Red Alert, a platform that compiles historical data from Israel’s official alert system, shows no alerts in the areas of the Negev or Soreq centers between Feb. 28 and March 5, including around 7:30 to 7:40 a.m. on March 2, when the early social media posts claiming the attack surfaced.
Israel and the United States carried out airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28 “to remove threats” from Tehran, followed by retaliatory attacks in early March.
Tzofar recorded 2,170 alerts in Israel during this period, with 1,664 marked in red color indicating rocket or missile attacks, as well as 503 for intrusions by hostile aircraft, and 3 for suspected terrorist infiltrations.
