Visuals of Bruno Mars concert shared as festival attendees fleeing Hamas attack in Israel

By: Umme Kulsum
October 12 2023

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Screenshots of social media posts purportedly showing festival attendees fleeing Hamas attack. (Source: X/TikTok//Modified by Logically Facts)

Thousands of revelers had gathered to attend the Supernova music festival in the Negev desert on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a massive surprise attack on Israel. The festival site was not far from the Gaza Strip and, according to the BBC, more than 260 bodies were recovered from the site after the attack. 

What’s the claim?

A video of people at a music festival has gone viral on social media with the claim that it shows the moments Hamas attacked the Supernova festival. The viral video shows text overlaid onto it that reads, “FESTIVAL ATTENDEES RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES.” An X (formerly Twitter) user shared the video clip with the caption, “Praying for the people of Israel.” The post was viewed more than 90,000 times and reshared about 150 times at the time of writing this story. An archive version of the post can be found here.

The video was also shared on TikTok with the caption, “Israel is under attack right now. The world needs to wake up,” with the viral hashtags #Israel #War and #PrayforIsrael. The post had gathered 37,000 views and about 500 likes. Archive versions of such posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of claims made online (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, while this video is of a music festival, it predates the attack and shows people at a Bruno Mars concert in Tel Aviv.

What we found

A reverse image search on keyframes from the viral video led us to a TikTok post shared on October 5, 2023, two days before the attack by Hamas. The post carried the same video with a  text in Hebrew on it that reads, "Pov: That moment when they opened the gates at Bruno Mars (translated to English).”

At the 0:13 second timestamp a banner that reads “Bruno Mars” and "Live Nation." A search for Bruno Mars events on in October in Israel resulted in several media reports about Mars' performance in Tel Aviv.

A zoomed-in screenshot of the viral video (Source: X)

According to the Times of Israel, Bruno Mars performed in Tel Aviv at Yarkon Park on October 4, 2023. He also had an event on October 7, but it was canceled due to the unprecedented attack by Hamas.

By comparing the footage from the viral video and images of Yarkon Park, Logically Facts has confirmed that this is the location shown in the footage. At 0:08 seconds into the viral video, an orange water slide is visible, which is located in Yarkon Park. This confirms that the viral video is of the Bruno Mars event that predates the attack by Hamas and the festival at Negev Desert that Hamas attacked on October 7.

Comparison of street view of Yarkon Park and viral video (Source: Google Maps, X/Screenshots)

There were no reports of any attack during the music concert of Bruno Mars.

The verdict

The footage in the viral video was filmed on October 5, 2023, at a Bruno Mars concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is not related to the Hamas attack on the Supernova festival on October 7. We have therefore marked this claim as false.