A photo of massive blazes in the Jerusalem mountains has been circulating on social media, with claims that it’s recent. The caption reads: “Massive fires are consuming settlements in our Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.”
Kashif verified the image via reverse image search on Google Image, and found it to be old and incorrectly linked to fires that broke out in Jerusalem. The image is of major fires in the Jerusalem mountains in 2021, not recent fires from 2025.
The Times of Israel published the photo on 15/8/2021, and stated that it was of a forest fire west of Jerusalem.
Arab48 also published the photo on 15/8/2021, titled: “A huge fire in the mountains of Jerusalem,” adding: “A huge fire broke out in several areas of the mountains of Jerusalem, forcing the Israeli authorities to evacuate six residential communities.”
The Israeli fire department announced on 24/4/2025, that it had brought under control a massive fire that broke out near the Jerusalem mountains after 21 hours of blazes. The fires consumed approximately 7,000 dunams of forests, forcing the evacuation of towns and the closure of major roads, without any human casualties.
| Sources of Claim | Sources of Verification |
| Gaza Now Basma Hour Heba Mala Alwan GT | The Times of Israel Arab48 Arab48 |