Viral image does not show PM Shehbaz shaking hands with Israel’s Netanyahu at Middle East Summit in Egypt

Posts from multiple users on social media platform X, particularly PTI supporters, since October 13, 2025, shared an image, claiming it showed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the Middle East Summit in Egypt. However, the photo does not show Netanyahu.

Claim

Viral image shows PM Shehbaz shaking hands with Israel’s Netanyahu at Middle East Summit in Egypt

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image and keyword search to find the original source of the photo.

On Oct 13, leaders from across the globe gathered in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh to attend a summit on ending Israel’s two-year-long onslaught in the Gaza Strip and the possibility of a wider regional peace.

At the meeting, Trump signed a document with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey’s leaders welcoming the agreements on Gaza and pledging to “work collectively to implement and sustain this legacy”.

HOW IT STARTED

On Oct 13, an X user, who seems to be a PTI supporter from previous posts, shared an image of PM Shehbaz and another man, alleging that the latter was Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

“Very soon, a picture will also be released by the United States of secret meetings in which all the Jewish agents will be seen sitting together. Just wait and watch,” the caption of the post said.

It garnered 21,100 views, 2,700 likes and 1,200 shares.

The same picture and claim were also shared by another X user, whose bio describes him as an Afghan citizen with the caption: “I arrived at the place where the dust had settled. Shehbaz Sharif with Netanyahu.”

The post gathered 53,600 views and 1,500 likes.

Meanwhile, some users, such as PTI supporter Sabeeh Kazmi, raised questions. “Did Shehbaz Sharif meet with Netanyahu???? I don’t think so,” he said in the caption of a post that racked up 210,500 views.

Other social media users shared the photo, along with the claim, as seen here, here, here and here, amassing 88,528 views.

It must be noted that the viral photo is of low quality and blurry.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the matter.

Analysing the image through verification tools for potential tampering and AI generation showed that it was real, as flagged by Undetectable AI and Hive Moderation.

Subsequently, a reverse image search yielded results showing that the viral image was a screenshot taken from a video shared by state-run PTV on Oct 13. In the clip, PM Shehbaz could be seen interacting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of the summit, not Netanyahu.

The iVerify Pakistan team also took screenshots from the same video, which looked similar to the viral image.

The image of the interaction was also shared by BBC News Azerbaijan in a news article dated October 13. “Ilham Aliyev hugs Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Then the Pakistani leader approaches Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is standing at the same table as Aliyev,” it said.

The same image was also posted by an Instagram account, namely ‘Armenia Official’, an online platform that shares news from the country and beyond per its bio. “Shahbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, joined the conversation of Pashinyan and Aliyev,” the caption said.

A video of Shehbaz’s meeting with the Armenian prime minister was shared by online news website News Armenia as well. It’s excerpt read: “Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif met in Egypt.”

Furthermore, a keyword search yielded a Reuters news article on the summit, dated Oct 14. It stated that representatives of both Israel and Hamas were absent from Monday’s gathering in Egypt.

Another Reuters report elaborated that Netanyahu’s office had issued a statement saying that he had been invited by US President Donald Trump to participate in the meeting of world leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh but declined “due to the timing’s proximity to the beginning of (a Jewish) holiday”.