India, Aug. 7 -- The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday dismissed as 'fake news' a viral claim that India had approached Israel to sign a defence pact in response to the recently announced Pakistan-Saudi Arabia-Turkey security agreement.

The claim was circulated by Turkish media outlet Straturka and amplified on social media. Citing unnamed Pakistani sources, the report alleged that India had requested Israel to enter into a defence pact to counter the trilateral agreement.

Fact-checking the claim, the MEA's Fact Check division shared a screenshot of the report and labelled it 'fake news.'

"We caution against such malicious posts on social media platforms which use AI to create fake content!" the MEA Fact Check wing said in a...