Trigger warning: This article contains graphic images of injured and deceased children.
Filipino netizens on Facebook (FB) are sharing and interacting with a photo album that shows children supposedly injured and killed amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Islamist militant group, Hamas.
Reverse image search shows that two of the five images showed the brutal aftermath of the 2013 Syrian war and the conflict between Israel and Gaza in 2019.
The first photo was originally captured on Aug. 21, 2013 on the outskirts of Damascus in Syria, by United Press International photographer Diaa El Din. Syrian rebels claimed the children were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces, but the Syrian government denied that it used chemical weapons.
Indian fact-checking organization The Quint debunked a similar claim.
Note: Click on the photo to view its original source.
The other image was a Reuters photo, originally captured on May 5, 2019, showing a relative carrying the body of 14-month-old Sebu Abu Arar during her funeral in Gaza City. It was published by multiple news organizations.
The Palestinian health ministry said baby Sebu and her pregnant mother were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, reports said.
Note: Click on the photo to view its original source.
Other images in the misleading FB post included:
- A photo of dead children posted on Oct. 8 in a Nigerian online forum on the topic “Graphic Images from Gaza”. Hours later, X user @LocalFocus1 uploaded the same photo claiming the children were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza .
- A photo of residential buildings in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip destroyed by a series of airstrikes, uploaded Oct. 12 on X by @QudsNen (Quds News Network).
- A photo of Palestinian medics treating wounded children at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Oct. 9, posted on Alamy.
The misleading FB post got a total of over 284,850 interactions. It circulated as death tolls in both Gaza and Israel, among the victims being children, reached thousands amid the ongoing conflict.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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