FACT CHECK: Does This Image Show A Palestinian Boy Wiping Away The Blood Of His Dead Father And Brothers In Gaza?
An image shared on Twitter allegedly shows a Palestinian child wiping away the blood of his father and brothers who were recently killed in Northern Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Twitter/Screenshot
Verdict: False
The picture, which dates back to at least 2012, shows a boy cleaning up blood from a slaughtered cow in the West Bank, according to its caption on the photo-sharing website 500px. It is unrelated to the current Israel-Hamas conflict.
Fact Check:
The claim about the graphic image showing a Palestinian boy cleaning the blood of his family off the floor has circulated on social media amid the violent conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect early Friday, according to BBC News. (RELATED: Does This Video Show Hamas Rockets Landing In The Gaza Strip?)
In the image, a young boy appears to be wiping away blood that is covering the floor. Check Your Fact blurred the child’s face for privacy reasons and the blood due to its graphic nature. The caption of a May 14 Twitter post describes the picture as depicting a child wiping away “the blood of his father and his brothers who were martyred last night by the Israeli agression (sic) against the Bedouin village in Northern Gaza.” Over 240 people in Gaza, a Hamas-controlled territory, have been killed, Reuters reported Friday.
However, a reverse image search reveals the picture both predates and is unrelated to the Israel-Hamas conflict that has occurred this month. The image can be found on the photo-sharing platform 500px, where the description says, “Palestinian Kid cleaning up after the slaughter of a cow in his parents slaughterhouse, Nr Ramallah, Palestine.” The description on 500px also indicates it was uploaded to the website nine years ago, in 2012.
Ramallah is a city located in the West Bank. Cows and other livestock are frequently slaughtered by butchers and non-professionals in the West Bank and Gaza for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, according to the Canadian news outlet CP24.
