Claim: Thousands of people have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas in the wake of the bloody attack by Palestinian militants in early October 2023 and the ensuing devastating bombing campaign by Israeli forces in Gaza. A video of what appears to be the body of a young Palestinian boy wrapped in a shroud has been widely shared in social media posts, with users condemning the death of civilians in Israel's retaliatory strikes. Official Israeli social media accounts quickly asserted that the footage featured a "doll" and that Hamas had posted the image "accidentally" before deleting it. The Israeli accounts saw it as proof that the incident had been staged as a piece of anti-Israeli propaganda. However, a number of elements cast doubt on this interpretation. The same scene in front of the morgue was documented by an AFP photographer who said that there was nothing to indicate that the child was a doll.
Fact-check: No evidence that a video features a doll rather than a dead child in Gaza
Verdict: no evidence that a video features a doll rather than a dead child in gaza
Organisation: AFP Fact Check
Author: Unknown
Date published: 2023-10-18T19:08:00