This is an 11-year-old photo from Gaza, not from recent violence in Indian Kashmir
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 30, 2019 at 10:10
- 3 min read
- By AFP India
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
The photo was shared in a Facebook post here on August 22, 2019, and has since been shared more than 900 times.
A caption alongside the photo says: “Faces tell the story !! India’s brutality has turned Kashmir into a living hell...”
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:
The photo has also been shared in several other Facebook posts, for example here, here, here and here, and on Twitter here, here, here and here, with a similar claim.
The same photo was also shared in multiple Facebook posts with a similar claim in 2013, for example here and here.
The photo of the wounded woman and boy was actually taken by Getty Images’ photographer Adib Katib after an Israeli missile struck a refugee camp in Gaza on December 29, 2008.
A reverse image search on Google found the photo was published here in a report on the website of the Belfast Telegraph, an Irish daily, on December 29, 2008.
The report’s headline reads: “Israel declares ‘war to the bitter end’.”
The photo caption reads: “Samera Baalusha (34) carries her surving child Mohamad (15 months) while she waits to see the body of her daughter Jawaher Baalusha (aged 4) during the funeral held for her and four of her sisters who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, on December 29, 2008 in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip. Jawher Baalusha and four of her sisters were killed during an Israeli air raid while they were sleeping together in their bedroom.”
A search on Google by keywords “Samera Baalusha, Mohamad, Israeli missile strike and Jebaliya refugee camp” found the photo was published here on the website of photo agency Getty Images, also dated December 29, 2008.
Below is a screenshot of the photo published by Getty Images:
Getty Images published several other photos of the woman with his wounded son at funerals of her five daughters, who were killed in the Israel strike.
Below is a screenshot of other pictures published by Getty Images:
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us