Claim: A series of images show a Palestinian girl being rescued by three different people, each one from a different day, from locations that are 50 km apart from each other.
Fact: The pictures do not show a Palestinian girl. They were taken in Aleppo, Syria in the aftermath of a bombing that took place on 27 August 2016.
On 26 October 2023, X user Squint Neon shared (archive) three unsourced images of an unknown girl being rescued, alleging that “this Palestinian girl” was repeatedly saved by different people from three different locations on different days. The user made the claim to suggest that the image does not portray a real victim. He questioned the girl’s motives for travelling such distances in the conflict zone, implying that she is faking injuries. The claim was also made on Facebook.
Fact or Fiction?
The images were falsely attributed to the recent conflict in Israel and Gaza. They actually show a girl being rescued after a bombing in Aleppo, Syria, on 27 August 2016 when she was carried to safety by different people.
Reverse image searches further confirmed that the photos were taken on the same date, and location. The images on the left, right and centre were separately published by different news outlets covering the bombings in Aleppo.
Another image of the same girl, alone, was published by The Independent.
A girl who survived bombing on the rebel held Bab al-Nayrab neighborhood of Aleppo on 27 August (Reuters) — published on The Independent
Snopes and Africa Check also debunked a similar claim that CNN had used these three pictures of the same event to illustrate three different refugee crises.
Virality
The video was widely circulated on social media platforms such as X and Facebook by different users, which received a total of more than 410,000 views and 20,000 interactions.
The claim was posted on X here, here and here, and Facebook here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The claim is false. These pictures were actually taken in the aftermath of a bombing that took place in Aleppo, Syria. On 27 August 2016. There is no evidence to believe the same Palestinian girl was rescued thrice from different locations, or that the victim in the image is faking injuries.
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