Fact-Check: This Video Shows Man Carrying a Deceased Child, Not a Plastic Doll

The Quint reached out to the video's photographer, Moamen Al-Halabi, who identified the child as Omar Al-Banna.

Fact-Check | The video is going viral on social media platforms with a false claim.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

(Trigger Warning: Disturbing visuals)

A video which shows a man carrying a deceased child is being shared with several users claiming that it was in fact a doll that the man was carrying, and not a real child.

What have users said?: The official X (formerly Twitter) handle of Israeli Embassy in France shared the video with a caption when translated to English said, "Hamas accidentally published a video of a doll (yes, a doll) used in a staging, aimed at making people believe in the death of a baby following Israeli strikes (sic)."

The post was shared by several social media users. 

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Note: Due to the distressing nature of the video, we have refrained from using it in the story or providing archives of the same)

What is the truth?: We did not come across any evidence to support the claim that the video showed a doll instead of a child.

• The Quint reached out to Moamen Al-Halabi, who confirmed that he took the video at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

• The videographer also said that the child's name is Omar Al-Banna, who was around four and a half years of age.

How did we find that out?: We performed a Google Lens search on the keyframes of the longer version of the video. This directed us to the same video uploaded on an Instagram handle named 'momen.h1'.

• The video was uploaded on 12 October.

The video had more than 4,000 likes on the platform.

(Source: Instagram/Screenshot)

• The Quint reached out to the account, who identified themself as Moamen Al-Halabi and confirmed that they were the one who took the video on 12 October.

• Moamen said that the child was four and a half years-old and was named Omar Al-Banna. The child hailed from the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.

"He [the child] was killed by occupation aircraft in an Israeli raid in the same neighborhood where he lived. It is a civilian residential neighborhood for civilians. The video was taken at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. I am the one who took the video (sic)."

Moamen Al-Halabi, a photographer

• Upon our request, the photographer shared more images of Omar from the day of the incident, however, we have not included them in the story due to the distressing nature of the visuals.

Other sources: A keyword search led us to a photograph on stock image website, Getty Images, which showed the same man carrying a deceased child.

• The image was uploaded with a caption mentioning, "A Palestinian man holds a child wrapped in a shroud during a funeral for victims killed in a building that was hit by air strikes, as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day in Gaza City on October 12, 2023."

The image was taken on 12 October.

(Source: Getty Images/Screenshot)

• On comparing a visual from the viral video to the image uploaded on Getty Images, we found that both of them show the same man carrying a deceased child.

The same man can be seen in both images.

(Source: Getty Images/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

• We found another image which showed the same man in grey t-shirt breaking down while carrying the child in his arms.

• Its caption mentioned, "People stand by the bodies of victims of Israeli air strikes outside the morgue of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 12, 2023 as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day."

The picture was uploaded on 12 October 2023.

(Source: Getty Images/Screenshot)

• Both the images were taken by one Mohammed Abed, who confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the man was seen holding the corpse of a child and not a doll.

News reports about attacks: According to a report, several areas including Al Zaytoun were allegedly struck by Israeli air strikes on 12 October.

• We also found an image showing the man in grey t-shirt carrying a dead body in his arms uploaded on an X handle named 'Times of Gaza'.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

Conclusion: A video is being shared on the internet alleging that it shows Hamas was seen carrying a plastic doll, claiming it to be a corpse of a child.

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