Fact-Check: Photo Does Not Show ‘General Alexander Emmanuel’ Who Died in Gaza

The photo shows British Corporal John Horn with his fiancee in Germany, photographed in 2008.

A photo of a man dressed in military fatigues has gone viral on social media, where users are  linking it to the Israel-Hamas war. 

The claim: Those sharing the photo have claimed that it shows British General Alexander Emmanuel, leader of one “Claw” battalion participating in “the Gaza war”, who has been killed in the conflict.

• It also says that Emmanuel was an Iraq war hero and “a member of the battalion that captured President Saddam Hussein.”

(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)

Is it true?: No, the person in the photograph is Corporal John Horn, a tank operator on a challenger tank from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards of the British Army.

How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral photo, which led us to a similar image of Getty Images’ website.

• We noticed that the photograph was very similar to the one in the claim. 

• Its caption mentioned that it showed Corporal John Horn in a challenger tank, photographed with his fiancee in Germany.

• It was credited to PA Images and one Andrew Milligan.

• Using relevant keywords, we looked for the original photograph. This led us to PA Images’ (Press Association Images) website, which carried the same photo seen in the viral claim.

• The photograph was clicked on 12 December 2008, at the Wessex Barracks in Germany’s Bad Fallingbostel when Horn returned after serving in Iraq.

• Stock image website Alamy too, had this photograph.

• Both Alamy and Getty Images carried more photos of the Corporal and his fiancee Laura McGee, taken in December 2008.

Who is 'General Alexander Emmanuel'?: We searched for this name on the British Army's website, but it returned no relevant results.

• Similarly, the search for the Claw Battalion that is mentioned in the claim returned no results.

• There are no credible news reports which confirm the British Army's presence on the ground in Gaza.

Conclusion: A 16-year-old photograph of the British Army’s Corporal John Horn in Germany is being shared with false claims.

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