Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, a video is being shared with users claiming that it shows dead bodies of Palestinians on the streets of Gaza.
It also shows photographs of some people in front of what appears of bodies wrapped in white clothes.
What did the users say?: Those sharing the video further claimed that the dead bodies of Palestinians fell on the streets as the hospital's capacity was full.
The video had garnered more than 1,50,000 views on the platform at the time this report was being written.
(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)
What is the truth?: Neither does the video show dead bodies of Palestinians nor is it from Gaza.
It is from the United States, where pro-Palestinian protestors used white sacks to represent the bodies of people killed in Gaza.
What led us to the truth?: At first, we noticed the TikTok username "@maryannamustafa711" at the bottom of the viral video. Since the platform is banned in India, we used a VPN tool to access the account.
While we did not find the viral video on going through the user's account, we found a different video which carried similar visuals.
This video, too, purportedly showed bodies with white cloth wrapped around it.
The user had uploaded the video on 7 November with a caption that carried hashtags, such as #washington #protest.
News reports: Taking a hint from the hashtags, we performed a keyword search and came across a report published on Associated Press (AP).
The report said that thousands of people gathered in Washington on 4 November to protest against the Biden administration's support of Israel.
The protestors carried signs with messages that said "Biden betrays us" and "In November we remember". They were heard calling for an immediate cease-fire.
The report further mentioned that small white body bags with names of children who were killed by Israeli missiles were seen lined up on the streets.
We found an image in the report which showed similar visuals of the body bags as seen in the viral video.
We compared one of the keyframes from the viral video to the image uploaded on AP and found that images of the same children can be seen in both of them.
Other sources: On performing a keyword search, we came across several images from the protests uploaded on Getty Images. This included a photograph showing protestors walking past body bags.
Its caption mentioned, "Demonstrators walk past imitation body bags as they gather in Freedom Plaza during a rally in support of Palestinians in Washington, DC, on November 4, 2023."
Next, Team WebQoof compared a keyframe of the viral video with the image uploaded on Getty Images and found similar photographs of children.
Geolocating the place: We searched for 'Freedom Plaza' on Google Maps and found the location where the protests took place using the street view option.
Some context about Gaza: More than 12,000 people were killed in over a month of Israel's attack on Gaza.
This includes over 10,600 Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the West Bank and 1,400 deaths in Israel.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) shared that this figure also includes the death of at least 39 journalists.
Meanwhile, a Paris-based press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has put journalists' death toll to 41.
Conclusion: It is clear that a video from the United States is being shared to falsely claim that it shows dead bodies of Palestinians in Gaza.
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