The Image of the Mother Holding Her Child’s Toy Is in Syria, Not Gaza
The Claim
A photo that was recently taken in Gaza shows a mother holding her daughter's toy.
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Emerging story
Amidst the ongoing airstrikes and ground invasion on the Gaza strip, a picture allegedly shows a woman descending from exposed stairs of a ruined building holding her child’s toy in her hand in Gaza.
A post that has more than a million views on X (formerly known as Twitter) says: “You CANNOT BREAK the Palestinian spirit.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral image and found the claims to be misleading.
After conducting a thorough reverse image search, Misbar’s team found that the Image of the woman descending from exposed stairs of a ruined building holding her child’s toy in her hand predates the recent war on Gaza.
This Image Was Taken in Syria 2016, Not in Gaza
The photo was featured on the website of the Siena International Photo Awards; a global photography competition.The image titled as ‘Mother’ Received one of the top prizes in the Remarkable Artwork in the Documentary and photojournalism category.
The photo was taken by the Irani freelancer photographer Hassan Ghaedi, who posted the image on his Instagram account in February 2020, writing that it was taken in June, 2016.
"The #mother, who returned home after the end of the conflict and has found her child's toys," the post says. "#Homs #Syria. In June 2016."
The conflict in Syria had developed from peaceful protests against the government in 2011 to a violent insurgency, where the violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed or about 1.5 % of its pre-war population, and nearly thirteen million people have been displaced and despite a decade of fighting al-Assad remains firmly in power.
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