Since the flood of Al-Aqsa on Saturday October 7, several viral photos have been circulating on social networks to discredit the fate of the inhabitants of Gaza. Publications seek to portray them as bad actors in order to downplay the current situation in the Palestinian territory and underestimate the death toll.
Since the end of October, a photo has been circulating of a person in a body bag. At first glance nothing shocking, but the photo shows her sitting, a cell phone in her hand. According to many Internet users, it is a fake corpse staged “for the leftist press”. In the descriptions, the term “Pallywood” is mentioned. Understand here the contraction of Palestine and Hollywood. “What they are trying to pass off as a corpse is in fact someone alive and well who is sitting and looking at their phone.” Except that this photo has been hijacked. 20 minutes tells you.
FAKE OFF
A fake corpse sitting “playing Candy Crush”, as Internet users point out? Not really. In reality, the photo was taken well before the current conflict between Hamas and Israel and its serious repercussions on the Gaza Strip.
Based on a reverse image search, it is possible to find occurrences from before October 2023. If we dig a little deeper, we find the same photo posted during previous Halloween festivities. Initially, it’s a woman named Surattana Sawadkitwho published it on Facebook on October 29, 2022. The photos, taken in Thailand, show two children dressed up in a very original way for Halloween.
Fake corpses, a frequent fake news
The photo was even published the local media “เรื่องเล่าเช้านี้” which mentioned a costume competition in a shopping center in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. “This Halloween, we think many parents will have fun surprising their children dressed as super cute ghosts, according to Halloween which is just around the corner. Recently, another mother with a very creative idea,” explained the media.
In the war between Hamas and Israel, it is common to see numerous old photos circulating to minimize the scale of the attacks or to discredit the fate of civilian victims. A frequent phenomenon during wars, such as in Ukraine, where images are now at the heart of conflicts. The example of fake corpses is unfortunately common, like here and here.