Fact Check: 2004 image of Israeli soldiers linked to ongoing conflict with Lebanon
The image shows Israeli soldiers during an Army operation
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 17 Oct 2024 10:54 AM GMT
Claim: The image shows Israeli soldiers crying, fulfilling a prediction made by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah before his death.
Fact: The claim is false. The image is from 2004 and has no connection to the ongoing conflict.
Hyderabad: The Israeli military carried out dozens of strikes in southern Beirut, Lebanon, after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire, arguing it would allow Hezbollah to remain dangerously close to Israel’s border. Tensions have escalated following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27, when Israeli airstrikes hit the group’s headquarters.
Amid these developments, a photo has gone viral on social media, claiming to show Israeli soldiers crying, supposedly in line with a prediction made by Nasrallah.
An X user posted the image with the caption: “Breaking: Israeli soldiers are reportedly ‘crying, a lot,’ as predicted by Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah before his martyrdom.” (Archive)
Similar posts can be seen here and here.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The image was taken in 2004 and has no connection to the ongoing conflict.
A reverse image search traced the photo to a stock image on Alamy. The report stated that the photo was taken by Pulitzer Prize-winning Israeli photographer Oded Balilty for the Associated Press.
The image, dated April 3, 2004, shows Israeli soldiers waiting while specialists inspected a tunnel discovered in Rafah, Gaza, near the Egyptian border. The caption confirmed that the image is from an Army operation in 2004, completely unrelated to the current conflict.
A keyword search led us to an NBC News report titled, ‘Israel Closes Gaza Border Industrial Park,’ published on April 6, 2004.
Although the report does not include the photo, it confirmed that Israeli troops destroyed a weapons-smuggling tunnel along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, marking the seventh such tunnel discovered this year, according to the Army. Additionally, the report stated that Israeli forces regularly patrol a narrow area between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip, where the tunnels run beneath the patrol road and surface in the Rafah refugee camp.
Another report from NWI Times, titled ‘Israel Closes Gaza Border Industrial Park,’ published on April 6, 2004, also stated the same. The report stated that since 2000, Israeli troops have conducted numerous raids in Rafah and demolished many homes near the border.
Hence, the claim that the viral image shows Israeli soldiers crying as per Hassan Nasrallah’s prediction is false. The image is from 2004 and has no connection to the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict.
