Fact Check: Mother and child killed in Israel's attack on Palestine? No, this image is from Yemen
An image of a woman and child engulfed in mud is falsely being shared as a scene from Palestine
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 14 Nov 2024 7:13 PM IST
Claim: The image shows a mother and child killed in Israeli attacks on Palestine.
Fact: This claim is false. The image originates from Yemen and shows a mother and child who died after severe flooding.
Hyderabad: Amid escalating tensions in Gaza, Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released a report detailing forced evacuations and widespread destruction by Israeli forces.
Against this backdrop, a photograph claiming to show a mother and child killed in an Israeli attack on Palestine has gone viral. The image, showing a woman embracing a child, both covered in mud, has been widely circulated on social media.
An Instagram post captioned, āWhat is one thing you are committed to doing this week to work towards a free Palestine?ā further fueled its spread.
NewsMeter investigated and found that this claim is false. The image originates from Yemen, where a mother and child died following severe floods.
A reverse image search of the photograph led us to the same photo shared by a user on X on August 31, 2024.
As per the post, the photo depicts a Yemeni mother holding her son under mud and debris following a flood in Yemen.
We further conducted a keyword search and found an August 30, 2024 NewsLine report stating that the photo shows a Yemeni mother and her child trapped under rubble after their home collapsed in northern Yemenās Al Mahwit Governorate, specifically in the Malhan District.
The Yemeni Red Crescent Society attributed the disaster to continuous rainfall and the bursting of two dams, which caused destructive floods and landslides in Malhan.
Additional reports from Al Sahil, dated August 29, 2024, confirmed that the Malhan District was devastated by rockslides and torrential flooding, resulting in at least 38 deaths.
Rescue operations continued as many remained trapped under debris.
Other Arab news outlets, including Al Marsd and Al Hadath, also covered this tragedy, using the same image in their reports on the natural disaster.
