The video of a man wrapped in a white cloth looking into the camera is viral online with the false claim that he was wrapped in the cloth despite being alive to fake the death toll in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. BOOM found that the video predates the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and is from an Islamic funeral management course that teaches how to manage the deceased and ensure their lawful burial.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas began after the latter launched an unprecedented attack into Israel on October 7. According to The Gaza Health Ministry, the conflict has resulted in the death of more than 8,000 Palestinians. This figure, however, has been questioned by several officials including the President of the United States, Joe Biden. To this, the Health Ministry responded by releasing a 212-page document containing the details of about 7,000 deceased who had been identified. According to Reuters, despite the scepticism of some, humanitarian agencies worldwide have found the claims of the health ministry broadly reliable.
Amid this, an 8-second clip of a man lying on the floor with a white cloth wrapped around him is viral with the claim that Palestinians are faking their deaths to inflate the death toll in Gaza. A verified X account, 'The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome' shared the clip with the caption, "We're happy to report his condition has been upgraded to alive."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the viral claims are false; the video predates the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and shows a funeral management training likely from Malaysia.
We looked at the video closely and found the watermark of an Instagram handle @akbardarjahanam3 on it.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a search for this user on Instagram and found the same video shared on their page on November 5. See here.
We then a reverse image search of some key frames from this video on Google and found another Instagram post shared on August 21, months before the conflict in Gaza began. The video was shared with a caption in Malay that can be roughly translated to English as, "Auto insaf who is selected as an example of a corpse. 😣😭 those who have attended funeral management courses must know the experience. Hopefully our end will be good from the side of Allah SWT. Amen.. ✨🤲"
The post matched the viral video and mentioned details about a funeral management course. It was credited to a TikTok account, 'metjetak17'
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
We then looked for the user @metjetak17 on TikTok and found that they had shared this video on August 19, 2023 and the caption included hashtags of Malysia.
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Additionally, the video also shows a man wearing a pink kurta with a microphone in his hand, who appears to be the instructor. The background also shows a projector that hints towards the video being from a course.
According to the MyHEALTH portal set up by the Health Ministry of Malaysia, Fardhu Kifayah is an Islamic ritual that dictates four main obligations performed by the living for the dead: bathing, enshrouding, prayers, and burial of the body.
The verified Instagram page of Malaysian radio channel Zayan also shared the video on October 28 with a funny caption, indicating that the post was being circulated as a joke.
BOOM reached out to a Malaysian local who confirmed that the video showed an Islamic funeral management course, also known as 'Kursus Pengurusan Jenazah' in Malay. They further added that the course is offered voluntarily in schools and mosques.
We ran a search for 'Kursus Pengurusan Jenazah' on YouTube and found several other videos of this course. See one of them below:
See more such videos here and here.
BOOM could not independently verify the exact or location when the video was shot, but it is unrelated to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.