An old image showing an infant trapped under a rubble is being falsely connected to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
BOOM found that the claims are false; the image predates the ongoing conflict. The image is also likely to be AI generated. However, two experts BOOM reached out to stopped short of definitively calling it AI-generated due to poor image quality.
At least 1,400 people Israelis and 3,478 Palestinians have been killed following a conflict between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, began on October 7. A recent explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza has significantly contributed to the death toll as both Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the attack. India recently sent 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material including tents, surgical items, sleeping bags, sanitary utilities, and water purification tablets to Palestine via Egypt, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs.
The image of the infant shows a terrified expression on its face while it is buried under the rubble. It is being shared on X with the caption, "He saw the most painful moment in the eyes of this innocent child. But what have we come to #StopPalestineGenocide."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive. Similar posts can be found here and here.
The post is also being circulated on Facebook with similar captions.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the claims are false; the image predates the ongoing conflict. We also reached out to two experts who suspected that the image was generated using AI but stopped short of definitively making that conclusion due to poor image quality.
We ran a reverse image search of the photo on Google and found that it existed even before the conflict between Israel and Hamas began. The below X post from February 8, 2023 matched the viral image.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Image likely generated using AI
We looked at the image closely and found that on the bottom right, the infant appears to have one extra finger. This is a common clue to identify AI-generated images as previous iterations of the technology have been reported to struggle with accurately recreating hands and fingers.
BOOM reached out to Dr Dominic Lees, deepfake and AI researcher and Associate Professor of Filmmaking at the University of Reading, who explained that the image's low quality created visual distortions, making it difficult to decipher whether it was AI-generated.
"These imperfections in the image can often look similar to the artefacts created in an AI image generating process, but we cannot be certain that this is the case with this photograph," he told BOOM.
We then reached out to Professor Hany Farid at the University of California, Berkeley, who specialises in digital forensics, misinformation, and AI.
Prof Farid told BOOM, "I’ve analyzed three different versions (of the image) and each one is classified by our models as highly likely to be AI generated."