A photo of a uniformed person kneeling on a young boy's neck is viral with the claim that it shows an Israeli soldier killing a Palestinian boy amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
BOOM found this claim to be false; the image is from October 2016, and shows a police officer in Chile assaulting the boy in an attempt to detain him.
As the Israel-Hamas conflict enters its eighth day, more than 3,000 deaths have been reported on both sides. The Israel military has warned residents in northern Gaza to evacuate immediately and according to the United Nations, more than 400,000 people in the city have been displaced and left without homes since the beginning of the conflict on October 7.
The photo shows the boy bleeding from the nose and mouth as the officer kneels on him. A rough translation of the Arabic text on the image to English reads, 'An Israeli soldier kills a Palestinian child and the world did not act on his behalf. Let the picture circulate around the world to show the brutality of the Zionists in Palestine.'
The photo is being shared on Facebook with the caption, "An #Israeli soldier kills a #Palestinian child, and he sits on him proudly. Look, world!"
Click here to view the post.
The post is circulating on X (formerly Twitter) with similar captions.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the photo is from October 2016, when Chilean officer F Venegas assaulted a boy in Valparaíso for scratching a wall.
We examined the viral image closely and noticed 'Subteniente F Venegas' written on the officer's uniform.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search for 'Subteniente F Venegas' and found a Facebook post by Chilean news website El Dinamo shared on October 2, 2016. The visuals in the post matched the viral image.
Click here to view.
The post redirected to a news article by El Dinamo that detailed how Second Lieutenant F Venegas assaulted a boy for scratching a wall in Valparaíso. The article's headline, roughly translated to English, reads, 'They denounce unpresentable abuse by Carabinero against a young man in Valparaíso'.
Here, Carabinero refers to Carabineros de Chile, the Chilean national law enforcement agency. The photo also showed F Venegas' uniform with a bagde of the Carabineros de Chile.
We also found a Facebook post from October 2, 2016, that carried a video of the incident. See here.
We ran another keyword search using 'Valparaíso Subteniente F Venegas' and found a story by Chilean outlet ADN Radio published on October 1, 2016. The article detailed how photo-based media outlet Frente Fotográfico reported the incident of Second Lieutenant F. Venegas detaining a young boy by kneeling on him. The story also mentioned how passers-by and one of the victim's friends recorded a video in which they can be heard urging the officer to stop.
We scanned Frente Fotográfico Facebook page and found a post from from October 3, 2016 that carried a video interview of the boy, Diego. The post included a photo of the incident and mentioned how Diego was assaulted by the officer after reaching the police station as well.
Click here to view.
Diego was interviewed after being detained in Valparaíso, which confirms that he did not die while officer F Venegas assualted him.
