Photo shows a “Palestinian boy cleaning his own family’s blood.”
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No, this photo doesn’t show a Palestinian boy cleaning up his family’s blood
If Your Time is short
- This photo has been online for more than nine years and is unrelated to the current violence in Gaza and Israel.
- According to a post on a photo-sharing platform, it shows a boy cleaning up the blood after the slaughter of a cow in his parents’ slaughterhouse.
An image of a small boy cleaning a floor covered in blood is being shared amid conflict between Gaza and Israel.
"A child wipes the blood of his father and his brothers who were martyred last night by the Israeli aggression against the Bedouin village in Northern Gaza," reads one tweet from May 14.
"Palestinian boy cleaning his own family’s blood," says a Facebook post from that day.
It was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
Featured Fact-check
That’s because this photo has been online for years.
More than nine years ago, a Jerusalem-based photographer named Rj Stitt posted it to a photo sharing platform called 500px with this caption: "Palestinian kid cleaning up after the slaughter of a cow in his parents’ slaughterhouse."
The photographer identified the location as Ramallah, a town in the West Bank, and gave details about the camera used to take the picture.
We rate claims that this photo shows a boy cleaning up his family’s blood amid recent violence in Gaza False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, May 14, 2021
Tweet, May 14, 2021
TinEye search, May 20, 2021
FAKE Investigation tweet, May 14, 2021
500px, "Palestinian Kid" by Rj Stitt, visited May 20, 2021
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Ciara O'Rourke
No, this photo doesn’t show a Palestinian boy cleaning up his family’s blood
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