A distressing image of a man carrying his daughter in a rubble-strewn street in Mosul, Iraq has been shared with false claims that it shows the current situation in Palestine.
The photo shows a distressed father daughter duo escaping in Mosul and coming towards Iraqi special forces' soldiers moments before a clash between the Islamic State fighters and the Iraqi special forces breaks out.
According to reports the recent retaliation between Iran backed Palestinian militants and Israel claimed several lives in the Gaza strip till August 7. At least 43 Palestinians, including 15 children lost their lives in the airstrikes, reported the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel claimed most of those killed in its airstrikes were militants. The photo has been shared in this backdrop.
The image has been shared widely on Facebook with a caption in English, "This is really heartbreaking Pray for Palestine. But also remember that ALLAH said-"Do not lose hope, nor be sad. You will surely be victorious if you are true believers."
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on Google and we found that the photograph was part of an annual documentation of prominent events in 2017 by Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFERL).
The image was captioned as, "A man cries while carrying his daughter as he arrives from part of Mosul controlled by Islamic State militants, and approaches positions held by Iraqi special forces. March 4, 2017. (Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)". RFERL credited the image to Reuters' award-winning Serbian photojournalist Goran Tomasevic.
We further searched the image on the archive of the Reuters pictures and found that it was documented on its site on March 6, 2017.
The Time quoted Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic as saying, "Both screaming in terror, a father and the young daughter he cradled in his arm fled through the rubble-strewn streets of Wadi Hajar, transformed in a flash into a battleground between Islamic State fighters and Iraqi special forces. The father was so beside himself, so panicked. It was obvious because he had a short shirt on and was carrying a child that he wasn't Islamic State. I believe they will both be taken to a refugee camp."
According to a BBC report, civilians started fleeing as Iraqi forces had started battle to retake Mosul in March 2017. Iran declared the year-long war was over in December that year.
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