Clip shared by thousands does not show a Palestinian girl trapped under rubble

A post on X (formerly Twitter) with over 53,000 shares falsely claims to show a video of a Palestinian girl stuck under rubble. 

The clip shows a child reaching up through a gap seemingly between debris, and has also been shared on Facebook with the caption: “A Palestinian child buried under rubble waits for help. What a heartbreaking scene, why international media is silent on this [sic]”. 

However, this is not what the clip actually shows. 

It was first shared on 25 October on TikTok by an account that later shared other footage on 27 October appearing to show the same child looking through a hole in a wall. The caption explains that the child was playing, and says in Arabic that “the girl has nothing wrong with her” and “she is not in Gaza, Syria” (translated by Google). 

The account told Full Fact in German that “the girl is not in Palestine, she is in the Syrian camps” (translated by Google). We have not been able to independently verify this.

Miscaptioned footage is a common form of misinformation we see online, especially during significant international stories such as the conflict in the Middle East. It’s important to consider whether what you’re seeing is genuine before sharing, and our guides to verifying videos can help with this.

You can find more of our work concerning events in the Middle East on our website.