Image of child shot in the head was taken in Yemen not Gaza

A picture showing a child who has been shot in the head is being shared online alongside a graphic of brands to boycott because of their supposed involvement with Israel.

The posts [warning: graphic images] imply the child has been shot during the conflict between Israel and Gaza. But the image was taken in Yemen in 2020. 

Several posts on Facebook and Instagram are captioned: “If you need a graphic of which brands to boycott and avoid, here you go. The corporate brands complicit in genocide.”

One post on X, formerly Twitter, with more than 13,000 retweets says: “DON’T EVER FORGET WHO WAS COMPLICIT.”

Many children have sadly been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli military action there since the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel. But using Google Lens, Full Fact was able to find the child’s picture dates back to 2020 and was taken in Yemen.

Several Arabic news websites used the image and reported the little girl was shot by a Houthi sniper in Taiz, Yemen. The Houthis are an Iranian backed rebel group in the country.

There has been a widely publicised boycott campaign against Israeli products and against companies alleged to be associated with the country since the conflict began. Although the posts sharing the image of the child do not mention any countries or conflicts specifically, a lot of the comments reference the conflict between Israel and Gaza.

Full Fact has seen many miscaptioned images and videos circulating on social media about Israel and Gaza.

You can find more of our work countering false claims on the subject here, and information on how to do this in our guides on spotting misleading images and videos here and here.