Turkish journalists and social media users have been circulating a tweet in English that claimed Israel burned Palestinian children in Gaza with white phosphorus weapons, which is banned by international law.
The photograph of a Syrian Kurdish child was attached by the Turkish tweeters to their widely shared tweets, which previously circulated extensively on social media during the Turkish military’s 2019 attack on the city of Ras al-Ain (Serekaniye).
According to the translated tweet, “This was done by Israel. Israel is setting those children on fire. They used white phosphorus, a weapon that is banned.
In a live broadcast, the Israeli Defense Minister even boasted about this act, saying those children were “human beings.”
The True Platform team investigated the matter by searching on the Facebook, Google, and Twitter platforms (now known as “X”). Here are the results:
The tweet and photograph received significant attention on the X platform. Erem Şentürk, an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and screenwriter, was among those who retweeted the misleading tweet.
Şentürk’s tweet garnered nearly 1500 retweets, 2200 likes, and 540 comments within three hours before he removed it.
Further research revealed that Arab sites reported that 13-year-old Mohammed Hameed of Syria had burns from white phosphorus. when Turkish forces shelled Ras al-Ain in northern Syria in October 2019.
Furthermore, other media agencies, including the Turkish Anadolu Agency, cited the Israeli Defense Minister as characterizing Palestinian Hamas fighters as “subhuman creatures” and behaving accordingly.
In conclusion:
The photograph attached to the tweet is misleading and unrelated to the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.