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| - Fact Check: IDF soldiers crying after Hezbollah drone attack? No, this photo is 20 years old
This photo was shot on April 3, 2004, when the Israeli army found a tunnel in a house during an operation at the Rafah refugee camp.
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India Today Fact Check
While the photo shows Israeli soldiers, it’s from 2004 and has nothing to do with the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict.
In Short
- Photo of soldiers allegedly crying circulates online
- Image claimed to show aftermath of Hezbollah's attack
- Photo actually from 2004 unrelated to current conflict
On October 13, Hezbollah attacked Israel’s army base with drone strikes, killing four IDF soldiers and injuring many. As per the IDF, the base targeted was located 33 kilometres south of Haifa.
Now a photo making the rounds on social media allegedly shows Israeli soldiers sitting on a floor with their heads down. Those sharing the photo claimed it showed IDF soldiers crying after Hezbollah’s latest drone strike.
One such post said, “BREAKING: ISRAELI soldiers are reportedly ‘crying, a lot,’ as predicted by Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah before his martyrdom”. Its archive can be seen here.
India Today found that while the photo shows Israeli soldiers, it’s from 2004 and has nothing to do with the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict.
OUR PROBE
With the help of a reverse image search, we found the photo on the stock image website Alamy. As per the information on Alamy, the picture was taken on April 3, 2004, when the Israeli army found a tunnel in a house during an operation at the Rafah refugee camp, adjacent to the Palestinian town of Rafah.
The soldiers in the photo were reportedly waiting as specialists inspected the tunnel. It was shot by Associated Press photographer Oded Balilty.
There are other images from the same search operation available on Alamy.
An NBC News report published on April 7, 2004, noted that Israeli troops found several tunnels at the time on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, where the Rafah refugee camp is located.
Hence, it is clear that this photo, which is more than two decades old, has nothing to do with the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict.
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