The claim
Pictures are circulating on social media showing Palestinian children in Gaza hugging their cats in the rubble of their homes destroyed by Israel.
Our conclusion
Although these images are artificially generated, they highlight the real humanitarian situation in Gaza, where children are actually finding comfort in their pets amid the destruction.
The pictures are intended to show the children's joy and relief at finding their pets alive and well in the destroyed houses after the Israeli bombings.
However, it turned out that these images were artificially generated by an artificial intelligence (AI).
Analysis of the fake images
The images distributed on November 27, 2023 triggered a wave of sympathy and outrage. However, if you look closely at the images, you can see that the children's hands in the images were digitally created and had visible anomalies such as an unusual number of fingers or strange proportions.
BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh found that the images were originally posted in a TikTok video from an account that regularly shares AI-generated images from Gaza.
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Videos with similar AI-generated images were also found on YouTube and TikTok
The reality behind the pictures
Although the viral images are fake, there are authentic photos of children in Gaza seeking comfort from their cats. Reuters reported on three cats, Simsim, Brownie and Liza, who bring joy and entertainment to children in a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.
These real photos document the emotional bond between the children and their pets amid conflict and destruction.
Recognize AI-generated images
It is important to develop the ability to recognize AI-generated images. Signs such as unnatural proportions, errors in the representation of human body parts, or inconsistent shading may indicate an artificial origin.
Additionally, verifying the source is crucial to confirming the authenticity of an image.
Conclusion
Although the viral images of Palestinian children with cats in Gaza are fake, they reflect a deeper truth: in times of crisis, children often find solace in their pets, a phenomenon that has been observed in real-life conditions in Gaza.
Source: Snopes
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )