2022 image of Pakistani girl in hospital falsely shared as a 'child of Gaza'

By: Ankita Kulkarni
July 4 2024

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A screenshot of social media post claiming that video shows a Gazan child amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

A video of a girl lying on a hospital bed wearing a cervical collar is circulating on social media platforms, falsely claiming that it shows a "child suffering in Gaza" amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. One such post (archived here) shared by Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) on X (formerly Twitter), an account known for spreading false and misleading misinformation, captioned the video, "CHILDREN OF GAZA." The post has garnered nearly 54,600 views at the time of writing this fact-check. 

Multiple other users on X have reshared Ahmed's post with similar claims, and archived versions can be viewed here and here. 

Screenshot of viral post on social media. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts) 

Thousands of children have been killed in Gaza City due to the ongoing war with Israel since October 7, 2023, and they remain at a higher risk as Israeli forces continue their operations.

However, the now-viral image is not from Gaza. It shows a Pakistani teenager who underwent neck surgery in 2022. 

What did we find?   

A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral clip led us to an Instagram post (archived here) shared by an account named Afsheen Gul on June 16, 2024. The caption read, "I am proud of myself. I love every part of who I am. I am doing the best I can with what I have." Posts on the account show the girl suffered from a severely bent neck and was treated with surgery in February 2022, as also stated in the account's bio. The account has shared multiple posts about her surgery and condition.

The bio also includes a link to GoFundMe, a crowdfunding and fundraising platform, that includes details of the girl, stating her name is Afsheen Kumbar, a resident of Mithi, a city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. 

Screenshot of Afsheen Gul's Instagram account. (Source: Instagram/Screenshot)

A Google search further directed us to a report published by BBC News on July 16, 2022. The report confirms that the girl is from Pakistan's Sindh province and had a rare medical condition that caused her neck to be bent at a 90-degree angle. According to the report, the condition resulted from an accident when she fell from her sister's arms at the age of 10 months. However, the girl regained the ability to walk and speak independently following surgery by Dr. Rajagopalan Krishnan, a specialist in complex spinal surgeries at Apollo Hospital in Delhi, India. 

The New Delhi Apollo Hospital also published a report about the surgery, which also states that the girl is from Pakistan.

Multiple local media outlets in both India and Pakistan widely reported on this surgery in 2022, which can be read here, here, here, and here.

Logically Facts has also contacted the girl and her fund organizer for further confirmation and will update the check as and when we receive a response.   

The verdict

The video shows a girl from Pakistan who underwent neck surgery in 2022 and does not show a Gazan child as claimed in the viral social media posts.