No, this image does not show Eid clothes on the grave of a Palestinian girl

What is the claim?

Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza, an image of a pink dress placed on the ground is circulating on social media with a claim that a Palestinian father left clothes for Eid on the grave of his eight-year-old daughter. One such Facebook post read, "A Palestinian father leaves Eid clothes on his daughter's grave (8 year's old) (sic).” The archived version of such posts can be found here, here, and here.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank celebrated Eid al-Adha on June 16, 2024, as the Israeli military continued its attack on the areas. 

This image has also been shared on X (formerly Twitter) with a similar claim. Archives here, here, and here. 

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

However, we found that the image is from 2023 and was reportedly taken in Turkey, where a father had placed Eid clothes on the grave of his eight-year-old daughter, who was killed in an earthquake.

What are the facts?

A reverse image search on the picture led us to a TikTok video (archived here) shared on April 23, 2023. The caption written in Arabic noted that a father had left clothes on the grave of his eight-year-old daughter for Eid. It also mentioned that it was from Turkey, where the girl died in the earthquake.

A Google search led us to a report published by Al Khaleej, a media house based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, dated April 22, 2023. The report carried the viral picture and stated that a “Turkish man bought an Eid dress for his daughter, who died in the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in February 2023, and placed it on her grave.”

Screenshot of the report published by Al Khaleej. (Source: Al Khaleej/Screenshot)

On February 6, 2023, two devastating earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria’s border regions killing thousands of people.

Other Arabic media outlets, such as Alanbat News and Akhbar Elyom, also carried the viral image in their reports published in April 2023, providing similar details.

We also found the image shared on Instagram (archived here) by a Turkish journalist, Nevzat Çiçek, on April 22, 2023. The caption also reiterated that the image was captured in 2023 when a Turkish father left clothes on his daughter's grave on Eid. 

Screenshot of an Instagram post shared by a Turkish journalist. (Source: Instagram/Nevzat Çiçek/Screenshot) 

Logically Facts also contacted Teyit, an independent fact-checking organization based in Turkey, for further clarification. Ali Osman Arabacı, an editor with Teyit, told us, “The photo is from last year. The image was taken in Adiyaman in eastern Turkey. The person in the grave is reportedly named "Zahide." She was a child who died in the great earthquake on February 6, 2023.”

Another fact-checker, Resul Kunt, at an IFCN-certified fact-checking organization Dogruluk Payi told us that the elemnets in the image indicate that the image is from Turkey, including the text on the dress as seen in the Instagram post above. He said that text on the dress read "Gülsüm", which is a female name in Turkish.

The verdict

An old image from April 2023 is being shared with a false claim that a father left Eid clothes for his daughter on her grave in Palestine.