The video circulated online after India’s Hindu-nationalist government sounded alarm over reports of attacks on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority immediately following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s overthrow (archived link).
Hasina fled to India by helicopter on August 5 after weeks of student-led protests forced her to quit, ending her iron-fisted 15-year rule.
Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh are considered a steadfast support base for Hasina’s Awami League party.
Gaza footage
However, the video shows a child caught up in an Israeli strike in Gaza.
A video features the logo of Arabic news channel Al Jazeera Mubasher in the top-left corner.
Al Jazeera Mubasher’s posted the video on Instagram in a July 14, 2024 post that read in Arabic: “Fear and panic of a child sitting alone after an Israeli airstrike targeted a shelter for displaced people at the UNRWA-affiliated Abu Araban school in Nuseirat camp” (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (left) and video posted by Al Jazeera Mubasher (right):
Fifteen people were killed in a strike on the school sheltering displaced people where the Israeli military said it had targeted “terrorists” (archived link).
The strike on the UN-run Abu Araban site in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp was the fifth on a school-turned-shelter in eight days, as Israel kept up its offensive against Hamas Palestinian militants who triggered the war with their October 7 attack on Israel.
Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel that day resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 103 of whom are still captive in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 40,530 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Gaza health ministry.
US broadcaster CBS News published a similar video of the child on July 20, 2024, which is credited to Salama Nabil Younis (archived link).
The Gaza-based photographer and video producer shared the video on Instagram on the day of the strike.
AFP has previously fact-checked misinformation around the Bangladesh unrest here.
David Turner is a globe-trotting journalist who brings a global perspective to our readers. With a commitment to shedding light on international events, he explores complex geopolitical issues, offering a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
