Aftermath Scene of Israeli bombing of school housing displaced people circulates as fake

“ GAZAWOOD1” account on “X” recently posted a video showing people, including children, lying on the ground, and claimed that “Another scene clearly prepared by individuals impersonating journalists, prioritizing personal gain and harming Israel’s reputation,” accusing Palestinians and journalists of acting and falsification to harm the reputation of the occupation.

Kashif contacted Al Jazeera cameraman Mahmoud Shalha, who is in northern Gaza and who filmed the circulated video in which he appears. Shalha said that the video is of a massacre that took place at Al Majida Wasila School on Saturday 14/12/2024, which was sheltering displaced people.

Shalha had posted the video on his Instagram on 14/12/2024, with the following text, “The bodies of displaced children and women from northern Gaza were torn apart by the bombing, as they searched for shelter in a school that had been turned into a cemetery, lying on the ground with no rescuer. Their screams died down, and only silence remained as a witness to the massacre.” 

Kashif’s team also contacted journalist Mohamed Shaheen, Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, who appeared in the circulated video. “GAZAWOOD1” claimed that he asked an injured child to scream in front of the camera, accusing them of acting and faking scenes.

However, journalist Mohammed Shaheen provided Kashif with the video he took of the aftermath of the bombing of Al-Majida Wasila School, in which the injured child appears. It can be heard and seen in the video that he did not ask the child to scream.

Al Jazeera reported, quoting its correspondent Anas Al Sharif, who was present at the targeted site and appeared in a video report, that “Seven Palestinians were killed and 20 others were injured in an Israeli bombardment that targeted Al Majida Wasila School on Al Jalaa Street, west of Gaza City, which was sheltering hundreds of displaced people.”

The death toll from the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip rose to 45,059 and 107,041 injuries since 7/10/2023, according to the latest update from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.