Smiling newborn photo from Gaza Strip is edited

Social media accounts posted a photo of a smiling newborn baby, claiming it was a real baby from the Gaza Strip. The caption read: “The birth of a smiling baby from Gaza. I wish him a beautiful, safe life away from the bombing.” 

Kashif verified the image and found it to be inauthentic. Kashif contacted Dr. Laila Abu Rajab, who confirmed that newborns cannot laugh, as shown in the circulated image. 

Abu Rajab noted that a baby may begin smiling between six weeks and two months after birth, while laughter typically begins between three and four months. She added that the room pictured is not a delivery room or one designated for infants and newborns.

Kashif contacted journalist Salma Al-Qaddoumi from the Gaza Strip, who clarified that the photo does not depict a child from Gaza, and that the extent of the destruction, the severe overcrowding in hospitals operating in the Strip, and the shortage of beds and equipment contradict the background of the circulating image.

Kashif’s team also found that a number of public pages, not affiliated with official bodies or reliable media outlets, had published the photo in recent days, claiming it was of a smiling baby from Jerusalem. 

Jerusalemite journalist Manar Shweiki confirmed to Kashif that she had followed the photo after it was circulated as being of a baby born at Al-Makassed Hospital, noting that the hospital’s pediatric department denied this. 

By reverse-searching the image using Google Lens, Kashif’s team found no previous publication of the image or context for it other than Gaza and Jerusalem, suggesting it may have been generated using artificial intelligence. 

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reported at the end of last June that hundreds of newborns in incubators at Nasser Hospital in Gaza were at imminent risk of death, confirming that infant formula had completely run out in the Gaza Strip and that they were at risk of death. 

According to an update from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on 30 June 2025, the death toll from the Israeli occupation’s aggression has risen to 56,531 and 133,642 injuries since 7 October 2023.