A video depicting individuals wrapped in white cloth, appearing as dead bodies, with one of them opening their eyes, is circulating on social media platforms. This video is being shared with an accompanying claim that it demonstrates Gazans faking deaths amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. This fact-check aims to ascertain the veracity of this claim.
Claim: The video shows Gazans faking their deaths in the context of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
Fact: The viral video predates the current Israel-Palestine conflict as it was posted on TikTok in August 2023 while the conflict began in October 2023. Upon further research, we found that the video is part of a course on proper Islamic burial practices, not Gazans faking death. Therefore, the claim is rated as False.
To investigate the claim, we initiated a reverse image search using keyframes from the viral video. This process led us to the same video posted on a TikTok account named @metjetak17 in August 2023, which was months before the Israel-Palestine conflict started in October 2023. The account and accompanying text on the video were in Malay, Malaysia’s official language.
Further online research led us to a thread on the website 9Gag that contained the viral video. Some users in the thread claimed the video portrayed a lesson on executing a proper Islamic burial.
Subsequent internet searches revealed similar videos (here, here, and here) labelled as “Kursus Pengendali Jenazah”, translating to “Mortuary Handler Course” or “Corpse Management Course” in English.
We also discovered that the same video was posted on an Instagram account @myraudahhq on 21 August 2023, crediting the original TikTok uploader, @metjetak17. The caption on the Instagram post indicated that the video was from a funeral management course, which aligns with the “Corpse Management Course” discovered in our previous searches.
Although we were unable to pinpoint the exact location where the video was shot, the fact it was posted in August 2023, well before the start of the Israel-Palestine conflict in October 2023, refutes the claim that it shows Gazans faking death during the conflict.
To sum up, the video in question doesn’t depict Gazans faking their deaths amidst the Israel-Palestine conflict but rather showcases educational training on standard Islamic burial procedures.
