A photo (here, here and here) circulating on social media shows a deceased man with dogs lying by his side, claiming he was shot by Israeli forces in northern Gaza while his dogs remained loyal to him. Let’s find truth behind this image.
Claim: The photo of a dead man surrounded by dogs is from Gaza and killed by Israel.
Fact: According to reports from Al Jazeera and other media outlets, the man in the image is Ismail Muhammad Hadi, who lived on the streets of Ebi Market in Yemen. He was known for feeding dogs and suddenly died of a heart attack at night. The dogs surrounded him until people arrived at the market. This image has no connection to Gaza or Israel. Hence, the claim is FALSE .
In the initial stage of our investigation, we conducted a reverse image search and found that the same image was uploaded by a Yemeni Facebook handle named “Suomen Kurdit” on 21 October 2020. The caption, written in Kurdish, mentioned that the man in the photo was named Ismail Hadi, a poor homeless man from Yemen. Despite his poverty, Ismail always fed and cared for stray dogs. He passed away in his sleep on the streets of Ebi.
Further research led us to an X handle named Mutaher Enan, who uploaded a detailed video of the incident on 20 October 2020. In the post, written in Arabic, he mentioned that the man in the video was Ismail Muhammad Hadi, who used to feed stray dogs daily at the Daleel Market in Ibb Governorate, Yemen.
Using key details from the post, further investigation revealed several reports (here, here and here), including one from Al Jazeera on 20 October 2020, confirming the incident occurred in Yemen. The reports confirmed that the man was Ismail Mohammed Hadi, a homeless man who cared for stray dogs, and after his death, the dogs stayed by his side while people gathered around him.
Additionally, Another Arabic news outlet, Dunya Watan, reported on 24 October 2020, that Hadi died of a sudden heart attack, not due to any violent incident.
Many journalists and prominent individuals from Yemen shared their sadness over the incident of Ismail Mohammed Hadi on social media, expressing their grief. Their posts can be found here and here.
To sum up, an old photo from Yemen is being falsely shared as depicting the death of a man in Gaza following an Israeli attack.
