Unrelated old photo of a US girl shared as Palestinian girl injured in Israel airstrikes - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 20, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the picture of a Palestinian baby, injured in Israel airstrikes on Gaza city. This photo shows a little girl whose face is filled with red spots. In the wake of ongoing violent conflict between Israel and Palestine, this post is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a Palestinian girl who is injured in Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza city.
Fact: The photo in the post shows Bianca, a little girl from Rockford city in the United States of America. Bianca was diagnosed with Port wine strain and Sturge-Weber syndrome when she was three months old. Bianca’s parents had started Pulse Dye Laser treatment on her, hoping it could cure the birthmarks that covered nearly half of her face. The first two weeks of this laser treatment had created red spots on Bianca’s face which appeared similar to ‘burn marks’. This photo has nothing to do with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found published in an article published by the ‘Caters’ news agency in April 2019. This article mentioned the baby as Bianca, a little girl from Rockford city in the United States of America. According to this article, Bianca was diagnosed with Port wine strain and Sturge-Weber syndrome when she was three months old. The birthmark that covers nearly half of her face is because of Sturge-Weber syndrome that caused her to suffer seizures, glaucoma, and developmental delays.
Bianca’s parents Deanna Latino and Brandon have started Pulse Dye Laser treatment on her, hoping it could cure the birthmarks that covered nearly half of her face. But, the initial stages of this laser treatment created red spots on Bianca’s face. Deanna had reportedly faced several abusive comments from strangers, criticizing the dirty looks of her child. To combat the abusive comments from strangers, Deanna named Bianca as their ‘Polka dot cutie’. However, these red spots on Bianca’s face had vanished two weeks after the treatment.
A few other news articles published on Bianca’s birthmark treatment can be seen here and here. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the photo shared in the post is related to a US girl diagnosed with Port wine strain and Sturge-Weber syndrome.
According to a recent article published by the ‘BBC News’, Israel airstrikes on Gaza had killed at least 219 people, including 63 children. But, the photo shared in the post is not related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
To sum it up, an unrelated old photo of a US girl is shared as the picture of a Palestinian girl injured in Israel airstrikes.