Is it true that this photo shows a hospital patient in Gaza?

In November 2023, a photo allegedly showing a man in a Palestinian hospital went viral on social media. Medical devices were incorrectly placed on this man's face, which is why the Internet called it a staging. We have verified the authenticity of the viral image.

The image being circulated is a photograph of a television showing a patient, said to be from a hospital in Gaza. It is assumed that this is part of some kind of video plot. The attention of Internet users to this patient was drawn to incorrectly installed medical equipment. For example, the pulse oximeter is on the nose instead of the index finger, the electrodes of the heart monitor are attached to the cheeks instead of the chest, and for some reason the oxygen masks are attached to the ears of this person. Based on the frame, the authors of numerous publications make fun of medicine of Palestine and called person from the photograph as a participant in the production.

Such posts became the most popular on Facebook* (examples here, here, here, here, here And here), where one of the records at the time of this analysis dialed more than 1,500 reposts, as well as on the social network X (formerly Twitter; here, here, here And here), where is one of the tweets received 95,000 views and almost 800 reposts. Similar publications are also available in English. For example, on the 9Gag website photo signed with the phrase “poor Palestinians” with a laughing emoticon.

Using a regular reverse image search (“Verified” took advantage Google Lens service) we can find out that the image we are interested in appeared on the Internet at least in 2019 year. Moreover, on different platforms there are popular publications with the same photo for 2020, 2021st, 2022nd And early 2023, but until November of this year the frame was not associated with Palestine. Our reader Mikhail Yutsis was one of the first to point this out, wrote, that the viral photo shows a frame “from some TV series (either comedy or medical) no later than than in 2019."

This picture of incorrectly installed medical devices is actually hit V many selections about blunders in cinema and television. Moreover, in most such materials approvedthat frame with this patient taken exactly from the series. Sometimes TBCthat we are talking about some unnamed soap opera (serials in this format are long-lasting). For example, in 2019 on Reddit the image commented like this: “How stupid can a soap opera be?” As a result, the post received almost 45,000 upvotes from site users and hit in the video of PewDiePie (11 million views), one of the most popular video bloggers.

Then another question arises: is it true that the show's writers made so many ridiculous mistakes in one scene?

The logo is visible in the upper right corner of the frame in the photo being distributed. Astro Warna — Malaysian television network. “Verified” found out that the scene we were interested in was in a full-length television film Laksa Di Ambang Wati, which premiered took place in Malaysia back in the summer of 2018. According to reviews and data on movie sites, the film was shot in the genre of romantic comedy. In the story, the main character Mail and his friends want to get the best laksa recipe (popular in Malaysia dish with noodles) and for this they meet a strange girl, Vati. Scene with the hero in the hospital begins towards the end of the film at the 1 hour 24 minute mark. 6 sec.

After the film's release in 2018, some viewers criticized picture for medical errors in a viral frame, and some considered it a parody. Soon he came to the defense of his project director Al Jafri Md Yusop. On his social networks he wrote, that he deliberately planned that scene so that there would be bloopers in it. As evidence, the director cited fast with behind-the-scenes photos published before the premiere. According to him words, he wanted to make fun of "Malaysian dramas that always have mistakes." In 2019, when the footage went viral on Reddit and YouTube, the director again statedthat it was satire.

Therefore, reports from 2023 that the photo being circulated shows a hospital in Gaza are unreliable. In fact, this is a shot from a 2018 Malaysian comedy, in which the authors, according to the director, deliberately made a number of mistakes for the sake of a humorous effect.

*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Cover photo: social networks

Not true

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