WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Photos claiming to show a child in Gaza are actually from Yemen in 2016.
OUR VERDICT
False. The photo was taken by a journalist in Gaza in July 2025.
AAP FACTCHECK - False claims on social media that photos of a malnourished child in Gaza were actually taken in Yemen in 2016 are based on inaccurate responses from Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok.
The photos were taken by a journalist in July 2025 and do actually depict an emaciated child in Gaza.
The claim is based on replies to an X post published by US senator Bernie Sanders, who shared two photos after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that there is "no starvation in Gaza."
X users can ask AI assistant Grok about the authenticity or origin of images and posts.
When asked by one user what year the photos in Senator Sanders' post were from, Grok wrongly responded: "These images are from 2016, showing malnourished children in a hospital in Houdieda, Yemen, amid the civil war there. They do not depict current events in Gaza."
Grok's inaccurate response has been shared widely and posted on other social media platforms, including Facebook.
However, the images actually are from Gaza and were taken on July 23, 2025, by photojournalist Jehad Alshrafi for The Associated Press.
They can be seen in The Associated Press image library, which states they were taken at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.
They are also available on AAP photos, where the child is identified as two-year-old Yazan Abu Ful.
The Associated Press and Channel 4 News reported that Yazan is malnourished and "emaciated", with his father saying there is no food to eat.
Adam Berry, a professor of data science at the University of Technology Sydney, previously told AAP FactCheck it was difficult to say why Grok provided an inaccurate response, but pointed to its system prompt as providing clues.
Detailed online, the Grok is prompted to assume that subjective viewpoints from the media are biased.
In particular, Professor Berry pointed to line 38 of the prompts: "If the user asks a controversial query that requires web or X search, search for a distribution of sources that represents all parties/stakeholders. Assume subjective viewpoints sourced from media are biased."
The false claim is being shared amid credible reports of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza from multiple aid and humanitarian organisations.
The World Health Organization has reported 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 of which occurred in July, including 24 children under five.
The Red Cross also reported severe malnutrition in Gaza and said 470,000 people face starvation.
Israel blocked all food from entering Gaza from March 2 to May 19, but has since allowed a limited amount of aid to enter the enclave, the BBC reported.
Israel's deputy ambassador to Australia, Amir Meron, told reporters in late July that Israel does not "recognise any famine or any starvation" in Gaza.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the claim "beyond comprehension", The Guardian Australia reported.
An analysis of over 100,000 posts on X by the Digital Forensic Research Lab found Grok struggled with fact-checking tasks during the Israel-Iran conflict in June 2025.
Grok-3 search inaccurately cited news sources 94 per cent of the time, according to a Tow Center for Digital Journalism study published in March.
Prof Berry said Grok may not be verifying facts correctly and instead regurgitating key phrases often used by fact-checking organisations.
He said he would "be very wary" about using Grok or other similar AI programs for fact checking, and if he were going to use one, he'd use a "deep research" mode, which provides references that he could check himself.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
