Misleading translation of a Palestinian woman’s speech about her suffering in retrieving her son’s body from the Netzarim Junction.
| The claim |
| A Palestinian woman from Gaza: “I prefer the Jews, and we tried to leave Gaza, but Hamas prevented us and forced us to stay. None of the terrorists (Hamas) care about us.” |
Israeli and Western accounts shared a video showing an elderly Palestinian woman speaking to a journalist about her ordeal in retrieving her son’s body from the Netzarim Junction on Salah al-Din Street, which is surrounded by Israeli tanks. The video was accompanied by a completely inaccurate translation of the woman’s speech, and it was titled: “Palestinian woman from Gaza clearly states that Hamas is responsible for their suffering.”
The accompanying translation attributed to the woman stated: “Don’t believe them (Hamas), I prefer the Jews. My son has been a prisoner of Hamas for 30 days, and we tried to leave Gaza, but Hamas prevented us and forced us to stay. None of the terrorists (referring to Hamas) care about us.”
The video was also circulated by Israeli accounts on the TikTok platform with a misleading Hebrew translation of the same video, during which the content of the interview was distorted in the same way as it was in English.
The Palestinian Observatory “Tahaqaq” verified the accuracy of the translation and found it to be misleading. It contradicts the original account of the woman about her risky journey to the Netzarim Junction to retrieve her son’s body. She managed to do so after persistent efforts. She also described the painful reality of the area due to the presence of martyrs’ bodies and the inability to evacuate them because of the occupation’s prevention of residents and medical teams from reaching them.
We attached the correct translation of the Palestinian woman’s speech.
| The result |
| The translation attached to the video is misleading, and it is contrary to what the woman said about how she was able, after suffering, to withdraw her son’s body from the Netzarim Junction, after it had remained on the ground for ten days due to the occupation preventing citizens and ambulance crews from reaching the bodies of the martyrs in the Netzarim Junction area. |
