Israel named its fighter jet ‘Soumya’ after a Kerala woman who died in an attack in Hamas.

The viral image was a morphed image of a Chinese fighter jet J-10C.

On May 11, 2021, Soumya Santosh, an Indian woman from Kerala died after a rocket fired by Hamas fell on her apartment in Ashkelon in Israel. According to a Times of India report, Soumya was a caretaker by profession and hailed from Kerala's Idukki district.

Following her death, an image of a jet with 'Soumya' written on the side was widely shared on Twitter and Facebook, claiming that Israel paid tribute to Soumya by attacking the Palestinian army chief's residence with a fighter jet having her name engraved on it.

We did a Google reverse image search of the viral image and found that the image is a Chinese fighter jet. The photo appeared on several Chinese news websites in 2020. A 'World Defense' website also carried the image, describing the jet as J-10C Vigorous Dragon "Firebird" of the Chinese Airforce People Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

Hence, an image of J-10C, a Chinese fighter jet from 2020, was morphed and shared with a false claim that Israel paid tribute to the Indian woman who lost her life in the recent violence.

Meanwhile, on May 21, 2021, Israel and Hamas claimed victory, and a ceasefire came into force in the Gaza Strip, halting the conflict.

Reference links

Since early May, the fight between Israel and Palestine escalated along the Gaza Strip, killing many people. Amid this, misinformation about violence is widely spreading on social media. On May 11, an Indian woman in Israel was killed in a rocket attack by Palestinian militants from Gaza named Soumya Santosh. She hailed from Kerala's Idukki district. Following her death, an image of a jet with 'Soumya' written on the side was widely shared on Twitter and Facebook, claiming that Israel has named its fighter jet 'Soumya' to retaliate her death by conducting an airstrike at the Palestinian army chief's residence. However, a Google reverse image search of the viral image revealed that the same picture was posted by a Chinese website named Day Day News on April 02, 2020. The news website published a large number of new photos of the Chinese Air Force J-10C fighter jets. Yet, the name "Soumya" was not embossed on the fighter jet. Hence, an image of J-10, a Chinese fighter jet from 2020, was morphed and shared with a false claim that Israel paid tribute to the Indian woman who lost her life in the recent violence. Image J-10C

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The Times of India

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AP NEWS

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