Dead Israeli soldier falsely linked to viral 'save the date' photo | Fact check

Andre Byik, USA TODAY
·3 min read
25

The claim: Photos show slain Israeli soldier had written wedding date on wall of Gaza house

A Dec. 24, 2023, Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows two photos, one of an Israeli soldier smiling and posing with a woman beside him and another of the words "SAVE the DATE 21.3.24" written on a white wall.

"Cpt. Oshri Moshe, who wrote the date of his marriage 'Save the date 21.3.24' on the wall of a house in Gaza and sent it to his fiancée, was killed yesterday in Gaza," reads on-screen text included in the post. "We will remember something Else."

The post was liked more than 33,000 times in less than two weeks. Similar posts garnered tens of thousands of likes across social media platforms in the same period.

More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:

Our rating: Partly false

While the soldier named in the post was killed in the Gaza Strip and had planned to get married, Israeli media reported his wedding was scheduled for July, not March, as the post claims. The photo of the March wedding date is associated with a different Israeli soldier.

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Oshri Moshe Butzhak, a 22-year-old captain in the Israel Defense Forces, died in combat on Dec. 23, 2023, in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli news reports.

Butzhak and his fiancee were planning to get married in July, according to Israeli news reports, not March, as the Instagram post claims.

A Dec. 23, 2023, Hebrew-language article by Israel National News included a photo of Butzhak and his partner that listed their "Save the date" as July 10, 2024, not March 21, 2024. A friend of Butzhak also said in a video interview that Butzhak was planning to get married in July.

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A Dec. 18, 2023, Hebrew-language article by Mynet reported that the photo showing the March wedding date is associated with an Israeli soldier named Zvika Neiman. The article explained that Neiman surprised his fiancee by spray-painting the wedding date inside a building in the Gaza Strip.

That photo went viral on social media platforms in early December 2023. The early December social media posts do not mention Butzhak.

The Instagram user who shared the post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AFP also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Slain IDF soldier was planning July, not March, wedding | Fact check