Media Share Misleading Images Of Gazan Child To Falsely Accuse Israel Of Mass Starvation

Media outlets have employed a photo of an emaciated Gaza child to substantiate claims that Israel is intentionally starving residents of the Hamas-controlled zone.

But the legacy media never reported that the child, now 20 months old, suffers from numerous medical problems — nor that his three-year-old brother looks healthy with no signs of malnutrition, according to an investigation.

This viral image of a child in Gaza was misreported as proof of starvation caused by Israel. In reality, Muhammad’s health condition, not hunger, is the issue. It’s time for the media to correct their misleading coverage. https://t.co/UnE28pyyrb

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 28, 2025

Published initially on Instagram with the caption, “A body eated [sic] by hunger, and eyes looking for mercy in a deaf world,” the visuals went viral after The Daily Express showcased them on its front page.

“Within hours, almost every major outlet was using the image to tell the same story,” investigative reporter David Collier noted. “Sky News, CNN, The Guardian, Daily Mail, New York Times, and The Times (UK) – they all ran with it, reinforcing the message: Gaza is gripped by mass starvation.”

“Except this image proves none of it,” he said.

“Wider and unpublished pictures show Mohammed’s healthy brother Joud, who was born on 18 April 2022 and is 3 years old. Mohammed was born on 23 December 2023, just two months after October 7. What we can see from the pictures is that both Mohammed’s mother and his older brother, look healthy and are not suffering from any type of starvation that would be necessary to cause the thinness suffered by Mohammed.

“This is visible in multiple images we have in our possession,” Collier continued. “The published images in all the various news broadcasts and publications have either been deliberately cropped to remove the image of the healthy brother, blurred him into obscurity, or the journalists have only chosen to use photos in which the brother is not visible at all.”

A medical report issued in May 2025 showed Mohammed was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as well as hypoxemia. Collier noted that in a BBC interview with Mohammed’s mother, she admitted he had physiotherapy sessions to help him stand, and the curvature of the spine could well be a result of the child’s cerebral palsy. “In a CNN report published on Saturday, the boy’s mother explained that Muhammad suffers from a muscle disorder,” Honest Reporting noted.

“From everything I’ve learned, Mohammed’s mother is simply trying to find help for her child,” Collier wrote. “She’s not hiding the truth. She tells the full story to anyone who asks. Yet every journalist who has spoken to her has made the same cynical decision: ignore the medical reality, strip the context, and turn her child into a propaganda weapon.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also dismissed “Hamas’s fake narrative,” writing on X that “the lie told by the media & Hamas is itself a tragedy.”

Hamas’ fake narrative exposed: Truth about Gazan child who made global headlines. The child’s health is no less tragic but the lie told by the media & Hamas is itself a tragedy. https://t.co/MdUEPAcO33

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 28, 2025

The media also pushed another lie about the Gazan child.

This is what a modern blood libel looks like:

A sick child. A hijacked photo. A lie that spreads faster than truth.

His name is Osama al-Raqab. He has cystic fibrosis, a serious genetic illness.

He’s been in Italy receiving treatment since June 12. Israel enabled his medical… pic.twitter.com/Sh8UBK3HVh

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) July 28, 2025

“Hamas cannot afford to lose control over aid distribution – not if it intends to remain the ruling power in post-war Gaza,” Collier posited. “Channeling or controlling aid has always been one of the terrorist group’s most reliable sources of income. That’s why it has been essential for Hamas to discredit the US-Israeli GHF aid program and portray it as a failure. This has included an almost daily pantomime of unverified claims that hundreds have been killed in Israeli attacks while queuing for aid. Yet in the most documented conflict zone in history, credible video evidence remains conspicuously absent = despite claims of daily occurrences.”

“There is plenty of publicly available information showing that significant quantities of food are entering Gaza. But with local media firmly under the control of Hamas, none of this gets reported,” he stated. “Instead of helping facilitate aid delivery, UN agencies have imposed impossible conditions, stalling convoys and leaving hundreds of trucks abandoned – their contents rotting just a short distance from those in need. … Let’s call this what it is: The UN, UNRWA and other NGOs are not prioritizing the safety of Palestinian civilians or indeed getting aid to a population they maintain are in desperate and immediate need of food. Instead it seems, they are prioritizing a political agenda that aligns with – and thus ensures – the survival of Hamas. They’re not neutral. They’re enablers.”

Collier’s comments were buttressed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who told NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday, that “Israel, since this war began, has supplied over 94,000 truckloads full of food. It’s enough food to feed two million people for two years, trying to get that into Gaza. But Hamas has stolen the food, a huge amount. In fact in 2024, the numbers are that Hamas profited over $500 million in stolen food aid that was supposed to go to these poor people who needed it. That’s half of their budget.”