Eitan Fischberger is an Israeli journalist who is active on X. Today’s Wall Street Journal carries his corrective column “Gaza Starvation Photos Tell a Thousand Lies.” Subhead: “Hamas propaganda exploits seriously ill children, and Western media go along.” Fischberger writes:
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Over the weekend, I embedded with the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza, where I saw the enormous quantities of humanitarian aid the United Nations has been refusing to distribute. What struck me most were the thousands upon thousands of pounds of baby food, baking under the Middle Eastern sun—jar after jar of mashed carrots, pureed potatoes and fruit blends. This food could have gone to children like Mohammed al-Mutawaaq.
Those who don’t know his name will almost certainly recognize his face. Pictures of him, gaunt and fragile, staring vacantly into the camera, were plastered across the homepages of major media outlets last week, from the New York Times and Politico to the BBC. Mohammed, more than anyone else, was made the face of a devastating allegation: that Israel is deliberately starving Palestinian children.
That wasn’t the truth about Mohammed, nor is it the truth about what’s happening in Gaza. Mohammed suffers from cerebral palsy, according to British investigative journalist David Collier, who uncovered a local charity’s May 2025 report mentioning the boy’s condition. CNN, for its part, briefly noted in an offhand comment during a broadcast that Mohammed suffers from a “muscle disorder,” before dropping the point from later reporting. Another notable omission from virtually all media coverage were the photos of Mohammed being held by his mother with his older brother standing nearby. Both mother and brother appear healthy and fed.
“Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving,” noted an unrepentant July 29 editor’s note in the New York Times. The paper admitted it had “since learned new information” and “updated our story to add context about [Mohammed’s] pre-existing health problems.” That context would have been more useful before publishing his image on the front page and fueling global outrage.
Mohammed’s isn’t the only recent case of babies afflicted with terrible illnesses being exploited to promote a false narrative that Israel is intentionally starving Gazan children. Cogat, the Israeli military unit that coordinates humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territories, tweeted Monday about a viral photo of a different child, Osama al-Raqab. Like Mohammed, Osama looked emaciated, and critics claimed that he too was starving due to Israel’s actions. These critics include Dr. Muneer Alboursh, director of the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, who tweeted that Israel was trying to “mislead public opinion by claiming that he was suffering from other illnesses, not hunger” and that “what is happening is not propaganda, but a real famine.”
Yet according to Cogat—and previously confirmed by the boy’s mother to the Associated Press—Osama actually suffers from cystic fibrosis. On June 12, Israel coordinated his evacuation to Italy, along with his mother and brother, so he could receive medical treatment. “Tragic images rightfully stir strong emotions,” the Cogat post said. “But when they’re misused to fuel hatred and lies, they do more harm than good.”
That harm was clear to me in Gaza, where I stood surrounded by nearly 600 trucks worth of food, water and diapers, all ready to be delivered….
Whole thing here.
