Israeli authorities are strongly disputing media stories exhibiting three purportedly ravenous Gazan kids, insisting all have pre-existing medical circumstances.
The 2 boys and one woman – five-year-old Osama al-Rakab, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq and 11-month-old Sila Barbakh — have turn into symbols of Gaza’s ongoing meals disaster as Israel has come beneath intense worldwide strain amid allegations of widespread hunger and throttled humanitarian help.
On Monday, President Donald Trump mentioned there was “actual hunger” unfolding within the Gaza Strip, whereas hedging his assertion by asserting Hamas was “stealing the meals.” The Israeli authorities has
that just about 1,000 help vehicles filled with provides have remained caught on the Gaza border as a result of obstruction from worldwide organizations, together with the United Nations, and that the scenario is being exploited by Hamas for political achieve.
“Lots of of help vehicles have entered Gaza with Israel’s approval, however the provides are standing idle, undelivered,” Israel’s Overseas Ministry
on social media above an image of international media visiting the Kerem Shalom crossing.
“The rationale? The UN refuses to distribute the help. Hamas and the UN forestall the help to succeed in the civilians in Gaza. The world deserves to know the reality.”
On the nation’s official X account on Tuesday, Israel mentioned al-Matouq, whose picture has been utilized in international media protection in regards to the meals disaster in Gaza, “suffers from cerebral palsy.”
“However BBC, CNN, Day by day Categorical, and The New York Instances unfold a deceptive story utilizing an image of a sick, disabled youngster to advertise a story of mass hunger in Gaza — taking part in into the arms of Hamas’s propaganda struggle. With out correct disclosure. With out medical context. With out journalistic ethics.”
In contrast to his brother standing by his facet, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq suffers from cerebral palsy.
However BBC, CNN, Day by day Categorical, and The New York Instances unfold a deceptive story utilizing an image of a sick, disabled youngster to advertise a story of mass hunger in Gaza —… pic.twitter.com/UzP5PhNSvU
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) July 29, 2025
Doubts over the accuracy of al-Matouq’s heart-wrenching photos have been raised in latest days after British journalist David Collier publicized contradicting data. Collier wrote an in depth thread on Sunday explaining that al-Matouq “suffers from cerebral palsy, has hypoxemia, and was born with a critical genetic dysfunction,” purportedly based mostly on a 2025 medical report of his.
Unique:
This isn’t the face of famine. It’s the face of a medically weak youngster whose tragic scenario was hijacked and weaponised.
Exposing the reality behind the viral Gaza ‘famine’ picture of Mohammed Al-Matouq. 1/13
🧵⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/IUAHmdoVDb
— David Collier (@mishtal) July 27, 2025
Earlier this yr, Collier
{that a} much-touted BBC documentary, “Gaza: Survive a Warzone,” was narrated by the son of a senior Hamas official, which led to its retraction by the British public broadcaster.
Al-Matouq’s image was used throughout worldwide media as a defining picture testifying to the devastating private value of Israel’s struggle in Gaza and the continued help disaster within the Strip. “A horrifying picture encapsulating the ‘maelstrom of human distress’ gripping Gaza,” the
described him. Al-Matouq seems to be the one picture of a skeletal youngster used within the
digital story from final Thursday entitled, “Gazans are dying of hunger.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the Instances issued an editors’ word clarifying that because the publication of the story, the outlet “realized from his physician that Mohammed additionally had pre-existing well being issues.”
“This extra element provides readers a higher understanding of his scenario,” a separate
reads.
The Israeli authorities’s social media message got here a day after its international ministry highlighted related considerations in regards to the picture of five-year-old Osama al-Rakab, one other youngster used as an alleged illustration of the extreme malnourishment Gazan youth confront.
Al-Rakab’s bony torso was featured on Al Jazeera and throughout varied Italian media retailers, with one that includes his picture beneath a title
a well-known guide from a Jewish survivor of Nazi dying camps. Nevertheless, based on Israel’s Coordinator of Authorities Actions within the Territories (COGAT), al-Rakab
“suffers from a critical genetic sickness unrelated to the struggle” and was transported out of Gaza alongside his mom and brother to an Israeli airport for remedy overseas.
“That is what a contemporary blood libel seems like: A sick youngster. A hijacked photograph. A lie that spreads sooner than fact,” the Israeli international ministry’s X account wrote on Monday.
That is what a contemporary blood libel seems like:
A sick youngster. A hijacked photograph. A lie that spreads sooner than fact.
His title is Osama al-Raqab. He has cystic fibrosis, a critical genetic sickness.
He’s been in Italy receiving remedy since June 12. Israel enabled his medical… pic.twitter.com/Sh8UBK3HVh
— Israel Overseas Ministry (@IsraelMFA) July 28, 2025
Later Tuesday, Israel’s official X account publicized a 3rd toddler, 11-month-old Sila Barbakh, who allegedly “isn’t ravenous” however “suffers from a pre-existing persistent gastrointestinal sickness, unrelated to the struggle.”
An actual youngster.
A faux story.
📸 11-month-old Sila Barbakh isn’t ravenous — he suffers from a pre-existing persistent gastrointestinal sickness, unrelated to the struggle.
However international media used his photograph to push a false narrative of famine in Gaza.
This isn’t journalism. It’s propaganda. pic.twitter.com/u9BL29zNjG
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) July 29, 2025
An account alleging Barbakh was affected by hunger was featured in
, explaining that the newborn weighed simply “seven and a half kilos” based on a pediatrician.
Information printed by the Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry final weekend
that 56 Palestinians died of hunger in July, representing nearly half of the entire because the struggle started on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group invaded Israel.
In late Might, the handover of humanitarian provides was redesigned and shifted away from the United Nations to an
and Israeli-supported outfit, the Gaza Humanitarian Basis (GHF). Below the brand new association, Gazan civilians have been required to journey into Israeli-militarily managed areas to acquire provides.
GHF reportedly distributed
meals to civilians and confronted important opposition from Hamas, which attacked and killed a dozen Palestinian staff transported to the distribution web site to help with the operation. The American group has additionally
Hamas is providing bounties for individuals who kill American contractors or Palestinians helping.
The GHF handovers have typically devolved into violent affairs with greater than
reportedly killed because it started working, the UN famous final week. Israel has been accused of capturing Palestinians searching for help, whereas scores have additionally died on account of
within the ensuing chaos.
Drone footage from right now exhibits @UN help vehicles being ransacked.
The folks of Gaza are in determined want of safe, dependable assist. Not chaos.
We’re right here to assist every time the UN decides that Palestinians deserve higher. pic.twitter.com/OsCc3rmnou
— Gaza Humanitarian Basis (@GHFUpdates) July 28, 2025
In late July, Israel introduced it could restart humanitarian air drops into Gaza alongside different Arab nations, together with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a apply that was
final yr after it destroyed property and hit civilians.
In accordance with the
, Israel had blockaded meals from getting into the Strip between March and Might, citing considerations that Hamas was pilfering provides.
The extent of Hamas’s theft of humanitarian help stays a hotly contested situation. The New York Instances
that the “Israeli army by no means discovered proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen help from the United Nations, the largest provider of emergency help to Gaza for many of the struggle,” based mostly on nameless conversations with a number of Israeli officers.
Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) launched a video
exhibiting Hamas militants with rifles “looting an help truck” whereas civilians collect round.
Photos shared by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian-American educational and senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, additionally purport to point out Hamas militants stealing help throughout an earlier ceasefire. “Proper right here earlier than your eyes! However based on NGOs & media, there’s nonetheless ‘no proof’ of theft,” Alkhatib, a vocal critic of Hamas and the Netanyahu authorities, wrote on X in mid-July.
In one other publish the next day, Alkhatib
a video alleging Hamas cops stripped, arrested and beat Palestinians who ventured to the GHF help distribution web site.
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Hamas’s police used pick-ups & donkey carts to steal help all through the Gaza struggle, particularly through the ceasefire earlier this yr, the place a whole lot of vehicles entered the Strip each day. Proper right here earlier than your eyes! However based on NGOs & media, there’s nonetheless “no proof” of theft. pic.twitter.com/iGKb6xiOmo
— Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (@afalkhatib) July 21, 2025
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