{"id":103661,"date":"2025-07-30T02:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103661\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T02:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:34:11","slug":"new-york-times-stunningly-rolls-back-claims-about-viral-photo-of-starving-gaza-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103661\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Times stunningly rolls back claims about\u00a0viral photo of starving Gaza boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Times appended a story it published last week containing a shocking image of a child<\/a> purportedly suffering from starvation in Gaza with an editor\u2019s note Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The note informs readers that Mohammed Zakaria al Mutawaq \u2014 the Gazan boy \u201cdiagnosed with severe malnutrition\u201d and pictured in the article \u2014 also suffers from \u201cpre-existing health problems.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recently ran a story about Gaza\u2019s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition,\u201d a spokesperson for the outlet said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, a 1.5-year-old child in Gaza City, Gaza, faces life-threatening malnutrition. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The New York Times released an editor\u2019s note that Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq also suffers from \u201cpre-existing health conditions.\u201d Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems,\u201d the spokesperson continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The stark images of little al Mutawaq \u2014 shown with a gaunt face and his spine protruding from his back as his mother held him \u2014 went viral last week, with many using him as the poster child for starvation in the Palestinian enclave <\/a>amid Israel\u2019s war against Hamas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Days after the New York Times published images of al Mutawaq, pro-Israel group HonestReporting<\/a> noted on July 27 that the boy\u2019s older brother, Joud, is standing in the background, appearing in far better condition.<\/p>\n

The New York Times posted the editors note on Tuesday. New York Times\/X<\/p>\n

The images of al Mutawaq went viral last week. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Al Mutawaq\u2019s mother has also indicated that her son suffers from a \u201cmuscle disorder\u201d for which he receives specialized nutrition and physical therapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She noted \u2014 in a CNN<\/a> segment last week \u2014 that her son was \u201chappy\u201d and able to \u201csit upright.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Times note did not elaborate on the pre-existing health problems al Mutawaq suffers from.\u00a0
However, pro-Israel journalist David Collier reported last week<\/a> that the young boy has \u201ccerebral palsy, hypoxemia, and was born with a serious genetic disorder,\u201d citing a May 2025 medical report from Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Times appended a story it published last week containing a shocking image of a child…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":103662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,4526,4527,373,398,405,403,6985,5226,5225,5228,5227,31235,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-103661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-gaza-strip","10":"tag-hamas","11":"tag-israel-hamas-war","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-times","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-palestinians","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114939852592094506","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}