{"id":105406,"date":"2025-07-30T17:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/105406\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T17:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:50:16","slug":"ny-times-admits-emaciated-gazan-boy-on-front-page-had-pre-existing-health-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/105406\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Times admits emaciated Gazan boy on front page had ‘pre-existing health problems’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Times issued a correction on Tuesday, after it published a front-page image last week of an emaciated child to illustrate widespread hunger in Gaza without noting that the boy suffers from health problems that predate the ongoing war.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented,\u201d the newspaper said in a written statement<\/a>. \u201cWe recently ran a story about Gaza\u2019s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammad Zakaria el-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition.<\/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. This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

A correction was added to the article<\/a> accompanying the photo online. The statement was posted on X to The New York Times\u2019 public relations account \u2014 which has some 89,000 followers; it was not posted to The New York Times\u2019 main X account, which has 55 million.<\/p>\n

The photograph, which dominated the Times\u2019 front page<\/a> on Friday, shows the boy, visibly malnourished, in the arms of his mother, Hedaya. She told the newspaper, according to its caption, that Mohammed \u201cwas born healthy but was recently diagnosed with severe malnutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Images of al-Mutawaq also appeared in Sky News, The Guardian<\/a>, The Daily Mail, and the Times of London, with similar captions, some of which \u2014 including in The New York Times\u2019 online edition \u2014 also claimed without clear evidence that \u201cMohammed\u2019s father was killed last year when he went to seek food.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The New York Times\u2019 July 25 front page showing a picture captioned: \u201cMohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, about 18 months, with his mother, Hedaya al-Mutawaq, who said he was born healthy but recently diagnozed with severe malnutrition. A doctor said the number children dying of malnutrition in Gaza had risen sharply.\u201d On July 30, the paper acknowledged that Mohammed \u201chad pre-existing health problems affecting his brain and his muscle development.\u201d<\/p>\n

An image of the child in his mother\u2019s arms also occupied the entire front page of the UK\u2019s Daily Express newspaper last week, with the headline: \u201cFOR PITY\u2019S SAKE STOP THIS NOW: The suffering of little Muhammad clinging on to life in Gaza hell shames us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Times acknowledged on Tuesday, in its updated article, which also features a short video clip of Mohammed in his mother\u2019s arms, that \u201cMohammed, according to his doctor, had pre-existing health problems affecting his brain and his muscle development.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d the newspaper noted, \u201chis health deteriorated rapidly in recent months as it became increasingly difficult to find food and medical care, and the medical clinic that treated him said he suffers from severe malnutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The correction came after freelance investigative journalist David Collier reported on his website<\/a> Monday that a May 2025 medical report from Gaza stated that Mohammed was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and suffers from hypoxemia, possibly linked to a suspected genetic disorder.<\/p>\n

\n

Today’s front page:<\/p>\n

(Article contains distressing content)https:\/\/t.co\/uHW1KQCXxa<\/a> @ExpressGilo<\/a> #DailyExpress<\/a> #Gaza<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ykKGEaTaV2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Daily Express (@Daily_Express) July 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Collier also noted in his article that other photos from the same sets, used by major outlets, showed Mohammed\u2019s mother and his older brother, who look to be of normal weight.<\/p>\n

\n

Unlike his brother standing by his side, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq suffers from cerebral palsy.<\/p>\n

But BBC, CNN, Daily Express, and The New York Times spread a misleading story using a picture of a sick, disabled child to promote a narrative of mass starvation in Gaza \u2014\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/dfkwQKS13i<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) July 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, Collier himself acknowledged that Mohammed \u201chas needed specialist medical supplements since birth,\u201d indicating that he is also likely further suffering due to the limited aid flow into Gaza, as medical equipment is in short supply and the Strip\u2019s health system has all but collapsed.\n<\/p>\n

Reporter challenges claim boy\u2019s father died looking for food<\/p>\n

Collier also challenged the claim made in some captions that \u201cMohammed\u2019s father was killed last year when he went to seek food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collier said he had identified the boy\u2019s father as Zakaria Ayoub al-Mutawaq, who was reported killed in an Israel Defense Forces attack on October 28, 2024, along with three others, on Al-Qassabeeb Street in northern Gaza\u2019s Jabalia.<\/p>\n

The elder al-Mutawaq\u2019s death came within days of a video published by Hamas of the group\u2019s operatives targeting Israeli soldiers on that same street. Six Israeli troops were killed in the area during a four-day period coinciding with the clip.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if there was evidence linking the elder al-Mutawaq to the boy beyond their shared last name.<\/p>\n

In the last several months, near-daily incidents have been reported across the Strip in which Palestinians seeking aid have been killed, sometimes by Israeli fire, in what the military has presented as crowd control attempts. Israeli ground troops only started to operate near aid sites in May 2025, however.<\/p>\n

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Smoke billows to the north as Palestinians move with their belogings through Jabalia while fleeing the northern Gaza Strip towards Gaza City on May 19, 2025, amid Israeli evacuation orders and ongoing strikes. (Bashar TALEB \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

On Monday, The Times of London published an article about Collier\u2019s story, though it neither endorsed nor rejected his findings.<\/p>\n

Neither Sky News, nor The Guardian or The Daily Mail had added corrections to their articles as of midday Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hidaya, a 31-year-old Palestinian mother, cradles her sick 18-month-old son Mohammed al-Mutawaq, who requires special medicine for pre-existing health problems and is suffering from malnutrition amid the war, inside their tent at the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 24, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, responding to The New York Times\u2019 correction, accused the newspaper of intentionally spreading a \u201cblood libel,\u201d in a post to X<\/a> on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is simply unbelievable,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAfter generating a tsunami of hate towards Israel with that terrifying picture, the NYT now quietly admits that the boy has preexisting conditions. NYT, you knew that Hamas uses babies with preexisting illnesses. We\u2019ve been saying this for months now. You knew exactly what this picture would cause. This is a blood libel in 2025. Have you no shame?\u201d<\/p>\n

Collier\u2019s article came as Israel charged<\/a> that another widely circulated image of an emaciated Palestinian child has been used to falsely accuse Israel of starving children in Gaza..<\/p>\n

The image in question was of 5-year-old Osama al-Rakab, who suffers from a serious genetic illness and who exited Gaza on June 12 to receive treatment abroad, with Israel\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

5-year-old Osama al-Rakab is seen receiving medical treatment, left. COGAT says a viral image of him, right, was used to falsely accuse Israel of starving children in Gaza. (Screen capture: COGAT via X)<\/p>\n

The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reported Tuesday that the \u201cworst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,\u201d predicting \u201cwidespread death\u201d in the absence of immediate action.<\/p>\n

Two days earlier, in light of the situation, Israel had started to pause all fighting in large swaths of the Strip for 10 hours each day, while facilitating a surge of aid by land and air.<\/p>\n

From March to May of this year, Israel blocked all humanitarian aid from entering the Strip, including food and medicine.<\/p>\n

At the time, Jerusalem estimated that enough aid had accumulated to last several months, and said that sending more would strengthen the Hamas terror group.<\/p>\n

Since ending that blockade, Israel has relied heavily on the US- and Israel-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Hamas authorities say near-daily fatal shootings near GHF sites have killed more than 1,000 people. The IDF says the number is exaggerated.<\/p>\n

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