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The Big Lies › 2025 › File PF-0247
Retracted

NYT Front-Page Gaza Famine Photo Omitted the Child's Pre-Existing Illness

A Times story on starvation in Gaza, with a front-page photo of the emaciated 18-month-old Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, presented him as a picture of famine.

First reported Jul 24, 2025 · The New York Times
Screenshot of the original report as published
Screenshot of the report as published: nytimes.com (archived copy, Wayback Machine). Tap to open the source.
Who it helped: Neither party

A foreign-affairs error with no clear US partisan beneficiary, though it strengthened criticism of Israel's conduct of the war.

What was reported

A Times story on starvation in Gaza, with a front-page photo of the emaciated 18-month-old Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, presented him as a picture of famine.

What actually happened

Five days after publication, the Times added an editor's note. It said the paper had learned from the boy's doctor that he also had pre-existing health problems. The updated story said his conditions affected brain and muscle development and had worsened as food and care became scarce. The child was still described as severely malnourished.

The proof

The Times's own editor's note, added after the boy's doctor described his pre-existing conditions.

The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:

NYT Front-Page Gaza Famine Photo Omitted the Child's Pre-Existing Illness — Retracted. The Times's own editor's note, added after the boy's doctor described his pre-existing conditions. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/nyt-gaza-starving-child-preexisting-conditions/

Original reporting

Corrections, findings & records

Archived copies

Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.

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