EXPOSED: The Viral Starvation Lie — Gaza Child Photos Debunked as Anti-Israel Propaganda.

“Facts don’t lie. Propaganda does.”
— COGAT Spokesperson

In a stunning rebuke to the tidal wave of international outrage fueled by carefully curated and highly emotional imagery, Israel has confirmed what pro-Israel watchdogs have long suspected: the most widely circulated “starvation” photos coming out of Gaza are not just misleading — they are outright lies.

The Viral Photo That Wasn’t What It Seemed

Over the past two weeks, a photo of five-year-old Osama al-Rakab rocketed across the internet, saturating social media timelines and mainstream headlines from London to Los Angeles. With sunken eyes and visible ribs, the image was weaponized by pro-Hamas activists and sympathetic media outlets as “proof” that Israel was deliberately starving Gaza’s children.

But there was just one problem: it wasn’t true.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) issued a firm statement debunking the claims. Osama al-Rakab, they revealed, suffers from a rare and severe genetic illness unrelated to the ongoing war against Hamas. Even more telling — the boy was not even in Gaza when the photos were used in this libelous campaign. He had been evacuated weeks earlier with his mother and brother and is currently receiving medical treatment in Italy.

“Tragic images rightfully stir strong emotions,” COGAT tweeted, “but when they’re misused to fuel hatred and lies, they do more harm than good.”

COGAT also emphasized that Osama’s exit from Gaza was coordinated through Israel’s Ramon Airport on June 12, directly contradicting the false narrative that Israel is blocking medical evacuations or humanitarian aid.

A photo of 5-year-old Osama al-Rakab has gone viral, used to falsely depict Israel as responsible for his condition, claiming Israel is starving children.#TheFacts: Osama suffers from a serious genetic illness unrelated to the war. On June 12, we actively coordinated Osama's… pic.twitter.com/7IY826P0JZ

— COGAT (@cogatonline) July 28, 2025

Second Photo, Same Deception: Meet the ‘Starved’ Child Who Has Cerebral Palsy

A second image — no less disturbing — was similarly manipulated by major global media outlets including The New York Times, NBC News, The Guardian, and the BBC. The photograph showed a skeletal boy, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, cradled in his mother’s arms with his spine protruding from his fragile frame. It was presented as a visual indictment of Israel’s supposed blockade-driven starvation campaign.

But once again, the facts destroy the fiction.

According to reports unearthed by HonestReporting after investigative journalist David Collier broke the story, Muhammad suffers from cerebral palsy, hypoxemia, and a severe genetic disorder. A medical report from Gaza, dated May 2025, documented these pre-existing conditions — conveniently ignored in every headline that presented the child as a victim of Israeli policy.

🚨 UPDATE: it’s now been confirmed that the boy in this photo has a serious medical disorder. CNN called it a degenerative muscle disease, while investigative journalist David Collier said it was “cerebral palsy, hypoxemia, and was born with a serious genetic disorder.” Though… https://t.co/iATeY8nPN3

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 27, 2025

Most damning of all? Muhammad’s older brother, Joud, appears in the background of the same photo, healthy, well-fed, and clearly unaffected by the supposed “widespread famine.”

Yet despite this, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, which captured the viral photo, claimed it was representative of a starvation epidemic. And the BBC, rather than questioning the context, interviewed the photographer and ran the image without scrutiny. It is important to qualify that Anadolu has a long history of spreading disinformation, usually in an effort to portray Israel or the West as barbarians to their Islamist base - many refer to Anadolu as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's own "Al Jazeera".

You’ve seen the photo. A starving Gazan child. Bones showing. Headline after headline claiming it was proof of famine.

It ran on the front page of the Daily Express on 23 July. Then Sky News, CNN, NYT, BBC, Guardian, and others picked it up.

But they left something out. 2/13

— David Collier (@mishtal) July 27, 2025

The Dangerous Weaponization of Compassion

These manipulative tactics are not simply journalistic errors — they are part of a deliberate propaganda operationaimed at delegitimizing Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization embedded in civilian infrastructure.

While the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry claims 20 children have died from malnutrition in the past three weeks, no independent verification exists — and the ministry’s track record for fabrications is well-documented. However, these facts, from the health ministry being controlled by the terror group Hamas to the information not being verified is ignored by mainstream media outlets which quote the Gaza Health Ministry and its "officials" blindly, all the while treating Israeli information with skepticism and in some cases, disdain.

The United Nations, never shy about echoing Hamas talking points, has also accused Israel of slowing aid delivery. But the truth, as the IDF and Israeli officials have repeatedly pointed out, is that Israel is allowing aid through daily — with strict oversight to prevent Hamas from hijacking it for terror operations.

“Israel will not allow sacks of flour to become the next tunnel of terror,” an IDF spokesman said.

In fact, to appease international pressure, the IDF announced a “local tactical pause” in military activity to permit even more aid to enter Gaza. But they stressed that distribution within Gaza is the responsibility of the UN and aid organizations, and these entities must ensure the aid does not fall into Hamas’s hands.

“We operate every day to bring in aid, Hamas operates every day to create a perception of crisis. The international community needs to know the truth!”

-COL Abdullah Halabi, Head of the CLA Gaza, on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. pic.twitter.com/xTwRod0rY4

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 25, 2025

Conclusion: A Blood Libel for the Digital Age

What we are witnessing is the 21st-century equivalent of the medieval blood libel: children’s suffering, real or fabricated, cynically exploited to frame Jews as murderers.

Only now, the parchment has been replaced by pixels. The mobs carry smartphones, not pitchforks. And the lies travel at the speed of a tweet.

The world owes Israel, and the truth, an apology.

FACT CHECK SUMMARY