NY Times Photo Of Emaciated Gaza Toddler Draws Backlash, Prompts Editors’ Note

A haunting photo of an emaciated toddler cradled by his mother dominated the front page of Friday’s New York Times, quickly becoming a symbol of the hunger crisis in Gaza. Now, the newspaper has amended some aspects of his story amid criticism.

“Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, about 18 months, with his mother, Hedaya al-Mutawaq, who said he was born healthy but was recently diagnosed with severe malnutrition,” the original caption said.

But over the weekend, skeptics about the scope of the hunger crisis in Gaza — and especially about whether Israel is to blame — cried foul over the image and its use. They charged the newspaper with perpetrating a “blood libel” against Israel.

On Tuesday night, the newspaper announced that it had revised the story, saying that it had learned that the child had underlying medical issues that affected his muscle development. The revision removed the mother’s quote from the story saying that Mohammed had been born healthy and added context from his doctor, though it did not back away from the other reporting in the story, “Gazans Are Dying of Starvation,” including its claim that the child was suffering from malnutrition due to food shortages.

“This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his condition,” the newspaper said in a statement about an editors’ note appended to the story.

The editors’ note followed days of criticism of the newspaper and other outlets for running photographs that the critics said exaggerate the extent of hunger in Gaza and lay blame for any crisis solely at Israel’s feet.