A photograph of a ravenous baby in Gaza has gone viral, with many in Israel claiming it depicts false info.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
You’ve got in all probability seen the photographs of an emaciated 18-month-old Mohammad Al-Motawaq along with his mom, Hidayat (ph) Al-Motawaq. They’re amongst many pictures shared by main media organizations, together with NPR, which have come to outline the acute starvation gripping Gaza after months of Israeli restrictions on meals help. NPR producer Anas Baba spoke to the Al-Motawaq household greater than every week in the past.
MOHAMMAD AL-MOTAWAQ: (Crying).
HIDAYA AL-MOTAWAQ: (Talking Arabic).
CHANG: However since that interview, the pictures of Mohammad have been broadly circulated inside Israel for a really completely different purpose. Many imagine that the pictures present the worldwide media are falsifying stories of mass hunger in Gaza. NPR’s Emily Feng takes it from right here.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Virtually instantly after the pictures of 18-month-old Mohammad ricocheted all over the world, an Israeli blogger falsely claimed the boy had cerebral palsy, which they declare prompted him to seem like ravenous when he was not. In truth, he had been going as much as 4 days with out meals at a time.
SUZAN MOHAMMED MAROUF: (Talking Arabic).
FENG: That is Suzan Mohammed Marouf, a vitamin specialist on the Affected person’s Pals Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza. She’s been Mohammad’s main physician, treating him for malnutrition since January.
MAROUF: (Talking Arabic).
FENG: She says the hospital gave him nutritional vitamins and milk. Mohammad’s well being improved. His mom, Hidaya Al-Motawaq, reveals NPR producer Anas Baba photographs from that point. Mohammad is rotund and smiling – nearly a unique baby from the one he’s now.
MOHAMMAD: (Crying).
FENG: His medical doctors say Mohammad doesn’t have cerebral palsy. He has muscular dystrophy. It is a genetic situation that in Mohammad causes lack of coordination. He has a barely bigger than common head because of this as effectively, and he’s further weak to malnutrition. However with good meals and bodily remedy, his mom says Mohammad realized to face this 12 months.
AL-MOTAWAQ: (Talking Arabic).
FENG: He used to chortle, play and say, mother and pa, she says. Then, in mid-March, Israel ended a brief ceasefire. It tightened restrictions on what may get into Gaza. Meals dried up. The United Nations says over 20,000 youngsters have needed to be handled for acute malnutrition since April, and lots of others, like Mohammad, have been unable to get therapy and even get a hospital mattress.
AL-MOTAWAQ: (Talking Arabic).
FENG: And his mom says Mohammad misplaced almost 9 kilos since March. He misplaced his newly acquired means to face and to talk.
SAEED SALAH: Feeding is crucial for all times.
FENG: That is Dr. Saeed Salah, a nutritionist who directs the hospital the place Mohammad has been handled.
SALAH: If we’ve got give him good nutrient and different standards for look after – of the infant, of the kid, he will probably be coping with a superb life than what we’re struggling now.
FENG: With care and meals, Mohammad can develop simply as every other baby would, he says. Even with Israel’s new each day pauses in navy operations, almost each main humanitarian group in Gaza says Israel is permitting solely a dribble of help to be delivered, although Israel’s navy says Hamas is answerable for the struggling in Gaza. Gaza well being authorities have recorded dozens of kids’s deaths as a result of malnutrition prior to now month – figures some Israeli shops dispute, saying they’re manipulated by Hamas. Here is Dr. Marouf, Mohammad’s main physician.
MAROUF: (Talking Arabic).
FENG: Dr. Marouf at Affected person’s Pals Hospital emphasizes Mohammad isn’t the one baby struggling persistent starvation. Her hospital’s overwhelmed with pediatric malnutrition circumstances from youngsters with and with out particular wants. Dr. Salah, the hospital director, says do not take him at his phrase. If folks assume the mass starvation is Hamas propaganda…
SALAH: Let the opposite facet, which is the media – worldwide media – to return right here.
FENG: Israel has banned overseas press entry, apart from restricted journeys accompanied by their very own forces. Dr. Salah says, let the worldwide press into Gaza. Then they’ll see for themselves what is going on there.
Emily Feng, NPR Information, with Anas Baba in Gaza Metropolis.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might fluctuate. Transcript textual content could also be revised to appropriate errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
