No, a Gaza toddler having cerebral palsy does not mean Israeli starvation is a ‘lie'

Middle East Eye

a day ago

Photographs of extremely thin, often skeletal, children in Israeli-starved Gaza have become all too familiar.
One such image, of the severely malnourished infant Mohammed al-Mutawaq, went viral last week.
The 18-month-old child's picture featured in several international media outlets, including the BBC, CNN, The Times, The New York Times and the Daily Express.
It added yet more evidence of starvation in Gaza as a result of a near-total Israeli blockade on food and humanitarian aid since March.
But the images of Mutawaq's frail body have hit the headlines again, for different reasons.
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It has been reported that the toddler has cerebral palsy, a fact which was not mentioned in every use of his photo in recent days.
As a result of this omission, several pro-Israeli voices are now saying that Mutawaq's case proves that starvation in Gaza is 'a lie'.
'The picture that launched the global blood libel that Israel was starving Gazan children to death now stands… as a fraud perpetrated by the western media,' wrote Melanie Phillips, a right-wing columnist at The Times.
'The starvation lie is the latest in their decades-long attempt to delegitimise and destroy the tiny Jewish state.'
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth stated that photos of Mutawaq, among others, 'appear to be part of an effort to reinforce the 'famine narrative''.
Talk TV Julia Hartley-Brewer, a presenter at Talk TV, described such images of Palestinian children as 'propaganda'.
"Often, there's a picture of a mother who's quite chubby at the back with the child. Hey lady, maybe give some of your food to your kid," Hartley-Brewer said during a live broadcast.
But is the fact that some of the most malnourished children in Gaza already have pre-existing health conditions really the 'gotcha' that commentators are claiming?
'It's wrong to say that their malnourished appearance is just because of their condition'
- Yasin Fatine, paediatrician
Yasin Fatine, a London-based doctor specialising in paediatrics, said that the photographs of Mutawaq and others were consistent with starvation, not their long-term disabilities.
'There's no reason for them to be looking this thin if they have the right nutrition and right dietetic input,' Fatine told Middle East Eye.
'It's wrong to say that their malnourished appearance is just because of their condition. That's not true," he added.
'If you look anywhere in the western or developed world, you will not see children this thin or skeletal, even with these kinds of conditions.'
Children like Mutawaq, with cerebral palsy and other long-term conditions, have specific needs - including nutritional requirements, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
'They may have an increased requirement of calories to maintain their growth and their development. These children also usually have input from dietitians,' said Fatine.
Starvation in Gaza: Dizziness, fatigue and people collapsing in the streets Read More »
'Because of the ongoing conflict and genocide, these needs are not being met.'
Far from disproving that Israel's blockade on food and medicine is causing starvation in Gaza, the pictures of children with pre-existing conditions add yet further evidence of the deadly impact of the siege.
'Starvation-related deaths often involve more than just food insecurity. Many victims - including individuals with disabilities, cerebral palsy, cancer and elderly people - were already medically vulnerable,' Rowida Sabbah, who is in Gaza leading Medical Aid for Palestinians' nutrition programme, told MEE.
'Under normal conditions, they required specialised nutrition, medications and consistent healthcare. The total breakdown of essential services has led to a rapid decline in their health, resulting in many preventable deaths.'
She said that people with conditions like Mutawaq needed urgent specialised nutrition support, such as total parenteral nutrition and enteral feeding. Due to the Israeli blockade on medical supplies, they are at imminent risk of death.
Efforts to deny that Palestinians are dying of starvation have not been limited to columnists. Israel has used official social media accounts to push the same narrative.
'41-year-old Mohammad al-Hasanat didn't die of starvation - he suffered from untreated diabetes and died from complications of severe hypercatabolism,' read one such post from Israel's official X account.
'But his image is now being used to smear Israel. This isn't compassion. It's manipulation.'
Alonso Gurmendi, an international law expert, wrote that this rhetoric was akin to Israel saying: 'We didn't starve him to death[;] we just made it impossible for him to get treatment for his illness until he died.'
Children at more risk than adults
As for suggestions that adults appearing less skeletal than children demonstrates 'propaganda', as Hartley-Brewer appeared to suggest, medical and humanitarian experts are clear that children are at the greatest risk of starvation.
'Their bodies are still developing, requiring more nutrients relative to their size, which means they can become severely malnourished within weeks,' Ammar Ammar of Unicef, the UN's aid agency for children, told MEE.
'Malnutrition quickly weakens their immune systems, making common illnesses like diarrhoea and pneumonia far more deadly," he added.
'Unlike adults, children also face long-term, often irreversible growth and developmental delays and damage, particularly if undernourishment occurs within the first 1,000 days of life.'
'The risk of malnutrition-related deaths among infants and young children is higher than ever before'
- Ammar Ammar, Unicef regional director
Fatine said that infants who have not moved on to solid foods are at particular risk in Gaza.
'They have a requirement for maternal milk and this may not be available, particularly if the mother has been injured, killed or if the mother is not adequately nourished herself,' the paediatrician said.
'In general, children are at a higher risk of malnutrition because of the relative lack of fat stores that adults usually have.'
He added that if these infants survive, nutritional deficiencies will have a long-term impact on their growth and development going into adulthood.
As of this month, the entire population under five in the Gaza Strip - more than 320,000 children - are at risk of acute malnutrition, due to a lack of safe water, breastmilk substitutes and therapeutic feeding.
At least 6,500 children were admitted for malnutrition treatment last month and a further 5,000 cases were recorded in the first two weeks of this month.
As of this week, 147 people - including 88 children - have died from Israeli-imposed starvation in Gaza since October 2023.
'With fewer than 15 percent of essential nutrition treatment services currently functional, the risk of malnutrition-related deaths among infants and young children is higher than ever before,' said Ammar.