The New York Times rebuffed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to sue for defamation over its publication of a malnourished Gazan boy on Thursday, standing by its journalists who “bravely, sensitively and at personal risk” report from the frontlines for the paper of record.
The threat to sue came in response to an image the Times published last month that featured a mother and her son; the son was very thin and emaciated, his spine protruding down the length of his back. It was learned after publication that the boy had a pre-existing medical condition that informed his gaunt appearance. The paper ran a correction July 29. But on Thursday, Netanyahu said the image was “such clear defamation” and he intended to sue.
“The New York Times should be sued. I’m actually looking at whether a country can sue the New York Times, and I’m looking into it right now. Because I think it’s such clear defamation,” Netanyahu said, interviewing exclusively with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer. “I mean, you put a picture of a child that’s supposed to then represent all these supposedly starving children, yet they put in this picture of a child who has cerebral palsy, and they took another picture somewhere else, other media, a child who had cystic fibrosis, got nothing to do with starvation.”
The Times’ communications desk responded in a statement later that day, explaining the context around the image in question and disparaging the prime minister’s threats to independent media as “unfortunately an increasingly common playbook.”
https://t.co/Mh03DRlnjC pic.twitter.com/8APvCQqoNS
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) August 7, 2025
“Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented,” the statement read. “Mr. Netanyahu is referring to an update we made to a story about how the food crisis is affecting the civilian population. After publication, we learned that a child shown in that story — in addition to being severely malnourished — also had pre-existing health problems. That additional information gave readers a greater understanding of his situation.”
The statement continued: “Attempts to threaten independent media providing vital information and accountability to the public are unfortunately an increasingly common playbook, but journalists continue to report from Gaza for The Times, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war.”
In his Fox News interview Thursday, Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledged that “there is suffering” in Gaza, but pushed back against the narrative that the suffering is coming at the hands of Israel.
“There is suffering, yes, because Hamas is interdicting aid, and what we’re doing is overcoming it,” he said. “I don’t deny that there’s suffering. I want to end the suffering. And I want to end it by ending Hamas rule.”
The young boy in the featured image is named Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq. The photograph first ran July 24 in a story headlined “Gazans Are Dying of Starvation” before running as the front page of the paper on July 25.
The Times’ correction dded al-Mutawaq suffered from “pre-existing health problems affecting his brain and his muscle development.” His health has “deteriorated rapidly in recent months,” the story added right after, “as it became increasingly difficult to find food and medical care” in Gaza. The paper also shared an update on its communications social accounts:
“We recently ran a story about Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition,” the statement read. “We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems.”
