A New York Times photographer working in Gaza was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for photography for pictures taken during the war between Israel and Hamas.

The prize committee said it was honoring Saher Alghorra “for his haunting, sensitive series showing the devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from the war with Israel.”

One of Alghorra’s front-page pictures, published in July 2025, showed an emaciated boy being cradled by his mother. It became a symbol of allegations of widespread starvation in the territory — and a target of criticism by those, including the Israeli government, who rejected the claim that it was intentionally causing hunger there.

Pictures of the boy, Mohammed al-Mutawaq, also appeared in Sky News, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, and the Times of London.

But several days after the photo appeared on The New York Times’ front page, freelance investigative journalist David Collier reported on his website that a May 2025 medical report from Gaza stated that Mohammed was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and suffers from hypoxemia, or low levels of oxygen in the blood, possibly linked to a suspected genetic disorder.

Collier also noted in his article that other photos from the same sets, used by major outlets, showed Mohammed’s mother and his older brother, who look to be of normal weight.

However, Collier himself acknowledged that Mohammed “has needed specialist medical supplements since birth,” indicating that he was also likely suffering due to the limited aid flow into Gaza, as medical equipment was in short supply and the Strip’s........

© The Times of Israel