On July 23, 2023, The Guardian’s homepage displayed a gut-wrenching image of 18-month-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq. This remarkable picture caught the world’s imagination and sparked a firestorm of global outrage. His piercing look of that deeply malnourished little man melted hearts and took the world by… It helped raise that corresponding awareness when it topped the front page of The Guardian the following day, undoubtedly spurring the red-hot conversations around the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Muhammad’s mother had come with some very disturbing news. Her son, meanwhile, continues to experience rapid health deterioration, losing weight from 9 kilograms down to only 6 kilograms in recent weeks. Born with multiple congenital malformations, Muhammad’s condition has grown more dire with the worsening hunger crisis now plaguing Gaza. Medical experts have said that in times like this, children — particularly those with underlying health conditions — are the most vulnerable.
On 6th August 2025, The Guardian changed the subheading of an article about Muhammad. UPDATE: An earlier version of this post erroneously reported that he had cerebral palsy. However, this claim was not backed up with an official diagnosis from their doctors. As the Guardian’s editors have stated repeatedly, the images of Muhammad are newsworthy enough to justify public display. They make the case that these images are too important to overlook.
“A sick child who is starving is not any less deserving of our attention than any other child,” – Editors of The Guardian.
Suzan Marouf, a physician at Gaza City’s Friends hospital for the seriously wounded, revises Muhammad. She said his diagnosis was moderate malnutrition complicated by congenital anomalies. Now he has a beastly complication that’s crashing inside of his brain. Further complicating matters, muscle atrophy has raised his overall risk in this epidemic.
“His congenital issues are not significantly affecting his weight,” – Suzan Marouf.
From April to mid-July 2023, hospitals in Gaza admitted more than 20,000 children for treatment of acute malnutrition. Out of those, about 3,000 were considered severely malnourished. These alarming statistics further highlight that local kids are experiencing hunger-related health issues at a historic level.
Foreign journalists are under Israeli-imposed restrictions that make it difficult for them to enter Gaza. Despite the dangers, local journalists and photographers continue to risk their lives to expose the humanitarian catastrophe that is still unfolding. Cover image of Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq via Getty Images via Turkish state-run Anadolu agency
The Guardian has published dozens of these gut-wrenching images that illustrate the plight of children in Gaza. Among them, you’ll find at least 20 images of starving emaciated children. These visuals are not merely journalistic accounts; they serve as poignant reminders of a humanitarian emergency that demands immediate attention and action.
Many have recently pointed out the lack of substance and context behind these images. David Collier, a freelance journalist and antisemitism campaigner who has written on the narrative, challenged the story about Muhammad’s situation. He pointed out that the other family members appear healthy. All of this points to the possibility that the thinness of Muhammad is due to causes outside of a reign of global starvation.
“What we can see from [unpublished] pictures is that both Mohammed’s mother and his older brother look healthy and are not suffering from any type of starvation that would be necessary to cause the thinness suffered by Mohammed,” – David Collier.
Discourse around these images and what they represent, and should represent, continues. Experts emphasize that addressing child malnutrition is an urgent priority as the crisis continues.
The world has been called upon to engage meaningfully to end the suffering of vulnerable people in Gaza. And photographs, like the one above of Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, tell moving stories about a harsh reality. They are essential for giving life to the human cost of conflict and consequences of humanitarian neglect.