A New York Times photo of an emaciated, starving Gazan child clasped in his mother’s arms went viral last July and sparked furious international backlash over Israel’s supposed intentional starvation of Gaza’s children, which the accompanying article described. The paper was forced to publish a retraction — taking care to display it where it would receive the fewest possible views — after it was revealed that the child suffered from cerebral palsy and that the child’s healthy brother had been cropped out. The original caption proclaimed that the child was born healthy.

Yet despite the misleading nature of the photo and the dissemination of fake news it engendered, the journalist who snapped the pic won an award.

Palestinian photographer Saher Alghorra was awarded the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography “for his haunting, sensitive series showing the devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from the war with Israel.”

For those who follow the pattern of lies the international media has promoted about Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks, this particular photo had come to symbolize the campaign of disinformation and propaganda that the media had instigated against Israel.

HonestReporting slammed the decision to award Alghorra the Pulitzer Prize.

“The Pulitzer Prizes just crowned New York Times photographer Saher Alghorra for his Gaza photos — a prize built on staged scenes, a manufactured ‘famine’ narrative, and intimate access to Hamas terrorists,” the outlet said on X.

“By honoring him, the Pulitzers aren’t rewarding courageous war photography; they’re legitimizing Hamas‑adjacent narratives built on emotional manipulation, staged imagery and unrivaled access to a terror group,” it added. “One day, people will ask how this passed as ‘journalism.'”

“The photographer lied about a starving child in Gaza. They rewarded them with a Pulitzer Prize. Insane,” Eyal Yakoby, a well-known Jewish advocate, posted on X.

The New York Times fired back on X, saying, “Saher Alghorra has documented hundreds of starving and malnourished children in Gaza, conducting intrepid photojournalism at personal risk so readers can see the consequences of war. This attack on his work is baseless.”

“Jurors called Saher’s work a ‘distinguished example’ of breaking news photography for his spontaneous coverage of these scenes in Gaza,” the paper of record added.

The post earned the scorn of users, who shot back, accusing the Times of being “consumed by hate,” in the words of one user.

Senior officials and politicians also hit back.

Israeli Consul General to Toronto Idit Shamir took to X to express his disgust. “One of the oldest lies in human history, that Jews deliberately harm children, is award-winning journalism,” he wrote.

“When so-called journalism receives an award for spreading fake news about Israel, it tells you everything you need to know about where the mainstream media currently is,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) chimed in.