Gaza ‘starvation’ poster child has genetic condition, left Strip with Israel’s help

A Gaza boy who became the poster child for the alleged famine caused by the war in the Strip suffers from a genetic illness and was evacuated for treatment last month, the Israeli Defense Ministry said on Monday.

A picture of Osama al-Rakab, 5, was “used to falsely depict Israel as responsible for his condition, claiming Israel is starving children,” including in Italian media and on Al Jazeera, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit stated.

“Osama suffers from a serious genetic illness unrelated to the war. On June 12, we actively coordinated Osama’s exit from Gaza with his mother and brother through the Ramon airport,” stated COGAT.

The boy is currently being treated in an Italian hospital, it continued.

“Tragic images rightfully stir strong emotions, but when they’re misused to fuel hatred and lies, they do more harm than good,” said COGAT. “Don’t let compassion be exploited for propaganda.

“Check the facts before parroting blame,” the Defense Ministry unit stated, attaching a picture showing Osama in a hospital gown in Italy.

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday morning announced a series of humanitarian measures aimed at refuting “the false claim of deliberate starvation” in Gaza, including “tactical pauses” in the war on Hamas.

While emphasizing that “combat operations have not ceased” across the Strip, the IDF said pauses in military activities would be instituted in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City “every day until further notice.”

The decision to cease fighting in those areas between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. was coordinated with United Nations officials and other international organizations “following discussions regarding the matter,” it stated.

Humanitarian corridors will be established to enable the movement of U.N. convoys delivering food and medicine to Gazans. The secure aid routes will remain in place permanently between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The IDF added that it was prepared to expand the scale of its humanitarian response in the coastal enclave “as required.”

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told NBC‘s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that since the war started, Jerusalem has supplied over 94,000 truckloads of food, “enough to feed two million people for two years.”

“But Hamas has stolen the food,” Johnson continued. “In fact, in 2024, the numbers are that Hamas profited over $500 million in stolen food aid that was supposed to go to these poor people who needed it.”

Calling the ongoing United Nations-led aid efforts in the Strip a “broken system,” the politician noted the IDF will be “opening new channels of distribution to get it to those people who are desperately in need—that’s Israel’s intention and that is the U.S.'s intention and the U.N. as well.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a gathering of evangelical Christians in Jerusalem on Sunday that “there is no starvation in Gaza ... and I assure you that we have a commitment to achieve our war goals.

“We will continue to fight till we achieve the release of our hostages and the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities. They shall be there no more.”