A New York Times contributor who took a picture of a skeletally thin Palestinian child in Gaza who suffered from cerebral palsy that was published with a front page article about civilians starving to death has been awarded the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
The child was born with cerebral palsy. The photo’s original caption said, “He was born healthy.”
The newspaper had to issue a correction for the story last year following a public outcry, but Palestinian photographer Saher Alghorra won the prestigious award anyway.
The prize committee said last week that it was honoring the photojournalist “for his haunting, sensitive series showing the devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from the war with Israel.”
The picture of the boy, which went viral, became a symbol of the specious allegations of widespread starvation in the territory.
“One of the oldest lies in human history, that Jews deliberately harm children, is award-winning journalism,” Israeli Consul General to Toronto Idit Shamir tweeted on Friday.
“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.) posted on X.
