Famine in Gaza: No, this image of Time magazine was not staged

An image published in the One of the Magazine Timewhich shows Palestinians waiting to obtain food aid, sows dismay on social networks. Some people say that the image was staged by the photographer and that people in the photo did not really get help. In truth, it was indeed a point of distribution of aid in the city of Gaza.

It was revealed today that this photo of Gaza appearing in Time magazine was completely staged – it is a lie. But they still published it. Because when it comes to Gaza, the basic principles of journalism do not applywrote an X account in a publication seen more than a million times on the platform.

The chirping contains the front page of the August 1 edition of Time. Gaza’s tragedycan we read on the cover of the magazine. The image in full page shows women and children in tears, tending their bowl towards the camera.

It’s completely false. The media is a shamewrites the same account in a second chirping. The tweet contains a screenshot of a German daily article Bild titled : This Gazaoui photographer stages Hamas propaganda. We see a man taking a photo of what seems to be the same crowd as that in the image appearing in Time.

There is no food in the image, which suggests, according to some, that there was not really a help point, that people with bowls did not really expect food and that they simply played comedy in front of the camera.

Two German articles

As proof, several rely on two articles published in German newspapers Bild et Süddeutsche Zeitung. The two articles do not specifically assert that the image of Time was staged.

The article of Süddeutsche Zeitung (new window) Call for caution when looking at photos from Gaza. The daily stresses that few journalists can work freely in the Gaza Strip and that those who remain there are closely monitored by Hamas.

Hamas has an interest in emotional images to circulate in the West, with the aim of influencing public opinion against Israel, says the newspaper. THE Süddeutsche Zeitung Recalls that journalists who work in areas controlled by the Israeli army are also monitored by it.

Cited in the article, the spokesperson for reporters Without Borders, Christopher Resch, judges that certain photos circulating are sometimes presented without context or that the people who are seen there have posed for the photographer, and that media should have included more information before disseminating them. But that would not improve the situation, because it would not change the fact that people in Gaza die of hungerhe judges.

The article of Bild (new window) essentially resumes information from Süddeutsche Zeitung, But the authors also claim to have identified the photographer who took the cliché: Anas Zayed Fteiha, a freelance photographer who would have disseminated Propalestinian activist messages on his social networks, according to the newspaper, damaging his credibility.

Joined by decryptors, the magazine Time refutes the claims of Bild. A spokesperson also points out that the photographer who took the image of his front page is not Anas Zayed Fteiha, but Ali Jadallah.

The magazine explains that the shot was taken on July 22 in the city of Gaza during a distribution of food aid. Several other photos of the same event (new window) can be consulted in the Getty image bank. In some of them, we can see that workers distribute food.

The spokesperson also sent us a video captured in the same place at the same time, where we can also see that food aid has indeed been distributed. Here is the sequence:

We can even see in the video the moment when the photo of a Time was taken. There was indeed food in front of people in the shot of the magazine.

The workers in the video distributing food has uniforms of Mercy Mission, a non -profit organization based in Pakistan. Joined via private messaging on Facebook, the organization confirmed that the event took place.

It is indeed our help point, and we distribute food there almost every daywe were confirmed.