On July 21, 2025, the Society of Journalists for Agence France Presse (AFP) put out a dramatic press release about the imminent deaths due to starvation of “the last reporters in Gaza.”
The press release referred to the heartbreaking cries of AFP employees who no longer have the physical capacity to work due to starvation, and mentioned 10 reporters — one freelance writer, three photographers, and six freelance videographers – who would die in the absence of intervention. Two were identified by name. An image of the press release was posted on the society’s X account alongside two screenshots of social media posts by AFP journalists, their identities blurred out.
We traced the first post to Bashar Taleb, previously shown to be a PFLP supporter steeped in antisemitic views. He is a longtime collaborator and photographer for AFP and one of two people identified by name in the press release. His post declared that he no longer has enough strength to cover media or even to walk.
We traced the second post to the facebook account of Omar El Qattaa, a freelance photographer who works with AFP and who was previously revealed as a Hamas supporter and antisemite who cheered the October 7th massacre, cursed Jews and praised terrorist attacks. That even more alarming post declared, “If the situation continues like this for a few days, we will all starve to death.”
The press release went viral.
Reports in the French and international press and on radio blared the news:
Le Soir: “AFP issues a heartfelt plea: ‘Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die.’”
AP :“AFP journalists warn their ‘last reporters will die’ working in current Gaza conditions”
Radio-Canada: “I don’t know if I’ll come back alive,” says a freelancer for Agence France-Presse (AFP).
On NPR’s Morning Edition, a segment featured AFP’s global news director Phil Chetwynd to discuss the alleged risk of journalists’ dying and to decry the lack of “diplomatic pressure on Israel to open up Gaza and to let independent journalists in.” It was titled “AFP news agency says its journalists in Gaza are at risk of starving to death,”
And from there, it snowballed even further.
AP, BBC, and Reuters joined AFP to voice their “desperate” concern, with the BBC indirectly suggesting Israel was entirely to blame for the plight of starving journalists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) went further, directly declaring “Israel is starving Gazan journalists into silence.”
Dozens of media outlets amplified the message.
Missing from the crescendo of rising condemnation was criticism of Hamas for intercepting and disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid or of the UN for rejecting offers by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to collaborate on distributing food and humanitarian aid to Gazans, or of any of the other self-described humanitarian groups that likewise reject cooperation with Israel to deliver food and aid. This begs the question: What is their topmost priority — the well-being of Gazans or the vilification of Israel?
As for the media that jumped onto the AFP bandwagon, they neither discussed the factors contributing to the suffering of Gazans nor ensured that the message itself was accurate. Instead, they echoed and amplified it, raising the hue and cry about what Israel was allegedly doing to journalists in Gaza.
And throughout the entire time, photographs purporting to depict famine and destruction wrought by Israel kept on pouring in, taken by the very same journalists who were supposedly being starved into silence, or worse yet, imminent death. How to explain this seeming contradiction to readers?
Bashar Taleb
Time Magazine presented a creative take on this seeming contradiction with an article published on July 24, 2025 that was headlined “Journalists in Gaza Documenting Own Starvation.” The article amplified the AFP press release, suggesting that yes, the journalists were starving but that they still managed to provide “first-person accounts of hunger” whenever they were able to muster up the strength to work. Time Editorial Producer Juwayriah Wright interviewed Bashar Taleb, of the press release, who, she reported, lost 35 pounds and was unable “to carry the weight of two cameras, a work laptop, and his body armor.” Noting Taleb’s post about being unable to work, Wright indicated that he was being interviewed from his home in Jabaliya. She quoted him to say, “Hunger is the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. We [must choose] between death by starvation or death by killing in an attempt to get food from aid trucks.”
Yet in the duration of time between his tweet, AFP’s press release and the publication of the Time Magazine article, which all implied the journalist could not work due to starvation, Taleb was photographed sitting in the hot sun dressed in full gear; in action as a photographer, standing or squatting as he points his camera at his subjects (see, for example, here, here and here); and strolling on a street in Gaza City alongside another photographer, both dressed in full gear and munching on something.
These images depicting a seemingly active, healthy-looking young man who looked none the worse for the wear seem to belie the descriptions of his severe weakness and inability to work. Nonetheless, Getty Images markets the photos with a caption that depicts Taleb as a martyr sacrificing his health to document the suffering wrought upon his people by Israel:
“GAZA – JULY 23: Freelance photojournalist Bashar Taleb, who works with Agence France-Presse (AFP), struggles to fullfil his duty amid hunger and harsh conditions due to total Israeli blockade and the ongoing attacks in Gaza City, Gaza on July 23, 2025.With Israel blocking all land crossings into the Gaza Strip and preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, a severe hunger crisis is unfolding in the besieged enclave. Aid trucks have been denied access for months, and relief organizations face increasing obstacles to operate. Freelance photojournalist Bashar Taleb, highlighted the dire situation on social media, writing, “I no longer have the strength to report the news. My body is too weak and I can no longer walk.” The 30-year-old journalist also noted that his brother collapsed from extreme hunger. AFP recently announced plans to evacuate its remaining staff in Gaza due to the risk of starvation.”
In addition to the photos of Taleb, AFP offers for sale via Getty Images more than 75 photographs taken by Bashar Taleb during that week alone (July 20-27).
Omar El Qattaa
There is a similar inconsistency between El Qattaa’s post and his activities. On the same day he posted about his risk of imminent death, Al Qattaa was busy taking photos of journalists and others marching and posing on the streets of Rimal in protest against hunger. He also shot photos of a camp sheltering Palestinians along the beach near the seaport of Gaza City. Getty Images markets 21 photos taken by El Qatta for AFP on that day.
And over the next week, as concern mounted over journalists being starved into silence, AFP added some 140 additional photos taken by El Qattaa at a variety of locations in Gaza (Gaza City, Rimal, Al Shati Camp, Beit Lahia, Jabalia).
Of these, 13 were of Hidaya and Mohammed al-Mutawaq, a widowed mother and her 18-month-old son who suffers from cerebral palsy, who were held up as icons of Gaza starvation. The photos are taken from all angles, some of the mother and child together, others of the crying baby alone. Many other photos, including the one that was featured in the New York Times, were attributed to a photographer for Anadolu Agency, but El Qattaa added his own contribution to the cache of photos featuring the al-Mutawaqs. Taken as a whole, they appear to be the product of a callous photo-shoot that sordidly exploits the misery of a widow and her sick child.
The wartime deprivations, lack of food and the tragedies of civilians in Gaza should never be minimized. They should be accurately and fairly covered. Unfortunately, in the case of the starving journalists, the media credulously accepted whatever they were told without further investigation and/or were actively complicit in spreading and amplifying a distorted narrative.