Faked pictures of Gaza by Anas Zayed Fteiha

 Few posts ago I was writing about hunger in Gaza. Nobody questions that living in the war zone is awful. Yet there is a difference if people are living in active war zone (terrible in itself) or if on top of that there is famine in the region/ city/ vicinity. Ukraine, the zone of active war for over 3 years does not have famine though in parts it is hard to get and store enough food supplies and conditions of life are desperate.

So is there a hunger in Gaza Strip? Honest answer is: I have no idea. But I very much doubt so, based, among others, on the very pictures of hunger in Gaza that recently are making careers in media.

If there is famine on a given territory  and you want to show it to the world you don't need to:

1) use 10 years old pictures of Yezidi girl kidnapped by ISIS (by the way IDF discovered a Yezidi girl in Gaza - she was sold there as a slave by ISIS fighter, now she is free, that was still in the previous year),

2) use Syrian child picture from 2018 to show it,

3) use pictures of children with cerebral palsy or genetic disease,

4) stage pictures of people fighting for food (read below).

 But you may (and should if you are a good photographer):

1) show hungry people in groups and belonging to various age groups,

2) show moving pictures or just films,

3) interview relief and aid workers and show their work. 

Moreover, in an era and place when everybody, absolutely everybody carries with them camera capable of making pictures and movies, and everybody is capable of publishing them or even streaming in real time (there might not be internet in Gaza all the time, but in many places and at certain hours it is, according to all sources, and phones can also work just on signal) it can't be hidden. Hamas was capable of live streaming its atrocities like shooting Eden daughter in Nahal Oz  when there was still battle. Yet we have 2 million people in Gaza who presumably suffer from famine and definitely don't like IDF (though some of them may at this point dislike Hamas more, I should hope, putting the blame where it belongs) and only pictures of hunger show small and very ill children in condition that might have deteriorated in war but was always desperate. We have pictures of these children with healthy siblings edited out. Finally, as Bild and Suddeutche Zeitung revealed yesterday, we have staged pictures of people lining for food. Turkish photo reporter  Anas Zayed Fteiha, author of these pictures, was filmed when staging them with people acting quite a time before food was delivered.

According to historian and photography expert Gerhard Paul, cited in an investigation by the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Hamas has complete control over image production in the southern Gaza Strip. “ The goal is to arouse sympathy in the West and anger against Israel, ” he notes.

He explains that many images from Gaza are not necessarily fake, but are presented in a way that directs public perception. “ It is a strategic emotional mobilization of memory and image ,” he emphasizes. Similar instances of manipulation have been recorded since 2002, when the historic PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, was photographed “dark” and alone in his headquarters, while, a few minutes later, videos showed him in full light - simply because the reporters had agreed to turn off the lights for the “ good shot .”

  

Below is a picture from Bild

Per Economic Times: "A well-known Gazan photographer faces criticism after a German investigation revealed that some of his viral hunger photos were staged. Several major European agencies have severed ties with him, reigniting debate about media ethics, bias, and the dangers of manipulated war imagery."

And again: there is no doubt that life in Gaza is now preposterously difficult, dangerous and unhappy for great majority of people there. Poor, with small children and without links to Hamas have it especially hard. But famine?