‘For pity’s sake, stop this now’: Gaza hunger crisis takes front page across global media

A Palestinian woman with her two-year-old malnourished child, Yazan, at their home in Gaza City on 23 July 2025

Rachel Fink reports in Haaretz on 24 July 2025:

News outlets around the world have given front-page prominence in recent days to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with graphic images and urgent headlines highlighting severe hunger and conditions in the Strip.

On Wednesday, the U.K.’s Daily Express, a staunchly right-wing tabloid, featured a front page with the image of a starving one-year-old boy from Gaza with the headline: “For Pity’s Sake, Stop This Now: The suffering of little Muhammad clinging on to life in Gaza hell shames us all.”

The Express is known for its support of the Conservative Party, Euroscepticism, and generally pro-Israel stance – especially after October 7. The paper’s Head of News, Callum Jones, shared the cover on X accompanied by a stark message: “The brutal suffering in Gaza must end,” he wrote. “The shocking image shows Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, one, who weighs the same as a three-month-old baby due to the humanitarian crisis following the continued blocking of basic aid to civilians by Israel.”

Reactions to the cover were mixed. Some praised the tabloid for “finally” acknowledging Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, while others saw it as a sign of how dire the situation has become. Independent correspondent Richard Hall noted of The Daily Express, “That it has devoted its front page to the starvation of Gaza is a sign of how dire the situation has become – and how impossible it is to ignore.”

Others were more critical. “It’s no doubt a good thing to see this categorical, raw Daily Express front page,” journalist Hamza Yusuf wrote on X. “But when it mattered most, it manufactured consent for the very horrors it is now condemning.”

Left-leaning outlets in the U.K., which have spent months trying to draw attention to the crisis, also featured Gaza on their front page. The Morning Star, a socialist daily, demanded, “Stop Starving Gaza,” and The Daily Mirror, a Labour-aligned tabloid, ran the headline “End This Horror Now.”

Globally, from The Guardian and The Times in London to El País in Spain and The National in the UAE, outlets gave prominence to Gaza – often accompanied by graphic images of the crisis. On Wednesday, the UN reported that the rate of child malnutrition has risen, as reports of starvation in the Strip worsen, with over 20 deaths from starvation or malnutrition since Monday alone.

Daily Express front page, 23 July 2024

The Washington Post led with “Mass Starvation Stalks Gaza,” and a photo of a woman holding her skeletal toddler. The Financial Times featured a grieving mother holding her malnourished infant. El País showed a child’s outstretched hand holding a crust of bread under the headline, “Hunger in Gaza sparks global outcry to stop the war.” India’s Economic Times ran a rare front-page editorial calling Israel’s actions “genocidal,” paired with a photo of empty pots lined up outside a damaged building.

In the U.S., The New York Times ran a digital front-page story titled “Severe Hunger Grips Gaza.” It included a searing video of a crush of Palestinians crowding for food as two small children, bowls in hand, cried for help.

While many of these outlets lean left, others – like The Washington Post and FT – have at times drawn criticism for echoing Israeli narratives, making their explicit coverage and imagery particularly noteworthy.

In the U.S., even the staunchly pro-Israel, right-wing Fox News appeared to break with its usual narrative, running a story headlined “News agency says its Gaza journalists suffering health woes as union warns they will die without intervention,” detailing AFP freelancers’ reports of dizziness, hunger, and collapse.

The wave of coverage was accompanied by a rare joint call by four major global news outlets urging Israel to allow adequate food supplies into the Strip. “We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families,” said a joint statement by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the BBC.

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