NEW YORK (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The New York Times responded to viral claims that photos it published recently of children shot in the head in Gaza were “fabricated.”
The images were included in an op-ed article that cited dozens of volunteer healthcare professionals who described seeing children shot in the head and chest while serving in Gaza.
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and general surgeon who served for two weeks in Khan Yunis (Gaza) in March and April, wrote the article last week. He said he saw more than a dozen children shot in the head during those weeks and that he first thought it was the work of a “particularly sadistic soldier” before he heard similar accounts from others.
The article in question detailed his and dozens of other doctors’ chilling accounts of seeing patients — including children — wounded and killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Baseless attacks on the New York Times’ essay, which quoted dozens of healthcare workers, were spread widely by pro-Israel social media accounts following its publication on October 9.
However, the editor of The New York Times opinion section issued a forceful statement last Tuesday refuting claims that the news outlet published fabricated or altered CT scan images as part of a recent essay featuring appalling firsthand accounts from US-based healthcare professionals who have worked in Gaza over the past year.
“A recent opinion essay gathered first-hand testimonies from 65 US-based health professionals who worked in Gaza over the past year, who shared more than 160 photographs and videos with Times Opinion to corroborate their detailed accounts of treating preteen children who were shot in the head or chest. Following publication, some readers questioned the accuracy of the accounts and the authenticity of three CT images shown. Those criticisms are unfounded,” New York Times editor Kathleen Kingsbury said.
Kingsbury affirmed that the report had been “rigorously edited” and verified, including through expert opinions and supporting photographs, which the outlet judged as too graphic for publication.
“Times Opinion rigorously edited this guest essay before publication, verifying the accounts and imagery through supporting photographic and video evidence and file metadata. We also vetted the doctors and nurses’ credentials, including that they had traveled to and worked in Gaza as claimed. When questions arose about the veracity of images included in the essay, we did additional work to review our previous findings. We presented the scans to a new round of multiple, independent experts in gunshot wounds, radiology and pediatric trauma, who attested to the images’ credibility. In addition, we again examined the images’ digital metadata and compared the images to video footage of their corresponding CT scans as well as photographs of the wounds of the three young children,” Kingsbury said.
“While our editors have photographs to corroborate the CT scan images, because of their graphic nature, we decided these photos — of children with gunshot wounds to the head or neck — were too horrific for publication. We made a similar decision for the additional 40-plus photographs and videos supplied by the doctors and nurses surveyed that depicted young children with similar gunshot wounds,” she added.
“We stand behind this essay and the research underpinning it. Any implication that its images are fabricated is simply false.”
