Pulitzer Board Honors Palestinian Photographer Accused of Capturing ‘Staged Scenes’ and Pushing ‘Hamas-Aligned’ Narratives

The Pulitzer Prize Board is facing scrutiny for awarding a top prize to a Gaza-based photographer whom a media watchdog accuses of staging scenes to fit Hamas-approved narratives.A Palestinian photographer and New York Times contributor, Saher Alghorra, received the coveted Breaking News Photography award this week for what the Pulitzer Board cited as his “haunting, sensitive series showing the devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from the war with Israel.” His 14 winning images depict Palestinians clamoring for food, infrastructure reduced to rubble, bloodied children, and other harrowing scenes.However, a media watchdog group that focuses on identifying anti-Israel bias, HonestReporting, contends that many of Mr. Alghorra’s celebrated photographs reflect half-truths, omit crucial context, and suggest possible coordination with Hamas.The Times dismissed the allegations and defended Mr. Alghorra’s work. “Saher Alghorra has documented hundreds of starving and malnourished children in Gaza, conducting intrepid photojournalism at personal risk so readers can see the consequences of war. This attack on his work is baseless,” the paper’s communications account wrote on X. “Jurors called Saher’s work a ‘distinguished example’ of breaking news photography for his spontaneous coverage of these scenes in Gaza.”The Pulitzer board has not yet responded to the Sun’s request for comment. One of the photographs at the center of HonestReporting’s critique depicts a gaunt 2-year- old Gazan, Yazan Abu al‑Foul, cradled in his mothers arms. Published with a Times article on hunger in Gaza, the image made the boy a symbol of an alleged Israeli-imposed starvation crisis.Upon further investigation, however, HonestReporting discovered that original wire photos from the same day show other children in the background who “appear healthy” and that one caption even noted that “malnutrition is often worsened by preexisting conditions and compounded by illnesses.” That context raises questions about whether Mr. Alghorra’s image documents the effects of starvation or an underlying health condition. Such was the case with another of Mr. Alghorra photographs for the Times which, as the paper was later forced to clarify in a correction, showed a child with “pre-existing health problems.” “Why were other images that provided more context — including those of healthy family members — left out of his portfolio?” HonestReporting asks. “And were these photos of Yazan as authentic as they seemed, or were they curated to reinforce the claim of starvation?” In November 2025, data released by a global malnutrition tracking organization suggested that the critical hunger threshold was never breached in Gaza despite the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declaring a famine in the territory. The watchdog also scrutinizes a second award-winning photograph, taken last October, showing Hamas terrorists in Khan Younis carrying what is reportedly the body of an Israeli hostage. The image appears to have been taken at close range, from directly in front of the terrorists.“How does a photographer gain access to such a moment without close proximity — and cooperation — with Hamas?” HonestReporting asks. HonestReporting also questions Mr. Alghorra’s impartiality, citing social media posts it says showcase anti-Israel bias and sympathy for Hamas. On October 7, 2023, Mr. Alghorra posted images of Hamas rockets on Facebook, describing them as a response to “settlers’ attacks and incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque” — language HonestReporting says is “lifted directly from Hamas and its justification for mass terror attacks.”In a separate post, Mr. Alghorra shared photographs of Hamas returning the bodies of 9-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel Bibas, who were murdered in captivity, and the body of a life-long peace activist and journalist, Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was taken hostage and murdered by Hamas. Mr. Alghorra, described the three as “prisoners.” This latest controversy is not the first time the Pulitzer Board has drawn condemnation for honoring voices that are hostile to Israel and its people. Last year, a released Israeli hostage, Emily Damari, publicly rebuked the board over its award to a virulently anti-Israel, U.S.-based Palestinian poet who disparaged and dehumanized the Israeli captives while they were still held by Hamas. Ms. Damari, who was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7 and dragged into Gaza where she was held for nearly 500 days, shared on social media her “shock and pain” at the board’s decision to award Mosab Abu Toha the top honor in the “commentary” category. “You claim to honor journalism that upholds truth, democracy, and human dignity. And yet you have chosen to elevate a voice that denies truth, erases victims, and desecrates the memory of the murdered,” the 29-year-old British-Israeli wrote in her scathing reprimand.

Pulitzer Board Honors Palestinian Photographer Accused of Capturing ‘Staged Scenes’ and Pushing ‘Hamas-Aligned’ Narratives

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