Anas Zayed Fteiha, who works for the Turkish state-owned agency Anadolu, was filmed taking photos of Gazan children with empty bowls outstretched, despite not being at a food bank
August 6, 2025 14:44
A number of European picture agencies have told German media that they will no longer use images from a Gazan photographer after an investigation by Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) found that some of his depictions of hunger in the Strip were staged.
In a documentary about his work during the war, Anas Zayed Fteiha was filmed taking pictures of civilians queuing for aid.
From the perspective of his lens, the photo showed a crowd of Gazans with empty bowls outstretched, appearing to be jostling for food.
However, a wide shot from the film published by SZ revealed that there were no supplies behind Fteiha as he took the photo and that he was not at a food bank at the time.
Questions have also been raised about the photographer’s independence, given that he works for Turkey’s state-run agency Anadolu and has previously posted anti-Israel statements on social media.
These included an illustration of him in a press vest and helmet surrounded by the domes of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and underscored by the caption “Free Palestine”, as well as a video clip bearing the caption “f*** Israel”.
The images he took were distributed by Anadolu and were used by outlets including New York Magazine, CNN and BBC News, according to German paper Bild.
After the release of SZ’s investigation, the German Press Agency and AFP reportedly confirmed to Bild that they would no longer work with Fteiha.
In contrast, though, a spokesperson for Reuters told the paper that the images “meet the standards of accuracy, independence, and impartiality”.
Meanwhile, photography expert Gerhard Paul told SZ that, in his opinion, many of the images of apparent hunger coming out of the Strip – which Israel does not allow international journalists to enter – are similarly staged.
"I assume that many of these images of starving and sick children are simply staged or come from other contexts,” he said.
"These are not fakes, but the people are presented in a certain way or given a misleading caption to mobilise our visual memory and our emotions.”
He went on: “In the south, where Hamas still has influence, you have to assume that it controls 100 per cent of image production.”
However, Christopher Resch, the Middle East spokesman for Reporters Without Borders, defended Fteiha’s work, saying: “More context should have been provided for the image, but that doesn't make the situation any better.
"That's how many photographers around the world work. Of course, it's always about the effect.
"I don't think it's reprehensible if a photographer instructs people to stand here and there with their pots. As long as it roughly describes reality.”
He also urged caution about suggesting that photographers working in Gaza are controlled by Hamas, “otherwise, the impression easily arises that it's propaganda or a deliberate fabrication, and that has consequences”.
In the public's perception, these photographers are then placed close to combatants. That's brutally dangerous,” he said. “Once a name is circulating, these people receive death threats every second.”
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