A widely shared postaccuses Time Magazine of publishing a staged image. It compares Time’s photo to another published by the German tabloid Bild, suggesting the scene was orchestrated. The images show people in Gaza waiting for food with empty pots. The official Israeli Instagram account of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted both images side-by-side, claiming: "One photo was staged. The other debunked it." The post, shared thousands of times, added, "Manufactured emotion. Media complicity. Truth discarded."

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DW Fact check: False The two photos do not depict the same scene. We analyzed the images on various levels. First, just a simple look at the content of the images: A side-by-side comparison reveals different individuals and containers: in Time's image, many people hold plastic containers, while in the other, most hold metal pots. So, Time's image does not show the image taken by the photographer shown in the other photograph. We also looked at the metadata and licensing of the two images. Time's photo was licensed via Getty Imagesand credited to photographer Ali Jadallah of Anadolu/Getty. It was posted on Time's Instagram account and appears in Getty's databasedated July 22, 2025. The second photo, published by Bild, appears on the German agency Picture Alliance’s website. It shows photojournalist Anas Zayed Fteiha, but was taken by Khames Alrefi (not pictured), as noted in the credit. It was distributed via the Turkish news agency Anadolu.The agency categorically denied the allegations of staging the picture in its response to DW’s query. It's also important to note the dates: The image used by Bild is dated July 24, two days after the Time photo. While both were taken in Gaza, and at the same food kitchen, they do not show the same scene, as they were shot on different days. We reviewed hundreds of images in online databases from picture agencies. Many were taken at the same location on different days, both before and during aid distributions. This leads to the conclusion that this is a genuine food kitchen where Gazans come regularly. In the screenshot below from Anadolu, several images show photographer Fteiha at the same distribution point.

Reviewed by Deutsche Welle ↗ · August 15, 2025