Heart-breaking pictures of shockingly thin young children in the Gaza Strip have been splashed across the front pages of major papers, broadcast on important news channels, and reproduced on international media sites in recent weeks.

These photographs may have deadly consequences. Manufactured with the intent of inflaming passions and provoking outrage, they have incited hatred, anti-Israel activity, and antisemitism.

The outrage caused by these photographs would be understandable if they actually portrayed what they purported to do. However, they were not of starving children in Gaza. Rather, they show Palestinians who suffer from chronic illnesses that cause severe wasting.

The most prominent example is that of Muhammed al-Matouq, born in the Gaza Strip over eighteen months ago with cerebral palsy and two additional serious disorders that left him emaciated.

Tragic? Yes. Proof of Israeli wrongdoing? Nothing of the sort.

As these images align with their Israel-bashing narrative, almost all media outlets ignored evidence of their deceitful nature.

A critical clue to their questionable veracity could easily have been found in the original photographs. Muhammed’s three-year-old brother, Joud, appears in the background of several, looking quite healthy. Clearly, the juxtaposition of one brother of normal weight with his extremely gaunt sibling should have set off a big flashing red light.

Still, for media outlets from the New York Times to the Daily Express, from CNN to Sky News, the carefully cropped pictures of Muhammed being cradled by his mother, as well as those of other chronically ill children, presented an opportunity too good to pass up.

A generous interpretation of their actions could say that these agenda-driven journalists believe that slandering Israel helps the civilian population of Gaza. If so, they are gravely mistaken.

The subsequent international condemnations of Israel - combined with the threats to reward terrorism by recognizing a non-existent Palestinian state -emboldened Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization which believes that international pressure will force Israel to stop defending itself.

The wave of international pressure encouraged this ruthless jihadi terror group to harden its position during critical days in the negotiation process, killing the chances for a hostage deal and ceasefire.

This repercussion was utterly foreseeable, and now the war has been prolonged. Gazans will continue to suffer from Hamas’ strategy of looting aid and exploiting humanitarian sites to shield its terrorist activities, while Hamas will continue to torture the Israelis being held hostage in its tunnels.

The videos released last week by that terrorist organization of two hostages, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavsky, provides insight into the asymmetrical treatment of Israelis and Palestinians in the media.

While giant pictures of Muhammed al-Matouq and others with chronic illnesses dominated front pages around the world, those of Evyatar and Rom were buried deep in the inner pages, if they were published at all.

These videos shed light on the Palestinian terrorists holding them hostage in the most inhumane conditions imaginable. Being subjected to physical and mental torture, including the deprivation of food, Rom can no longer walk and Evyatar is so emaciated he resembles a living skeleton.

The hostages are being deliberately starved. Israelis released nearly half a year ago showed clear signs of starvation and hostages brought home earlier tell of being denied food while their Hamas captors feasted nearby.

Again, the clue to this can be found in the video itself. At one point, the hefty arm of a well-fed terrorist enters the frame, providing the sharpest contrast to Evyatar, whose every bone is visible to the naked eye.

That Rom and Evyatar's story was buried should come as no surprise in light of the anti-Israel bias of many in the media and the tendency of some honest reporters less familiar with details of the conflict to be taken in by Hamas’ propaganda machine.

The damage done by that propaganda - including the horrifying but deceptive pictures of ill children in Gaza and the false narrative created around them - is incalculable. It cannot be undone by the small and practically hidden ‘clarifications’ issued by a few media outlets.

Apologies are owed not just to Israel for this blood libel but also to the public, who had their emotions manipulated by a campaign of misinformation.