"Osama suffers from a serious genetic illness unrelated to the war," stated the Defense Ministry's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit.

A Gaza boy who became the poster child for the alleged famine caused by the war in the Strip suffers from a genetic illness and was evacuated for treatment last month, the Israeli Defense Ministry said on Monday.

A picture of Osama al-Rakab, 5, was “used to falsely depict Israel as responsible for his condition, claiming Israel is starving children,” including in Italian media and on Al Jazeera, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit stated.