IT is not very often the Daily Express is heralded by the left, but the newspaper created ripples on Wednesday with a harrowing front page on the mass starvation inflicted by Israel in Gaza.
The newspaper’s splash, designed in a hugely impactful way, featured an image of starving one-year old child Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq accompanied by the headline “for pity’s sake stop this now”.
A sub-heading detailed how he was “clinging on to life” and how his suffering “shames us all”.
In this age of digital journalism and social media, somehow newspaper front pages still have a unique way of stopping you in you tracks and making you think.
Journalists and pro-Palestine campaigners highlighted the significance of a right-wing newspaper calling out the mass starvation being inflicted upon [[Gaza]]ns and it was not lost on The National’s news team either. It signals a potential turning point in the mainstream media’s coverage of this dire humanitarian situation.
But there is a reason we say potential turning point, because this front page has left us with a few questions.
Firstly, why has it taken until now for the torture of Palestinians to get on a mainstream newspaper’s front page?
The Daily Express is the most right-wing mainstream newspaper in Britain. It now has a better position on Gaza than the Labour government. pic.twitter.com/7hzZUO6tKD
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) July 23, 2025
The National has been calling for stronger action from the UK Government and international community since day one of Israel’s brutal assault on [[Gaza]] nearly two years ago. Back in October last year The National's front detailing a chronology of the bombardment went viral. Not a day has gone by where we haven’t let the world know – to the best of our ability – about the genocide and war crimes being committed by Israel.
Secondly, what is it exactly that the newspaper – and others who are just now speaking up on the starvation of Gaza – is calling for here? Notably, this front page, and many similar concerned statements, contain no mention of Israel, nor the UK Government which continues to supply arms to the country.
You can’t help but feel the starvation of Palestinians is being presented in a vacuum, almost like it is something this country can’t do anything about. Like it’s distant from us and all we can do is scream into the void hoping someone, somewhere will stop this horrendous situation.
But surely there is something the UK can do. The UK Government suspended 30 out of around 350 arms export licences to Israel last year but continues licence exports of F-35 fighter jet parts, which have been documented as being used by Israel in Gaza.
A raw front page showing us the extent of the suffering of Gazans is all very well, but it is not news to those of us who have been following Israel’s activities closely.
The mainstream media should surely be asking deeper questions at this point and challenging the UK Government to do its bit to ensure it does not fuel the fire. Surely, that begins with questioning why we are supplying arms to a nation whose government has said Gaza “will be entirely destroyed”.
It is positive to see more corners of the media waking up to the intolerable hell Gaza is facing, but let’s not pretend this is a problem the UK is not a part of.
If this is to be a proper turning point, we need to see the mainstream media go beyond highlighting how the suffering “shames us all” and instead insist this translates into tangible action from the UK Government.
