Gaza photographer wins World Press Photo of the Year with 'moving, powerful' image

Palestinian photographer Mohammed Salem won this year’s prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday with a depiction of loss and sorrow in Gaza.

The photo captured a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her young niece who was killed in an Israeli attack.

The photograph, taken in Gaza's Khan Younis just days after Salem's own child was born, showed 36-year-old Inas Abu Maamar holding five-year-old Saly, who was killed along with her mother and sister when an Israeli missile struck their home.

Salem, who works for the Reuters news agency, described this photo taken on 2 November as a "powerful and sad moment that sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip."

The image "truly encapsulates this sense of impact," said global jury chair Fiona Shields, head of photography at The Guardian.

"It is incredibly moving to view and at the same time an argument for peace, which is extremely powerful when peace can sometimes feel like an unlikely fantasy," she added.

The World Press Photo jury praised the shot’s sense of care and respect and its offering of a "metaphorical and literal glimpse into unimaginable loss".

The photo was taken during Israel's ongoing war on Gaza which has killed over 33,900 Palestinians - 72 percent of which had been women and children.

At least 76,000 people have been wounded in the same war which began on 7 October.

The 2.3-million-strong population of Gaza have also been left in catastrophic humanitarian conditions, facing shortages of food, shelter, and medicine, with famine looming over the besieged enclave.

This is not the first time Salem has been recognised for his work. He received a World Press Photo award more than a decade ago for another depiction of the human toll of Israel's attacks in the Gaza Strip.

The World Press Photo of the Year is ‘A Palestinian Woman Embraces the Body of Her Niece’ by @msalem66, @Reuters.

The jury was deeply moved by how this image evokes an emotional reflection in every viewer and offers a glimpse into unimaginable loss.https://t.co/claLIzX1vO pic.twitter.com/jii2r1Pam5

— World Press Photo (@WorldPressPhoto) April 18, 2024

Israel has attempted to keep international and independent journalists as far away from Gaza as possible.

It has only allowed select media outlets heavily restricted access to the Strip, with reporters embedded with the Israeli military, who review and authorise all footage or reporting of the war before it is broadcast. 

All other access points to Gaza, including Egypt's Rafah crossing, are closed to the press.

Critics argue that this approach only allows the Israeli narrative of the war to be presented, making the work of on-the-ground journalists like Salem vital in documenting the realities of Israel's war on the besieged Palestinian territory.

The war has also been particularly deadly for journalists, with at least 97 journalists and media workers killed in the enclave since 7 October, the majority of whom are Palestinians, according to an 18 April report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.