A photograph showing a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her five-year-old niece killed in an Israeli air stike in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday, April 18, won the 2024 World Press Photo of the Year Award.
The photo was taken on October 17, 2023, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, by Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem.
Salem’s winning image depicts 36-year-old Inas Abu Maamar, sobbing and holding Saly’s body in the hospital morgue.
Salem’s wife had given birth to their child days before he took the shot.
“It was a powerful and a sad moment and I felt the picture sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip,” Amsterdam-based World Press Photo quoted Salem as saying.
“The jury was deeply moved by how this image evokes an emotional reflection in every viewer. Composed with care and respect, it offers at once a metaphorical and literal glimpse into unimaginable loss. Set in a geographically distant medical setting, it resonates globally, urging us to confront our desensitization to the consequences of human conflict.”
The photo is multi-layered, representing the loss of a child, the struggle of the Palestinian people, and the 33,000 people killed in Palestine.
The winning photos were chosen from more than 60,000 entries provided by over 3,800 photographers from 130 countries.
Over 100 journalists and media workers have been killed in their coverage of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
Since October 7, Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has resulted in 33,899 documented Palestinian fatalities and 76,664 injuries.
