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Palestinian photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf has been awarded the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year for her portrait of Mahmoud Ajjour, a young boy who lost both arms following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
The photograph, taken for The New York Times, offers an intimate portrayal of one child’s suffering — and stands as a broader symbol of the humanitarian cost of the war in Gaza.
Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, described the image as “quiet yet powerful,” adding that it “speaks not only to Mahmoud’s pain, but to the wider consequences of war on children.”
The announcement was made Thursday during the opening of the World Press Photo Exhibition in Amsterdam. The annual show will travel to more than 60 cities around the world. This year’s contest received over 59,000 submissions from photographers in 141 countries.
Since October 2023, more than 51,000 people have been killed by Israel's brutal attacks in Gaza, according to local health authorities. Hundreds of children have lost limbs, often undergoing surgeries without anesthetics due to a collapsing health care system. Mahmoud is one of them.
Now in Doha, Mahmoud is adjusting to life without his arms. He is learning to use his feet to eat, write, and play games. His mother says his greatest hope is to receive prosthetic limbs.
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