A striking portrait of a young Palestinian boy who lost both arms in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City has been named Press Photo of the Year.
Photographer Samar Abu Elouf, who is also from Gaza, met nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour three months after an explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other. Ajjour and his family were evacuated to Doha, Qatar, where Abu Elouf is based, to receive medical treatment.
“One of the most difficult things Mahmoud’s mother explained to me was how, when Mahmoud first came to the realization that his arms were amputated, the first sentence he said to her was, ‘How will I be able to hug you?’” Abu Elouf wrote in her accompanying notes on the image, which was taken for and published in The New York Times.
The photo is a stark reminder of the long-term costs of the war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands and led to widespread destruction and displacement of its residents. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates about half of those killed are women and children. Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza was triggered by the deadly October 7 rampage by Hamas militants.
“This is a quiet photo that speaks loudly. It tells the story of one boy, but also of a wider war that will have an impact for generations,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, in a press statement.
The jury observed three central themes — conflict, migration, and climate change — in the entries this year, says Lucy Conticello, director of photography for Le Monde’s M magazine and one of the judges.
“Another way of seeing them is as stories of resilience, family, and community,” Conticello said in a press statement.
The contrast in the winning photo — light and dark, beauty and pain — captured the attention of the judges, she added.
The winning photo was selected from nearly 60,000 entries submitted by 3,778 photographers across more than 140 countries.
Two other works were selected as runners-up: an otherworldly image of Chinese migrants warming themselves by a fire after crossing the US-Mexico border, and a haunting image of a young man walking to his village, once accessible by boat, along a desert-like riverbed in the Amazon.
Winners were also selected for regional categories, including an ethereal image of a stranded Boeing jet surrounded by floodwaters at Salgado Filho International Airport in Brazil, and a groom at his wedding in Sudan.
The winning images are currently on display in a traveling exhibition, which opens today (April 18) in Amsterdam at De Nieuwe Kerk, followed by shows around the globe, including in London, Jakarta, Sydney and Mexico City.