PORTRAIT OF A PALESTINIAN BOY WINS THE WORLD PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR

Thu 17 April 2025:

The horrors of the war in Gaza are very much present at the opening of the world press exhibition here in Amsterdam, especially because the winning photo, just as last year, is a photo from Gaza.

As his family fled an Israeli assault, Mahmoud turned back to urge others onward. An explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other. The family were evacuated to Qatar, where, after medical treatment, Mahmoud is learning to play games on his phone, write, and open doors with his feet. Mahmoud’s dream is simple: he wants to get prosthetics and live his life as any other child.

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‘Mahmoud Ajjour, Aged Nine‘ by Samar Abu Elouf, The New York Times is one of the three winners in the Singles category for the region West, Central, and South Asia of the 2025 World Press Photo Contest.

She took it very quickly as she didn’t want to disturb him too much, and it turned out to be a photo that attracted a lot of people’s attention, because it’s a beautiful picture of a very beautiful boy, but then you realise that both his arms are missing.

The jury has also said it gives a dehumanising war with industrial-scale destruction a face, and that’s what this photo does, without actually showing the violence itself.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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