THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A portrait of a young Palestinian boy who lost both arms as a result of an Israeli attack in Gaza was honored Thursday as World Press Photo of the year.
The photo, taken by Qatar-based Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times shows 9-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour with his arms missing just below each shoulder.
“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 said in a statement released by the World Press Photo organization.
The winner of the 68th edition of the prestigious photojournalism contest was selected from 59,320 entries submitted by 3,778 photographers from 141 countries.
“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 World Press Photo Executive Director Joumana El Zein Khoury.
In a statement, the organization said that Ajjour was injured while fleeing an Israeli attack in March 2024.
“After he turned back to urge his family onward, an explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other,” according to the World Press Photo citation.
"This young boy’s life deserves to be understood, and this picture does what great photojournalism can do: provide a layered entry point into a complex story, and the incentive to prolong one’s encounter with that story,” said jury chair Lucy Conticello, who is Director of Photography for French newspaper Le Monde's weekend magazine.
Winning photographer Abu Elouf was evacuated from Gaza in December 2023 and she now lives in the same apartment complex as Ajjour in Qatar's capital, Doha.
Israel launched its devastating attack on Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, in which thousands of militants stormed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says over 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive. It does not differentiate between civilians and militants, but says that over half of the dead were women and children, including at least 876 infants under 1. It says over 116,000 people have been wounded.
Israel blames Hamas for the heavy civilian toll because the group carries out attacks and other military activities from residential areas and civilian buildings.
Competition organizers also named two World Press Photo finalists that highlighted the issues of migration and climate change.
A dark photo by John Moore for Getty Images shows Chinese migrants warming themselves after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, and a picture by Musuk Nolte for Panos Pictures, Bertha Foundation, of a young man carrying food across a dried up river bed in Brazil's Amazon basin region.
In regional results announced earlier by the World Press Photo Foundation, The Associated Press was among winners in the Asia-Pacific and Oceania region. Photographer Jae C. Hong won in the Singles category with an image titled Korea Adoption Fraud and Noel Celis won in the Stories category for photos from the Philippines titled Four Storms, 12 Days.
This image taken by Jae C. Hong. Of The Associated Press, was one of three winners in the Singles category of the Asia-Pacific and Oceania region of the the World Press Photo Award of the Year and shows Adoptee Nicole Motta, left, and her birth father, Jang Dae-chang, wipe tears after an emotional reunion at the Eastern Social Welfare Society in Seoul, Friday, May 31, 2024. The moment they hugged, Motta, adopted to the United States in 1985, didn't need DNA test results, she knew she'd come from this man. "I am a sinner for not finding you," he said. "I think I have your nose," Motta said softly. They both sobbed. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The Hamas militant group said it would release the last living American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza on Monday as an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the Gaza Strip killed about 16 people in the embattled enclave, mostly women and children.
At least five children and four women were among those killed in the strike on a school in the Jabaliya area, the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service said, adding that a number of people were wounded.
The Israeli military blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying its fighters operate in densely populated areas. There was no immediate comment on the latest strike.
The attack came as U.S. President Donald Trump heads to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week.
After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel has intensified the war in the Gaza Strip, where its 10-week blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis.
Here is the latest:
Trump said that the U.S.-Israeli citizen was expected to be released by Hamas in the “next two hours” or “sometime today.”
“He’s coming home to his parents, which is really great news,” Trump told reporters at the White House shortly he was scheduled to depart for a whirlwind visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
Trump credited his special envoy Steve Witkoff in helping win the release of Alexander, 21.
The president said that Witkoff, a New York real estate developer turned diplomat, knew “very little about the subject matter” but learned quickly.
“He has a special way about him,” Trump said of Witkoff.
An Israeli official says Hamas is expected to release Edan Alexander at around 6:30 p.m. (1530 GMT).
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to brief the media
A senior United Nations official said Monday’s hunger report in Gaza is “extremely concerning” given that the strip’s roughly 2 million population continues to face “a very critical risk of famine.”
Beth Bechdol, deputy director of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said Gaza’s food system has collapsed since Israel reimposed its blockade.
“We are moving into a period where the entire population of the Gaza Strip … are continuing to face a very critical risk of famine and extreme hunger and malnutrition,” she said in an interview.
Mahmoud Alsaqqa, food security coordinator for the charity Oxfam, meanwhile, slammed Israel’s blockade, saying that thousands of aid trucks carrying aid were prevented from reaching desperate civilians.
“Gaza’s starvation is not incidental—it is deliberate, entirely engineered,” he said. “ It is unconscionable and is being allowed to happen.”
Dani Miran, the father of hostage Omri Miran, said he was happy for Edan Alexander’s expected release but “very sad that families of hostages need foreign passports to release their loved ones.” He said, “Does this country not know how to protect our citizens?”
Other relatives also expressed frustration over Israel’s failure to secure the release of their loved ones.
“We do not trust our government,” said Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen. “We need you, we need the United States, we need President Trump, we need special envoy Steve Witkoff to finish the job and free all the hostages.”
Einav Zangauker said her son, Matan, was held together with Edan Alexander and her “heart breaks from the knowledge that he will languish alone in captivity.”
Addressing Trump in English, she said, “Mr. President, sir, all of the Israeli people are behind you. End this war! Bring them all home!”
Food security experts said on Monday the Gaza Strip is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, said outright famine is the most likely scenario unless conditions change.
Nearly half a million Palestinians are in “catastrophic” levels of hunger, meaning they face possible starvation, the report said, while another million are at “emergency” levels of hunger.
The Palestinian Health Ministry also said Monday hospitals received 94 wounded. The dead included four bodies that were recovered from under the rubble, it said.
The death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has now reached 52,862, the ministry said, while 119,648 have been wounded.
It said the tally includes 2,749 dead and 7,607 wounded since Israel resumed the war in March, shattering a nearly 2-month ceasefire.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the dead were women and children.
Israel has filed a request with the International Criminal Court to have arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, revoked after an appeal last month ordered a pretrial panel to reconsider jurisdiction but did not suspend the warrants.
In a filing made public over the weekend.
Israel says the court did not have the legal authority to issue arrest warrants in November.
The warrants allege that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for crimes against humanity in the Gaza war. Israel, which is not a member of the court and rejects its jurisdiction, strongly refutes the allegations.
Hamas says it will release Edan Alexander on Monday.
Alexander, an Israeli soldier, was taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023.
Edan Alexander’s family said in a statement that it “received the greatest gift imaginable — news that our beautiful son Edan is returning home after 583 days in captivity in Gaza.”
Alexander’s parents, who live in the United States, were making their way to Israel ahead of the expected release.
The family said it was deeply grateful to Trump and his administration for their efforts to secure Edan's release.
It also urged the Israeli government to continue efforts to free all the hostages. “Please don’t stop. We hope our son’s release begins negotiations for all 58 remaining hostages, ending this nightmare for them and their families.”
The relatives of Israeli hostages welcomed the imminent release of the American-Israeli hostage, but there is also unease.
Some said Alexander was singled out for freedom because of his American citizenship and said they were worried about the fate of the other 23 living and roughly 35 dead captives who remain in Gaza.
“Trump is rescuing him. Who will rescue Gali and Ziv?” Maccabit Mayer, the aunt of sibling hostages Gali and Ziv Berman, told Israeli Army Radio on Monday. She said she was sorry the twin brothers don't have “the right citizenship.”
Also, some of the relatives accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not doing enough to free their loved ones, saying his insistence on continuing the war in Gaza is politically motivated.
Hamas says the last living American hostage in Gaza will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume aid delivery to the battered enclave.
Two Hamas officials have told The Associated Press they expect the release of Edan Alexander in the next 48 hours.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed in a message to the AP that Hamas has agreed to release Alexander as a goodwill gesture toward Trump.
Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the United States.
Hospital patients are among the most vulnerable as Palestinians across Gaza struggle to feed themselves.
Israel’s blockade on food and other supplies entering the territory is now in its third month and hospitals are unable to provide food. Families must bring whatever they can find to help loved ones recover and doctors say patients have lost weight in recent weeks.
Aid groups say malnutrition is on the rise across Gaza. Food distributions have ended and charity kitchens are rapidly closing. Markets are empty of almost everything but canned goods and small amounts of vegetables, and prices have been rising.
A Palestinian girl struggles to obtain donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ward Nar, left, reacts as she speaks with the photographer after returning empty-handed from attempting to receive donated food for her family, including her husband Mohammed Zaharna (center right) and their children, Sally (right) and Raed, at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians struggle to obtain donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
