Overview

• Samar Abu Elouf's photograph of Mahmoud Ajjour, a Palestinian boy who lost both arms in an Israeli attack, won the 2025 World Press Photo award in Amsterdam.
• The image highlights the personal toll of the Gaza conflict, with Mahmoud expressing heartbreak over no longer being able to hug his mother.
• Abu Elouf, who was evacuated from Gaza in December 2023, now documents the lives of Palestinians injured in the conflict while based in Doha.
• World Press Photo executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury described the winning photo as a 'silent image that speaks loudly,' reflecting both an individual and collective tragedy.
• Mahmoud, now learning to adapt without his arms, dreams of receiving prosthetics to live like other children.