Portrait of Gazan boy who lost both arms in Israeli strike wins World Press Photo of the Year

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A portrait of a young Palestinian boy who lost both arms as a result of an Israeli attack in Gaza is honored 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 says 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,” World Press Photo Executive Director Joumana El Zein Khoury says.

In a statement, the organization says 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,” says 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.