Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha wins Pulitzer for Gaza war essays
Board says award is for New Yorker pieces on ‘physical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir to convey the Palestinian experience’
The Pulitzer committee announced on Monday that Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet from Gaza, would be had won the award in the “commentary” category for essays published in The New Yorker magazine.
The series of articles covered life in Gaza during the war started by the Palestinian terror group Hamas when it led a devastating invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023.
The committee praised Abu Toha, 32, for his “essays on the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir to convey the Palestinian experience of more than a year and a half of war with Israel.”
In a post to social media, Abu Toha posted “Let it bring hope. Let it be a tale,” quoting the poem of Palestinian author Refaat Alareer, who was killed in December 2023 by an Israeli strike on Gaza.
He went on to list dozens of members of his family who were killed by airstrikes in Gaza, which has been devastated by the war.
“I’m praying for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and JUSTICE and PEACE!” Abu Toha wrote. He made no mention of the Israeli hostages still held by terror groups in Gaza.
I’m honored to receive the Pulitzer Prize today. Great thanks to the prize’s jury and board members for honoring me.
I dedicate this success to my family, friends, teachers, and students in Gaza.
Blessings to the 31 members of my family who were killed in one air strike in 2023.… pic.twitter.com/Xq7imNdZtX— Mosab Abu Toha (@MosabAbuToha) May 6, 2025
The war was triggered on October 7 when Hamas led over 5,000 terrorists to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Attackers also abducted 251 people who were taken hostage to Gaza. Of those, 59 remain captive in the Strip, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
Abu Toha was detained by the IDF in November 2023 and briefly held. His arrest quickly sparked Western media’s attention, as he had been contributing pieces to The New Yorker and other major outlets since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, painting a dire image of its toll on civilians through his personal experience.
Palestinian photographers from Agence France-Presse (AFP) were finalists in the Pulitzer breaking news photography category for “powerful images” from Gaza, earning praise for encapsulating “the enduring humanity of the people of Gaza amid widespread destruction and loss.”
Considered one of the most prestigious awards in US journalism, the Pulitzers also recognize literature, drama, and music.
The Pulitzer Prizes are overseen by Columbia University, which was the site of many pro-Palestinian demonstrations and subsequent crackdowns.
It is currently embroiled in controversy following the arrest of foreign students who participated in demonstrations against the war in Gaza and are facing threats of deportation and expulsion from the United States.
The core issues of the 2024 US presidential campaign took center stage at the awards, which recognized coverage of Trump and his bloodied ear after a July 13 assassination attempt, as well as the loss of abortion rights for women in the United States.
The Washington Post staff won in the category of breaking news reporting for the paper’s “urgent and illuminating” coverage of the gunshot that wounded Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania.
The prize for public service reporting went to ProPublica’s reporting on the deterioration of US women’s access to abortion and reproductive health care, which profiled pregnant women who died after doctors delayed urgently needed care for fear of violating “vague” rules in “states with strict abortion laws,” the committee wrote.
In September, ProPublica reported on the 2022 death of 28-year-old Amber Thurman in a Georgia hospital, attributing it to a lack of care under the state’s restrictive abortion laws.
Her death was later discussed by presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who blamed the rollback of women’s rights on the Supreme Court and its conservative majority.
Reuters news agency won in the investigative journalism category for its “boldly reported expose” of lax fentanyl regulation in the United States and abroad.
Images from Trump’s assassination attempt made headlines worldwide, and a New York Times photographer won a breaking news photography Pulitzer for an image where the bullet could be seen flying toward Trump’s head at the campaign event.
Doug Mills, a New York Times photographer, appeared to capture an image of a bullet streaking past Donald Trump’s head, a former FBI agent said. He took the photo while documenting the rally that turned into an attempt on a former president’s life. https://t.co/nhtORaXDZj pic.twitter.com/32UI1GDcoO
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 14, 2024
In fiction, Percival Everett’s “James” was awarded for its “accomplished reconsideration of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ that gives agency to Jim to illustrate the absurdity of racial supremacy,” the committee wrote.
The Pulitzer for best international reporting was awarded to New York Times journalist Declan Walsh for coverage of the bloody conflict in Sudan, the illicit gold trade and regional negotiations at the heart of local clashes.
The Times of Israel Community.