Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem was awarded the prestigious 2024 World Press Photo of the Year for capturing a moment in the Gaza Strip where a Palestinian woman held the lifeless body of her five-year-old niece. Taken on October 17, 2023, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the image depicts Inas Abu Maamar mourning while cradling the sheet-covered body of her niece Saly in the hospital morgue.
The World Press Photo Foundation highlighted the risks journalists face in conflict zones, particularly during the Israel-Hamas war, which saw 99 journalists and media workers killed. Joumana El Zein Khoury, the foundation's executive director, emphasized the importance of acknowledging the challenges journalists encounter and the trauma they endure while documenting such events.
Mohammed Salem, a Palestinian photographer working for Reuters since 2003, received recognition for his poignant image. The jury praised his composition, describing it as both metaphorical and literal in depicting profound loss. Salem himself reflected on the chaos and anguish he witnessed in Gaza during that period, noting how the woman's refusal to let go of the child encapsulated the broader sense of the tragedy unfolding in the region.
Salem's photograph, taken shortly after the birth of his own child, resonated deeply with viewers and judges alike. It was chosen from over 61,000 entries by photographers worldwide. Other notable winners included GEO photographer Lee-Ann Olwage, who won in the story of the year category for documenting dementia in Madagascar, and Ukrainian photographer Julia Kochetova, who received the open format award for her multimedia documentary "War is Personal," exploring the conflict in her country.
