Portrait of young Gazan amputee among World Press Photo Contest winners

Powerful image by Samar Abu Elouf is in the running for photo of the year, to be announced in April

Samar Abu Elouf's image of Mahmoud Ajjour, nine, who was severely injured by Israeli bombs in 2024. Photo: Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

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A powerful photo of a nine-year-old boy from Gaza, whose arms were severed as a result of an Israeli bombing in March last year, is among 42 winners in this year's World Press Photo Contest. Shot by Samar Abu Elouf, who is also from Gaza, the striking photo was published in The New York Times.

The boy, Mahmoud Ajjour, was severely injured while trying to flee an Israeli bomb attack. “When he turned back to urge his family onward, an explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other,” the Amsterdam-based World Press Photo Foundation, said. “Mahmoud and his family were evacuated to Doha, Qatar, where, following medical treatment, he is now learning to play games on his phone, write and open doors with his feet.

“Mahmoud’s dream is simple: he wants to get prosthetics and live his life as any other child,” the foundation said, adding that photographer Elouf herself was evacuated to Doha for medical treatment.

Samar Abu Elouf's image is a regional winner in the World Press Photo Contest 2025. Photo: Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

Besides Elouf, who won in the Singles Category for the West, Central and South Asia region, Palestinian photographer Ali Jadallah was named the winner in the Stories Category for the same region.

Jadallah's photo, which he took for Anadolu Agency, shows Palestinians returning to the devastated city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Taken immediately after the initial withdrawal of Israeli troops in early April last year, the photo shows a desolate city in ruins as people carrying their belongings make their way home. Much of the city, which was home to 400,000 people before October 7, 2023, has been destroyed following numerous Israeli ground offensives.

“With international journalists effectively barred from Gaza, local photographers risked their lives to document the war,” the World Press Photo Foundation said. It added that Jadallah has lost family members in Israel's continuing onslaught.

Jadallah said: “Every time I photograph a destroyed house, I remember mine. Every time the wounded and martyred are pulled from the rubble, I remember my father and siblings.”

Ali Jadallah's photo shows Palestinians returning to the devastated city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Photo: Ali Jadallah for Anadolu Agency

The World Press Photo of the Year will be announced from among the regional winners at an event on April 17 in Amsterdam. The winner will receive €10,000 in prize money. The event will coincide with the opening of the World Press Photo Exhibition 2025 at De Nieuwe Kerk. From there, the exhibition will travel to 60 locations around the world.

Last year's World Press Photo of the Year was Mohammed Salem's image of a Palestinian woman, Inas Abu Maamar, cradling the body of her five-year-old niece Saly in Khan Younis.

Salem's photo was taken on October 17, 2023, at Nasser hospital, where families were searching for relatives killed by Israeli bombing. Salem, a Palestinian, took the photo for Reuters, for whom he started working in 2003. He also won an award in the 2010 World Press Photo competition.

The 2025 winners were selected from a record 59,320 entries received from 3,778 photographers from 141 countries. They were judged first by six regional juries, and the winners were then chosen by an independent global jury consisting of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair, the World Press Photo Foundation said.

A non-profit, the foundation was set up to “champion the power of photojournalism and documentary photography to deepen understanding, promote dialogue and inspire action.” World Press Photo is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

“The world is not the same as it was in 1955 when World Press Photo was founded. We live in a time when it is easier than ever to look away, to scroll past, to disengage. But these images do not let us do that,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, the executive director of the foundation.

“They cut through the noise, forcing us to acknowledge what is unfolding, even when it is uncomfortable, even when it makes us question the world we live in – and our own role within it.”