World Press Photo reveals its 'Photo of the Year,' a boy injured in Israeli strike on Gaza
Editor's note: Some images may be graphic for readers. Viewer discretion advised.
A photo of a young boy gravely injured during an Israeli attack in Gaza was awarded World Press Photo's "Photo of the Year" on April 17.
The image captured by Doha-based Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times features Mahmoud Ajjour, who was critically injured while fleeing an Israeli attack in Gaza City in March 2024, according to World Press Photo. The winning photo was selected from a pool of 2025 World Press Photo Contest winners, announced in March.
Ajjour lost one of his arms and had the other one mutilated in an explosion as he turned back to urge his family onward, World Press Photo said in a press release, adding the family was later "evacuated to Qatar where, after medical treatment, Mahmoud is 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," World Press Photo said.
Elouf, who was evacuated from Gaza in December 2023, now lives in the same apartment complex as Mahmoud and other Gazans in Doha.
World Press Photo Executive Director Joumana El Zein Khoury, in a statement, described the winning image as "a quiet photo that speaks loudly."
The organization said the war has taken a "disproportionate toll on children," citing a December 2024 United Nations estimate that Gaza had the highest number of child amputees per capita globally.
"It tells the story of one boy, but also of a wider war that will have an impact for generations," Khoury said. "Looking at our archive, in the 70th year of World Press Photo, I am confronted by too many images like this one. I remain endlessly grateful for the photographers who, despite the personal risks and emotional costs, record these stories to give all of us the opportunity to understand, empathize, and be inspired to action."
See other winners of 2025 World Press Photo Contest
The top photograph was followed by two finalists: "Night Crossing" by John Moore, which showed "Chinese migrants warm themselves during a cold rain after crossing the US–Mexico border;" and "Droughts in the Amazon," by Musuk Nolte, depicting a young man bringing food to his mother, who lives in the village of Manacapuru, which is facing an intense drought, despite being in the world's largest rainforest.
"This image, both otherworldly and intimate, depicts the complex realities of migration at the border, which is often flattened and politicized in public discourse in the United States," World Press Photo said about "Night Crossing."
"Droughts in the Amazon," meanwhile, highlights the impact of climate change on a village that was once accessible by boat, but because of the drought, forces the young man to walk roughly a mile and a quarter along a dry riverbed in the Amazon.
"The striking contrast of dry, desert-like scenes in the world's largest rainforest makes the absence of water hauntingly visible," World Press Photo said about the image.
What is World Press Photo?
Founded in the Netherlands in 1955, World Press Photo is a nonprofit organization that "champions the power of photojournalism and documentary photography to deepen understanding, promote dialog, and inspire action."
Two winners from Netherlands
Two additional winners from the Netherlands were also chosen, including "Prins de Vos" for Mika and Marijn Fiddler for the image of bodybuilder Tamale Safalu training in front of his home in Kampala, Uganda.
Global jury chair Lucy Conticello said jury members "were looking for pictures that people can start conversations around."
Conticello said when the jury sat down to choose the "Photo of the Year," three topics namely conflict, migration and climate change stood out from the pool of photos "that define the 2025 World Press Photo edition."
"The Photo of the Year is a portrait of a boy wearing a tank top; he's facing a window and a warm light shines on him casting a soft shadow on one side of his face," Conticello said in a statement. "His young age, and beautiful features, are really in contrast with his melancholy expression. You then realize with a shock that he is missing his arms."
2025 World Press Photo Contest winners
In March, the World Press Photo had announced the winners of the 2025 World Press Photo with the winning selection showcasing some of the world's best photojournalism and documentary photography.
Forty-two winners, nine more than last year's total of 33, were chosen from more than 59,000 entries received from 3,778 photographers from across 141 countries, World Press Photo said in a news release.
The winning photographers were located in countries across the world from Bangladesh to Columbia to Russia and were awarded according to the regions they were located in.
Selection was first done by six regional juries, and the final winners were then chosen by an independent global jury consisting of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair, the organization said.
Key themes from this year's winning selection range from politics, gender and migration to conflict and the climate crisis.
The winning photographs and the stories behind them will be showcased in an exhibition that will travel across 60 locations around the world over this year, including London, Rome, Berlin, Mexico City, Montreal and Jakarta with "millions more" seeing the "winning stories online," World Press Photo said.
See all the winning photographs here.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
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