An image of Mahmoud Ajjour, 9, who was severely wounded in an Israeli strike, won the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year award.A Palestinian child who was severely wounded in an Israeli drone attack on Gaza last year, and who was pictured in an image that won the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year award, says he has been struggling to adapt to life since losing both his arms in the explosion.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Doha, Qatar, where he has been receiving treatment, nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour recalled the moment the bomb exploded, targeting his home in March 2024.
At first, Ajjour, who hails from Gaza City’s old town, said he did not realise he was wounded.
“I thought I had simply fallen. But I found myself on the ground, exhausted, and wondering what had happened,” he told Al Jazeera.
In reality, one arm “flew off, and one flew and fell right beside me”, he added.
Still unaware that he had sustained serious wounds – wounds that mutilated his entire body – Ajjour said he looked around and saw his arms. Although they looked familiar, his brain still could not comprehend that they had been blown off. Advertisement
“My mother then told me that I lost my arms,” Ajjour recalled. “I started crying. I was very sad, and my mental state was very bad.”
His mental health deteriorated further when he, like many others in Gaza, had to undergo surgery without anaesthetics due …