IDF Detains Veteran Palestinian Editor-in-Chief Nasser al‑Lahham in West Bank Raid
July 7, 2025
Journalists Detained in Darfur After Reporting on Abuse by Rebel-Aligned Forces
July 7, 2025
July 07, 2025 – Palestine/Israel –
Mahmoud Abu Hassira walks the ruins of northern Gaza with a camera and a broken heart. The seasoned photojournalist, once focused on telling others’ stories, now carries his own—a story of unspeakable personal loss, survival, and a relentless commitment to document the suffering of a people under siege. On November 4, 2023, an Israeli airstrike obliterated his family home. Mahmoud survived alongside his father, but his wife, two young children—seven-year-old Ziyad and four-year-old Ghada—and 33 relatives were killed. Most were women and children.
Earlier that day, he had taken his children out to buy candy and bread. It was a brief attempt at normalcy. Hours later, they were gone. Their bodies, like many others in Gaza, remain buried beneath rubble that rescue workers cannot safely reach due to continuous bombardments. Mahmoud never got the chance to say goodbye. He didn’t recover their bodies. He only has memories—and photographs.
Despite his unimaginable grief, Mahmoud continues to work. His photographs capture the devastation: children searching for siblings, fathers carrying lifeless bodies, mothers mourning in silence. But they also capture dignity and resilience—acts of survival in the face of annihilation. His lens is not just a tool of journalism, but an act of resistance. Each frame he captures defies erasure and challenges the world to look at Gaza not as a statistic, but as a human catastrophe.
Mahmoud’s loss is deeply personal, but his mission is universal: to bear witness. In a world where Gaza’s pain is often ignored or politicized, his work demands recognition. He says photography is now his only therapy. Amid smoldering ruins, he finds strength in documenting those who remain. He refuses to let the story of Gaza be buried like his children—unseen, unnamed, unmourned.
Through images born of fire and grief, Mahmoud Abu Hassira is telling the truth: that Gaza bleeds, but it also endures. And as long as he can hold a camera, the world will not forget.
Reference –
Buried voices: A photojournalist’s fight to expose Gaza’s hidden wounds
