Mahmoud Ajjour, 9-year-old boy

Mahmoud Ajjour and his family were fleeing Israeli shelling in Gaza City in March, 2024, when he was hit. He was evacuated to Qatar but lost both of his arms. New York Times photographer Samar Abu Elouf’s photo of him won the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year.

Source: [World Press Photo of the Year]

Abdullah, a boy waiting for water

Abdullah was killed in an Israeli air attack that struck children and adults waiting with their jerrycans at a water distribution site in central Gaza on Sunday morning, July 13.

The Israeli Army said the strike was intended to kill an Islamic Jihad terrorist but "as a result of a technical error with the munition,” it fell on the line of people waiting for water dozens of meters away. The strike killed six children and four adults, and injured 16 others.

Source: BBC

Reem Zeidan, wife and mother

Reem Zeiden was shot through the forehead in front of her 20-year-old daughter and her 12-year-old son as she walked toward an aid distribution site before dawn on July 1, hoping to get food to feed her family. She had been rehearsing with her children where they should meet in case shooting caused panic and chaos among the crowds of hungry Gazans approaching the distribution site. Her last words, according to her son: “‘If we get separated, where will we meet again?’”

“We went there out of desperation. Hunger is what forced my mother to go. She had been going every day for a full week, walking six hours to get there and coming back with nothing,” said her daughter, Mirvat. 

Two days before Reem was killed, Israeli troops opened fire on the crowds approaching the aid distribution site. “I told my mother it was a sign from God not to go again and that convinced her,” Mirvat said. “But she would quickly change her mind when my little sister Razan, who is only five years old, cried to her that she was hungry.”

Source: The Guardian

Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, cardiologist

Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, director of Gaza’s Indonesian hospital and one of only two heart specialists in the territory, died July 2 when the apartment where he and his extended family were living was struck by an Israeli missile. 

His wife, sister, daughter, and son-in-law were also killed. A surviving daughter said the missile precisely targeted the room where Dr. al-Sultan was living. 

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, “the IDF struck a key terrorist from the Hamas terrorist organization in the area of Gaza City. The claim that as a result of the strike uninvolved civilians were harmed is being reviewed. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals.”

Source: The Guardian