Palestinian woman Inas Abu Maamar, 36, embraces the body of her 5-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2023. Reuters photographer Mohammad Salem was in Khan Younis on Oct. 17 at the Nasser Hospital morgue, where residents were going to search for missing relatives. He saw Inas squatting on the ground in the morgue, sobbing and tightly embracing Saly’s body. “I lost my conscience when I saw the girl, I took her in my arms,” Inas said. “The doctor asked me to let go… but I told them to leave her with me.”
Mohammed Salem won the 2024 World Press Photo of the Year award for this image.
