In a video, Mahmoud Ajjour is radiant while jumping to the breeze. He breaks while looking at his kite fluttering in the sky, pulling it along with a rope tied around his waist, at a time that captured the irrepressible joy of childhood.
At 9 years, Mahmoud has known more trauma than most will see in life. On December 6, 2023, the fourth grade student was beaten by an Israeli air attack in Gaza, an explosion that cut one of his arms and left the other so badly damaged that he had to be amputated. On Thursday, an image of Mahmoud, taken by the Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouff for the New York Times, was appointed photo of the year World Press, a disturbing portrait of the impact of the war against children.
Mahmoud now lives in Doha, Qatar, with his family, after becoming a very small number of Palestinians to be evacuated from Gaza for urgent medical treatment.
When Mahmoud smiles, his happiness seems infectious, but some days are more difficult than others. “There are bad times for him,” said his mother, Nour Ajjour, 36, to NBC News by telephone of Doha, the capital of Qatar. “He doesn’t want to play or leave.”
“We keep it busy and have fun with him,” Ajjour said. She sent videos of him happily accelerating down a hall on an electric bicycle, heading with her feet on the handlebar and using her feet to play with a piece of bright green clay.
For now, Ajjour said, there is not much that Mahmoud can do on his own, and is impatient for the prostheses, asking when he can have them so that he can drink water alone or help his family.
“He likes to help a lot, and let him help me and take things on his shoulder,” Ajjour said.
Doha Hamad Limb hospital are currently fitting it for protests, and in another video, smile brilliantly while trying a pair of prosthetic arms.
In Gaza, this treatment is not possible, and Mahmoud is one of the least 1,000 children in the enclave that has lost at least one limb during the war, according to UNICEF, the United Nations Fund for Nations. Many of the children, like many adults, underwent surgery without anesthesia, since the medical care system fought under the siege of Israel.
“The first days were very difficult,” Ajjour said. His two hands were gone, and without anesthesia, Mahmoud was in physical and existential pain.
“He looked at his hands and didn’t see them,” said the child’s mother. “He shouted and said:” Where are my hands “, and the first thing he said was:” How will I hug you, how will I pray? “
These days, Mahmoud is learning to write on a computer, write and use a phone with your feet. Ajjour said he dreams of going to university and becoming a journalist to tell the stories of Gaza’s children.
