Journalist?s 11-month-old son killed in Gaza strikes

The story behind the photo:
The Washington Post

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BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi carries his son?s body at a Gaza hospital. (Associated Press)

The?front page?photo on?Thursday?s Washington Post?tells, in a single frame, a very personal story from Wednesday?s Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.?Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic journalist who lives in Gaza, carries the body of his 11-month old son, Omar, through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

Omar Misharawi (Jihad Misharawi, via Paul Danahar)

An Israeli round hit?Misharawi?s four-room home in Gaza Wednesday, killing his son, according to BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who arrived in Gaza earlier Thursday. Misharawi?s?sister-in-law was also killed, and his brother wounded.?Misharawi told Danahar that, when the round landed, there was no fighting in his residential neighborhood.
?We?re all one team in Gaza,? Danahar told me, saying that Misharawi is a BBC video and photo editor. After spending a ?few hours? with his grieving colleague, he?wrote?on Twitter,??Questioned asked here is: if Israel can kill a man riding on a moving motorbike (as they did last month) how did Jihad?s son get killed.?
Danahar also shared the following photos of?Misharawi?s small Gaza home, which appears to have been heavily damaged. The place where the round punctured his ceiling is clearly visible.

Jihad Misharawi?s home. (Paul Danahar/BBC)
Jihad Misharawi?s home. (Paul Danahar/BBC)

BBC World editor Jon Williams?sent a memo?about the young child?s death to colleagues, according to The Telegraph:

Our thoughts are with Jihad and the rest of the team in Gaza.
This is a particularly difficult moment for the whole bureau in Gaza.
We?re fortunate to have such a committed and courageous team there. It?s a sobering reminder of the challenges facing many of our colleagues.

Reuters also had a photographer at the Gaza City hospital where Misharawi took his son. The story that these photos tell, of loss and confusion, may help inform the Palestinian reactions ? and, as the photos continue to spread widely on social media, perhaps the reactions from beyond the Palestinian territories ? to the violence between Israel and Gaza.

Jihad Masharawi mourns his son?s death in Gaza. (Mohammed Salem ? Reuters)
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Author: Shahidul Alam

Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018. A photographer, writer, curator and activist, Shahidul Alam obtained a PhD in chemistry before switching to photography. His seminal work “The Struggle for Democracy” contributed to the removal of General Ershad. Former president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, Alam set up the Drik agency, Chobi Mela festival and Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute, considered one of the finest schools of photography in the world. Shown in MOMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern, Alam has been guest curator of Whitechapel Gallery, Winterthur Gallery and Musee de Quai Branly. His awards include Mother Jones, Shilpakala Award and Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dali International Festival of Photography. Speaker at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Oxford and Cambridge universities, TEDx, POPTech and National Geographic, Alam chaired the international jury of the prestigious World Press Photo contest. Honorary Fellow of Royal Photographic Society, Alam is visiting professor of Sunderland University in UK and advisory board member of National Geographic Society. John Morris, the former picture editor of Life Magazine describes his book “My journey as a witness”, (listed in “Best Photo Books of 2011” by American Photo), as “The most important book ever written by a photographer.”

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