Prominent Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh won the Courage Prize at the 32nd Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Awards.
Each year, the RSF Press Freedom Awards honour the work of journalists and media outlets that have made significant contributions to the defence and promotion of press freedom worldwide.
This year, 18 journalists and journalist teams, two media outlets, and five photojournalists from 22 countries were in the running.
The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Awards said they celebrate “the courageous journalists who have made sharing reliable information to their life struggle.”
The statement announcing Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief as winner reads, “The awards went to Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh, who has never stopped reporting despite injuries and the death of his family members in Gaza (Courage Prize)”
Wael Al-Dahdouh is described as “journalist who embodies resilience and the fight for reliable information.”
In a video message posted on the RSF X handle, Dahdouh thanked the RSF team, adding ,”I consider it a way to honor all my fellow journalists in Gaza, who have covered and continued to cover the events of this terrifying war conducted by the Israeli army occupying Gaza.”
Further, he added, “We made a huge sacrifice and paid an expensive price: exhaustion, sleepless nights, blood, sweat, fear, terror, loss, displacement, to make sure that all the news, the images and the information coming from Gaza during this war, could arrive to the rest of the world.”
Dahdouh has become an epitome of courage during Israel’s continuing siege on Gaza, despite the loss of his wife, grandson, and three of his children — one of whom was also a journalist for Al Jazeera — he continued to report the devastations in Gaza.
Al-Dahdouh, who was injured by an Israeli drone strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in December, left for Qatar to receive medical treatment, and is currently undergoing treatment in Germany.
source/content: maktoobmedia.com (headline edited)
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