This series of pictures describes the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed over 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. In retaliation, Israel launched a massive military campaign that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, mass displacement, and famine-like conditions.Photographer Loay Ayyoub documented the war’s impact for The Washington Post. Starting in Gaza City, he fled to Khan Yunis and later to Rafah as the conflict intensified. Alongside fellow journalists, he captured the devastation, especially around hospitals and bomb sites. In February 2024, Loay left Gaza for Egypt due to safety concerns. Over 200 Gazan journalists have died since the conflict broke out.

In The Tragedy of Gaza, Loay Ayyoub distills the unimaginable scale of human suffering into just ten powerful frames—each one a quiet scream, a fragment of a catastrophe too vast to fully grasp.
Shot over six harrowing months for The Washington Post, this short story bears witness to one of the most devastating and consequential conflicts of our time. The strength of this work lies in its ability to convey urgency, grief, and historical weight within such a tightly curated edit that tells a story the world must not ignore.