Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh wins Courage Prize at RSF Press Freedom Awards

Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh won the Courage Prize at the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Awards on Tuesday.

According to the organisation, “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.”

The 32nd award ceremony, which took place in Washington DC, honoured five journalists from across the world for their contributions. There were 18 journalists and journalist teams, two media outlets and five photojournalists from 22 countries in the running.

The Courage Prize was awarded to al-Dahdouh because he “never stopped reporting despite injuries and the death of his family members in Gaza.

“Wael al-Dahdouh, head of Al Jazeera’s Gaza desk, is an experienced Palestinian journalist who embodies resilience and the fight for reliable information.”

Al-Dahdouh has repeatedly suffered loss due to the intense Israeli aggression in Gaza. In October 2023, his wife, teenage son and young daughter were all killed at a refugee camp in central Gaza, the BBC reported.

In January, his two nephews were slain in an Israeli airstrike, just one day after his eldest son Hamza Al-Dahdouh — a journalist with the Al Jazeera television network — was killed in an airstrike.

Al-Dahdouh himself was injured by an Israeli drone strike in December 2023, which killed his cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa. He left for Qatar in January to receive medical treatment, the RSF stated.

Other recipients at the awards ceremony included Ukrainian journalist and co-founder of the NGO The Reckoning Project, Nataliya Gumenyuk who received the Impact Prize; Indian journalist Ravish Kumar who won the Independence Prize; Burkina Faso journalist Mariam Ouédraogo who received the Mohamed Maïga Prize for African Investigative Journalism; and Belgian photojournalist Gaël Turine who was awarded the Lucas Dolega-SAIF Photo Prize.