Wael al-Dahdouh
وائل الدحدوح
Journalist, Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief
Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, who kept reporting through the killing of his wife, son, daughter, and grandson in 2023 and became a global symbol of press freedom.
Wael al-Dahdouh was born in Gaza City in 1970. He began his career with the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds and other local and Arab outlets before joining Al Jazeera in 2004, eventually becoming the Arabic channel’s Gaza bureau chief. For two decades his live reports — from wars, raids, funerals, and the daily grind of the blockade — made him one of the most familiar faces of Gaza to viewers across the Arab world.
On 25 October 2023, an Israeli airstrike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp, where his family had sought shelter, killing his wife Amina, his son Mahmoud, fifteen, his daughter Sham, seven, and his infant grandson Adam. He learned of their deaths while covering the war and was back on the air the next day. In December 2023 he was wounded in a strike that killed his cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa; on 7 January 2024 his eldest son Hamza, also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed by an Israeli drone strike near Khan Younis. Al-Dahdouh eventually left Gaza for medical treatment abroad and continued working. In 2024 the National Press Club named him its international John Aubuchon Press Freedom honoree, its highest award for press freedom.
Selected contributions
- Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent in Gaza (2004–present), later Gaza bureau chief
- Coverage of successive wars on Gaza and daily life under blockade
- John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, international honoree (2024)
Sources
Further reading
An external biography or archive holding more on this life than the entry above.