Dahdouh receives prestigious int’l press freedom award for 2024

The US-based National Press Club has awarded Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh the 2024 John Aubuchon International Press Freedom Award.

The National Press Club said in a statement that the award, the club’s highest honour, was presented to Wael Dahdouh in recognition of his significant efforts to keep news flowing from the region to the world.

15/15 “The Club continues to fight for Aubuchon honorees long after the gala ends. We will work until they are freed from prison or find justice in a court – no matter if it takes months, years or decades. We stand by our honorees and we will stand by Wael Al-Dahdouh,” Wilkins…

— National Press Club (@PressClubDC) November 12, 2024

The statement highlighted Dahdouh’s perseverance despite enduring unimaginable personal loss; his wife, son and daughter were killed in an air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp on 28 October 2023, followed by the death of his remaining son Hamza in an Israeli air raid on 7 January 2024.

Dahdouh himself was targeted by gunfire from an Israeli drone on 15 December while covering an attack on a school in Khan Younis, the statement added. “Despite overwhelming grief and hardship, Dahdouh has continued his mission to bring the truth to the world.”

Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club, travelled to Berlin to present the award to Dahdouh, noting, “Dahdouh’s resilience, strength, and dedication inspire journalists worldwide.”

The statement concluded that the sorrow of the story of Al-Dahdouh is exacerbated by the fact that 137 journalists and media workers have been killed since 7 October 3023, at least five of whom were killed in targeted Israeli operations, calling for an investigation into all these cases.

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