Mahmoud Wadi
محمود وادي

Killed by Israel on 2 Dec 2025

Links

• Martyr journalist Mahmoud Essam Wadi
• “He captured Gaza from the sky”: Palestinian photojournalist Mahmoud Wadi killed by Israel in ‘safe zone’

Archivist Notes

Full Name: Mahmoud Essam Wadi | محمود عصام وادي

Mahmoud Essam Wadi was martyred after an Israeli drone strike hit him while he was working in central Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. The attack occurred in an area far from the Yellow Line—the buffer zone established under the ceasefire to separate Israeli-controlled and Palestinian-held areas.

Wadi owned Al-Quds Photography Studio and worked as a freelance photographer. At the time of the strike, he was operating a drone for an Al-Jazeera journalist accompanying him. The drone was launched moments before the attack near the Bani Suhaila roundabout, where he was documenting displacement camps and widespread destruction in what had been designated a “safe” area under the October 2025 ceasefire.

Before the war transformed his life, Mahmoud Wadi was a celebrated wedding videographer, renowned for his breathtaking drone shots capturing joy and celebration across Gaza. His studio was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in April 2025, forcing him to shift from event videography to frontline journalism.

Colleagues remembered him as gentle, professional, courageous, and deeply humanitarian. His posts—often tagged #GazaUnderFire—reached thousands, offering raw documentation of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Reacting to his death, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese wrote on X:
“More grim news from Gaza, the crime scene that never closes. No ceasefire, declared or imagined, can shield Palestinian journalists from Israel’s violence. RIP Mahmoud Wadi. Solidarity to his family, or what remains of it. Between 225 and 250 journalists have been killed in Gaza in just 750 days.”