Mariam Abu Dagga was a Palestinian freelance photojournalist based in Gaza, renowned for her courageous coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.[1][2][3] She contributed to major outlets including the Associated Press (AP) and Independent Arabia, providing rare visual documentation of the humanitarian crisis, including scenes of malnourished children dying from starvation at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.[1][3] Her career gained prominence in 2018 when she filmed the shooting of a Palestinian protester during the Great March of Return demonstrations; the victim was later identified as her brother, intertwining her personal and professional lives.[1] Following Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Abu Dagga became one of the few women journalists on the ground, capturing the war's human toll amid constant displacement, the loss of her mother and a close colleague, and separation from her 13-year-old son, who was evacuated to the United Arab Emirates.[1] Despite repeated dangers, she documented the immediate aftermath of strikes and the deepening famine, bylining an AP story on Gaza's crisis just days before her death.[1] On August 25, 2025, Abu Dagga was killed in Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, alongside journalists Hussam Al-Masri (Reuters), Mohammed Salama (Al Jazeera), Ahmed Abu Aziz, and Moaz Abu Taha, while covering the attacks; others were injured.[2] The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) classified the incident as "unknown" pending investigation into whether it constituted murder in reprisal for her work, noting Israel's claim of targeting a Hamas-operated camera on the hospital roof.[2] Posthumously, she was named the 2025 IPI-IMS World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute, recognizing her determination and inspiration to Gaza's journalists.[1] Her AP photo gallery preserves her stark imagery of wounded arrivals and medical struggles at the hospital.[3]