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’
• Mahmoud Wadi

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.

According to an CPJ's investigation , Mahmoud had visited their sister’s home in central Khan Younis on Tuesday morning before stepping outside—about 200 meters away—to document the destruction with a drone. At approximately 10:48 a.m., an Israeli drone struck Mahmoud directly as he and fellow freelancer Mohammed Islayeh, 40, were preparing the device for launch. The strike killed Mahmoud and injured Islayeh. His brother, Mohammed Wadi, testified that missile was fired intentionally at Mahmoud, noting that the location was in the middle of Khan Younis and roughly three kilometers from the “yellow line” Israel designated as a no-cross zone. “He was not near Israeli forces nor posing any threat,” he said. “The targeting was deliberate.”

He worked independently with several media outlets, including the Qatari-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Mubasher, Al Araby TV, and privately owned Al-Ghad TV.

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.”