Faces of loss: AFP photographer captures Gazans standing amid the ruins

Here, a 73-year-old man, Ali Al-Qanoua, poses among ruins and debris scattered across the ground. A curtain serves as a door. Over there, a 12-year-old girl, Maram Al-Assali, stands at the centre of the photo. Behind her, a pile of broken furniture, cinder blocks everywhere. Both of them stare into the camera, just like the 19 other Gazans in this series of 21 photographs, standing in front of what was once their home.

The Israeli offensive, launched after the attacks by Hamas fighters on Israel on October 7, 2023, led to massive destruction, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes. In late January 2025, the opening of the Netzarim corridor allowed people to return to the north of Gaza. AFP set out to document these returns. 

 

The agency's photographers have been on the ground, on the front lines, from day one. They were among the first independent witnesses to the attacks in southern Israel which killed more than 1,200 people and saw 251 people taken hostage. They also covered, step by step, the heartbreaking story of the hostages held in Gaza. 

Inside the Gaza Strip, other AFP journalists and their families found themselves trapped as Israel launched its devastating military response. Many of these journalists lost their homes, and several lost members of their families.

The idea for this project emerged when John Wessels, received images from Bashar Taleb, a local photographer. "The idea came about after the Netzarim corridor to the North Gaza was opened allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians (including Bashar) to return to what is left of their homes in the North. Bashar sent me images of his house destroyed, it was the images he sent me that gave me the idea of having families, mothers, fathers portraited in front of the ruins of their houses and Bashar was the perfect photographer for it as he was living the same reality.” 

 

John immediately reached out to Bashar to propose the project and involved Mohammed Abed, AFP’s deputy coordinator for Gaza, to ensure the logistics. “It took a few tries for it to be what I was looking for but in the end we got a powerful series of portraits.”

Bashar Taleb has been working as a photographer since he was 14. He is not just a contributor to AFP—he is also a resident of Gaza who has had to endure the trauma of war. “I am 35 years old and became engaged to my fiancée during the war and during my displacement". Having lost his father, he is now responsible for his family of eight. After spending months trying to keep his family safe from harm in in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, he returned home only to find his neighbourhood had been damaged beyond recognition.

 

"I returned to my home in the northern Gaza Strip after a journey fraught with danger and anxiety. I had to carry out my work, support my family, and provide them with all their necessary food and drink. After returning to my home, I found it completely damaged. Most of the houses surrounding me in the neighbourhood, as well as the homes of my neighbours and friends, had become uninhabitable.”

Throughout his work, Bashar documents the pain of others who, like him, have suffered immense loss. He tells the story of Basil Al-Jubeiri, 30, who lost his wife just seven months after their wedding, along with his mother to whom he was deeply attached. Then there is Mahmoud Awad, 37. “I found him shot five times by an Israeli sniper while trying to retrieve the body of our neighbour, who had been killed by an Israeli tank during the raid on the Saftawi neighborhood where we all live". Upon his return to their neighbourhood, Bashar found that Awad has been unable to receive treatment and requires major surgery to repair his shattered leg.

 

One of Bashar’s most emotional encounters was with Talal Al-Asali, 64. “As Talal Al-Asali, met me in tears, I was the neighbourhood journalist, and everyone knew me. Seeing me, it was as if everyone had found someone to cry with and to whom they could complain about their suffering in this war. Al-Asali, with tears in his eyes, told me that he had lost four of his sons in this war. I hugged him and kissed his head, perhaps these kisses would soothe his grief and broken heart.” Bashar said.

“These are cases whose stories I have heard firsthand and in detail. Every day, I try to sit with someone I know, listening to them and focusing on every detail of the events that happened to them all.” 

Beyond personal tragedies, Bashar's images reveal the collapse of daily life in Gaza. Water and food are scarce, electricity is almost nonexistent, and the population struggles to survive with minimal resources. With no internet, residents gather around Bashar’s phone, hoping to send messages to loved ones. "They all huddle around me as if I'm their only outlet to the outside world," he said. "Life here is slowly coming to an end, and everyone is trying to make a living from nothing."