Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Mariam Riyad Abu Daqqa was born in the town of Abasan al-Kabira in the al-Farahin area of Khan Yunis Governorate, southern Gaza Strip, on November 29, 1991. She is married and has one son. She completed her primary education at Abasan al-Kabira Girls' School and her secondary education at al-Khansa School, graduating in 2010. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and media from the Faculty of Journalism at al-Aqsa University in the Gaza Strip in 2014 and completed several specialized courses in journalism and media. She is active in photojournalism and has dedicated her career to documenting the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
She worked as a freelance photographer, where she photographed the events of the Great March of Return in 2018, which are weekly mass marches launched by Gazans towards the border with the “Gaza Envelope” area to express their rejection of the occupation’s siege of the Strip, and their aspiration to return to their towns from which they were displaced in 1948. Abu Daqqa also covered the occupation’s wars on the Gaza Strip since 2012, especially the genocidal war launched by the occupation in October 2023.
I worked with local, Arab and international media agencies, including: Dunya Al Watan Agency, Al Sharq Channel and the American Associated Press Agency. I also worked as a journalist at the Ummah Youth Center between (2019-2023), and was a photographer at the Independent Arabia newspaper between (2020-2025).
Abu Daqqa was a member of the Journalists Syndicate and dedicated her life to journalistic work. She did not stop working for a single day throughout the wars on the Gaza Strip. While her only son, Ghaith, was forced to leave the Gaza Strip when the war of extermination began, Abu Daqqa insisted on staying and continued to cover the events, remaining steadfast in the field.
Abu Daqqa suffered greatly under the occupation. Her home was bombed at the beginning of the war, but she remained in the field covering the events. Like her colleagues, she was pursued by the occupation forces. Knowing she might be martyred at any moment, she wrote her will to her son, Ghaith, saying: “Ghaith, you are the heart and soul of your mother. Pray for me, don’t cry for me… so I can stay happy. I want you to make me proud and excel… I beg you, Ghaith… your prayers, your prayers, your prayers, my dear.” She was assassinated by the occupation forces in an attack on the emergency building at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on August 25, 2025. Twenty-one civilians were killed in the same attack, including members of the Civil Defense. Among the martyrs were four journalists: Muhammad Salama, Hussam al-Masri, Muath Abu Taha, and Ahmed Abu Aziz. The attack was broadcast live. Abu Daqqa was buried in the Austrian Cemetery.
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