Mohammed Tuhami al-Salhi: Martyr and father who never saw his firstborn daughter
Al-Khamisa News Network - Gaza
Mohammed Tehami Al-Salhi.. Press Satellites Produced by: Tariq Washah
Mohammed was born in al-Bureij camp in central the Gaza Strip on September 14, 1994, and grew up amid the sounds of shelling and whispers of defiance.
In that place, where pain mixes with hope, he took up a camera not merely as a tool of work but as a message he carried. He saw in every picture an opportunity to change a harsh reality, and in every shot a seed of hope to break the blockade.
A journalist with the heart of a witness
Mohammed was not just a journalist documenting pain; he was a witness who felt the suffering in his heart before his lens.
He graduated from the Faculty of Journalism and Media in 2015, searching with his keen eye for moments worth telling the world. He worked with the “Fourth Authority” photojournalism agency, and became known among colleagues for his courage and humanity, conveying reality with credibility without distortion.
He did not limit himself to reporting news; he sought to shape a new generation to carry the message, transitioning from photographer to trainer and sharing his passion and knowledge with aspiring young graduates.
A love story left unfinished
Mohammed was not just a name on a list; he was an unfinished love story.
He married his beloved “Maya Manaa” and eagerly awaited the birth of his first child, “Misk“, whom he loved before he saw her and to whom he was attached from the first moment he heard her heartbeat.
His mother, Umm Muaz Al-Salhi, says: “Mohammed carried a camera in his hand that came to carry his image and his memories. He documented the event and became the event. He was making history to bear witness to truth and justice.”
A sniper’s bullet and an everlasting ache
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Mohammed went to cover events near the eastern border of al-Bureij camp. Before he left, he looked at his wife “Maya” and said his last words, which will remain etched in her memory forever: “I love you, but I love Paradise more.”
In the field, standing tall behind his lens, wearing his helmet and a press vest clearly marked “PRESS,” he was shot by an Israeli sniper. His body fell, but his camera and his message remained witnesses to what his family and colleagues describe as a deliberate killing — a blatant violation of international law provisions that prohibit targeting journalists and guarantee their protection as civilians.
His last wish: Misk
Mohammed’s greatest dream was to become a father, but fate was swifter. On October 29, 2023, 22 days after his death, his daughter “Misk” was born.
She came into a world without her father’s laughter, into warm arms devoid of his image. She was the daughter her father had seen only in his dreams, and the last wish that carried his name and legacy.
A memory that does not die
Mohammed Al-Salhi left at the age of twenty-nine, but his camera left behind a body of photographs and human testimony that endures. He was a hero of a different kind — armed only with his truthful words and his committed camera. He did not choose the battle, but he chose to be at its heart to convey the truth.
