Life Story
Samer Abu Daqqa (Abu Yazan; 1978-2023) is a Palestinian journalist, born in the town of Absan in the southern Gaza Strip. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and media from Al-Azhar University in 1977. He started his career as a journalist at Al-Shaab newspaper in 1978. In 2004, he moved to work for Al Jazeera and was one of the founders of the office in the Gaza Strip, where he was a photographer and technician for Al Jazeera for more than twenty years. He holds Belgian nationality and is the father of three sons and a daughter.
He received the Outstanding Arab Journalist Award from the Union of Arab Journalists in 2004 and the Outstanding International Journalist Award from Reporters Without Borders in 2007.
Samer was assassinated on 15 December 2023 during an airstrike on Farhana School in Khan Younis during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip after he was wounded and left bleeding for more than five hours.