GAZA, (PIC)
Palestinian journalist Yahya Subaih wasn’t holding his camera at that moment. He wasn’t chasing a news story or documenting another massacre. He was simply trying to capture a quiet moment of life at the “Thai” restaurant with his friends—until the Israeli killing machine descended upon the place and reduced it to rubble.
There, Yahya was martyred—leaving behind deep human sorrow and three children who are still searching for their father’s face in photographs.
Amira’s final glance
From beneath the rubble, an eternal image emerged: Yahya gazing at his newborn daughter, Amira, with a look unlike any other.
His face radiated love, life, and something indescribable—as if his heart somehow knew it was the last look. It wasn’t the lens of a journalist, but the gaze of a father into the soul of his child, just hours before his death.
Baraa and Kinan: Sudden orphanhood and heavy silence
Yahya had three children: Amira, Baraa, and Kinan. He left them without a goodbye, without telling them a parting story. What remains is sorrow, shock, and an aching longing that words can’t express.
A broken mother’s words, with her head held high
In a moving statement, Yahya’s mother said: “My son died without his camera, while eating like any normal person… He wasn’t carrying a weapon, he wasn’t on a battlefield—he was just a father, a simple man. I always feared for him when he went out to film, but I never thought he’d be taken while sitting in a place that should’ve been safe.”
She told our correspondent: “Yahya’s glance at his daughter Amira before he was martyred tore my heart apart… maybe he felt it was his last look, maybe he knew. I wasn’t by his side. May Allah be pleased with you, my son. I raised a man. My heart is broken, but I hold my head high because of you.”
The human martyr, his image never fades
Though Yahya was not martyred during journalistic work, he was known among his peers as an honest voice, and a lens that captured truth—not spectacle.
He had a heart beating with life, truth, and humanity. His departure was shocking, yet it carried profound symbolism: in the Gaza Strip, even those without a camera are targeted—simply for being Palestinian.
A testimony off-air but etched in history
Yahya fell while seeking life, but his death became a new life in the memory of his people. His final glances, his human presence, and the words he left in the hearts of those who knew him—all turned into a voice that cannot be silenced, and an image that will never die.
The Government Media Office strongly condemned the systematic targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation. It called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union, and all media bodies across the world to denounce these systematic crimes against journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip.
It confirmed that the number of martyred journalists has risen to 214 following the martyrdom of journalist Yahya Subaih.
It also held the Israeli occupation, the U.S. administration, and countries complicit in the genocide—such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France—fully responsible for this heinous and brutal crime.
The statement urged the international community and organizations concerned with journalism and media around the world to condemn the crimes of the occupation, to deter and prosecute it in international courts, and to bring its war criminals to justice. It also called for serious and effective pressure to stop the ongoing genocide, to protect journalists and media workers in the Gaza Strip, and to end the crime of killing and assassinating them.
