At just 19 years old, Momen Abu al-Aouf became one of the youngest journalists to be killed in Gaza since the war began. He was documenting a rescue operation in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City when an Israeli airstrike hit, killing him alongside three paramedics: Hussein Muhaysen, Baraa Afana, and Wael al-Attar.

For Momen, journalism was more than a profession, it was a calling. With his camera and press vest, he walked into danger not for recognition, but to bear witness. He often joined medics as they searched for survivors, determined to show the world Gaza’s pain and its perseverance. His last assignment was no different, capturing humanity under fire until he became part of the story he was trying to tell.

His mother recalls his final morning, filled with laughter, warmth, and an unspoken heaviness. “He told me he had the day off. We sat, we talked. He laughed in a way that felt like goodbye,” she said. “He told me he’d be gone just half an hour. Then he was gone forever.”

She speaks not only of loss, but of pride. “My son rose,” she said. “He carried a camera, not a weapon. He was killed because he chose truth over silence.”

Momen is now among at least 227 journalists killed in Gaza since the war began, a staggering figure that reflects the deadly cost of truth-telling in a place where journalism is treated as a threat.

His death drew widespread condemnation from press freedom organisations and human rights groups, who denounced the systematic targeting of journalists and called once again for urgent protection for media workers in Gaza. But appeals for accountability continue to be met with silence.

Momen’s story, like so many others, ends too soon. Yet his voice endures, in the images he captured, the lives he touched, and the truths he refused to let die. In a land where memory itself is under attack, Momen’s final message remains: truth matters, even when it costs everything.