2024 YEAR IN PHOTOS

Middle East Images unites photographers from the MENA region, showcasing their talent through visual stories that capture a deep connection to their home.
The 2024 year in photos features 62 images, an unranked selection captured by our photographers. The pictures tell stories of people’s lives, from daily routines to significant events. They offer a view into the region’s culture and humanity, showing its depth and diversity through a local lens with a global perspective.

Excited spectators watch as camels wrestle during Turkey’s biggest camel wrestling festival. Selcuk Turkey on January 21, 2024. Photo by Konstantin Novakovic /Middle East Images
Armenian military, politicians and family of those who were killed in recent wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan lay flowers and pay their respects to the fallen at Yerablur Military Cemetery in Yerevan, Armenia on Army Day on January 28, 2024. Armenia celebrates the 32nd anniversary of the formation of the Armed Forces. Every year the public holiday is celebrated on 28 January to honor the troops of the Armed Forces of Armenia and those who have fallen. The possibility of a new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains high as the situation on the border remains tense along with provocative statement from Azerbaijan officials and leadership. On September 19th Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against the Armenian Republic of Artsakh. The violation was seen as a breach in the 2020 ceasefire, which led to over 190 servicemen killed, and over 360 wounded. After the fighting officially ended on September 21, Azerbaijan opened the border for the first time in months to allow people to leave, this was followed by the opening of the Lachin corridor on September 24th leading to a mass exodus of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh. Photo by Anthony Pizzoferrato /Middle East Images
People march with torches and banners for the people who lost their lives in the earthquake. On February 6, 2024, marking the one-year anniversary of the February 2023 earthquake, the catastrophic event claimed the lives of over 53,500 individuals in Turkey and nearly 6,000 in Syria. This disaster stands as the deadliest in the region in many centuries. Photo by Murat Kocabas / Middle East Images
A man performs a parkour move in Atisaz, Tehran, on February 21, 2024. Photo by Bahram / Middle East Images
Displaced Palestinians gather to receive food at a donation point in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 24, 2024, after more than four months of ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. UNICEF, the UN Children’s Agency, and the UN’s World Food Programme have warned Gazans are inching closer towards famine. Photo by Yasser Qudihe / Middle East Images
Donald Trump during the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference the Gaylord National Convention Center in Fort Washington, Maryland, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Photo by Dominic Gwinn / Middle East Images
The Israeli Civil Administration and Israeli border police demolish a home in the village of Al-Jawaya, located in the Masafer Yatta region of the southern West Bank on May 7, 2024. The forces cleared the house out, blocked the family from entering the premise, and then demolished the two-story home with one bulldozer and two excavators. The house was home to a family of eleven, including nine children. Since October 7th, the only access road to Al-Jawaya has been closed off by the Israeli military. Palestinians living in Area C of the West Bank are required to apply for a building permit in order to build or modify any structure on their property. Civil Administration, who is responsible for processing the permit applications, denies 98% of the requests. Therefore, a large majority of homes, barns, schools, bathrooms and water wells in Area C are subject to demolition orders from the Israeli military. Photo by Emily Glick / Middle East Images
A Palestinian child sits on the wrecked concrete. Worshippers Hold Friday Prayer at Rubble of Al-Furqan Mosque, Ravaged by Israeli Army in Rafah’s Shaboura Neighborhood on March 1, 2024. Photo by Salam Qudih / Middle East Images
Ben poses for a portrait on March 25, 2024. Ben, 19, was born in Ramat Hasharon, Israel. Next week he plans to refuse the draft and to be imprisoned. Ben started as a climate activist and then became an anti- occupation activist. After his imprisonment, Ben plans to travel to the West Bank, perform activism, and make Palestinian friends. He stands against the war, and against the occupation as a whole. Photo by Liebe Blekh / Middle East Images
Police officers take out a protester who lay down under a water cannon to prevent him from harming protesters at a demonstration led by the families of the kidnapped near Benjamin Netanyahu’s house for the hostage deal and against the government on April 2, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel. Photo by Yahel Gazit /Middle East Images
Palestinians walk past damaged buildings in Khan Yunis on April 8, 2024 after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip, six months into the devastating war sparked by the October 7 attacks. Photo by Khames Alrefi /Middle East Images
Israeli soldiers detain and blindfold a Palestinian man on the road near Duma in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Photo by Itai Ron /Middle East Images
Iranian pro-government supporters shout anti-Israel slogans while waving the Palestine flag at Palestine Square in Tehran, on April 14, 2024, in a celebration of the early morning Iran’s IRGC attack on Israel. Iran fired over 100 drones and ballistic missiles on Saturday, April 14, 2024, in retaliation to an attack on a building attached to the country’s consular annex in Damascus that killed seven members of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on April 01, 2024. Iran has blamed Israel for the attack on April 5, 2024 in Tehran. Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images
Displaced Palestinians on their way attempting to return to their homes in north Gaza through a coastal road in the Gaza Strip on April 14, 2024. Photo by Yasser Qudihe / Middle East Images
Israeli police officers carry a protester during a demonstration by activists near the Gaza strip border in Israel on Friday, April 26, 2024. Rabbis belonging to the U.S.-based organization “Rabbis for Ceasefire,” along with Israeli rabbis and activists, gathered near the Gaza border in an attempt to make a symbolic delivery of aid through Erez Crossing. The Israeli police stopped the procession, prevented the delivery of aid, and arrested seven rabbis and activists. The activists are calling for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the human-made starvation in Gaza. Photo by Emily Glick / Middle East Images
Packages of aid lands on parts of Gaza dropped from the air by planes in an attempt to ease the pressure on the dire humanitarian situation caused by Israel’s war on the strip on April 30, 2024. Photo by Abood Abusalama / Middle East Images
A Palestinian boy wearing a football jersey looks over the window to the rubble in Khan Yunis after the Israeli army withdrew from the area on May 02, 2024. Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip has turned most of the highly populated area into rubble, with thousands displaced from their homes to displacement camps. Despite the scale of destruction, several Palestinian families have returned to their homes covered with debris from the Israeli operation in the town. Israel has announced an operation on the city of Rafah, which is most likely to exacerbate the already dire situation of the Palestinians and displace more people from their home. Photo byKhames Alrefi / Middle East Images
An Israeli army battle tank moves near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on May 16, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. Photo by Saeed Qaq /Middle East Images
A visitor stands near a historic minaret in Herat, Afghanistan, on May 18, 2024. Herat, the third-largest city in Afghanistan, is an oasis in the fertile Hari River valley, south of the Paropamisus Mountains. As the capital of Herat Province, it had an estimated population of 574,276 in 2020 and serves as a key cultural and historical center in western Afghanistan. Photo by Mustafa Noori / Middle East images
Iranian rescue teams recover the bodies from the crash site of the Iranian presidential helicopter in the dense forest of Dizmar between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azerbaijan province, Iran on May 20, 2024. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash in the foggy mountains near the border with Azerbaijan after returning from an official trip. Iranian state television confirmed in the early hours of Monday the death of all passengers of the presidential helicopter, including six other people, members of the entourage, and crew, after the rescue teams found the bodies in the crash site in the north of the country. Raisi was among the top names to succeed Iran’s aging absolute ruler, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamnei. Raisi came to power after winning the presidential election in 2021, and his short-lived reign was marked by a brutal crackdown on the women-led protest movement following the death of Mahsa Amini under the custody of morality police. Photo by Rahim /Middle East Images
Mother of the 3-year-old child Amjed Al-Qanooa, who suffers from severe malnutrition, gives fluids with a syringe to her son in the Jabalia Camp in northern Gaza on June 9, 2024. Al-Qanooa, who suffers from severe malnutrition, weighs 5 kg, and signs of malnutrition are visible on his body and face. Palestinian children are increasingly suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration amid Israeli attacks on the densely populated Gaza Strip. Photo by Abood Abusalama / Middle East Images
Ersu Sasma of Team Turkiye competes in the Men’s Pole Vault Final on day six of the 26th European Athletics Championships – Rome 2024 at Stadio Olimpico on June 12, 2024, in Rome, Italy. Photo by Yagiz Gurtug /Middle East Images
An Iranian woman without wearing mandatory headscarves walks along the traditional grand bazaar in Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. People in Iran are increasingly showing less interest in casting their vote in the snap presidential election scheduled on June 28 after the disqualification of several candidates by the country’s religious Guardian Council. Voter turnouts have hit historically low numbers in elections in recent years as Iran’s hardliners increasingly interfere by eliminating candidates who have distanced themselves from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images
Ali Kemer, known as ‘Uncle Ali,’ devotes his life to his herd of nearly 300 horses in the Hormetci Marshes of Kayseri, Turkey. Starting his journey with horses at the age of 12, Kemer continues to care for them with dedication. Now 55, he nurtures his horses daily, attracting photographers and visitors from around the world to capture the beauty of his animals in the marshes. Photo by Damoun Pournemati / Middle East Images
Ultrah-Orthodox Jewish men clash with police officers during a demonstration against drafting into the Israeli army on June 27, 2024 in Bnei Brak, Israel. The country’s supreme court issued a ruling on Tuesday that ended a government policy exempting ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men from military conscription. Mandatory military service has been a large part of Israeli life, but there has been a longstanding exception for Haredi men, who instead continue full-time Torah study. The court decision may prove to further destabilize Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which includes parties supportive of the exemption. Photo by Itai Ron / Middle East Images
Soldiers mourn Israeli soldier Sergeant first class Tal Lahat, who was killed amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, during his funeral, in Kfar Saba, Israel, July 10, 2024. Photo by Itai Ron / Middle East Images
Iranians attend a funeral procession for late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, the Capital of Iran on August 1, 2024. Hamas said its political leader was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran early on July 31, where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president. Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images
Palestinians perform Friday prayers and a prayer for the spirit of the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh in Nablus, West Bank on August 2, 2024. Hamas says Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by Israel three days ago in Tehran, Iran. Palestinians said their prayer on the street after the Israeli forces prevented them from reaching Jabal Sabih in the town of Beita, Nablus. The confrontations between Palestinians and the Israeli forces led to a “minor” injury of a child in the groin with a gunshot. Photo by Wahaj Bani Moufleh / Middle East Images
Anti-government protestors climbs atop a statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding father and parent of the country’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka on August 5, 2024. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended on August 5, as she fled after more than a month of deadly protests as the military announced it would form an interim government. Photo by Abu Sufian Jewel / Middle East Images
People gather to celebrate the fall of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after an intense clash between police, pro-government forces, and anti-Quota protesters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 5, 2024. Photo by Anik Rahman / Middle East Images
People gather to celebrate the fall of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after an intense clash between police, pro-government forces, and anti-Quota protesters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 5, 2024. Photo by Anik Rahman / Middle East Images
(EDITORS NOTE: Image depicts death) A mother crying after finding her child’s charred body in front of The Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on the road in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 06 August 2024.The Bangabandhu Memorial Museum is set on fire by anti-government protestors in Dhaka on August 5, 2024. Photo by Abu Sufian Jewel / Middle East Images
A bird view of the area where nearly 16 thousand pairs of shoes are laid by ‘Plant an Olive Tree in Palestine’ to draw attention on the Palestinian children killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza during commemoration event at Schouwburg Square in Rotterdam, Netherlands on September 7, 2024. Photo by Mouneb Taim / Middle East Images
An Israeli soldier stands watch in the Old City of Hebron, West Bank, as two young children look on from the entrance of their home on September 14, 2024. Photo by Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images
Elahe Tavakolian is one of many Iranians who lost their eyesight after being shot by security forces during the nationwide protests that erupted following the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini by Iran’s morality police. “When I got shot, I could only see the blood. I covered my eye with my hand. I felt like if I took my hand off, my eyeball might fall out of its socket. My children were just shouting ‘They killed our mom! Help!,’” she recalled in an interview with CNN. Forced to seek medical treatment abroad, Tavakolian traveled to Italy. In Iran, her activism brought relentless hardship—threats, persecution by authorities, and the loss of her job. Despite these challenges, Tavakolian remains a resilient mother of two, steadfast in her pursuit of justice, and continues to work tirelessly to mobilize international support. Photo by Ali Khaligh /Middle East Images
Hezbollah fighters line up to attention at the funeral of Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah Radwan Forces commander, and Mahmoud Hamad, another Hezbollah commander, both killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo by Oliver Marsden / Middle East Images
Two men ride a motorcycle past the destruction caused by an overnight Israeli airstrike on the Laylaki, Harat Hreik, and Sant Tares neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs on October 1, 2024. Photo by Fadel Itani / Middle East Images
Police clash with protesters as they march to demand an end to Israeli military attacks on Palestinians in Gaza on October 06, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Photo by Babak Bordbar / Middle East Images
Friends and family of the victims of the Nova music festival massacre gather at the site of the massacre in southern Israel one year after the tragedy. October 7, 2024. Photo by Dima Vazinovich / Middle East Images
A boy mourns near the body of his father and other Palestinians, who were killed in an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 9, 2024. Photo by Saeed Jaras /Middle East Images
Injured Palestinians receive medical attention at al Aqsa Martyrs hospital after an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced people in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on October 10, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The Palestinian Red Crescent said an Israeli air strike on a Gaza school killed at least 28 people on October 10, while the Israeli military reported it struck a Hamas command centre. The Israeli army said in a statement the strike targeted Palestinian combatants operating from a command-and-control centre “embedded inside a compound that previously served as the (Rafida) School”. Photo by Saeed Jaras /Middle East Images
Scene after the aftermath of the Israeli attacks during the night of October 11th in Basta, Beirut. Photo by Sami Boudra / Middle East Images
Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee areas north of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on October 12, 2024. In recent days, the military has launched an intense ground and air assault in northern Gaza, particularly in and around the city of Jabalia. Photo by Mahmoud Issa /Middle East Images
Members of Syria’s White Helmets civil defence force work on removing victims from under the rubble of a furniture workshop on the outskirts of the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on October 17, 2024, following Russian strikes on sites in the area which killed at least 10 people and wounded 30 others, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Russian military, which is allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has not commented on the bombardment. Idlib province and other areas outside the Syrian government’s control are run by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Photo by Moawia Atrash / Middle East images
A boy, injured in today’s Israeli attacks on Nabatieh, Lebanon, receives treatment at Nabih Berri Governmental University Hospital on October 17, 2024. Photo by Courtney Bonneau / Middle East Images
Palestinian boys light a fire over their destroyed house in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, on October 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war on Gaza. Photo by Moiz Salhi / Middle East Images
Women sort pomegranates into crates, preparing them for the molasses and beverage production process in Idlib, Syria, on October 21, 2024. Photo by Bilal Alhammoud /Middle East Images
Police cracked down on families displaced by the war who settled in an abandoned building as the landlord asked for them to be kicked out. After giving 48 hours to leave the property, police stormed the building and used force against anyone present. After 5 hours of clashes between the families and the police, the public prosecutor decided to give them 48 more hours to leave. The clashes resulted in many injured, some of them had to be hospitalized. According to the Lebanese Government, more than 1.2 million people were displaced by the war against Israel. October 21 2024. Photo by Nael Chahine /Middle East Images
A man proudly displays a T-shirt featuring Donald Trump and the American flag, showcasing his support during the rally on October 27, 2024, in New York City. Photo by Sahab Zaribaf / Middle East Images
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris gives a speech during a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada on October 31, 2024. Photo by Kia Rastar / Middle East Images
A man holding a Bejamin Netanyahu mask during a protest in Tel Aviv, following Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, being fired by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo by Ori Aviram / Middle East Images
Children do parkour near a damaged mosque in Gaza on November 9, 2024. Everyday life continues despite widespread destruction caused by the conflict. Photo by Youssef Alzanoun / Middle East Images
A protester is pinned to the ground by police during a pro-Palestinian rally in Amsterdam on Sunday, November 10, 2024. Police in Amsterdam detained dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who defied a temporary ban on protests in Dam Square on Sunday. The ban was imposed after attacks on Israeli football fans following a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax. Protesters called for an end to the Gaza conflict and opposed the ban. Photo by Wahaj Bani Moufleh / Middle East Images
Fire is burning and smoke is rising in a UN school-turned-shelter after it was hit in an Israeli strike, in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on November 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. Photo Rami Zohud / Middle East Images
A woman mourns over the bodies of family members in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on November 17, 2024. This follows separate Israeli airstrikes targeting civilian homes in Al-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps. Photo by Saeed Jaras / Middle East Images
A Palestinian child plays on a swing improvised from a tire, set amidst the rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on November 18, 2024.Photo by Youssef Alzanoun / Middle East Images
A symbolic grave for Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah is seen in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf on November 18, 2024. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike on September 27, 2024. Photo by Sajad Harsh / Middle East Images
A clash erupts between students of Dhaka College and City College at Dhaka’s Science Lab intersection in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on November 20, 2024, leaving at least 30 people injured. Police fire teargas shells and sound grenades to stop clashes between the students of these two institutions. Photo by Mehedi Hasan / Middle East Images
Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on November 23, 2024. Photo by Saeed Jaras / Middle East Images
Armed rebels celebrate their advances in Hama, Syria, by firing shots into the air on December 6, 2024. Rebels led by HTS have intensified their offensive, seizing control of key areas in Aleppo and Hama and pushing further towards Homs, sparking widespread displacement and heightened instability in west-central Syria. Photo by Bilal Alhammoud /Middle East Images
People are searching for a trace of their loved ones in the registers of the Sednaya prison also known as the “Human Slaughterhouse”. It was estimated by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that 30 000 detainees were killed by the Assad regime in Sednaya since 2011. December 12 2024. Photo by Nael Chahine / Middle East Images

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