Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha has won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. He was awarded the prize for his article titled ‘Physical and Psychological Carnage in Gaza’ published in The New Yorker magazine.
The award, announced last Monday, said, ‘Abu Toha’s articles published in The New Yorker on the physical and psychological devastation in Gaza have highlighted the Palestinian experience during the war.’
After winning the award, Abu Toha wrote on social media, ‘I have won the Pulitzer Prize. Let it bring hope. Let it be a story.’ His comment is believed to be a tribute to Palestinian poet Rifat Al-Ari. He was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza in December 2023. His last poem was titled, “If I Must Die, Let It Be a Tail.”
He was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2023. He was later released in Egypt and moved to the United States. In an article in the New Yorker, Abu Toha wrote, “In the past year, I have lost many of my visible memories—people, places, things, that were the stuff of my memory. Now I struggle to make good memories. Every destroyed house in Gaza is a kind of album. Filled not with pictures but with real people, the dead buried between the pages of the album.”
Recently, right-wing groups in the United States have called for Abu Toha to be expelled, especially at a time when President Donald Trump has taken a tough stance against anti-Israel immigrants. Abu Toha recently canceled several university events due to security concerns.