Yahia Barzaq, 35, a Palestinian freelance photographer who collaborated with Turkish broadcaster TRT World, was killedon September 30, 2025, when an Israeli airstrike hit a group of civilians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, killing several people.
His brother, Motaz Barzaq, told CPJ that Yahia, a father of two, had fled from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah on September 18, where he was living with his family in a rooftop tent. On the night of his death, around 9:30 p.m., Yahia went to the city center to find better internet signal that would allow him to call his mother in Egypt. “While he stood near a carpentry shop with other residents, an Israeli drone fired a missile, killing several people instantly, including my brother Yahia,” Motaz said.
Motaz added that Yahia and his family, like the rest of their relatives, held citizenship in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a breakaway territory only recognized by Turkey, through their grandmother. Yahia specialized in photographing newborn babies and, with his wife, had established Yahia Barzaq Newborn Studio in Gaza—which was his greatest passion.
Among his last projects, was a short film on the war.
Two weeks before his killing, Yahia wrote a Facebook post expressing his exhaustion from the war. He described finding an intact chess set amid the rubble of a relative’s destroyed house:
“Those chess pieces were safe, untouched, while everything around them was destroyed… I wished we were like them, protected from all this ruin. My family and I have seen too much. Our energy ran out long ago, and I don’t even know how we’re still enduring.”
In an email response to CPJ, the IDF’s North America Media Desk said it “struck a Hamas terrorist,” adding that “the mentioned photographer was not the target of the strike.”
Yahia Barzaq, 35, a Palestinian freelance photographer who collaborated with Turkish broadcaster TRT World, was killedon September 30, 2025, when an Israeli airstrike hit a group of civilians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, killing several people.
His brother, Motaz Barzaq, told CPJ that Yahia, a father of two, had fled from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah on September 18, where he was living with his family in a rooftop tent. On the night of his death, around 9:30 p.m., Yahia went to the city center to find better internet signal that would allow him to call his mother in Egypt. “While he stood near a carpentry shop with other residents, an Israeli drone fired a missile, killing several people instantly, including my brother Yahia,” Motaz said.
Motaz added that Yahia and his family, like the rest of their relatives, held citizenship in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a breakaway territory only recognized by Turkey, through their grandmother. Yahia specialized in photographing newborn babies and, with his wife, had established Yahia Barzaq Newborn Studio in Gaza—which was his greatest passion.
Among his last projects, was a short film on the war.
Two weeks before his killing, Yahia wrote a Facebook post expressing his exhaustion from the war. He described finding an intact chess set amid the rubble of a relative’s destroyed house:
“Those chess pieces were safe, untouched, while everything around them was destroyed… I wished we were like them, protected from all this ruin. My family and I have seen too much. Our energy ran out long ago, and I don’t even know how we’re still enduring.”
In an email response to CPJ, the IDF’s North America Media Desk said it “struck a Hamas terrorist,” adding that “the mentioned photographer was not the target of the strike.”