Palestinian boy reunited with photographer whose viral photo helped rescue him from war-torn Gaza
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 2-year-old Palestinian boy who was rescued from Gaza and brought to the Chicago area amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war was reunited on Monday with the photographer who took a viral photo that helped him get the attention of a non-profit and get the care he desperately needed.
Jood Damo's leg was fractured in an Israeli bombing during the war, and his mother was killed while shielding him from the blast.
Motaz Azaiza took the picture of Jood that was shared worldwide and caught the attention of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which helped save his family.
Azaiza's photo of Jood forever snapped a little boys future into focus.
The Palestinian photojournalist's disturbing picture of a wounded Jood went viral, and likely saved the boy, who was able to escape with his father to Chicago for medical treatment.
Azaiza remembers the day he took the photo. He said the hospital floor in Gaza was filled with people and children in desperate need of medical care.
"You enter the emergency room, and there's no even a place to put your feet," he said.
That's when Jood caught his eye.
"How he was tied by needles in his hands and his legs," Azaiza said. "It looked like spiderman, but in a very difficult circumstances."
The day after Christmas 2023, Jood's family was together for a birthday, when the celebration was violently cut short by a suspected Israeli airstrike that hit the family home.
Joods mother, Mina, was killed. Jood's leg was severely injured.
"If I was going to stay there, I'm going to be killed. I would never survive this," Azaiza said. "I'm not just taking the picture and forgetting about the people, no."
Azaiza never forgot Jood. Monday night, the two were back together in the most unlikely of reunions in the southwest suburbs.
"I'm happy he's safe. He's safe. He's now in the U.S., a good life, a better life, to get treatment," Azaiza said.
Staff with the Chicago chapter of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund saw Azaiza's photo and helped Jood get to Chicago. Many of them gathered on Monday to see the two back together.
"It was beautiful seeing them reunited. It was beautiful seeing a healthy child in front of me, as opposed to the photos we saw early on," said Vivian Kahlaf, chairwoman of the board for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
As powerful as the reunion was, and as happy Jood appeared, it came with a mix of emotions.
"At the same time, it reminds me of the thousands and thousands of other children that are in need of urgent medical care that haven't been as lucky as Jood," Kahlaf said.
"You are happy for him, but at the same time you are sad, and it's much bigger than your happiness," Azaiza said.
Jood now has a new lease on life, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, Azaiza's photo of Jood is priceless.
Azaiza now lives in Dohar, Bangladesh. He's in the U.S. now meeting with other people he's helped through his photography.