Mona
El-Naggar

Emmy Award-winning Egyptian journalist, international correspondent and documentary filmmaker. At the heart of her work are people confronting crisis and change.

Mona El-Naggar taking notes while interviewing a group of young women

Mona El-Naggar filming beside other camera crews at a press event

Mona El-Naggar working on a laptop in the back seat of a car at night

Mona El-Naggar among a group of men in red-and-white headdresses

Mona El-Naggar with a film camera on her shoulder, looking up at dusk

Selected Films

Aug. 2024 · The New York Times
Inside One of the Last Functioning Hospitals in Gaza
Dr. Ahmad Yousaf is an American pediatrician who recently returned from a medical mission with MedGlobal in Gaza. He shared rare footage from inside Al Aqsa Hospital, where he captured harrowing conditions for staff and patients, particularly children.
Feb. 2024 · The New York Times
Motaz Azaiza Captured Gaza’s Suffering. But ‘Nothing Changed.’
When war broke out in Gaza on Oct. 7, Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian photographer, turned his camera to covering pain and loss in a territory under siege. In doing so, he attracted millions of followers — documenting the war while also trying to survive it.
Feb. 2024 · The New York Times
She Survived an Airstrike That Killed Her Entire Family in Gaza
Eleven-year-old Dareen al-Bayaa lost dozens of her family members in a single Israeli airstrike in Gaza. She is one of at least 17,000 children across the territory who have been orphaned or separated from their parents.
Dec. 2023 · The New York Times
‘You Carry Your Home With You’: A Palestinian Poet’s Journey Out of Gaza
After months of war and fleeing from one place to the next with family, Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha crossed into Egypt. He describes his harrowing experience, including being stripped, beaten and detained by Israeli soldiers.
Nov. 2023 · The New York Times
Surviving War in Gaza, One Text Message at a Time
Every morning, Ahmed Mansour, a Palestinian filmmaker in the U.S., texts his family in Gaza to check if they are still alive. Israel’s siege of the territory has caused widespread communication blackouts, making it difficult for him to reach his parents and siblings.
July 2023 · The New York Times, Opinion
What Is War to a Grieving Child?
Every day, Ukrainian children lose fathers in Russia’s assault on their country. A grief camp is fighting to protect their youth.
Aug. 2018 · The New York Times
He’s a Doctor. To Syria’s Regime, He’s an Enemy.
Since the beginning of Syria’s civil war, the Assad government has targeted and killed hundreds of medical workers. Many have fled. This is the story of one doctor, Mohammed al-Bardan, who chose to stay.
Dec. 2017 · The New York Times
She Wants Independence. In Egypt, That Can Be Dangerous.
Esraa is looking to rent an apartment with her friends. In Egypt, where personal freedom can be routinely compromised in the name of religion, family and country, that makes her a rebel. Like many in her generation, she is gasping for change. Can she win?
Oct. 2016 · The New York Times
‘Ladies First’: Saudi Arabia’s Female Candidates
In this documentary, Mona El-Naggar takes us into the largely inaccessible world of Saudi women by profiling three women running for public office, including Loujain al-Hathloul, in the first Saudi election open to female candidates.
March 2015 · The New York Times
Life With Houthi Rebels in Yemen
I took to the streets to cover the changes in the capital, Sana, after Houthi militants took full control of the city.
Feb. 2015 · The New York Times
Three Friends, One Jihadi
As his dreams crashed into Egypt’s social and political turmoil, Islam Yaken left his friends, family and a life of guilty pleasures for religious extremism, jihad and the Islamic State.
Sept. 2014 · The New York Times
Surviving an ISIS Massacre
ISIS massacred hundreds of Iraqi military recruits in June 2014. Ali Hussein Kadhim survived. This is his improbable story. [Includes graphic images.]

Selected Reporting

The New York Times

Oct. 2024 · ObituarySafeya Binzagr, 84, a Saudi Artist Celebrated but Long Unseen, Dies
Despite the gender restrictions of Saudi society, she claimed a place for herself, and other women, in the country’s art scene.
Aug. 2024 · World‘They Are Burned Alive’: A Doctor Captures the Toll of War on Gaza’s Children
An American pediatrician spent three weeks in one of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals. He shared a record of what he witnessed, including rare footage from inside the hospital, with The New York Times.
April 2022 · WorldBaking Challah in Dubai: A Jewish Community Heads Out Into the Open
The increasing openness of Jewish life in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai is another sign of an emerging new reality in the Middle East, where Israel’s isolation by the Arab world is ebbing.
Feb. 2022 · WorldFirst Arabic Film by Netflix Stirs Fierce Morality Debate
Critics argued that the remake of the Italian film “Perfect Strangers” flouted moral standards by projecting Western norms out of sync with the largely religious public across much of the Arab world.
Jan. 2022 · WorldA Ban on 19 Singers in Egypt Tests the Old Guard’s Power
Leaders of a musicians’ licensing group are trying to curb mahraganat, a bold genre wildly popular with young people. It is not clear if they can.
Nov. 2021 · WorldSex Ed, One Instagram Post at a Time
Activists are using social media to do what Arab countries have failed to do: teach women about their bodies. They are aiming for nothing less than a cultural awakening.
July 2021 · InvestigationStripped, Groped and Violated: Egyptian Women Describe Abuse by the State
Speaking publicly for the first time, these Egyptian women say they were sexually abused during invasive searches and medical exams by government authorities.
May 2021 · Front pageThey Were Only Children
At least 69 children were killed in the Israel-Hamas war this month. This is who they were.
May 2021 · WorldGaza’s Rockets: A Replenished Arsenal That Vexes Israel
Despite a blockade, Palestinian militants have used help from Iran, ingenuity, Israeli-fired duds and even plumbing pipes to make thousands of rockets with increased range.
Jan. 2021 · Front pageEgypt Denied an Oxygen Failure Killed Covid Patients. We Found That It Did.
For many Egyptians, a video offered a rare and uncensored view of the coronavirus’s real toll at the peak of Egypt’s second wave of the pandemic.
Oct. 2020 · Front pageEgyptian Teen Seeks Justice in Rape Case, and a Battle Erupts Over Women’s Rights
A generation of young women in Egypt who have found their voice on social media are challenging the old rules that blamed women when they were attacked by men.
Aug. 2020 · WorldBeirut’s Shiites Like the Idea of Change, but Like Hezbollah More
In a Shiite stronghold, people agree that the political system is dysfunctional and needs replacing, but not if that means Hezbollah ceding its power.
Dec. 2017 · Times InsiderA Video Journalist Wrestles With the Candor of an Egyptian Woman
The first time Esraa and I spoke, she was nervous. But as she relaxed and I began achieving the much-coveted “fly on the wall” status, I grew nervous.
Oct. 2016 · World‘I Live in a Lie’: Saudi Women Speak Up
Nearly 6,000 women responded to a Times call-out about their lives in a private, patriarchal society, expressing their fears, frustrations and ambitions.
Oct. 2016 · Times InsiderSaudi Women Vote for the First Time. What Did That Look Like?
I write about “Ladies First,” my documentary about Saudi women who voted for the first time.
Feb. 2015 · WorldFrom a Private School in Cairo to ISIS Killing Fields in Syria
The West is not alone in struggling to understand why young men like Islam Yaken, raised in homes that would never condone violence, are joining the Islamic State.
Jan. 2015 · WorldHouthis Reach Out as They Cement Power in Yemen
The Houthis see themselves now as having evolved from rebels into a broad-based voice against government oppression, corruption and incompetence.
Sept. 2012 · The Female FactorFamily Life According to the Brotherhood
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is committed to upholding patriarchal and traditional values around a woman’s place in society, and many Egyptian women need no convincing.
Feb. 2011 · Week in ReviewThe Legacy of 18 Days in Tahrir Square
Barriers between classes and religions fell, and Egyptians who gathered for change found that they had changed themselves.
Aug. 2010 · The Female FactorWhat the Head Scarf Means, When Everyone Wears One
With the scarf now worn by the majority of Egyptian women, many are taking the extra stride toward covering their face or rejecting the idea of veiling altogether.

Talks & Appearances

May 2025 · Holtzbrinck LectureIn Search of Truth: A Journalist’s JourneyAmerican Academy in Berlin

March 2025
Documentary filmmaking in the Middle EastTalk · Dartmouth College
March 2025
A Conversation with Mona El-NaggarPodcast · The Outlook, World Outlook
April 2023
Why Journalism, with Azadeh MoaveniTalk · NYU Journalism
April 2018
Beyond the Stereotyped Arab WomanTalk · Yale Arab Conference
April 2017
Ladies First screening, Invisibility: The Power of an IdeaConference · The New School
Nov. 2016
On Ladies First and women running for office in Saudi ArabiaRadio · The Current, CBC
Nov. 2013
On Istislam and the Muslim Brotherhood’s grassroots workInterview · Qantara

About

Mona El-Naggar, arms crossed, in front of a wall of bookshelves

Mona El-Naggar is an Emmy Award-winning Egyptian journalist, international correspondent and documentary filmmaker who spent twenty years at The New York Times. She has reported from nearly every country in the Arab world, covering conflict, politics, gender, religion and culture.

At the heart of her work are people confronting crisis and change. Most recently, she made a series of short documentaries about the war on Gaza.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist and 2025 Berlin Prize fellow, she divides her time between Cairo and New York.

EducationMA, News and Documentary, New York University
EducationBA, Political Economy, Georgetown University
Before The TimesAssociate producer, BBC Arabic Radio

Contact

Emailmona@monaelnaggar.com