An image depicting Hamas members parading a Jewish woman’s body through the streets of Gaza following an October 7, 2023, attack has been awarded a Photo-of-the-Year prize, sparking outrage among netizens.
The woman, identified as 23-year-old Shani Louk, was a German tourist. She was found dead weeks after the attack.
The graphic of the deceased was among several images that helped Associated Press (AP), a news agency, secure first place in one of the Pictures of the Year International award categories earlier this month.
US-based Donald W Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism presented this award and described it as the world’s oldest photojournalism competition. However, the move prompted a severe backlash on social media, with many users criticising the use of Louk’s image as “an outrageous desecration of Jewish lives.”
Despite the fault-finding criticism from netizens, the image was initially shared on the award organisers’ social media page. However, it was later removed due to the outrage over its content.
