(Photo by https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo-contest/2024/Mohammed-Salem-POY/1)
A touching photo of a Palestinian woman, holding the body of her very young granddaughter in a white shroud, won the 2024 Photo of the Year award on Thursday 18 April. The little girl was killed in an Israeli raid on the Gaza Strip.
The photography competition was organized by the World Press Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation, founded in 1955, based in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.
The photo, taken by Palestinian photojournalist Mohammed Salem, shows Enas Abu Muammar cradling the body of Sally, a 5-year-old girl, his niece, murdered by the Israeli army, along with her mother and sister, after a missile hit the their home in Khan Yunis in October 2023.
The image has been described as the Gazzawi Pietà, due to its resemblance to the statue of the artist Michelangelo. Salem was at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on October 17 when she saw Enas Abu Muammar (36), crying and holding the little girl’s body, wrapped in a white shroud, in the hospital morgue.
Salem, after the announcement of the award, wrote: “I hope that this image reaches the whole world and is a reason to stop the war and put an end to the suffering that our Palestinian people are experiencing.”
The Palestinian photojournalist also added: “I dedicate this award to the memory of the martyrs of journalism, who paid with their blood so that their message of truth could reach the whole world.”
One of the organizers highlighted in this regard that “Last year, the death toll in Gaza increased the number of journalists killed to an almost unprecedented level. We must recognize the horror of the trauma to which Palestinian journalists have been exposed to show the world the catastrophic impact on humanity of the war.”
Muhammad Salem is a 39-year-old Palestinian photographer who has worked for Reuters since 2003. He previously won an award at the 2010 World Press Photo Contest.
The jury highlighted that the 2024 winning photo, by Mohammed Salem, “records – with great consideration and respect and in a way that is both metaphorical and realistic – an unimaginable loss”.
The representative of the World Press Photo Foundation quoted the words of Salem, who was not present at the ceremony for the well-known and obvious reasons: “It was a powerful and sad moment and I felt that the image summarizes the broader meaning of what was happening serious in the Gaza Strip.”
The president of the Jury expressed his belief that the winning photo constitutes “a very strong argument in favor of peace”.
The winning photos for 2024 were chosen from 61,062 photos by 3,851 photographers from 130 countries.
The photographs will remain on display at the Nieuwe Kerk in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, until July 14.
Source: https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo-contest/2024/Mohammed-Salem-POY/1
Tags: Pietà Gaza Palestinian Mohammed Salem wins Photo Year award Friulisera
