Palestinian AFP photographer Mahmud Hams has received the distinguished Visa d’Or Information prize for his protection of the battle in Gaza, the Visa pour l’Picture Affiliation introduced Saturday.
The 44-year-old, who has labored for AFP within the Palestinian territory since 2003, thanked the jury for the award in a recorded video message aired on the ceremony in Perpignan, France.
In an announcement issued by AFP, he denounced the concentrating on of journalists throughout the battle.
“I spent my childhood in Gaza, and in 23 years of photojournalism, I’ve witnessed each warfare, each battle there,” mentioned Hams within the assertion.
“However this warfare is in contrast to some other, with out precedent from the very first day.
“My colleagues and I’ve needed to face extremely tough situations, with no crimson strains and no protections for anybody,” he added.
“There have been even assaults concentrating on journalists’ places of work, that are imagined to be off-limits in instances of warfare.
“Many journalists have been killed; others wounded. I’ve additionally misplaced buddies and family members. We struggled to maintain our households protected,” he mentioned.
Hams left Gaza along with his household in February.
“I hope the images we take present the world that this warfare, and the struggling, should finish,” he added.
Eric Baradat, AFP’s Deputy Information Director for Photograph, Graphics, Information and Archives, paid tribute to his work.
“Mahmud and his colleagues, photographers and journalists from AFP within the Gaza Strip, have carried out extraordinary work in each respect, contemplating the situations through which they lived with their households and family members,” he mentioned.
“It’s staggering and infrequently unimaginable. Their testimony will likely be recorded in historical past,” he added.
After the lethal October 7 assault carried out by Hamas on Israel sparked the warfare, AFP relied on its Gaza bureau, staffed by 9 journalists, to cowl the battle from inside the besieged Palestinian territory.
On November 2, the workplace constructing, which had been evacuated a number of days earlier, was badly broken by a strike, in all probability attributable to Israeli tank fireplace, in response to an investigation carried out by AFP and a number of other worldwide media shops.
