Photo of Hamas terrorists parading woman’s body wins award, sparks outrage

The Associated Press has won a prestigious journalism award for an image of Hamas terrorists parading a slain woman’s body through the streets of Gaza. The development prompted widespread backlash on social media, with some slamming the accolade and the use of the woman’s image as an “outrageous desecration of Jewish life”.

The woman, identified as 22-year-old Shani Louk, was abducted by Hamas on October 7, when the terror group first attacked Israel.

The image showed Louk in a half-naked condition, lying seemingly unconscious in the back of a pickup truck filled with armed men.

According to media reports, Louk was at the Supernova music festival on October 7, when terrorists mowed down attendees with gunfire and grenades, killing some 360 people and abducting dozens more, mostly civilians, many amid horrific acts of brutality and sexual assault.

She was officially declared dead on October 30 after a piece of her skull was identified. Her body is still being held in Gaza.

According to the New York Post, the ‘Team Picture Story of the Year’ award, run by the Donald W Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism, is self-described as being the world’s oldest photojournalism competition.

Reacting to the image, former Head of Speechwriting at Israel mission to the United Nations, Aviva Klompas sought punishment for the photographer for clicking the image.

“The AP photographer who accompanied jihadi barbarians on their October 7 invasion of Israel has been awarded a prestigious photography prize. He is being celebrated for taking this photo of murder-rapist-terrorists with the brutalized and contorted body of Shani Louk. Seems to me he should be going to jail, not getting a prize,” she wrote on X.

Other social media users said they were “shocked” and “disgusted” at the picture.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

In the latest, the top United Nations court on Thursday ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave.

Thursday’s order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a ceasefire, citing starvation in Gaza.

Israel, which had urged the court not to issue new orders, said it places no limits on aid entering Gaza and vowed to “promote new initiatives” to bring in even more assistance.

The war has so far killed 1,200 people on the Israeli side, while 250 others were taken hostage. More than 32,000 Palestinians have been reported dead due to the war, according to local health authorities.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but say roughly two-thirds of the dead are women, children and teens.