Palestinian photojournalist Mohammed Salem, winner of the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Prize in the best photography category, continues in his homeland capturing the horror of Israel's attacks for the Reuters agency. The presentation of his award this Tuesday in Barcelona was one of the most exciting moments of the gala. His brother Suhaib Salem and Labib Nasir, Reuters Middle East and North Africa editor, who made a short, highly emotional speech, collected the award. A few minutes that the winner followed on the other side of a screen from Palestine, from where he could see the Saló de Cent standing up and applauding his work. The award-winning photograph was taken on October 17 at the Al Naser hospital in the city of Khan Younis and shows Inas Abu Maamar, a 36-year-old Palestinian woman hugging her niece Saly, just five years old, who died after a Israeli attack and wrapped in a shroud. Just a week ago it was known that the same image has also won this year's World Press Photo award.
The award jury has valued “the overwhelming and enormous force” that the image has to show what is happening in Gaza. “And she does it from sobriety, without showing a face,” in a hug in which the woman seems to want to recover the girl's life. During the award collection, Labib Nasir referred to Salem as a “sensitive, super generous and with a great sense of humor, with whom all colleagues want to work” professional, and explained that during the months of attacks “he has lost his home and a brother and has been forced to move twice with his family.” And regarding the photo, he said that the photojournalist reported that “the protagonist woman explained to him that the hospital doctor told her to leave” without her niece. “But I wanted to take it,” she responded. “It is one of the thousands of dead children, it is powerful because it shows what is happening in Gaza, with humility, it shows public opinion the impact of the war on children,” the Reuters representative said of the photojournalist's image.
A month ago, upon learning of the award, Salem sent a message through the agency he works for: “I am delighted to have won the Ortega y Gasset journalism award. “It is an honor that this work is recognized so that the world can learn more about the reality in Gaza.” The image stands out for its sobriety, because neither of the two faces can be seen, but it is impossible not to sense the pain of the woman crouching on the ground and hugging the body of her niece.
Mohammed Salem went to the hospital morgue last October after a high-intensity attack, where neighbors were searching for their missing relatives. It was then that he captured the image of the woman, whose head touches that of the dead little girl while hugging her body: “The people were confused, running from one place to another, anxious to know the fate of their loved ones, and this woman “He caught my attention as he held the girl's body and refused to let go,” he described via Reuters a few days later. “It was a powerful and sad moment and I felt that the image summarized the broader meaning of what was happening in the Gaza Strip,” she said, explaining that the scene moved her, for herself, and also because she had just become a father. .
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