AFP photojournalist Mahmud Hams was awarded the Visa d’Or News prize for his coverage of the conflict in Gaza.
Palestinian photographer Mahmud Hams was awarded the Visa d’Or News prize on Saturday. The award, which is supported by the Visa pour l’Image Association, is one of the most prestigious in the field of photojournalism.
Hams, who has worked for AFP for over two decades in the Palestinian territories, has continued to document the war ignited by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The 44-year-old photographer thanked the jury for the award in a recorded video message aired at the ceremony in Perpignan, France. But Hams also denounced the targeting of journalists during the conflict.
“I spent my childhood in Gaza, and in 23 years of photojournalism, I have witnessed every war, every conflict there,” Hams says in a statement issued by AFP.
“But this war is unlike any other, without precedent from the very first day. My colleagues and I have had to face incredibly difficult conditions, with no red lines and no protections for anyone.
“There were even attacks targeting journalists’ offices, which are supposed to be off-limits in times of war.”
A Photographer’s Duty
According to AFP, the international news agency relied on its Gaza bureau, staffed by nine journalists, to cover the war from within the besieged Palestinian territory after the October 7 Hamas attacks.
On November 2, the office building, which had been evacuated a few days earlier, was badly damaged by a strike, probably caused by Israeli tank fire, according to an investigation conducted by AFP and several international media outlets.
“Many journalists have been killed; others wounded. I’ve also lost friends and loved ones. We struggled to keep our families safe,” says Hams who left Gaza with his family in February.
“Yet, despite the ever-present danger, I continued to cover the conflict because it is my duty, the one I chose when I embraced the profession of journalism.
“I stayed calm, for my family, and to carry out my mission until the very last moment.
“I hope the photos we take show the world that this war, and the suffering, must end.”
Hams holds a degree in Journalism and Information from the Islamic University of Gaza. He joined AFP in 2003 and has since covered daily news in the Gaza Strip.
He has also reported from Libya and Egypt. Mahmud Hams left Rafah in February 2024 with his family and has since been working for AFP in Qatar.
Image credits: All photos courtesy of AFP.