This year’s World Press Photo Award, one of photojournalism’s most prestigious awards, went to Swedish photojournalist Paul Hansen‘s “Gaza Burial”, taken last November the 20th in Gaza.

WorldPressPhoto.Org tells us:

Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother Muhammad were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their father Fouad was also killed and their mother was put in intensive care. Fouad’s brothers carry his children to the mosque for the burial ceremony as his body is carried behind on a stretcher.

It’s not always easy to tell the world of Palestinians’ suffering. ‘Terrorism’, ‘counter-terrorism’, ‘security’, ‘defense’ and a myriad of other words are used on a daily basis to hide the human cost of politics and its corrupted evil twin. But Hansen’s talent with a human face functions as yet another brutal, cold reminder that injustice towards the Palestinians is no mere political matter but a question of life and death for the millions of Palestinians living under occupation, and in particular those in Gaza.

There’s nothing more horrible than the death of a murdered child, except perhaps the realization that such things still exist. This image will, I’m sure, be imprinted on your hearts and minds as it did on mine and will serve, I hope, as another urgent call for action.

“The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children. It’s a picture I will not forget.”

WorldPressPhoto Jury member Mayu Mohanna of Peru.

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