Shani Louk's father, Nissim has defended the award of a prize for a shocking photograph showing her corpse being taken into Gaza by terrorists.

He told YNet: 'It's good that the photo won the prize'.

'This is one of the most important photos in the last 50 years.' 

The photograph taken on October 7 by Ali Mahmoud depicts Hamas terrorists with the half-naked body of German-Israeli tattoo artist Shani, who had been at the Nova dance festival. It was awarded Team Picture Story of the Year, along with a collection of other graphic photos from the Israel-Hamas war, by the world’s oldest photojournalism award competition, sparking outrage online.

22-year-old German-Israeli Shani Louk was murdered at the Nova festival on October 7.

The Pictures of the Year award, run by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism includes a category which recognises “the collaborative effort of a photography staff covering a single topic or news story.” First place was awarded to a selection of 20 photos from the Israel-Hamas war taken by Associated Press (AP) photographers.

Nissim Leuk said: “These are some of the photos that shape human memory, the Jew raising his hands, the paratroopers at the Western Wall, photos that symbolise an era.

"This documentation of Shani, and of Noa Argamani on the motorcycle, they symbolise this era. I think it's a good thing to use it to inform the future.

“If I start crying, what will come of it? This is history. In 100 years they will look and know what happened here. I travel the world and everyone knows who Shani is,” he told Ynet.
But Shani’s friend Shani Cohen disagreed, saying the award was “unethical.” 
'We took it very personally. Some cried. We shared it immediately as we saw it,” she told Mailonline “To see something like this is beyond ridiculous and beyond antisemitic.

“A picture like this should be only for army needs and should be locked in some kind of private gallery. It's not supposed to be something for society to even see.”

A petition calling on the award’s sponsors Nikon to denounce the award to AP has been signed by more than 22,000 people.