Freelancers Belal Alsabbagh and Youssef Hassouna, who collaborated with AFP in the Gaza Strip, won on Thursday the prestigious Rory Peck Prize, which rewards each year the best freelance image reporting journalists (JRI), for their coverage of the war in the Palestinian territory.
Belal Alsabbagh, 33, and Youssef Hassouna, 47, were honored in the “News” category for their video coverage of the war waged by Israel in Gaza, triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023 .
The jury praised “a first-rate visual report” and a “powerful story, imbued with empathy, courage and talent”.
Among the images, some unbearable, those of a man desperately searching for a loved one under the rubble, of a woman screaming in pain in front of a corpse in a hospital or even of Gazans queuing for food.
“The work of Belal and Youssef is remarkable thanks to its range of emotions. And we understood the terrible scale of the destruction thanks to their drone images”, further commented the jury which evoked “unforgettable scenes”.
“Everyone at AFP is extremely proud of Belal and the work of his colleagues in Gaza. This award is a well-deserved reward for his excellent journalism in seemingly impossible conditions,” said Phil Chetwynd, Director of News at AFP. the AFP.
“This prize rewards the courage of Belal and Youssef whose images for AFP showed on televisions around the world the reality of the conflict in Gaza and its consequences for civilian populations,” commented Guillaume Meyer, deputy director of Information. responsible for video and audio.
“I am very pleased that their commitment and the quality of their work in incredibly difficult conditions have been recognized. The Rory Peck Prize provides valuable support to freelance journalists without whom we could not work in many countries,” he said. he added.
Belal al-Sabbagh, who left Gaza in April with his wife and daughter and was in London for the ceremony, began working with the AFP in late 2017. In September 2024, he was selected for the prestigious Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents.
“Despite my overflowing joy this evening, my heart is heavy because family members and friends are still in Gaza, facing hunger, fear and still fleeing bombs,” he commented .
Youssef Hassouna has been a freelancer for AFP since 2014 and is still in Gaza, where he has already been displaced 10 times. Since the start of the war, he has been one of the main independent video journalists working for the AFP on the ground.
This is the sixth time since 2014 that an AFP collaborator has won the Rory Peck prize, launched in 1995 by the foundation created in memory of the independent videographer, killed during an armed crisis in Moscow in 1993.
Also among the three finalists in the “News” category was Luckenson Jean, a freelancer for AFP who covered Haiti plunged into violence after armed gangs went on the rampage in Port-au-Prince.
Rory Peck rewards the best independent image reporters in the world of information. The awards ceremony is one of the foundation's main fundraising events.
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