AP wins award for photo of half-naked, murdered Jewish woman Shani Louk taken by Hamas-affiliated ‘photojournalist’ on Oct. 7

According to their website, Pictures of the Year International “is the oldest photojournalism competition in the world” and is hosted by the Donald W. Reynolds Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The AP’s picture that won “Team Picture Story of the Year” shows the half-naked body of Shani Louk, a German Israeli woman, who was murdered while attending the Nova music festival, surrounded by Hamas terrorists in a pickup truck on Oct 7.

Her body was then taken by the terrorists back to Gaza and paraded through the streets as Palestinians spat on and abused her corpse.

Ali Mahmud and Hatem Ali, among others, are credited with the now “award-winning” photos in the story. Both have been accused of participating in the Oct 7 attacks.

After the photojournalists' identities and affiliations were revealed, the AP claimed it did not have advanced knowledge of the attacks.

Several Israeli-Americans and Americans who attended the Nova music festival and survived the attacks, as well as relatives of the victims, are now suing the Associated Press for aiding and abetting the terrorist organization by using freelance photojournalists believed to be embedded with the violent militants.

The AP is being accused of “materially supporting terrorism” by paying the allegedly Hamas-associated photojournalists for the images captured during the Oct 7 attacks.

According to the suit, the photojournalists were “known Hamas associates who were gleefully embedded with the Hamas terrorists during the October 7th attacks.”

Photojournalists embedded with Hamas were also working for CNN, Reuters, and The New York Times.

The AP and Pictures of the Year International were slammed on social media after the award and the circumstances surrounding the picture were revealed.

When reached for comment, the AP did not address why the picture was submitted for consideration or the process by which it was selected. Instead, the outlet referred to a previous statement denying that it had advanced knowledge of the Oct. 7 attacks and called the allegations in the lawsuit "baseless."