section_path: Litigation and controversies/Israeli–Palestinian conflict/Shani Louk photograph
section_name: Shani Louk photograph
paragraph_text: Shani Louk photograph
  
  During the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Hamas terrorists murdered German-Israeli Shani Louk. Hours later that day, a video emerged showing Louk's body, partially clothed, with a significant head injury and blood-matted hair, being paraded in the streets of Gaza City by Hamas militants in the back of a pickup truck; they were exclaiming " Allahu Akbar " and were joined in the cheers by the people in the crowd surrounding the vehicle, some of whom spat on the body. Before the scene from the viral video, as the pickup truck was returning to the Gaza Strip, it was photographed by an Associated Press (AP) freelance photojournalist. The image, showing the vehicle carrying Louk's body and the attackers, was featured as the first in a series of 20 photographs from the war taken by the AP's team of photographers which won the "Team Picture Story of the Year" prize at the 2024 Pictures of the Year International competition.
  
  On 28 February 2024, the families of Shani Louk and four other Nova music festival massacre victims filed a civil lawsuit in the Jerusalem District Court against the AP and Reuters, seeking NIS 25 million ($6.5 million) in damages. According to the lawsuit, certain photographers whose photos of 7 October events these news agencies published were embedded with Hamas and were complicit with the crimes committed, rendering the agencies vicariously liable for the actions of the perpetrators. The agencies denied the accusation. A similar lawsuit against the AP was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, citing alleged violations of anti-terrorism legislation; it was rejected in December 2024.