Anadolu Agency cameraman wins top prize in Palestine

An Anadolu Agency cameraman has taken top honors in a short film contest in Palestine.

Muhammad Dahlan, a 31-year-old cameraman based in the Gaza Strip, on Saturday won the Grand Prize from Press House Palestine, a non-governmental media association, for his Return, a four-minute film.

Return uses video footage taken by Anadolu Agency during the Great Return March protests along the Israeli-Gaza border in recent months.

The short film shows scenes of Israeli soldiers shooting Palestinians, including Yaser Murtaja, who was shot dead by Israeli forces while covering mass rallies along the Gaza border.

"Despite the peaceful demonstrations of the Palestinians who want to return to their occupied lands, Israel use intentional killing or wounding, which can result in permanent disability," Dahlan said during the Annual Award for Media Freedom ceremony.

The film serves to show Israel's mistreatment of civilians during peaceful protests, he added.

Over 150 Palestinians have been martyred and more than 17,000 injured since the protests began in late March.

Protesters demand the "right of return" to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel's 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave's economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.