Swede Wins World Press Photo Award For Gaza Funeral Image

PHOTO GALLERY: Assorted winners of the 56th World Press Photo Contest

Swedish photographer Paul Hansen has won the 2012 World Press Photo of the Year award for his picture of men carrying the lifeless bodies of two young Palestinian children in a Gaza funeral procession.

Hansen's picture, published in Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter," was taken on a narrow street in Gaza City.

The children were killed in Israeli shelling in November.

Mayu Mohanna, a jury member from Peru, says the picture's strength "lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children."

Italian Fabio Bucciarelli and American Javier Manzano won second and third prize respectively in the Spot News category for their pictures of the battle-scarred Syrian city of Aleppo.

World Press Photo is considered one of photojournalism's most prestigious prizes.

The 2012 awards were announced on February.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP