JERUSALEM: Actor and filmmaker Mohammed Bakri, a champion of the Palestinian cause, died on Wednesday aged 72, a hospital spokesperson said.

He was known for his documentary Jenin, Jenin and his commitment to the Palestinians, which led to frequent confrontations with Israeli authorities.

`Mohammed Bakri died this Wednesday at the Galilee Medical Center` in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, hospital spokesperson Gal Zaid said.

He died from heart and lung problems, according to his family.

Born in Galilee in 1953 into a Muslim family, Bakri was an Israeli citizen.

He appeared in leading Israeli films but was also directed by the French-Greek director Costa-Gavras and Italian filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

His role as a Palestinian inmate in an Israeli prison in the 1980s film Beyond the Wa//s earned him critical acclaim in Israel and around the world.

But his international renown grew with the release of 2OO2`s Jenin, Jenin, which denounced alleged Israeli war crimes in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank during the Second Intifada.

The Israeli Supreme Court upheld a ban on the film in 2022, deeming it `defamatory`.

The father of six also directed several socially conscious documentaries about the situation of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Arab-Israeli radio station A-Shams published a tribute on its social media, describing Bakri as a `free voice`.

`From his early days in theatre, art was not simply a pastime for Mohammed Bakri, but a tool for raising awareness and engaging in dialogue,` the radio station said.

`The legacy left by Mohammed Bakri will remain, reminding us that art can be an act of resistance.`-AFP