Acclaimed Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri has died in northern Israel, ending a five-decade career that established him as one of the most influential voices in Palestinian cinema. He was 72.

Bakri died on Wednesday at Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya after suffering from heart and lung problems, hospital officials said.

Bakri was a prominent cultural figure whose prolonged legal battles over censorship became a defining chapter in Palestinian artistic resistance.

Bakri was best known for his 2002 documentary Jenin, Jenin, which documented testimonies from Palestinian residents following an Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp that killed 52 Palestinians.

Israeli authorities banned the documentary from public screening in 2021, with the Israeli Supreme Court upholding the decision in 2022 on the grounds that it was defamatory. Bakri vowed to fight the ruling.

“I intend to appeal the verdict because it is unfair, it is neutering my truth,” he told the Walla News website at the time.

Five Israeli soldiers who took part in the operation filed lawsuits against Bakri. Courts eventually ordered him to pay damages and ruled that all copies of the film be seized and online links removed.

In an interview with the British Film Institute earlier this year, Bakri opened up on the personal cost of the controversy. “I don’t see Israel as my enemy … but they consider me their enemy. They see me as a traitor … for making a movie,” he said.

Born in 1953 in the Galilee village of Bi’ina, Bakri was a Palestinian citizen of Israel. He studied Arabic literature and theatre at Tel Aviv University before beginning a career that spanned theatre, film and television.

He made his film debut at the age of 30 in Costa-Gavras’s Hanna K, playing a Palestinian refugee seeking to reclaim his family home. The role introduced him to international audiences.

Bakri gained further recognition for his portrayal of a Palestinian prisoner in the 1984 Israeli film Beyond the Walls, which received an Academy Award nomination.

Despite his success in mainstream Israeli cinema, Bakri increasingly focused on telling Palestinian stories. Over his career, he appeared in more than 40 films and directed several documentaries examining the lives of Palestinians living under occupation and within Israel.

He was also widely celebrated for his solo stage performance of The Pessoptimist, based on Emile Habibi’s novel exploring Palestinian identity. The production was staged more than 1,500 times worldwide.

Bakri is survived by his wife, Leila, and six children, including actors Saleh, Ziad and Adam, who have followed him into cinema. His funeral was held on Wednesday in his hometown of Bi’ina.