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Photo Essay: Powerful Images Depict the ‘Before and After’ of Israeli Hostages
Hostages who were abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel are handed over by Hamas terrorists to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, as part of a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel amid a temporary truce, in an unknown location in the Gaza Strip, in this screengrab taken from video released Nov. 27, 2023. Photo: Hamas Military Wing/Handout via REUTERS
When Hamas terrorists rampaged across southern Israel on Oct. 7, they not only murdered 1,200 people, injured thousands more, and abducted 240 others as hostages back to Gaza; they also changed the lives of thousands of families forever.
The devastating impact of Hamas’ onslaught on survivors of the Oct. 7 massacre can be seen in newly unveiled photos of some of the hostages who have been released, as well as family members of others still in captivity in Gaza.
The side-by-side photos — from both before and after the Hamas atrocities — are part of a project by photographers Sharon Derhy and Michal Chitayat. The idea behind the images was to highlight the urgency of releasing the elderly hostages, amid reports of their declining health. Indeed, a flurry of recent reports, backed up by official testimony from Israeli health officials, have highlighted the trauma and torture — both physical and psychological — that the hostages endured.
Lior Peri with his father, Haim Peri, seen with newspaper, who is being held hostage in Gaza. Photo: Sharon Derhy and Michal Chitayat
Derhy is the wife of Lior Peri, whose father Haim Peri, 80, is still being held hostage in Gaza without his life-saving heart medications. The idea for the photo series was born when Lior revisited his father’s front porch after accompanying a TV crew to the plundered kibbutz. He recalled a serene moment captured two years ago when he and his father sat there immersed in the weekend papers.
On a whim, Lior asked his sister, Noam, to take a photo of him in the same spot, now marked by the absence of his father. In the new photo, Lior sits alone beside an empty chair, with a poster of his father hanging on the door of his destroyed home.
Yocheved and Oded Lifshitz. Oded is still being held hostage in Gaza. Photo: Sharon Derhy and Michal Chitayat
The Lifshitz family, neighbors to the Peris, share a similar plight. Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was released after 17 days in captivity, and reported seeing Haim Peri alive in Gaza. Her husband, Oded, 83, remains in captivity. The photographers captured the ruins of the Lifshitz home and the burned-out carcass of Oded’s piano, in stark contrast to the photo taken before the attacks which shows the smiling couple posing in front of the piano.
Nurit Cooper is pictured with her grandson and husband, Amiram, who is still being held hostage in Gaza. Photo: Sharon Derhy and Michal Chitayat
Nurit Cooper is pictured with her grandson and husband, Amiram, 84.
Nurit, 79, was released together with Yocheved Lifshitz. Amiram, one of the founders of Nir Oz, saw the settlement of the Western Negev as his life’s mission.
Like the others featured in the photos, Amiram is still in Gaza without his medications.
Ohad Munder, flanked by his grandparents Ruthy and Avraham Munder. Avraham is still being held hostage in Gaza. Photo: Sharon Derhy and Michal Chitayat
The “before” photo depicts a smiling boy, Ohad Munder, flanked by his grandparents at a table on their porch in Kibbutz Nir Oz, their plates piled with food. The “after” photo is haunting both for all its striking similarities to the original — the same setting, the same hand placed affectionately on Ohad’s shoulder by his grandmother — and for its stark differences: The plates now sit empty, the smiles have vanished, and most jarringly of all, so has Ohad’s grandfather, Avraham, 78. Instead, a poster of him and the words “abducted” in Hebrew are tacked onto the wall.
Photo: Sharon Derhy and Michal Chitayat
Ruthy Munder, 78, her daughter Keren, 54, and grandson Ohad, 9, were taken captive by Hamas as part of the terror group’s savage attack on Oct. 7. They were released after 49 days. Avraham, who suffers from various chronic illnesses, is still being held captive in Gaza. The Munders’ other son, Roi, was murdered in his home in Nir Oz on Oct. 7.
Tamir Hershkovitz lighting the menorah in the ravaged home of his parents Noam and Maayana Hershkovitz, who were murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, on the first night of Hanukkah. Photo: Gadi Kabelo
The photo series was released on the first day of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. Also on that day, Tamir Hershkovitz, son of Noah and Maayana Hershkovitz who were murdered on Oct. 7, was photographed lighting a menorah in the ruins of his parents’ home in Be’eri.
The crooked, rusty menorah, which belonged to Tamir’s late grandfather and Holocaust survivor Yosef, was one of the only items to survive the attack on their home.
Photo: Gadi Kabelo
Singing Maoz Tzur, a song about miracles traditionally sung after lighting the menorah, Tamir said he was “happy.”
“I choose to be happy for my parents,” the Yedioth Aharanoth newspaper cited Tamir as saying.
The post Photo Essay: Powerful Images Depict the ‘Before and After’ of Israeli Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.