Empty spaces: Powerful images show before and after of 7 October devastation
The initiative is part of a project by photographers Michal Chitayat and Sharon Derhy, whose 80-year-old father-in-law is still held captive in Gaza
These are the stark images that show the impact of the Hamas atrocities on survivors of the 7 October massacre as part of a newly unveiled photo series.
They are part of a project by photographers Sharon Derhy and Michal Chitayat to highlight the urgency of releasing the remaining hostages.
Among the side-by-side images, taken on Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Hamas violently rampaged, are some of the hostages who have been released, as well as family members of others still in captivity in Gaza. They include Derhy’s husband’s father Haim Peri, 80, who is still being held hostage in Gaza.
The idea for the photo series is said to have been born when Derhy’s husband Lior revisited his father’s front porch after accompanying a TV crew to the kibbutz. He recalled a special moment captured by his wife Sharon two years ago, when he and his father sat there reading the weekend papers.
Lior asked his sister to take a photo of him in the same spot, now marked by the absence of his father. In the ‘after’ photo, Lior sits alone beside an empty chair, with a ‘kidnapped’ poster of his father hanging in the background.
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