Heartbreaking images showed a distraught 12-year-old Israeli boy saying goodbye to his father, mother and sisters, news photographers, who were massacred by Hamas terrorists while he was out for an early morning run.
Ariel Zohar, dressed all in black and flanked by members of his extended family, sobbed as he looked in horrified disbelief at the shroud-wrapped bodies of his father, Yaniv Zohar, 54, his mother, Yasmin, 49, and his two sisters, Tehelet. , 20, and Keshet, 18, at their joint funeral in the city of Rishon LeTsiyon on Tuesday.
Four members of the Zohar family were murdered along with Ariel’s maternal grandfather, Haim Livne, in their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, located near the Gaza border, on the morning of October 7.
The boy survived the attack only because he was jogging at the time. He later took refuge in a nearby house and escaped unharmed.
An estimated 1,000 mourners attended the Zohar family’s emotional funeral, which was interrupted four times by air raid sirens and rocket fire from Gaza.
“They don’t even let us bury our dead,” said Sivan, Yaniv Zohar’s sister.
He said his orphaned nephew would be raised by his sister and that surviving relatives intended to celebrate his bar mitzvah in a month as planned.
“We will continue to celebrate life and will not let anyone destroy us,” Sivan said. “This is how we will avenge their deaths.”
Ariel Zohar, 12, center, survived a Hamas massacre that wiped out his entire immediate family, including his father, mother, two sisters and maternal grandfather. Israel Hayom Members of the Zohar family were buried on Tuesday in central Israel following a funeral attended by 1,000 people. Israel Hayom Yaniv Zphar, 54, second from right, was a cameraman for the Associated Press. He was murdered along with his wife, Yasmin, and his daughters, Kesher and Tehelet. Courtesy family
Yaniv Zohar worked as a video journalist in the Associated Press Israel bureau for 15 years, from 2005 to 2020, covering major news events in the country.
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Notably, he was the first journalist on the scene of the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants in 2006.
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“Yaniv was AP’s eyes and ears in southern Israel, always one of the first to respond to news in the busy region,” said AP Executive Editor Julie Pace. “He was part of the community in which he worked and provided him with knowledge that was invaluable to his colleagues. When tensions rose in the Middle East, colleagues were quick to ask: ‘What is Yaniv saying?’”
Most recently, Zohar worked as a photographer for the local newspaper Israel Hayom.
“He was a wonderful friend, a devoted father, a man with heart and generosity,” the newspaper praised him in a statement. “He always ran after the next frame despite the difficult views he was photographing.”
Yaniv Zohar worked as a video journalist in the Associated Press Israel bureau for 15 years, from 2005 to 2020, covering major news events in the country.AP
Zohar’s friends described him as modest, quiet, calm and generous. Despite having a competitive streak, he was loved by his fellow journalists covering the region and his home became a base for colleagues who came to report the latest news.
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“His heart was as big as his body,” said his close friend, photographer Yehuda Peretz, referring to Zohar’s imposing 6-foot-3-inch stature.
Veteran AP video journalist Alon Bernstein recalled their many visits to Zohar’s home and how they liked to share a bottle of Jack Daniels together.
“Yaniv was a good friend and a true professional. We worked together abroad and across the country, covering violence wherever it broke out,” Bernstein said. “I have witnessed many atrocities in my long time as a news cameraman. None of them were as horrible as what happened to Yaniv and his family. “It’s too terrible for words.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn