• last month
As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark on Oct 7, we take a look at some of the faces of the conflict that has killed more than 43,000 people in Palestine and about 1,200 others in Israel.

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Transcript
00:00This is a boy's mother.
00:02This is a boy's mother.
00:04This is a boy's mother.
00:06He was hit on the head with a baton.
00:08Under the child is his sister.
00:10His sister is next to him.
00:24We used to smell the martyrs everywhere.
00:26When we came to sleep,
00:28when we came to eat.
00:30The smell of blood.
00:32The smell of blood.
00:34When we eat, we don't remember anything.
00:36We smell it, but it doesn't exist.
00:38My colleagues,
00:40my followers,
00:42my long-time friend,
00:44from the beginning of the first day of the war,
00:46from October 7,
00:48from 6 a.m. until now,
00:50I am on my head.
00:52Although I was injured more than once,
00:54and the injury was very serious,
00:56I was always on my head.
00:58Almost every day,
01:00continuously,
01:02there are situations that affect us.
01:04Every day, every incident,
01:06every child we see,
01:08every target,
01:10there is a situation that affects you.
01:12Because we are human beings.
01:14Of course, we feel people.
01:16When you go to the target,
01:18you consider that the target is one of your family,
01:20one of your loved ones.
01:22This affects us,
01:24but we can't hide it.
01:54When I look at it, and every time I looked at it,
01:56I would ask myself,
01:58am I actually seeing what I'm seeing?
02:00It's crazy. It's crazy.
02:02It's...
02:04The photos I took are not bad photos.
02:06I'm not talking technically.
02:08I didn't take photos of bodies.
02:10I took photos of people smiling, having fun,
02:12and laughing, and many of the photos I took
02:14are during the daytime, under rocket fire,
02:16and that is the most Israeli thing
02:18I can ever imagine.
02:20People say, hi, this is Shai.
02:22I'm a NOVA survivor.
02:24Sure, true, but I'm Shai,
02:26who has been a photographer for 10 years,
02:28and that's my identity as a photographer,
02:30not just as a NOVA survivor.
02:32And so when people introduce me,
02:34I ask to be introduced as a photographer
02:36who survived the NOVA,
02:38because that's not just who I am.
02:40That's not all I have to offer.
02:42What I'm trying to achieve with this series is
02:44I'm trying to put something together
02:46that will last this community
02:48more than just a day or a month.
02:50I want to put something together
02:52to help anybody who needs it out
02:54in a long-term fashion.
02:56I was inspired by the people,
02:58you know, their resilience.
03:00I like you sitting straight, yeah.
03:06It's hard to believe
03:08when I wake up from my sleep
03:10that it's the same thing
03:12that never ends.
03:14I've been living the 7th of October
03:16for almost a year.
03:18And I don't know
03:20if I'll be able,
03:22against the clock,
03:24to bring it back to life.
03:26Everyone will come back.
03:28Our goal is to save
03:30as many people as possible.
03:32And Matan is part of the kidnappers
03:34who are still alive.
03:36It's also the elderly
03:38on the personal, motherly level
03:40that I couldn't give Matan
03:42while he was kidnapped
03:44from his apartment in Kibbutz Niroz.
03:46I have to do everything I can
03:48to save him
03:50from the 7th.
03:52At the moment,
03:54as a mother,
03:56I can't fill my lungs
03:58with small,
04:00confused breaths.
04:02And I guess it will change
04:04when I see Matan
04:06with his eyes closed
04:08when he stands in front of me.
04:16For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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