Artist Chaim Peri of four Israeli hostages confirms they are dead

Artist and gallery owner Chaim Peri is one of four Israeli hostages identified as having died in Hamas captivity, according to an Israeli military notice earlier in June. Peri, who was 79 years old, was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz (Ma’in Abu Sitta for the Palestinians) next to the Gaza Strip during the Hamas attack on October 7. A retired military paratrooper and self-taught artist, he built an exhibition space at Nir Oz, called the White House Gallery, in a Palestinian house that was left standing after Israel invaded and largely destroyed the village in 1948.

Peri was a metalsmith, cameraman and draftsman who focused on the visual arts. Through the gallery he began building in 1999, he curated and presented exhibitions including Palestinian and Bedouin art and history.

The artist is also remembered for his work as a volunteer for the nonprofit organization Road to Recovery, in which Israelis escort sick or injured Palestinians, mainly children, through mandatory Israeli military checkpoints in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and transport them to Israeli hospitals. for treatment.

In tribute before learning of his death, grandson Mai Albini Peri recalled the Jerusalem Post that his grandfather had taught him “to put yourself in the shoes of the other party, no matter how much you dislike them and how much you disagree with them.”

“If my grandfather were here, he wouldn’t be calling for Gaza to be shut down,” Albini Peri said Jerusalem Post that he is determined to share his messages of peace and empathy.

According to the Times of IsraelMilitary spokesman Daniel Hagari said the circumstances of the four hostages’ deaths could not immediately be confirmed, but that Peri and the others were believed to have been killed months ago in the Khan Younis area while the Israeli army was conducting operations there. .

Peri is survived by his wife Osnat, his five children and his 13 grandchildren.