Two Brothers in Khan Younis
A Powerful Image Captures the Horror of the Israel-Gaza War
Some photos are so powerful that they become iconic forever. They come to symbolize and capture their subject matter in a way that strikes at the heart of the human soul. And long after we pass away, they continue to live on.
When it comes to war, we think of the photo of the Marines raising the American flag atop Iwo Jima during World War II. We think of the naked girl, burned by napalm, running, screaming from her obliterated village during the Vietnam War. We think of the lone man—still unidentified—standing up to a column of tanks, courageously blocking them with his body from moving toward Tiananmen Square during the massacre of 1989.
In the current Israel-Gaza war, this photo is one of those iconic ones, and it will forever symbolize the horror and tragedy of this conflict.
Taken by Ahmed Barbakh, the photo shows his two brothers, mere feet away, shot on the street by Israeli snipers in Khan Younis, Gaza. Ramez Barbakh was shot in the heart and fell on top of his 13-year-old brother who had been shot repeatedly. The white flag is visible where it fell from Nahedh Barbakh's hand. The two brothers seem to embrace each other in death.
