Jewish rabbi breaks down in tears as he votes for pictures from Gaza in Photos of the Year competition

LONDON (AA) – Haim Sofer, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the UK, cried while voting for photographs from Gaza for Anadolu Agency’s Photos of the Year competition.

Sofer, a member of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta movement, voted for Ashraf Amra’s photograph titled ‘The Cry Out’, in which a woman mourns during a funeral ceremony in Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip.

The rabbi told Anadolu he selected this photo because this represents a Palestinian mother who lost her child, “her most precious thing in her life.”

“That’s the most painful thing to see,” said Sofer who shed tears while looking at photos in the ‘Gaza: Evidence’ category, which was opened as one of the special sections by Anadolu.

In this context, 25 photographs that have been recorded in history as evidence of Israeli forces’ attacks that constitute war crimes can be voted on in the category titled ‘Gaza: Evidence’.

“She lost their house, lost the most precious thing in the world, that’s the children, the future of the Palestinian people, so she lost her future,” the rabbi added.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7 which have caused unspeakable suffering for Palestinain civilians- mostly children and women.

At least 22,438 Palestinians have since been killed and 57,614 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

The voting, which drew 416,746 votes last year, will be open until January 31, 2024, at 17:00 Turkish time on the website yilinkareleri.aa.com.tr.​​​​​​​