Artist Chaim Peri is one of four confirmed Israeli hostages

Artist and gallery owner Chaim Peri is one of four Israeli hostages confirmed dead in Hamas captivity, according to an Israeli military statement in early June. Peri, 79, was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz (Ma’in Abu Sitta to Palestinians), next to the Gaza Strip, during the October 7 Hamas attack. A retired paratrooper and self-taught artist, he built an exhibition space in Nir Oz called the White House Gallery in a Palestinian house that remained standing after Israel invaded and largely destroyed the village in 1948.

Peri was a metalsmith, cinematographer and draftsman who was dedicated to the visual arts. In the gallery he began building in 1999, he curated and hosted exhibitions that included Palestinian and Bedouin artwork and history.

The artist is also known for his work as a volunteer for the nonprofit organization Road to Recovery, which accompanies Israelis through mandatory Israeli military checkpoints in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and takes them to Israeli hospitals for treatment.

In a tribute before learning of his death, grandson Mai Albini Peri recalled the JerusalemPost that his grandfather taught him to “put yourself in the other side’s shoes, no matter how much you don’t like them and how much you disagree with them.”

“If my grandfather were here, he would not call for Gaza to be razed to the ground,” said Albini Peri, adding: JerusalemPost that he is committed to spreading his messages of peace and compassion.

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

Peri leaves behind his wife Osnat, his five children and his 13 grandchildren.