Inscriptions of the Nahal Oz military observers | Protective shelter | Commemoration through Conservation
At the beginning of 2023, several soldiers serving as military observers at the Nahal Oz base painted graffiti inscriptions inside the shelter used on the base. The shelter was a space they frequently occupied during routine service, and the soldiers wished to introduce personal content that reflected their daily lives and shared experiences during military service. Following a process of selecting the texts to appear on the walls, the soldiers held a social gathering during which the chosen phrases were painted. A short time later, the inscriptions were covered with white paint under the orders of the unit commander. After persistent arguments on the matter, permission was ultimately granted to leave only a single inscription visible. During the events of Saturday, October 7, 2023, in the course of the battle at the base, severe acts of violence took place in which soldiers were murdered and abducted. Some of these brutal moments were documented by the attackers in videos filmed inside the shelter. Following the events of October 7, the shelter was repainted and renovated, effectively erasing many of the traces of the battle that had remained on its walls. After this became known, and following extensive materials shared with the families by soldiers who had served at the base, the families requested that the covered inscriptions be uncovered and that the site be preserved as a heritage memorial. The uncovering and conservation project was carried out in collaboration with conservator Hila Messinger, under joint activity within the “Blue Helmets” unit as part of the Eretz-Hefetz project of the Ben-Zvi Institute; A conservation initiative active in the collection and preservation of findings from communities in the western Negev affected by October 7 massacre. The project was carried out in stages between July 2024 and January 2025. This work is dedicated to the memory of Hadar Miriam Cohen, Noam Abramovich, Shirat Yam Amar, Shahaf Nisani, Noa Price, Shay Ashram, Sivan Simcha Asraf, Eden Nimri and Aviv Hajaj, who were murdered in the shelter, and to 44 additional soldiers who fell during the battle for the Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023. Presented here are selected excerpts from the documentation report for this project.
