On the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, the State Archive has revealed thousands of documents, images, and audio clips that have been cleared for publication. As part of the archive's special operation, there was a collection, preservation, and digitization effort for these documents, making them searchable using search programs, despite the fact that they were originally scanned from handwritten or typewritten materials.
Among the documents, there are also thousands of photographs from the war that have been received by the State Archive from various media sources, including Israeli soldiers in prayer. There is no information about the soldiers' names, and for some of them, this is the only documentation from the war, becoming a memory. Some of these soldiers may have been affected in the subsequent battles, and for their families, this is the last documentation of their loved ones.
Who recognizes the praying soldiers?
An Israeli soldier stands on the western side of the Suez Canal, after the crossing between the battles of Yom Kippur and the cease-fire with the third Egyptian army. The photo was taken on October 23, 1973.
An Israeli soldier on a tank in the Sinai Desert. The photo was taken on the sixth day of the war, October 11, 1973.
Israeli soldiers praying the Shabbat prayer inside a bunker on the eighth day of the war, October 13, 1973.
After 50 years, the soldiers in the photos should be around the age of 70 or older. If you recognize any of the individuals in the photos, please write to us in the comments, and we will try to establish contact with them.