Assuta Ashdod Hospital to Mark October 7 with 'Between the Sights' Exhibition

Assuta Ashdod Public Hospital will open a unique exhibition titled "Between the Sights" on October 14 to commemorate the events of October 7. The exhibition, created by Dana Dvori, will be unusually displayed within an active hospital and will feature approximately 60 photographs taken by 33 reservists who documented the human moments they experienced during the war. The exhibition aims to connect the reservists who captured the war from within with the medical professionals who encountered it in trauma rooms, operating theaters, and hospital wards starting that morning.

"Between the Sights" is the third exhibition by the "Lights in the Darkness" association, founded by Dvori after October 7 to preserve human stories through art. The photos focus not on combat itself, but on experiences of camaraderie, responsibility, longing, hope, and coping. Visitors can scan QR codes next to each photo to hear personal stories, narrated by actors including Tal Moseri and Itzik Cohen, based on the photographer's testimony.

Dudu Ventsubsky, a 45-year-old reservist and father of three who served nearly 340 days in Gaza, is among the featured photographers. He carried a camera alongside his weapon, documenting human moments. One of his photos shows children's drawings found in Gaza, which he says reminded him of his own children and the reason he continues to serve. "These drawings gave the answer: for the children, so that no more children will experience such a disaster," Ventsubsky stated.

The exhibition will also highlight the stories of Assuta Ashdod's medical staff, for whom October 7 transformed from a regular workday into continuous treatment of casualties from combat zones and southern communities. Among them is Dalia Bider Peretz, a trauma coordinator nurse who was in her home in a Gaza border kibbutz under fire on October 7 before making her way to the hospital, equipped with a helmet and vest, to join the trauma teams for 48 hours straight. Also featured are Dr. Lior Rosenthal, Deputy Director of the Emergency Room who treated casualties from combat and the Nova music festival; Ira Shalom, head nurse of the operating rooms who rushed to the hospital to assist with the influx of wounded; and Dr. Yaniv Noor, who cut short his orthopedic trauma fellowship in Toronto to return to Israel and treat severe casualties.

Additional exhibits will include visual artworks created from sand, depicting the testimonies of women from security and rescue forces who were on the front lines on October 7. Assuta Ashdod has treated over a thousand war casualties since October 7, including hundreds of soldiers. As a designated "shortening destination," the hospital received numerous helicopter medevacs of critically injured soldiers, achieving some of the highest survival rates in Israel. The hospital is uniquely designed as a highly protected facility, ensuring continuous operation during emergencies.

Dr. Galit Kaufman, CEO of Assuta Ashdod, remarked, "October 7 is part of our hospital's story. As soldiers went to the front, our teams received the wounded here and fought to save their lives. Since that morning, these two stories have accompanied each other, and it is therefore particularly meaningful that they now meet here through the exhibition." Dana Dvori, the exhibition's creator, added, "'Between the Sights' was born from the desire to document and commemorate not only the war, but the human being within it... It was clear to me that Assuta Ashdod is the precise location for the exhibition, the place where the war entered the trauma room doors and medical personnel fought anew each day to save lives."