To mark the anniversary of October 7, the date ofHamas’ attack on Israel in 2023, artist aleXsandro Palombo has created a mural in Milan dedicated to the memory of the victims. The work, titled October 7, The Hostages, was placed in front of the Consulate General of Qatar, in the heart of the city, and depicts Israeli mother Shiri Bibas with her sons Kfir and Ariel, who were kidnapped on kibbutz Nir Oz and killed during the conflict.
The mural, unveiled on Oct. 7, 2025, is part of an international commemoration for the massacres that took place two years earlier. Palombo chose the Bibas family as the symbolic subject, returning an image of intimacy and grief. The two children’s red hair, which has become a recognizable sign in global campaigns for the release of hostages, emerges as the dominant visual element. In the composition, Shiri holds her children in a silent embrace, while the neutral background and the location chosen for the work, in front of a diplomatic headquarters, amplify the political and testimonial value of the intervention.
The Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 Israeli civilians and military personnel and the abduction of more than 250 people, including women, children and the elderly. The Bibas family, kidnapped on kibbutz Nir Oz, became one of the most powerful symbols of that day. Kfir, the youngest of the hostages, was only nine months old. For weeks, images of the mother and the two children circulated in media around the world, generating strong collective identification and turning their story into an emblem of civilian vulnerability.
On February 20, 2025, during a negotiated truce in the Middle East, Hamas handed over the coffins containing the remains of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel to the Red Cross. The Israeli army later reported that one of the bodies belonged not to Shiri Bibas but to a Palestinian woman, an episode that provoked further consternation and discussion about the treatment of hostages and the handling of returns. Palombo’s work thus takes on a value of civic testimony, rather than commemorative in the strict sense. Placed in front of the Consulate of Qatar - a country repeatedly involved in negotiations between Israel and Hamas - the intervention suggests a reflection on political responsibility and the need to keep the memory of the victims alive.
Back in 2024, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the attack, Palombo created a mural in Milan dedicated to the Nova Festival massacre, depicting the young survivor Vlada Patapov fleeing. That work, titled October 7th, Escape, was also vandalized a few hours after its creation, an episode that prompted the artist to reiterate the value of public memory as a form of cultural resistance.
The new work follows the same line: a direct, accessible language that combines pop aesthetics and civic message. Palombo, known for his works of public art and social denunciation, addresses issues such as violence, identity and collective responsibility through recognizable images, often inspired by popular culture. In this case, his artistic gesture takes on the tone of a warning and an act of visual mercy, rescuing victims from oblivion and giving them back a face in the urban fabric.
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| Milan, aleXsandro Palombo leaves mural for Oct. 7 victims in front of Qatar Consulate |
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