TOKYO - A 2025 photo feature by Kyodo News, titled "An Unending Cycle of Grief," documenting both Palestinians and Israelis affected by two years of conflict in Gaza has won the latest Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association news award.
The series of 11 photos taken in both territories through December 2025 "depicted the loss and division left by a protracted conflict" in a "balanced composition," the association said, explaining why it was selected as one of six award-winning works from 108 entries.
Three Kyodo photographers -- Suo Takekuma, Takaki Yajima and Takuto Kaneko -- and Palestinian correspondent Hassan Esdodi, who lives in the Gaza Strip, took the photos despite harsh restrictions against foreign journalists entering Gaza and persistent Israeli attacks even after a ceasefire agreement took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.
The following text was written by Takekuma for the feature published online in June 2026.
On Oct. 10, 2025, a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip. What blanketed the region at this historic turning point was not only a sense of uncertainty etched into people's hearts by two years of fighting, but also profound grief over the lives lost and the homeland that had been taken from them.
In the early morning of Oct. 7 that year, black smoke rose high into the sky from northern Gaza, where rubble stretched as far as the eye could see, like an ominous signal flare.
The Israeli military controlled more than half of Gaza and continued sporadic attacks. The death toll since the ceasefire took effect was approaching 1,000.
In southern Israel, where Hamas' surprise attack that triggered the conflict killed about 1,200 people, the anguished cries of bereaved families echoed in front of portraits erected in memory of the victims.
Later in October in Gaza, countless bodies returned by Israel were seen laid out on the ground in plastic body bags. Many were severely damaged, and about 70 percent could not be identified. Funerals were held outdoors in simple ceremonies.
While the attention of the international community remained focused on Gaza, destruction of homes and attacks by Jewish settlers increased in the West Bank. Palestinian residents stayed on alert through the night day after day, and the constant tension had become physically and emotionally exhausting.
The ceasefire did take effect. Yet lost lives cannot be restored, and destroyed homes remain gone. For those left behind, there is still no end in sight to the cycle of grief.
