Gut-wrenching images showed an anguished 12-year-old Israeli boy saying goodbye to his news photographer father, mother, and sisters who were all slaughtered by Hamas terrorists while he went out on an early-morning run.

Ariel Zohar, dressed in all black and flanked by members of his extended family, sobbed while looking in horrified disbelief at the shroud-wrapped bodies of his dad, Yaniv Zohar, 54, his mother, Yasmin, 49, and his two sisters, Tehelet, 20, and Keshet, 18, at their joint funeral service in the city of Rishon LeTsiyon Tuesday.

Four members of the Zohar family were killed along with Ariel’s maternal grandfather, Haim Livne, at their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, located near the Gaza border, on the morning of October 7.

The boy survived the attack only because he was out jogging at the time. He later sheltered at a nearby house and escaped unharmed.

An estimated 1,000 mourners attended the emotional funeral service for the Zohar family, which was interrupted four times by air-raid sirens and incoming rocket fire from Gaza.

“They won’t even let us bury our dead,” said Yaniv Zohar’s sister Sivan.

She said that her orphaned nephew would be raised by her sister and that the surviving family members intended to celebrate his bar mitzvah in a month as planned.

“We will continue to celebrate life, and we won’t let anyone destroy us,” Sivan said. “This is how we will avenge their deaths.”

Yaniv Zohar worked as a videojournalist with the Associated Press’ Israel bureau for 15 years, from 2005 to 2020, covering all the major news events in the country.

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Most notably, he was the first newsperson on the scene of the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants in 2006.

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“Yaniv was AP’s eyes and ears in southern Israel, always among the first to respond to news in the busy region,” AP Executive Editor Julie Pace said. “He was a part of the community where he worked, giving him insights that were invaluable to his colleagues. When tensions rose in the Middle East, colleagues would quickly ask, ‘What does Yaniv say?'”

Most recently, Zohar worked as a photographer for the local daily newspaper Israel Hayom.

“He was a wonderful friend, a devoted father, a man with heart and generosity,” the paper eulogized him in a statement. “He would always run after the next frame despite the difficult sights he was photographing.”

Zohar’s friends described him as modest, calm, quiet and generous. Despite having a competitive streak, he was beloved by his fellow journalists who covered the region — and his home became a base for colleagues arriving to report breaking news.

“His heart was as big as his body,” said his close friend, photographer Yehuda Peretz, referring to Zohar’s towering 6-foot-3 frame.

Veteran AP videojournalist Alon Bernstein recalled his many visits to Zohar’s home, and how they liked to share a bottle of Jack Daniels together.

“Yaniv was a good friend and a real pro. We worked together overseas and all over the country, covering violence wherever it erupted,” Bernstein said. “I have witnessed many atrocities in my long time as a news cameraman. None of them were as horrible as what happened to Yaniv and his family. It is too terrible for words.”

With Post wires