Tel Aviv — Five months ago today, the sounds of gunfire, sirens, and bombs, woke Israel. Hamas attacked in the early morning of October 7, raining bullets on homes, civilian centers, military outposts, and a music festival dedicated to peace.
Five months ago today, the country was forced to choose between resilience and defeat.
Today, tens of thousands of Israelis are refugees in their own country; kibbutzim in the south were blown to pieces and will take time to rebuild, and villages close to the northern border have been evacuated, until July, for fear that the Iranian proxy Hezbollah will attack, high on the momentum from October 7. Over 100 hostages are still in Gaza. Hamas won’t give Israel a list of hostages who are alive or dead, and also refuses cease-fire deals. One of the hostages includes a baby boy, who celebrated his first birthday in January. The Israeli government estimates many hostages have been killed already, and perhaps that some of the women Hamas refuses to release are either abused beyond belief or were sold into slavery. The women, children, and elderly who were already released from Hamas’s grips are still in therapy, contending with their new lives. Many of them came back home to find that their loved ones had been killed in the October 7 attacks.
What was a strong wave of international support for Israel’s counterattack against Hamas is now being conditioned. Countries have accused Israel of genocide, and the U.S. has warned Israel not to go too far in protecting itself from terrorism. Here in Israel, for the parents whose babies were murdered, for the mothers whose daughters died by being violently raped, for the families who are unsure if their loved ones will ever return home, and for the majority of Israelis, the country’s mission remains: Crush Hamas.
It’s not by any means a broken country. Along the Tel Aviv boardwalk this morning, Israelis ran and surfed and prayed, and the city is filled with “bring them home” signs and hostage posters. I’ve asked some of the Israelis I’ve met this week where they were on October 7. Answers vary; some were safely away from the south, some had to hide in bomb shelters, some were out of the country and rushed back home to Israel. Every memory of that day, for Israelis, is accompanied by tears. It’s still hard to believe that the world doesn’t cry with them.