OFAKIM, Israel — Just a month ago, this modest-sized city in southern Israel was the scene of a fierce clash between rampaging Hamas militants and hastily scrambled Israeli forces.
The Palestinian fighters were driven back into the nearby Gaza Strip within a day, but a month later, the signs of change wrought by the war are everywhere, here in Ofakim and in cities, towns and settlements across Israel.
In Tel Aviv, the city’s landmark Fire and Water fountain in Dizengoff Square has been transformed into a makeshift memorial for the fallen and the wounded.
There are flags, photos and candles marking Oct. 7, the day when more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly unarmed civilians, lost their lives. The usually boisterous boulevards of Tel Aviv, lined with bars and boutique dress shops, are quiet. Some public benches have large stuffed bears on them, with signs around their neck listing the names of some 240 Israelis and foreign nationals still held hostage in Gaza.
The change is also unmissable on the nation’s highways. Billboards that once were used to advertise everything from banks to apartments, are bedecked with Israeli flags and slogans such as “together we will win.”
The patriotic outpouring exists alongside a deep trauma keenly felt across the country. Radio stations fill the day with interviews with families whose loved ones were killed in the Hamas massacre or whose family members remain in the group’s hands.
As an Israeli retaliatory campaign of airstrikes and ground operations advances slowly in the now-surrounded Gaza City, Israeli communities within 20 miles of the Palestinian enclave now have police or soldiers guarding the entrance, M-4 rifles in hand, as protection against attacks.
Ofakim, in more normal times a sleepy community in the midst of flat farming country on the border of the Negev desert, now has police stations at checkpoints to the city.
The events of Oct. 7 are seared into memories here. One policeman waved an Israeli flag at drivers Tuesday, trying to get a smile out of those passing by. In a time of war and somber moods in Israel, it was a glimpse of the attempt at unity that is common among people from all walks of life here.
Down the road, volunteers set up outdoor grills to provide food for soldiers who were waiting around before moving closer to the front lines in Gaza.
Any significant road or highway anywhere near Gaza is typically jammed with military vehicles going one way or another, either trucks transporting supplies to the front or tanks and armored vehicles being redeployed as the fighting evolves.
And with 300,000 Israeli reservists called up, the tempo of operations is felt far from the front, even as Hamas units continue to fire rockets into Israel from Gaza.
Sirens sounded Tuesday in Tel Aviv and central Israel in the evening. The “boom” of incoming hostile missiles being intercepted could be heard as far away as Jerusalem, a dozen miles away.
A chance to reflect
For Israel’s military and political leadership, the one-month mark provided perhaps the first time to reflect on the atrocities committed against the nation and to try to set a coherent tone to prepare Israelis for what is still to come.
The Israeli Defense Forces are “operating with full force,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in an address Wednesday. “[Hamas Gaza commander] Yahya Sinwar hides in his bunker and lets the [Hamas] field commanders die in the field. In our forces, our commanders head to the front line, leading their troops, charging forward and making real achievements in the field.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed that there would be no cease-fire with Hamas until the hostages were released, despite mounting pressure from the Biden administration for at least a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting to aid Gaza’s trapped and beleaguered civilian population.
But it’s also evident that there is no clear consensus on what comes next. This has been a point of discussion with U.S. officials, including CIA Director William Burns, who arrived in Israel for discussions this week.
Mr. Gallant said on Tuesday that Israeli troops have now reached the “heart” of Gaza City, but military analysts warn the hard fighting may still be in store given Hamas’ dug-in defensive fortifications and the militants’ vast network of underground tunnels.
The IDF doesn’t reveal operational details about exactly where it has reached, but videos show tanks and infantry pushing into urban areas. Two IDF divisions and various units, such as combat engineers, paratroops, infantry brigades and tanks, are all operating in Gaza.
Some 348 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7, with around 30 killed since the ground fighting began. The rest were mostly victims of the October 7 attack.
Israel has used the months since the attack to repair parts of its breached security fence around Gaza. It has also rebuilt a new observation center for soldiers at its Reim base near the Gaza Strip. These soldiers work as observers, sitting in front of screens and using sensors on the border to check for threats.
And Gaza is not the only focus of concern for Israelis marking the grim month’s milestone. Hassan Nasrallah, head of the powerful, Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia movement Hezbollah, appeared to climb down from threats to enter the fight alongside Hamas in a widely anticipated speech late last week, but that does not mean Israel’s northern border has been quiet.
In just the latest tit-for-tat exchanges across the border, Hezbollah attempted to fire an anti-tank missile at Israel Tuesday morning. It also flew a drone into Israel, which was intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems.
Mr. Nasrallah’s speech disappointed many of his own militants and the leadership of Hamas, but the situation remains volatile and the rhetoric menacing on both sides. Military analysts say the risk of a miscalculation leading to an unwanted wider war has soared in recent days.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader threatened this week that if Israel doesn’t stop its Gaza operations, Hezbollah could rethink its stance. Iran’s state-controlled Tasnim News media claimed that pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria are now coordinating attacks on Israel and the U.S., operating as a “single front” against Iran’s enemies.
The Biden administration has already dispatched two aircraft carriers and a nuclear submarine to the region, with a clear message for Iran and its regional allies to stay out of the Israel-Hamas fight.