On October 7th, at 06:38 in the morning, I woke up to the sound of an alarm. Running to the stairs on the second landing of my old building like always. The alarm was familiar, the conversations with the neighbours were as well. Absurdly, the booming sounds and the high pitched alarm are all quite normal to me. But as I went back inside, behind my parents, I was surprised to realise that what was happening was as far from normal as possible.
In the early hours of October 7th, Hamas members crossed the border and entered Israel. In a matter of hours they were able to take control of the nearby villages and with the lack of presence of the IDF, around 900 Israeli civilians were killed and around 150 are reported to be kidnapped, in Gaza. During that day, and the following 3, thousands of rockets have been launched towards Israel and the presence of Hamas in those villages is still active. Many civilians were waiting in their shelters as they heard the sound of gunshots. Today, reports of infiltration to IDF bases were also released and the death tolls keep rising.
Israel is at war - were the words in everyone’s mouths.
I asked myself yesterday, how? How could have that happened? Now, I do not doubt that what happened on Saturday is the intended result of any Hamas activity. Gaza is an occupied city. Hamas massacred civilians and other war crimes, Hamas’s intention as always is to liberate its people. At any means necessary. I am asking two different questions - why was the presence of the IDF near Gaza so sparse, and who is to blame?
The first answer that was given to us was that the Intelligence unit failed to know about the operation. That is not true. The IDF is constantly aware of Hamas activities, and documented all the trial runs Hamas does. The IDF failed to believe that Hamas will actually act on these test runs. Like the citizens around the Gaza strip, who held the belief that the IDF is strong enough to allows Israeli presence so close to Hamas, the IDF believed that Hamas “won’t dare” to enact the horrific acts of Saturday morning. In other words, we were complacent, and Hamas took advantage.
That was the first mistake. The second, I attribute solely to Benyamin Netanyahu. The prime minister is so concerned about remaining in power that he surrounded himself with clueless ministers who crumble under crisis. At the beginning of the week, Israeli settlers in Huwara sowed terror which required a greater IDF presence in many of the settlements. This government’s continued presence in the west bank divides the IDF and unquestionably weakens its power. Our own government weakens our defences. This was the biggest catastrophe Israel has ever gone through. More dead and kidnapped than ‘48 and ‘73, and I hope that Netanyahu will pay for the losses he was responsible for and for all the actions that led us to the point of being unprepared in the face of an attack.
Lastly I would like to address the way Palestinians and Israelis discuss the issue around the world. I have heard the most derogatory, inhumane language regarding this situation. I mourn our dead - horror stories from children witnessing the death of their parents and last texts from soldiers, saying “I think I’m going to die”. But I also mourn the videos of whole blocks being bombed in Gaza and recognize that the death toll almost matches Israel’s. With much less provisions, no electricity, water and fuel, hundreds or thousands of Palestinian citizens face death in the coming days and weeks.
I hope that the events that occurred on Saturday will push people for peace rather than war. I hope it will bring us together rather than tear us apart. My condolences to anyone, from both sides, who lost a loved one.