Israel has seen record numbers of people being drafted into the army. Schools have been ordered to close. The streets are deserted. Empty chairs lined the sidewalks outside normally crowded cafes: Since Hamas militants inflicted the worst-ever death toll in an attack in Israel, almost every aspect of life in the country has been affected.
“Everyone has a family member or knows someone who was murdered, or has children who we don’t know where they are,” said Talia Hurwitz, who works in a Jerusalem cafe. “It was the most traumatic event of my adult life.”
Hamas’s attack was an epochal event in Israel’s history, with hundreds of militants breaching Israel’s barriers around Gaza and then rampaging through towns and villages in the countryside surrounding the blockaded Palestinian enclave. On a per capita basis, the attack killed more people than the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
In three days, Hamas commandos killed 1,200 people, injured more than 3,000 and abducted dozens more – including children, women and the elderly – in an invasion that brought to the surface some of the deepest wounds in the Israeli national psyche water surface.
“In my opinion, there has not been a day since the Holocaust when so many Jews were killed,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a speech on Monday.
“Not since the Holocaust have we witnessed Jewish women and children, grandparents – even Holocaust survivors – being herded into trucks and imprisoned.”
Since the founding of the state in 1948, Israel has fought many wars with Arab countries in the region, and Israelis have become accustomed to living among hostile neighbors. But despite the bloodshed, the country’s military and intelligence agencies – the most powerful in the region – have long been seen as guarantors of security. In recent years, some Israelis have even hoped to tame Hamas, whose leadership has long called for Israel’s destruction, through a combination of intimidation and economic inducements.
For many Israelis, that belief has been shattered over the past few days, as militants were able to overwhelm Israeli forces in the country’s south and carry out massacres at sites such as the Supernova Music Festival, Beeri and Kfar Aza. It is now deeply embedded in the public consciousness.
The military and intelligence failure was so severe that many consider it to eclipse the disaster of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel was caught off guard by simultaneous attacks from Egypt and Syria. This was previously considered the lowest point for the country’s security apparatus.
“Everyone used to say the Israel Defense Forces were the best army in the world and we were safe and I felt safe,” Hurwitz said. “Now that image is shattered.”
Fear and uncertainty have taken their toll everywhere. Supermarket shelves were cleared in panic buying amid speculation that Israeli forces would soon invade Gaza and clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants along Israel’s northern border. When Hurwitz tried to order milk for the cafe, she couldn’t find any.
“Everything is no longer normal,” said Ren’an Chen, who works in Jerusalem’s normally bustling Mahane Yehuda market. “I think this attack will change this country for 30 years.”
For those caught up in violence, the disruption to their lives is even more severe. Eli Dudaei and his partner Nadav Peretz were locked and armed in a safe room at their home in Nahal Oz, southern Israel, on Saturday. The elements are rampant in the kibbutz. Like others from the hit towns who now live elsewhere, Dudai isn’t sure he wants to come back.
“I was trying to think back to the first time I came home and I immediately stopped thinking and said I’m not coming back,” he said, his voice breaking. “We do surrogacy in the U.S. . . . We have a meeting scheduled for next week. They usually ask ‘Where do you live and what do you do?’ “I don’t know what I would answer.”
The plight of the displaced has triggered massive civil mobilization. Like many other restaurants, Rinat Sylvester’s restaurant in Jerusalem is closed to the public. But inside, her staff were present, cooking large amounts of food to send to evacuated Israelis, hospitals and soldiers.
“When you open a restaurant, you have to serve people, and I didn’t want to do that,” she said. “But I’m in the mood to help those who need us.”
Some hope the unifying effect of the attack will last longer and help ease the deep divisions in Israeli society amid a controversial judicial push by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government. The reforms have exacerbated deep divisions in Israeli society. The proposed reforms triggered the largest wave of protests in Israel’s history, pitting nationalist and religious supporters of the reforms against their more secular, liberal compatriots.
“Maybe it’s enough for people to forget for a few weeks or a few months, and then people will connect again. This fight (over justice reform) has really damaged some relationships and families,” Renan said. “So maybe there will be some positive results.”
Others are less optimistic. “Now we are more united and everyone wants to do something for the soldiers, give them food, give them money, give them a place to stay. We do really well in times like this,” Hurwitz said . “But I feel like when the fighting stops, the differences remain. It’s always been that way.”
And intense anger. Israeli warplanes have been bombing the Gaza Strip for days, killing 950 Palestinians. But many Israelis want a more aggressive response – and across the country’s south there are signs that Israel is preparing for a ground invasion.
On a highway north of Ashkelon, hundreds of cars were left on the shoulder by soldiers reporting for duty as Israel carried out its largest mobilization in history. Further south, trucks were hauling tanks and artillery batteries toward Gaza.
Israeli radio stations and media are filled with calls for the destruction of Hamas. Even among those who once hoped for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sentiment has hardened.
“You feel like there’s no one[within Hamas]to talk to. Hamas is a terrorist organization, so you just have to eliminate them,” Renan said. “I’ve lost hope for peace. Coexistence and stuff like that – I just don’t believe in it anymore.”
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