‘They will not break us:’ How Israelis feel about a new war with Hamas

With the death toll still rising, RT speaks to local Israelis about the recent attack and what it means for the future.

It was supposed to be an ordinary Saturday morning in Sderot, southern Israel, but David Michalowsky, a resident of the city, says they all woke up to the sound of air-raid sirens.

“This is quite normal here,” he told RT, referring to a procedure activated by Israel’s home command that’s designed to warn residents of upcoming rockets and give them the opportunity to hide in bomb shelters. In Sderot, that opportunity only lasts ten seconds.

“We ran into the shelter and waited for the attack to pass but, this time, it didn’t. It was a barrage of rockets, with short intervals between them. Then, we put on the news and saw all these reports coming in. It was nerve-wracking and we didn’t leave the shelter the entire day.”

Lucky

Michalowsky, who has been living in Israel for 37 years and who has seen multiple confrontations and wars, says the events of the past few days have been the most traumatic. He has witnessed burnt cars, damaged infrastructure, and direct hits by rockets. He speaks of sorrow, grief, and loss mixed with constant fear and concern. 

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‘We are completely shocked by the damage’: What are ordinary people in Gaza saying about Israel’s retaliation?

But, despite all of this damage and deep psychological trauma, he considers himself lucky. He and his wife are alive, unlike many of his friends, relatives, and neighbors. He says he personally knows people who were murdered at the hands of the Palestinian terrorists, who have waged one of the deadliest attacks since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

Or Bar-Ilan has looked death in the eyes. She has been living in Kfar Gaza, a town located just one kilometer away from the border, since  childhood. On Saturday, when terrorists stormed into the community, she managed to escape. Her parents did not. They were slaughtered in front of her younger brother, who survived by covering himself with the blood of his slain parents.

According to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari, at least 900 civilians have been murdered by the militants of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad since Saturday morning, when scores of terrorists infiltrated the Israeli territories. Nearly 2,500 have been wounded and 130 people are believed to be held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Who’s to Blame?

Looking at the growing death toll, Michalowsky, like many other Israelis, says he is furious with the “collosal intelligence failure that has surpassed the debacle of the 1973 war,” when Israel was taken by surprise by Egyptian and Syrian armies. 

“Who do I blame for this?” He asked, almost surprised. “I only blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. He had the intelligence and the army telling him that the judicial reform he was promoting was bad for the country and that it was killing the IDF. But he chose not to listen and now it is coming back to haunt him.”

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Since coming back to power in December 2022, Netanyahu has been advancing a judicial reform that aimed at limiting the power of the Higher Court, a move that was considered by many liberal circles as potentially damaging to Israel’s democracy. The legislation has widened the split in Israeli society. Thousands have protested against it for forty consecutive weeks. Many have refused to serve in the reserves as a result, and experts were warning that this might crack the IDF and its ability to defend the state. Those warnings have now proved to be accurate, says Michalowsky, and he also believes that the situation will only continue to deteriorate. 

“I think there will be a real storm before things start getting better. We are probably heading towards a full fledged war, even though they [Hamas] hold God knows how many hostages, and this might complicate matters further,” he said, referring to the 130 civilians and soldiers believed to be held by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, something that allegedly bogs down a greater bombardment of the Strip. 

“But Israel is resilient. We will restore our strength and defeat the Arabs,” he concluded.

Bar Ilan also thinks Israel will prevail in this war. Although still traumatized, she says she will not leave a place that she sees as her home, and promises “they will not break us.”

Over the years, tens of thousands of rockets launched by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have landed in Israeli territories, causing significant damage to infrastructure and leading to multiple deaths and injuries. The attacks have intensified since 2007, after Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

RT strives for uniform coverage of the conflict from both sides. Read about the reflections of Gaza residents on the events of recent days here.

Israeli military in control of Gaza border – IDF

Some Palestinian militants may still be operational on Israeli territory, authorities have nonetheless warned

Israel’s military says that it has reasserted full control over communities on the Gaza border two days after Hamas’ large-scale assault, but has warned that some unaccounted-for militants may still be on Israeli territory.

“We are in control of the settlements,” Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said in a statement on Monday. It added that fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants had become “isolated” but that some Hamas militants may still be at large.

He also said “we are now carrying out searches in all of the communities and clearing the area.”

Earlier on Monday, the IDF said that there were about eight areas in southern Israel in which its armed forces were still fighting Palestinian militants. This includes Be’eri, a settlement that was infiltrated by around 70 fighters overnight, possibly with the use of a tunnel to breach the border.

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Hamas threatens to kill hostages

At least 900 people are reported to have been killed in Israel following the surprise attack early on Saturday, according to an IDF spokesperson. A minimum of 560 people have died in retaliatory strikes against Gaza, the BBC said. A Hamas spokesperson said that four Israelis taken hostage during Saturday’s attacks were among those killed in the latest airstrikes.

Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that he had ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza in response to the Hamas incursion, local media reports said. Energy minister Israel Katz has also ordered that Gaza’s water supply be “immediately cut off.”

“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant said. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose administration has come under fire for an apparent intelligence lapse in advance of the attack, pledged “mighty vengeance” as his government officially declared war on Hamas.

It was also noted by Hagari that Israel’s military has mobilized 300,000 reservists amid reports that a possible ground operation might soon be underway. The Israeli Air Force said on Monday that it has dropped more than 1,000 tons of bombs on Gaza “since the beginning of the war.”

Hamas threatens to kill hostages

Captives will be executed on live TV after every Israeli no-warning airstrike, the group has said

Hamas will execute an Israeli hostage and broadcast the killing online every time a no-warning strike by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) hits civilians in Gaza, a spokesman threatened on Monday.

“Any targeting of any civilians without warning will be met with the execution of a civilian hostage in our custody,” the masked spokesman for Al-Qassam Brigades said in a message broadcast by Al Jazeera. “We will be forced to broadcast this execution. We regret this decision, but we hold [Israel] and its leadership responsible for this.”

Hamas has captured a number of Israeli soldiers and civilians since Saturday, when its militants infiltrated the Jewish settlements near Gaza. A spokesman for the group, Mousa Abu Marzouk, told the Arabic news outlet al-Ghad TV that it had “over a hundred” captives, including “high-ranking” Israeli officers. Another Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, said on Sunday that it had at least 30 hostages as well.

In previous airstrikes against Gaza, Israel had used the so-called “roof-knocking” technique – in which non-explosives are dropped onto a targeted civilian home – to warn civilians in residential towers to get out before their building was bombed. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) skipped that step on Monday, launching a series of strikes on Gaza that have killed at least 560 people, according to the local authorities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the country was “at war” and promised Hamas retaliation they “have never known before.” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has announced a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off food, fuel, and electricity to the Palestinian territory. Residents of Gaza were told to leave before they were “obliterated” but have nowhere to go.