It was not another day of Remembrance in Israel. The day of commemoration for the soldiers who have died and the victims of hostile acts took place in the cemeteries with the 7th of October still fresh in the memory and the prayers of the relatives with hostages in Gaza. And it is that in one year another 1,600 names have been added, for the 1,139 Israelis killed in attacks by Hamas and other groups in the strip, and the 271 soldiers killed as part of Israel’s brutal invasion of Gaza, in which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians. But, far from the usual solemnity of this day, yesterday’s commemorative events were marked by the tensions and reproaches of mourners and demonstrators towards Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his coalition, distributed in the events of 54 military cemeteries.
The prime minister led the central ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem and saw how, as he began his speech, a good number of attendees decided to walk out in protest. Another of those present took the opportunity to display an Israeli flag with the legend “7/10” painted in red, in an apparent complaint to the president for not taking responsibility for the mistakes for the unprecedented attack on October 7.
Netanyahu, however, again avoided any acknowledgment of guilt, as did the head of domestic intelligence, Ronen Bar, or the head of the armed forces, Herzi Halevi. Instead, he reiterated that “we will achieve the objectives of victory, first and foremost, the return of all our hostages”, and that the actions in Gaza are part of an “existential war”.
His words did not manage to calm the spirits of some families with fallen soldiers who interrupted his address, shortly before finishing, with chants of “you took away our children”. In particular, a man shouted at him: “Scum! There is nothing to respect here, he killed my children”. While, during his turn on stage, Doris Liber, mother of the dead hostage Guy Luz, whose body is being held by Hamas, scolded him: “I don’t have a grave to visit him, come back to us – all of them”.
If Netanyahu experienced moments of booing, the ceremony that took place in Ashdod was even worse, where the presence of the Minister of Security, the extremist and settler Itamar Ben-Gvir, exhibited the divisions of Israeli society, with supporters and detractors of the current far-right Government. When he arrived, escorted by several guards, some demonstrators scolded him with shouts of “criminal”, which triggered responses from his supporters, with shouts of “scum” and “traitors”.
Rising above the clamor, Ben-Gvir urged to “continue fighting” until victory, which is coming, without making any mention of the hostages. During and after his presentation, discussions continued, with some pushing and shoving.
Without reaching that point, almost no minister was saved from rebuke. To Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, three people showed him posters that said “his blood is on your hands” during an event in Tel-Aviv; and Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, also from the most radical wing and opposed to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, was confronted by the mother of one of the abductees, who demanded that he comply with “his duty” to secure the release of the captives.
They are signs of the wear and tear that is beginning to weigh on a large part of Israeli society, which is increasingly questioning Netanyahu’s leadership, in view of an endless invasion of Gaza. And this is echoed by some Israeli generals who, according to the Hebrew press, consider that the prime minister’s lack of strategy is causing the army to return to fighting in areas of the strip from which it had withdrawn.
This is the case of Jabalia, in the north, which since Saturday has been the scene of brutal Israeli bombardments and direct clashes between Palestinian soldiers and militiamen. There the tanks returned three months later, also due to the regrouping of Hamas members. Much of the area, home to the largest of the eight refugee camps in the Palestinian enclave, has been reduced to rubble, even more if that is possible, by renewed airstrikes and artillery fire. According to health authorities, at least 20 bodies were recovered there in the early hours of Monday.
With no time or safe place to flee, the residents and refugees of the area continue to be scattered among the ruins, carrying their few belongings in bags. “We don’t know where to go. We have been moved from one place to another. We are running through the streets. I saw with my own eyes the tank and the excavator on one of the roads”, a woman told the Reuters agency.
Another resident told Efe that “the occupation forces are now trying to besiege and break into the six shelter centers located to the east of the camp” in Jabalia, where “there are shots from drones and snipers, which force the displaced to to go out”.
At the opposite end of Gaza, in Rafah, the landscape is similar: bombs and projectiles have spread to more central areas and around 360,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced to try to protect themselves from the offensive. Hamas said a foreign worker from the United Nations was killed in an attack on a humanitarian convoy, which the Islamist group attributes to Israel, but for which there has been no confirmation from the UN. Another blow to humanitarian operations in the strip, which are at risk of being paralyzed in the south following the Israeli blockade of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.