News from Jerusalem on October 5 Israelis in two years of war in the Middle East: where to hide, heartless

The New York Times reporter, Wang Zhen, is on the road.

¡°Stop the war!¡± ¡°Stop the bloodshed!¡± ¡°Stop the atrocities!¡± ... On the evening of the 4th, a group of Israeli mothers with anti-war slogans walked in front of the Israeli defense department in the center of Tel Aviv.

On October 7, 2023, as a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out, the Israeli government declared that the country had entered a "state of war." For two years since then, the Israeli army has launched fierce military operations on multiple fronts. The country has been deeply consumed and torn apart in the endless wars. The society and economy have been under tremendous pressure, and its international image has been continuously damaged.

Not only did the war burn on the front, but it spread to the daily lives of every ordinary person, quietly changing the rhythm and trajectory of people¡¯s lives. Hundreds of thousands of reserve officers were recalled several times, and the normal functioning of society was frequently interrupted. Many Israeli journalists around were forced to drop their jobs, dressed in military clothes and marched to the frontline. Among them, there were students and teachers in a farewell classroom, researchers left the laboratory, and salesmen boarded the recall train after the last single was sent... In this long war, the fate of different people intertwined.

Seidov, 48, is a mother of three, one of whom is serving in the Israeli army. To call on the government to stop fighting in the Gaza Strip, she launched the "Mothers on the Front Line" campaign, which has now gathered the mothers of about 70,000 Israeli active and reserve soldiers to join.

"For two years, the young people of this country are lost, broken and exhausted. Endless wars will not bring us security, and we don't need an extremist government to stake the lives of ordinary people," she told reporters, hoping that one day Israelis and Palestinians can live together in peace.

According to data released by the Israeli military, over 1,600 Israelis have been killed in the past two years, of whom about 450 have been killed by soldiers, while the Gaza Strip, several decades away from Tel Aviv, has long been a human purge. Israel¡¯s two-year military operations in Gaza have killed more than 670,000 Palestinians and wounded about 170,000. The local humanitarian crisis is worsening and countless ordinary people are homeless.

From the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, journalists have experienced every key point in the two-year conflict in Pakistan and witnessed Israel¡¯s continuous expansion of the front during the two-year ¡°state of war¡± in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Iraq and even Qatar, which has increased the security risks to the Israeli people.

Missiles, rocket bombs, and drones from all sides of the world are attacking Israel and its controlled territories, with new air defense facilities everywhere, people switching routes between work and refuge; air alarms are frequently sounded, daily life is always suddenly suddenly cut into countless pieces. At the same time, shootings, car crashes, explosions and other attacks are also frequent, security is tightened and social conflict is increasing.

"Compared with Gaza, at least we have bomb shelters to escape. It's hard to imagine how people there can survive every day in the endless bombing." Amit, a Jerusalem citizen, told reporters in the * team in front of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. There are many Israelis around him who are considering going abroad to work temporarily, hoping to escape the shadow of this war that can't end in sight and find a moment's breath.

The body has a place to hide, but the heart has nowhere to put. In the raging war, many people fell into confusion and anxiety. As the second anniversary of the "state of war" approaches, the call for a "ceasefire" rings again. A poll published by the British "Economist" earlier this month showed that 72% of Israeli respondents supported the current ceasefire plan promoted by the international community.

However, the situation has changed rapidly, and people have become accustomed to the sudden hope and the disappointment that comes with it. The night is deeper and the air is filled with restless silence. No one knows whether tomorrow will be the dawn of peace or another round of alarm.