The last thing we need is a new war diverting attention from Gaza

We greeted our friends, each only looking up from their phones long enough to share the occasional, uneasy joke. None of this came as a surprise. The night before, Thursday, all six of us had been camping on the beach at Eilat in southern Israel when an alarm woke us at 3.30am, signalling Israel’s attack on Iran had begun and prompting us to find shelter.

The Iron Dome early warning alarm is a long, high-pitched whistle, designed to jolt you out of sleep, providing about a minute’s notice to find shelter. For many Israelis, it’s the crown jewel of the defence system; I had naively thought it nearly impenetrable, until Friday night. Three died and dozens more were wounded from Iranian ballistic missile strikes that hit the suburbs of Tel Aviv.

I am new to living in this region but, talking on Saturday to my friends who were born here, none could remember a time in the recent history of Israel when the country sustained such damaging missile attacks.

The 2014 Gaza and 2006 Lebanon wars had some, and there was a Druze school hit last year – but nothing like Friday night. It’s an ironic sentence to write but, since the second intifada and 7 October, my brain always assumed the danger was from internal terrorist attacks, not from the sky.

When I asked a Palestinian friend I had been sheltering with how he was feeling, he replied: “A pre-emptive strike on Iran right now makes as much sense as me pre-emptively killing myself so I don't die from a bomb.” The simplest answer seems to be that this is the war Israel wanted all along. Sure, there is the context of Bibi barely surviving a no-confidence vote last week as extra motivation but, as spelled out in thisAtlantic article, Iran is the enemy Israel wants, and thinks it knows how to defeat.

This also allows for attention to be turned away from the war Israel doesn’t want the world to see. From Thursday to Saturday there was an internet blackout in Gaza. The borders of the West Bank are completely sealed. We have no idea if the aid Gazans desperately need is getting delivered. Iran sent missiles towards the West Bank that the IDF neglected to shoot down. Three children were injured, as there are no shelters there outside of illegal settlements.

Israel has declared Iran as a “primary front”. As for my friends in the mamad: “I am obligated to live under the circumstances of this government’s choices without understanding anything about these choices. I’m not sure if this is necessary, why do we need this now?” one said. Another added: “Our yearning for peace is constantly shattered. The last thing we need is another war to divert attention from bringing back hostages and ending the war we already have.”

While writing this, a message on my phone alerted me to more strikes tonight. Missiles look a lot like stars – each night, it takes my brain a second or two longer to tell the difference.

Photograph by Leo Correa/AP