OFAKIM, Israel — This modest-sized city in southern Israel was the scene of one of the fiercest clashes between rampaging Hamas militants and hastily scrambled Israeli forces a month ago.
The Palestinian fighters were driven back into the nearby Gaza Strip within a day, but the signs of change wrought by the war are everywhere in Ofakim and other cities, towns and settlements across Israel.
In Tel Aviv, the city’s landmark Fire and Water fountain in Dizengoff Square has been transformed into a makeshift memorial for the fallen and the wounded.
Flags, photos and candles mark Oct. 7, the day when more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly unarmed civilians, lost their lives. The usually boisterous boulevards of Tel Aviv, lined with bars and boutique dress shops, are quiet. Some public benches seat large stuffed bears with signs around their necks listing the names of some 240 Israelis and foreign nationals still held hostage in Gaza.
Israel’s campaign to avenge the deaths ground forward Wednesday despite mounting appeals from abroad for a humanitarian “pause” in the fighting to allow beleaguered Gaza residents to escape.
More than 10,500 people in Gaza have reportedly died in the past month. Israel and the U.S. have rejected calls for a cease-fire, saying it would benefit dug-in Hamas forces.
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Israel Defense Forces spokesman Gen. Daniel Hagari told reporters in a Wednesday evening briefing that Hamas had “lost control” of the northern half of the Gaza Strip as thousands of Palestinian civilians fled south.
“We saw 50,000 Gazans move from the northern Gaza Strip to the south. They are moving because they understand that Hamas has lost control in the north,” the IDF spokesman said.
In Israel, the change is unmissable on the nation’s highways. Billboards once used to advertise banks and apartments are now bedecked with Israeli flags and slogans such as “together we will win.”
The patriotic outpouring exists alongside a deep trauma keenly felt across the country. Radio stations fill the day with interviews with families whose loved ones were killed in the Hamas massacre or whose family members remain in the group’s hands.
As an Israeli retaliatory campaign of airstrikes and ground operations advances slowly in the now-surrounded Gaza City, Israeli communities within 20 miles of the Palestinian enclave now have police or soldiers guarding their entrances, M-4 rifles in hand, as protection against attacks.
Ofakim, in more normal times a sleepy community in the midst of flat farming country on the border of the Negev desert, now has police stationed at checkpoints to the city.
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The events of Oct. 7 are seared into memories. One policeman waved an Israeli flag at drivers Tuesday, trying to get smiles out of those passing. In a time of war and somber moods in Israel, it was a glimpse of the attempt at unity that is common among people from all walks of life.
Down the road, volunteers set up outdoor grills to provide food for soldiers waiting for the order to move closer to the front lines in Gaza.
Any significant road or highway near Gaza is typically jammed with military vehicles going one way or another, either trucks transporting supplies to the front or tanks and armored vehicles being redeployed as the fighting evolves.
With 300,000 Israeli reservists called up, the tempo of operations is felt far from the front, even as Hamas units continue to fire rockets into Israel from Gaza.
Sirens sounded Tuesday in Tel Aviv and central Israel in the evening. The “boom” of the interception of incoming hostile missiles could be heard as far away as Jerusalem, a dozen miles away.
A chance to reflect
For Israel’s military and political leadership, the one-month mark provided perhaps the first time to reflect on the atrocities committed against the nation and to try to set a coherent tone to prepare Israelis for what is to come.
The Israel Defense Forces are “operating with full force,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in an address Wednesday. “[Hamas Gaza commander] Yahya Sinwar hides in his bunker and lets the [Hamas] field commanders die in the field. In our forces, our commanders head to the front line, leading their troops, charging forward and making real achievements in the field.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed no cease-fire with Hamas until the hostages are released. He is under mounting pressure from the Biden administration for at least a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting to aid Gaza’s trapped and beleaguered civilian population.
It’s also evident that there is no clear consensus on what comes next. That has been a point of discussion with U.S. officials, including CIA Director William Burns, who arrived in Israel for discussions this week.
Mr. Gallant said Israeli troops have now reached the “heart” of Gaza City, but military analysts warn that the hard fighting may still be in store given Hamas’ dug-in defensive fortifications and the militants’ vast network of underground tunnels.
The IDF doesn’t reveal operational details about exactly where it has reached, but videos show tanks and infantry pushing into urban areas. Two IDF divisions and various units, such as combat engineers, paratroops, infantry brigades and tanks, are all operating in Gaza.
Some 348 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7, about 30 since the ground fighting began. The rest were primarily victims of the Oct. 7 attack.
Israel has used the months since the attack to repair parts of its breached security fence around Gaza. It also has rebuilt an observation center for soldiers at its Reim base near the Gaza Strip. The soldiers work as observers, sitting in front of screens and using sensors on the border to check for threats.
Gaza is not the only focus of concern for Israelis marking the grim month’s milestone. Hassan Nasrallah, head of the powerful, Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia movement Hezbollah, appeared to climb down from threats to enter the fight alongside Hamas in a widely anticipated speech late last week. That does not mean Israel’s northern border has been quiet.
In just the latest tit-for-tat exchanges across the border, Hezbollah attempted to fire an anti-tank missile at Israel on Tuesday morning. It also flew a drone into Israel, which Israel’s air defense systems intercepted.
Mr. Nasrallah’s speech disappointed many of his militants and the leadership of Hamas, but the situation remains volatile and the rhetoric menacing on both sides. Military analysts say the risk of a miscalculation leading to an unwanted wider war has soared in recent days.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader threatened this week that if Israel doesn’t stop its Gaza operations, Hezbollah could rethink its stance. Iran’s state-controlled Tasnim News Agency said pro-Iran groups in Iraq and Syria are now coordinating attacks on Israel and the U.S., operating as a “single front” against Iran’s enemies.
The Biden administration has dispatched two aircraft carriers and a nuclear submarine to the region, with a clear message for Iran and its regional allies to stay out of the Israel-Hamas fight.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Seth J. Frantzman can be reached at srantzman@washingtontimes.com.
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