They appeared at vigils, protests, marches they were seen on television and in front of the Knesset, pressuring lawmakers, many of them right-wing politicians who did not want to negotiate with Hamas, to find a way to free the kidnapped. The relatives of the abducted started the Hostage and Missing Families Forum to ensure the fates of their relatives and loved ones. But if fighting resumes, Omer and the remaining hostages will slip back into the clamor of war. More Israeli hostages and Palestinians - about 240 Palestinians have been freed - may be released in coming days if the cease-fire holds. The deal brought a temporary cease-fire as scenes of destruction were replaced by quieted guns and freed faces pressed against windows of Red Cross SUVs. His father spoke a few decibels above a whisper.ĭays later, Hamas and the Israeli government agreed to swap hostages for Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and adolescents, held in Israeli jails. Shem-Tov wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of Omer, a handsome 21-year-old free spirit with a swoop of dark hair. Israeli flags snapped in the air around him, voices chanted, “Bring them home,” and photographs of hostages, ranging from old women to children, bobbed on sticks above the streaming crowd. Shem-Tov walked along the highway recently as part of a protest march that started in Tel Aviv and would end at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem. The life of this restive land - or at least this terrible chapter within it - can be glimpsed in the fate of two fathers, strangers who share misfortunes brought on by larger powers and are now left to find their way. It is a cruel marker of how a history of mistrust and enmity is ever dangerous amid political failings and persistent trauma. But most Israelis - and many Palestinians - agree that the bloodshed that unfolded in early October has no precedent since Israel was founded more than seven decades ago. Comparisons are made to the wars of 1948, 19 - each shaping the contours of the Israeli-Palestinian divide that determined who would live where in a region that became increasingly dangerous. Israel’s retaliatory bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.Įvery day brings names, numbers, fresh graves and new recriminations. Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants killed at least 1,200 Israelis, including 364 at a music festival in the desert where Omer was seized. ![]() There’s a brokenness throughout Israel and the occupied territories - decades of turmoil, intifadas, stolen lands, forsaken promises, intransigent personalities and tattered peace negotiations have accumulated and delivered a moment that has shaken Israelis and Palestinians alike. Shem-Tov, owner of a multi-sensory media company that produced Israel’s Pavilion at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, has not been to work since his son vanished across the Gazan border. Alzaarir watches his sheep as his grazing area shrinks amid the encroaching settlement above his encampment. They live on threads of rumors and unreliable news. ![]() The rhythms of the men’s lives have been upended doubt has subsumed certainty, and rage mixes with helplessness. ![]() “The night was always a good time for me, but now I’m afraid of the night.” “I sleep two or three hours a night,” said Shem-Tov. While more than 100 of some 240 hostages have been released during a cease-fire in recent days, his son remains captive, a young man believed to be trapped in a warren of Hamas tunnels. Malki Shem-Tov’s 21-year-old son, Omer, was kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza on Oct.
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