GAZA'S ECHOES OF DESPAIR

The road to peace is becoming more and more tortuous and old strategies are crumbling under the rubble of new conflicts

- Iftikhar Gilani

A serene October morning was violently shattered as the sky lit up with fire over the Israeli housing settlements of Kfar Aza, Be’eri, Nahal Oz and Magen. These normally quiet neighbourhoods—bordering the endangered Gaza Strip— were transformed into a horrific scenario when they were caught in a ferocious storm of steel orchestrated by Hamas militants.

Even before the sun had chased away the night, these fighters, like shadows, used every means possible to penetrate southern Israel. From simple motorbikes to unconventional paragliders, they invaded peaceful sanctuaries, marking their paths with devastation and spreading the echoes of a conflict thought to be over.

In the days that followed, rescue teams sifted through the rubble, unearthing not only the structural, but also the human cost of this unforeseen collapse. Some 1,300 people, including 279 soldiers, were recovered from the rubble.

In the rubble of Kibbutz Be’eri, the story of 74-year-old Vivian Silver, an ardent advocate for peace, merged with tragedy. Her house stood—or rather, it no longer stood—as a cruel paradox of her lifelong mission to build bridges where walls stood. Vivian, known for her flamboyant activism, now bore the mute title of the missing, reinforcing the deep vacuum in the corridors of regional peace building. For outside journalists who wanted to cover Palestine issues, particularly in Gaza, she was the first stop to get quotes.