"There is hate on all sides'

The ICC order to halt the military operation in Rafah capped a disastrous week for Israel on the world stage – while at home, a divided population is increasingly doubtful about the direction of the war. Where does the country go from here?

- By Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum

In what appears to be a burnt-out building in Gaza, with Hebrew graffiti on the walls reading “Kach” and “Kahane”, references to an infamous Jewish supremacist and his outlawed political party, a masked soldier addresses Israel’s defence minister.

“Yoav Gallant, you can’t win the war. Quit. You can’t command us,” the man says in a long clip posted to social media last Saturday, in which he pledges loyalty to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Another 100,000 reservists would mutiny, he warned, if wavering elements of the government such as Gallant scuppered Netanyahu’s goal of “complete victory” over Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has opened a criminal investigation into the video, which was shared by the prime minister’s outspoken son Yair. The reservist’s behaviour was a “serious violation of IDF orders and IDF values”, the IDF said in a statement.

In Israel’s deeply polarised society, split along ethnic, religious and political lines , the military is supposed to be “the people’s army”, an apolitical melting pot that brings the country together. But as the war against Hamas approaches its ninth month, the national unity on display in the aftermath of the Palestinian militant group’s 7 October attack has faded.

“We are a politically divided society and sadly, I think we are most divided over the most important things,” said Simcha, 45, visiting Jerusalem’s open-air recreation district, First Station, last week. “When it comes to the war and the problems in the Middle East, we are divided over how to solve it … I don’t know if there is even a solution.”