The Hamas attack left many Israeli farms abandoned — some worry forever: Israel can’t afford to give up, but Israel can fix it
She says that the sides can learn from the situation. It will take time to find a solution. “We have no other choice, you know?”
After all that has happened, she says Israel had no choice — it had to try to eradicate Hamas in Gaza, where more than 20,000 people have died since the start of the conflict.
Ilana Menache, in her 60s, is one of the volunteers — and she is indeed going for the low-hanging avocados. Her voice is wavering as she talks about the future.
Trees weighed down by unpicked fruit will be less productive next year, Flynn says, and that could mean higher prices in Europe, where most of the crop is exported.
He said that they could pick some of the avocados in another couple of months. We’ll have to give up on some of them because we should have picked them a long time ago.
The day Hamas attack left many Israeli farms abandoned — some worry forever: The brogue of Paul Flynn, the father of an Israeli farm worker
Before the war, he oversaw about 40 laborers from Thailand. The day Hamas attacked was a Saturday and Flynn was at home. The Thai farm hands were working on the farm. Workers made a panicked retreat to a safe room on the farm grounds as Hamas took over. They spent the next day there before an Israeli tank arrived and was able to chase off the militants.
Four decades after arriving in Israel, Paul Flynn still has his native brogue. He’s a supervisor at the orchards that are collectively operated by seven villages of Israelis who were relocated from inside of Gaza in 2005, when Israel disengaged from the Palestinian territory to allow for self-government there.
Not far from the dairy farm, an all-too-close Israeli howitzer intermittently lobs artillery into Gaza. There are rows of trees split up by a road with ripe fruit.
Leff isn’t a Jew. He just saw a need and decided to spend a few weeks in Israel before starting a new job back home. I heard of the terrible things that happened. I just wanted to help a little bit,” he says.
Source: The Hamas attack left many Israeli farms abandoned — some worry forever
‘It’s hard to be here, but it’s an adventure to be with, not to be forgotten’: Gabriel Leff, from the dairy farm in Nir Oz, Israel, for the past 75 years
As the cows are herded in for milking, Nathaniel Willemse, 21, confidently taps their hind legs, coaxing each animal into position above milking stations. He is a law student from the Netherlands. He used to work on a dairy farm, so he enjoys working here.
Leff sees Israel as a safe haven for Jews living in a troubled world. He says that they’ve been uprooted from wherever they seem to call home. We always have somewhere to go if antisemitism goes up. It’s been Israel for the past 75 years.
Leff wears a Jewish head covering called a ‘kispah,’ which is a traditional Jewish accessory, and sports a faded blue jeans, sleeveless t-shirt and tall work boots.
For many here, the decision to help comes from a sense of duty. Gabriel Leff definitely sees it that way. He moved to Israel two months ago and immediately began volunteering in various places within the country. He’s a fairly new arrival at the dairy farm.
Itzhaki says that for the people who lived here it is a trauma. Imagine a person who escaped from the Nazis and was asked to live there. It’s difficult.
Shmulik Itzhaki is a volunteer from central Israel. His day job is in satellite communications, while his dairy farming job is very different. He says he’s happy to pitch in for as long as he can, but given the horrors the community experienced, he doesn’t think the survivors will ever call it home again.
There is no way to imagine anything resembling normal on this side of the Gaza border since the start of the war.
At a dairy farm a few miles away from the Gaza border, hundreds of cows are being herded into milk stations as the sound of Israeli airstrikes echoes through the morning air.
Of the 400 residents of Nir Oz, Hebrew for “courageous meadow,” about 38 were killed by Hamas and another 75 seized as hostages, according to Israeli media. It was the hardest-hit kibbutzim along with Be’eri. Some members of these communities said they would not be coming back.
Some volunteers from Israel and around the world have been rotating in and out of this farm close to the kibbutz for a long time. She is helping fill the gaps left by the workers who have left.
Aline Stern, a retired nurse from northern Israel who has been volunteering at the farm for the past few weeks, has learned to identify the implements of modern warfare. She points to an Israeli drone over her head. She explains that the Hellfire missiles are fired from Apache helicopters. Familiar as it all is, “you never get used to it,” she says.
Since Hamas fighters swept through this area on October 7, Israel says the bombing has become commonplace, even more so since Khan Younis, the second largest city in the Gaza Strip, has become a focus of the conflict.
The UN Security Council passed a watered-down resolution that doesn’t call for a cease-fire, but expedited the delivery of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians and release of hostages. But it was not immediately clear how and when deliveries of food, medical supplies and other aid, far below the daily average of 500 before the war, would accelerate. There are two crossings on the Israeli side of the border. The UN’s Tedros Adhanom, a doctor, called for a truce in the war in Gaza on Sunday. The Iran-backed Houthis say their attacks are aimed at Israel-linked ships in an effort to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister said that the war exacted a heavy price from them. In a nationally televised speech, the President of Israel appealed to unite the country. This moment is a test. He said that they would not break nor blink. The government has been criticized for failing to protect civilians on Oct. 7 and for allowing Hamas to grow stronger over the years. Netanyahu has avoided accepting responsibility for the failures. “Over time, the public will find it hard to ignore the heavy price paid, as well as the suspicion that the aims that were loudly heralded are still far from being attained, and that Hamas is showing no signs of capitulating in the near future,” wrote Amos Harel, military affairs commentator for the Haaretz newspaper. The Israeli military said it had completed the dismantling of Hamas’ underground headquarters in northern Gaza, part of an operation to take down the vast tunnel network and kill off top commanders that Israeli leaders have said could take months. Negotiating efforts continued. The head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, arrived in Egypt for talks. The militant group said it was prepared to give hostages up after fighting ends. The top leader of Hamas traveled to Cairo for talks.
The Gaza Ministry of Health says more than 20,000 Palestinians have died since the beginning of the war. International aid groups say the situation across the strip is dire, with winter temperatures settling in as millions of people take shelter in makeshift camps in the south.
The Palestinian Plan for a Re-Shape of the Gaza Strip is Still Not Nearly Over and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is Open to Developing a Unified Government
The Associated Press and other news sources reported that Egyptian officials proposed a multiphase plan to end the war in Gaza.
The plan was not yet agreed to by parties but came after a deadly weekend in Gaza, where an Israeli airstrike killed more than 100 people at a refugee camp.
The plan calls for a weeklong truce according to reports in Israel and Egypt. Hamas would release about 40 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for about 120 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
A third phase would lead to a permanent cease-fire and include the exchange of any remaining Israeli hostages for all Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli detention. The new body of Palestinians would be in charge of the territories of Gaza and the West Bank. The leadership would make sure that the reconstruction of Gaza is done well and elections are held to create a unified government.
Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, groups that participated in the deadly attack on southern Israel, have rejected the Egyptian plan to give up their power in Gaza. According to the report, two groups are open to a pause in fighting, release of hostages in exchange for prisoners, and increased aid into Gaza.
The war in Gaza is not close to being over, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a meeting with members of his party, according to an Israeli newspaper reporter. According to the Israeli military, 17 soldiers were killed in Gaza this past weekend, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in the war to 156.
Trucks full of water, food and other humanitarian supplies continue to trickle in across in Rafah and Kerem Shalom, but Palestinian officials say it’s still not enough.