Monday Briefing: Among Some Israelis, Muted Sympathy for Gaza

Netivot is a bastion of political and religious conservatism in Israel.Credit…Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times

Blame for Hamas and little sympathy for Gazans

Some Israelis are struggling to show concern for the people suffering in Gaza, according to interviews conducted in right-wing and liberal strongholds in southern Israel, and with residents from across the country.

Even though Israelis know about the devastation in the enclave, many in the country ask why they should show pity when they say Palestinians there showed none on Oct. 7.

They blame Hamas for starting the war and embedding itself in residential areas of Gaza, which endangers civilians. And the pain of the attacks on Oct. 7 — which was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust — is still raw and increasingly overlaid with anger.

Israel’s mainstream media also rarely focuses on the suffering of Gaza’s civilians and routinely leads broadcasts with the funerals and profiles of soldiers who have died in battle.

Diplomacy: Yoav Gallant, Israel’s minister of defense, visited Washington yesterday for meetings with senior U.S. officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel aired new grievances over the Biden administration’s distribution of munitions for the war in Gaza.

West Bank: An influential Israeli official said the government was engaged in a stealthy effort to cement control of the occupied area, in a taped speech from a private event. And on Saturday, Israeli troops tied a wounded Palestinian to a military vehicle, which was captured on video and quickly went viral, prompting outrage and the promise of an investigation by Israel’s military.