海角大神

Just days after Adi Pito married a woman from the town of Kiryat Malachi, he heard that a rocket from Gaza had struck an apartment building there, killing three residents.

鈥淚 was worried about my wife,鈥� says Mr. Pito, who was in a nearby city at the time. 鈥淚f you ask me, I think we have to destroy Gaza. I think they are animals, not people,鈥� he says, pulling at his new wedding ring as he stood outside the damaged apartment yesterday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the right thing to do.鈥�

But in towns across southern Israel that have been hit by rockets, other residents only reluctantly express support for a potential expansion of Israel鈥檚 Pillar of Defense operation and express sympathy for the suffering on the other side of the border, where at least 53 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured since the operation began five days ago.

鈥淲hen people say, 鈥楲et鈥檚 kill them,鈥� I don鈥檛 think they really mean to do it,鈥� says Yehudit Bar Hay, a trauma expert at the Israel Center for Victims of Terror and War, known as NATAL. 鈥淚t is an angry feeling but 鈥� we don鈥檛 want to kill the people of Gaza. We see the mothers and the children, we are sorry for them.鈥�

Even those who are 鈥渧ery, very injured鈥� from the trauma of living under rocket fire say they don鈥檛 want to hurt anybody, adds Ms. Bar Hay, who lives less than a mile from the Gaza border.听

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that Israel鈥檚 military 鈥渋s prepared for a significant expansion of its operations,鈥� even as at least 16,000 reservists have been called up for a potential ground invasion. The Defense Ministry has authorized the calling up of as many as 75,000 reservists 鈥� more than six times as many as participated in the 2008-09 Gaza war.

But while some Israelis say war is necessary or inevitable, few are happy about it.听

鈥淲ho wants this war? Nobody in Israel,鈥� says Ashdod resident Bebert Avitan, his pink-rimmed glasses hanging from his neck.

Part of the reason for a lack of public pressure may be the effectiveness of Israel鈥檚 Iron Dome system, which has kept casualties very low despite a barrage of rockets from Gaza. See today's Monitor story on the Iron Dome system.听

鈥�Hamas apparently has much greater capability than it had in the last war on Gaza,鈥� says Galia Golan, a political scientist at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, but notes that there hasn鈥檛 been a parallel uptick in Israeli casualties. 鈥淏ecause Iron Dome has been relatively successful, there has been less pressure on the government or within the government to launch a ground attack.鈥�

Only three Israelis, all from one building in Kiryat Malachi, have been killed in the recent escalation.

As the evening news shows a picture of a bombed out building, lifelong resident Masodi Sugaker says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 so sad to see this. To [have to] make everything new after this? Why? Because of Hamas.鈥�

鈥淗amas exploits their own people, the Palestinians,鈥� says she adds.

Her sister, Hanna Shukrun, adds, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want [war],鈥� because there are kids [in Gaza].

But she says, 鈥淚srael can鈥檛 just sit here and do nothing鈥�. Our army doesn鈥檛 need to wait until they have many weapons.鈥�

(This story was edited after posting to correct the name of Galia Golan from IDC Herzliya. We apologize for the error).