Last week, the temperatures at the Mediterranean coast hit 36C (97F). Hot, on either scale. And so people took to the beaches. The photos taken by the AFP on the beaches of Gaza provided “a jarring counterpoint to the scenes of fighting, rubble and death that have come out of the Strip since war erupted over six months ago.” Some in Israel saw the photos as evidence that claims of famine or genocide are overblown. Others criticized the government for running the war rather badly: “it’s no wonder Hamas doesn’t feel pressured and is unwilling to agree to a hostage deal” said Ze’ev Elkin of the New Hope Party.
I am not begrudging Gazans their day of frolic at the beach. Even in the midst of a war, surviving under the thumb of a bloodthirsty terrorist regime, people live, and spending a hot day by the water is a rare respite. It does show that the more commonly available images of bombed-out buildings and children receiving bowls of rice at the humanitarian aid distribution centre are not telling the whole story of what is going on in Gaza. The beach scenes were filmed in Deir al-Balah, an area some 10 kilometers south of an east-west corridor that is the only part of Gaza still actively occupied by Israeli troops.
On the left: demonstrators on Tel Aviv’s Gordon Beach join a human chain stretching from Habonim Beach to Rishon Lezion, to call for the release of hostages held since October 7 by terror groups in Gaza, April 19, 2024. (Dana Reany/Pro-Democracy Movement)
Crowds also gathered on beaches along Israel’s coast, but they were there to form a human chain stretching from Habonim Beach to Rishon Lezion, some 85 kilometers (52 miles), in a call for the government to secure a hostage release deal. Ahead of the event, Shelly Shem Tov, whose son Omer Shem Tov was taken hostage by terrorists at the Supernova desert rave on October 7, called on the public to “come and stand with us quietly, without slogans.”
This is a campaign button from 1981 used during the Iranian hostage crisis. This Passover’s promise will not be complete ’till they all come home.
‘Till they all get a chance to spend a day at the beach.
Brock Coalition Against Antisemitism 