On the Ground in Israel and Gaza

Two photographers capture scenes from the most recent outbreak of war.

TEXT BY JODI RUDOREN 

AUG. 29, 2014

Gaza City, Aug. 13. The damage in the heavily bombed Shejaiya neighborhood. Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times

In mid-August, I read a column in an Israeli newspaper by a mother who described putting her children to bed in their home near Gaza, where fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas had been raging since July 8. She explained how she made sure the path to the safe room was clear of toys so that they would be able to get there in the allotted 15 seconds if a siren sounded. I thought of her kids, lying in bed and trying to go to sleep. I had also just gotten back from Gaza, where there are neither sirens nor safe rooms, so I could hardly help thinking about all the toys buried under the rubble. On both sides, another generation is growing up amid violence and fear.

For many around the world, the most recent outbreak of war in Israel and Gaza has seemed like a rerun of a familiar film. The last dismal showing ended 20 months earlier, the one before that in 2009. For those closest to the fighting, it has been an inescapable fact of life for decades; Israel’s history is one of intermittent war with its Arab neighbors from the country’s founding 66 years ago. This summer’s conflict followed a breakdown in American-brokered peace talks that few ever believed would bear fruit. Israelis contend that what started it was the June kidnapping and murder of three teenagers hitchhiking home from their yeshivas in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians point to Israel’s earlier rejection of a reconciliation government that included Hamas, the Islamist movement that dominates Gaza.

Jerusalem, Aug. 5. The funeral of Avraham Walz, 29, who was killed in an attack earlier in the day by a Palestinian driving a stolen construction vehicle. Six other Israelis were injured. Deadly violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has increased during the fighting in Gaza. Peter van Agtmael/Magnum, for The New York Times

Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Aug. 10. The funeral of Ahmed al-Masri, 14, who was on his way to a health clinic when he was killed in a drone strike. Four others were injured in the attack. Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times

Netivot, Israel, Aug. 4. A communal bomb shelter, where parents sometimes leave their children while they’re at work. Houses built since 1991 have been required to have their own safe rooms, but shelters like this one are still used in older neighborhoods. Peter van Agtmael/Magnum, for The New York Times

The situation escalated in July, and despite several cease-fires, the fighting shows little sign of reaching an end. Many educated, secular Palestinians who usually renounce violence supported Hamas as it launched more than 3,500 rockets into Israel, repeatedly entered Israeli territory through tunnels and killed 64 soldiers. On the other side, many Israeli Jews cheered from a hill in the border town of Sderot as the Iron Dome defense system shot down incoming rockets and as Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza. Though the high number of civilians among the 2,000-plus Palestinians killed stoked outrage internationally, some European protests tinged by anti-Semitism hardened a sense among Israeli Jews that they are misunderstood, their very existence threatened on all sides. Even the Zionist left all but disappeared into unity behind what Israelis regard as an Ein Breira War — a war of no choice.

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Aug. 11. The funeral of Hassan Kaware’e, a 24-year-old barber. He was killed in a drone attack that left another man dead and several other people injured. Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times

Sheikh Ejleen, Gaza Strip, Aug. 9. One of more than 60 mosques that have been destroyed. Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times

In the first half of August, the magazine sent Paolo Pellegrin and Peter van Agtmael to capture life on the ground in Gaza and Israel. The goal was to show, through the distinct styles of two photographers, a glimpse of what things look like in these inextricably linked, and yet utterly separated, places. That was a period of off-and-on cease-fires, when the conflict’s asymmetry nevertheless remained on display. Pellegrin’s black-and-white pictures document the devastation in neighborhoods where an estimated 100,000 Gazans have lost their homes. In van Agtmael’s subdued color photographs of Israel, there is far less destruction, but there is no lack of tension, sorrow and, at moments, great alarm.

Kerem Shalom, Israel, Aug. 7. Humanitarian aid at a border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Unicef, U.S.A.I.D. and the World Health Organization are some of the groups that have sent aid to Gaza through this crossing. Peter van Agtmael/Magnum, for The New York Times

Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Aug. 9. Rescuers looking for survivors and bodies at the Qassam Mosque. The bodies of four men were extracted from the site after hours of searching. Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times

As the magazine went to press, cease-fire talks had collapsed and violence had resumed. Hamas saw little leverage beyond firing off more rockets: more than 300 in two days. Israel insisted that it would not negotiate while under attack and that it had no choice but to respond. Ein Breira. It is hard to find a clear path forward.

The gulf is not just between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, but also between average people in both places, whose perceptions of who started the war and who is winning it are diametrically opposed. The situation may be best described by a comment I heard from Bashar Masri, a West Bank businessman and one of the dwindling number of Palestinians and Israelis who have real relationships across the concrete barrier that divides the holy land. This summer, he avoided leaving his home in Ramallah to take meetings among the skyscrapers and seaside cafes of Tel Aviv. The two cities were no longer just different worlds, he told me at a recent dinner; they had become different planets.

Netivot, Israel, Aug. 4. Shimon Ohana, 50, whose property was damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza. Peter van Agtmael/Magnum, for The New York Times

Jerusalem, Aug. 7. Khaled Mraheel, a 6-year-old Palestinian, and his family at Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital. Khaled was injured in a bombing in Gaza. His family was granted a permit to travel to East Jerusalem for medical treatment, a process that requires coordination between the Israeli military and the Palestinian Authority. Peter van Agtmael/Magnum, for The New York Times

Netivot, Israel, Aug. 4. Israeli soldiers taking cover in a bunker during a rocket attack. Israeli missiles intercepted the rocket. Peter van Agtmael/Magnum, for The New York Times

Gaza City, Aug. 8. The funeral of Ibrahim Dawawsa, 10, who was killed in a drone attack in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum, for The New York Times