Gaza Strip: the Beginning of the End

"How long can this last?" - this question can be heard on both sides of Gaza's border. It can be heard in the homes of hopeless Israeli villagers and farmers, whose flaming fields have become a popular target of arson; it can also be heard from grieving Palestinian mothers whose children have been fatally shot while running toward the border in a desperate attempt to relieve their pain, knowing that Israeli snipers never miss a Gazan target.

I have never been to Gaza. I've only heard the whines of the sirens alerting about incoming rockets, followed by faint pops from their hits - but mostly from their interceptions. When I would visit my hometown in southern Israel during yet another Mr Security vs. Mr Liberation hassle, hearing faint blasts wasn't an uncommon experience. For me, those were (and are) mere gusts and wafts followed by radio silence - in Gaza, however, they are the sound of shattered lives.

The last several weeks have seen rising waves of violence on the Gazan border - from waves of rocket launches and light artillery attacks targeting Israeli villages on the engagement line to heavy carpet bombings of Palestinian refugee camps and villages inside the strip, leaving tens of civilians dead and dozens wounded, alongside extensive destruction and damage - mostly in Gaza, but also in Israel, reaching their peak in intensive mutual bombardments and the closing of the Kerem Shalom crossing which cut off all food, water and gas supplies to Gaza, turning the strip into a concentration camp, and possibly depriving Gaza's youth of their chances to survive the siege.

Surrounded by the devastating havoc of the neverending war, Gaza's younger generation has found itself caught between rock and hard place, embodied by Hamas and the Gazan militias on one side and the Israeli armed forces on the other. By divesting Gaza's two million residents of their basic needs, Israel's attempt to pressure-cook an anti-Hamas revolt in Gaza has created a time bomb which might turn against its creator, manifesting Gaza's desperation in a full-scale war, accompanied by a wave of civil disobedience in Israel. In any case - for Gaza, it's the beginning of the end.