This Hanukkah, I will celebrate with my wife and our baby. In the two years prior, I was unable to do so because I was fighting in Gaza. On October 7, 2023, I went to the south of Israel to confront terrorists who sought to kill as many Jews as possible. Four days later, I briefly left to attend my wedding. It was not the wedding we had imagined or planned. in Israel, weddings are usually large events with hundreds of guests, but ours took place in a small hall with only a handful of people. The next day, I returned to the army. About two weeks later, Israel entered Gaza, and I had to “celebrate” Hanukkah there.
My own experience in Gaza exceeded anything I had imagined. Even before October 7, I was not naïve. But I did not imagine anything like what I saw there. Which is why I choose to share my story here. For me, this is not about “pro-Israel”, which I am, or “anti-Palestinian” but rather a simple question of Truth verses lies, The West and Civilization verses Barbarism and a death culture. I hope to spread a little bit of light in the darkness that is the lies that are being spread about Israel and the propaganda, misinformation and blood libels, that is fueling anti-Jewish sentiment.
By Hamas’s own figures, roughly 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza over more than two years of fighting, during which the Israeli Air Force struck approximately 70,000 targets, numbers that would be vastly higher if extermination were the objective. The allegation that Israel seeks to destroy Gaza’s population further collapses when confronted with its conduct during the war: humanitarian aid continues to enter the Strip; Israel issues warnings in Arabic before striking specific areas, explains the reasons for those strikes, urges civilians to evacuate, and allows time for them to do so.
Israel possesses the military capability to inflict incomparably greater harm within hours, yet it does not. Not because of international pressure, but because mass killing is not how it operates. Indeed, one reason the war has been so prolonged is Israel’s extensive efforts to minimize civilian casualties, with every strike and operation weighed against the potential cost to innocent human life. Moreover, even accepting Hamas’s own claims, if roughly half of those killed were combatants, this would represent one of the most favorable civilian-to-combatant casualty ratios ever recorded in an urban war of this kind.
I saw firsthand the scale and sophistication of Hamas’s infrastructure: tunnels wide enough for vehicles to pass through, stretching for kilometers, lined with storage rooms full of food, computer labs, command centers, and, of course, explosives and obstacles designed specifically for soldiers.
I was not in every house in Gaza, but I was in enough to notice a consistent pattern: without exception, every house contained either Nazi propaganda, materials inciting hatred against Israel, ammunition, rifles, explosives, rockets, grenades, or other instruments of war. There were no exceptions. Not even a single one.
In mosques, hospitals, and schools, the amount of terrorist materials was even greater. I saw sniper rifles hidden inside stuffed teddy bears in an UNRWA schools, rocket launchers placed where hospital beds should have been, and Mein Kampf in Arabic. I saw swastikas. I witnessed Hamas terrorists forcing civilians into areas they were forbidden to enter, pointing rifles at men, women, and children to ensure compliance. These realities are difficult to reconcile with the simplified narratives presented internationally.
I remember telling my battalion commander daily that while our brigade eliminated two or three terrorists, Hamas was killing more than twenty people daily. I received these reports firsthand. Hamas justified it by saying they kill people who are asking for humanitarian aid received from Israel which makes them accomplice with the Zionists, the killing them is a positive thing. Yet the world would later blame Israel for these casualties.
It is impossible to ignore the suffering of civilians in Gaza. As a father, I can empathize with the pain of every child who has died. It is heartbreaking. Yet responsibility must be assigned where it belongs. I place full blame on the terrorists, and I do so in three ways: Firstly, they sometimes directly endanger or kills children. Hamas forced nearly 200 Gazan children to dig tunnels, resulting in their deaths. These deaths then attributed to Israel. This is but one example of many.
Second, Hamas and other terrorists’ organizations planted explosives in civilian areas so extensively that secondary explosions often caused more damage than Israeli strikes themselves. Furthermore, they used civilian infrastructures to attack Israel from them. Forcing Israel to attack back where civilians are located.
Lastly, it was Hamas that initiated this conflict and could have surrendered at any point to stop the fighting. Instead, it chose to endanger its own population to manipulate Israel’s image internationally. The world needs to stop equate intention with inevitability. The terrorists intend to murder as many Jews possible. Israel inevitably kills civilians that terrorists hold as human shields.
In all honesty, Israel was wrong to say it was fighting Hamas. Israel is not fighting only Hamas; Global Jihad, ISIS, and other terrorist organizations are present as well. On October 6, 2023, there were approximately 40,000 Hamas fighters in Gaza. Today, there are still roughly 40,000. Even after Israel eliminated tens of thousands of militants, Hamas rapidly recruited additional fighters, demonstrating the population’s complicity or support for its actions.
Moreover, during the hostage crisis, not a single Gazan assisted the hostages. UNRWA personnel, doctors, and teachers actively prevented their release. This reality underscores the difficulty of separating combatants from civilians in a context where militants intentionally embed themselves within the population.
To argue there are no innocent civilians in Gaza and that they are all terrorists would be a lie, but to ignore who many of the ‘uninvolved’ civilians in Gaza took part in the October 7th massacre and how many of them support terror, would be a lie as well.
Some of the conspiracy theories are about Israeli power and influence. One widespread belief holds that Israel “pulls the strings” in Washington and dictates U.S. policy, and that this supposed control is precisely what allows Israel to act with such extreme violence in Gaza under the umbrella of American support. Yet even a few hours of reserve duty in the Israeli army would quickly expose the absurdity of this claim. In reality, the relationship runs in the opposite direction: far from being unconstrained by U.S. backing, Israel operates under significant American pressure, with the United States actively regulating the scope and degree of force Israel is permitted to use.
Let there be no doubt: as an Israeli, I hold the United States, our greatest ally, in the highest regard. We share common values and interests, and President Trump has been the most supportive president Israel has ever had. Yet we must acknowledge the truth that today, the Israeli tank advances only as far as America allows.
We were fighting terrorists, protecting Israeli civilians, and searching for hostages. We knew we were doing what is right. But this came with a personal price: financial losses, interrupted studies, and profound family strain. In my own case, I earned almost no money for two years, my doctoral research which I planned to submit Nov 23 was delayed and I now hope to complete it by 2026, and there were the unavoidable family sacrifices. When my wife was in her ninth month of pregnancy, I was once again in Gaza.
Thanks to a special convoy that transported me to the border, where my car was waiting, I was able to witness the birth of our child. Immediately afterward, I returned to combat operations. Nothing compares obviously to the lost lives of fallen friends, or those who are now injured in body or mind. And Israel paid a heavy price with that.
Throughout the war I was amazed by the high motivation of the soldiers which was extraordinary. They understood that they were fighting to protect their homes, families, and fellow citizens.
None of them wanted to fight, or tool any pleasure in it. Everyone would have preferred to be elsewhere, spending time with their families, advancing in their careers or studies. Yet everyone knew that this is how Israel must act today. Unlike in the millennia when we had no means of defense, today we can come together and fight back.
The massacre of October 7 was the greatest disaster to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Yet our response in Israel, measured and determined, was part of asserting our survival. We will always prefer that people curse us or protest against us, rather than take our lives.
This Hanukkah, as I light the candles with my family, I hope we can spread light and truth across the world, and drive out the darkness that threatens not only Israel, but all of the free world.
Attorney Ran Bar-Yoshafat, International lecturer, doctoral candidate in History, officer in an elite reserve unit.
