Many of you asked what life is like here in Israel during wartime. It’s a tightrope walk and interesting juxtaposition between laughter and tears, life and death. This week another resident of our town- the neighbor just below our house- lost their son in Gaza.

John and I were out walking the dog when we saw lots of cars with army markings parked along the street. Soldiers, some highly ranked, were standing outside our neighbor’s gate. As we walked across the street three women came out and started screaming and hugging each other. We knew immediately. It’s a sound you never want to hear. After the funeral (the dead are always buried within 24 hours), I went to their house as the Jewish people sit “shiva” or 7 days in mourning. Everyone comes to pay respects. I’d never met them personally until this afternoon , but it really didn’t matter.

There was a soldier, who was a platoon mate of Eyal Shimonov (of blessed memory), the fallen soldier, explaining to the mother and aunt some of the great memories they shared. It seemed that Eyal was a commander of a small unit. The top level always goes in first and leads the other soldiers in the unit onwards. From what I was hearing, the tunnel they entered was booby trapped and exploded. Eyal was killed immediately.

The juxtaposition: directly across the street from the house of mourning was a house of celebration. A boy celebrating his Bar Mitzvah today was having a huge party. Music. Friends. Laughter. Dancing. It’s all so crazy. A reminder that life goes on.

As the fighting in the South is winding down, the situation in the North seems to be intensifying. There has been a surge in violence from both sides creating new levels of instability in the Northern part of the country. More tanks and heavy artillery can be seen on the highways moving to different positions. Over the past 3-4 days there have been missiles strikes into Israel from Lebanon causing several civilian casualties (deaths), including a 45 year old woman and her 16 year old son. Yesterday over 2 dozen missiles were fired into Israel, one reaching Kfar Tavor/Har Tavor. For you Christians out there reading this, you know it better as Mt Tavor in the Lower Galilee. The wild part is Iron Dome took out the missile, shrapnel raining down, as the Christians were celebrating the Feast of Transfiguration on the mountain.

Over 2000 rockets have been fired (most short range) from Lebanon since 8 October. Tonight Hizbulla fired two surface to air missiles at an Israeli reconnaissance, surveillance and communications drone. Iron Dome loudly took out the first missile, but the second one downed the drone.

The IDF has upped the game, targeting weapons depot and transfers from Iran to Hizbulla forces in the Damascus, Syria area. There have been three pinpoint strike assassinations on top level Hizbulla commandos in Beirut and other places in Lebanon. The elite Radwan unit has been pushed back into southern Lebanon several kilometers. IDF forces have blown up many launchpads and two huge ammunitions, chemical storage facilities in Sidon on the Mediterranean coast. Yesterday they pushed the aerial strikes deeper into Lebanon, going as far as 100 km. New boundaries are being crossed daily by each side.

This last week saw the IDF finding the old communications between Hamas head, Yayha Sinwar and a top Hizbulla commander. Hamas counted on Hizbulla attacking Israel in the North simultaneously. The documented commitment obtained by the IDF stated that Hizbulla was “prepared to occupy the Galilee.” The mullah sun Tehran and Lebanon disappointed Sinwar as the plans for both sides to attack never materialized. This delay bought the IDF 2 days time to mobilize and fortify the defenses and stack troops and reservists all along the Lebanese and Syrian borders.

My brilliant husband, John, has come up with an analysis that I’ve heard no one mention thus far. Iran and Hizbulla are Shi’ite Muslims. Hamas and the PA are Sunni. They do not get along or see eye to eye on many things. John feels that Iran made promises to Hamas they did not keep in order to test the strength and response of Israel’s army. In essence, they used Hamas as their Guinea pig. They were waiting to see global response as well.

Since 7 October, they have been playing tit for tat supplying the Houthi rebels in Yemen with missiles and arms to stymie commerce in the Gulf of Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. They have been supplying weapons to different factions in Syria. Last night we had a whole battery of rockets fired into the Golan from Syria. They are most certainly testing us and our capabilities. They are testing both Israel and the United States.