TEL AVIV: As it grinds on well into its twenty-second month, Israel’s war in Gaza has set friends and families against one another and sharpened existing political and cultural divides. Hostage families and peace activists want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to secure a ceasefire with Hamas and free the remaining captives abducted during the October 2023 Hamas attacks. Right-wing members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, meanwhile, want to seize the moment to occupy and annex more Palestinian land, at the risk of sparking further international criticism.

The families of hostages are calling for an end to the war in order to negotiate the release of those still held captive. But the footage has also reinforced support for Benjamin…

Netanyahu appeared shaken in a statement after footage emerged of two hostages, Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, both looking skeletal and pale in an underground tunnel.