Khaberni - The fighting in Gaza has stopped, but another battle begins for the returning Israeli soldiers, who after being traumatized and physically wounded, are drowning in silence and anger, while others try to rebuild themselves through solidarity, therapy, and speaking out.
With this introduction, the newspaper Le Figaro opened a field report by Najat Shariki, which discussed what she called the hell that the returning Israeli soldiers from the Gaza front are living through, and which she said led one of them to the point of wishing to receive a bullet in his forehead, noting that the calm that returned to the skies of Gaza after the ceasefire is a fragile calm.
The cannons have silenced - as the writer says - but the silence that followed the battles does not carry real peace, because the wounds are still bleeding, and because there is another silent pain among the returning Israeli soldiers obsessed with memories of the war, unable to resume their normal lives.
The writer reminded that the war had just ended, but the embers are still glowing under the ashes and in the hearts of both sides, who remain enemies, but exhausted.
Najat Shariki reviewed the case of Yisrael Hayat, a young soldier and nurse who fought on the Gaza front, he says "One of my dreams is to receive a bullet between my eyes. I am a walking corpse. A man no longer living."
After being discharged, Hayat - who became unfit for military service and who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder - stood in front of the Knesset members to scream his pain at the faces of politicians, saying like many of his comrades returning from the front, that he became unfit for life.
This young man says "Do you know what it feels like when you lift the bodies of your friends? Every time I sit, I see the bodies, I see my friends exploding in front of my eyes. I try to kill myself every day. A psychiatrist prescribed me 15 pills a day, a dose sufficient to sedate a horse. Please treat me."
Invisible wounds
The writer pointed out that Israel enlisted 500,000 soldiers during two years of war, of whom 916 were killed and 6,300 were injured, but Yoav (25 years old), who saw the war up close and experienced the chaos and fear, does not doubt the reasons for its outbreak, he says "After the 7th of October, we had no other choice."
However, this young man - as the writer says - is upset about the political decisions, he says "It is logical that the world thinks we are extremists, but this is not true. I have values, and I did not choose hatred. Unfortunately, the politicians who govern us do not represent the real situation of the Israeli people. (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu has made our country look like the devil. He prolonged this conflict to stay in power."
According to Yoav, this war lasted longer than it should, and he talks about his symptoms shyly, referring to panic attacks, the images that suddenly return, and to the guilt that accompanies him because he returned while others did not, he says: "I know there are innocents in Gaza. I wish they had survived."
Today Yoav is fighting for better recognition of cases like his, and says "I suffer from anxiety and sudden memories, but some of my friends are much worse off."
