Israelis sitting in the sun over the weekend in Tel Aviv, in one of the city's more crowded squares, which also became a memorial site for the victims of the October 7 Hamas-led attack. Photo / Heidi Levine, for The Washington Post
In Ramat Aviv, a quiet and green neighbourhood in northwest Tel Aviv, some of the buildings hit by Iranian missiles during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June still stand in ruins.
Chen, 44, a resident of one of the damaged apartments still undergoing renovation, said that although he, his wife, and their children, aged 10 and 7, were not in the apartment at the time, it was not easy to recover.
“It took us a lot of time to stabilise,” said Chen, who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by first name out of concern for his family’s safety.
Now, as the United States assembles a massive amount of war-fighting machinery in the Middle East, and US officials say the Trump Administration appears ready to undertake an extended military assault on Iran, Israelis are once again preparing for war.
Such an attack risks Iranian retaliation not just against US military targets but also against Israel.
Similar anxiety is now gripping many Iranians and others throughout the region who could get caught in the prolonged conflict.
“There is a sense of stress; it is a very unpleasant feeling,” Chen said. “If it starts - Should we stay in Ramat Aviv? Should we leave?”
He doesn’t want his children to experience an attack; the sirens and explosions caused them anxiety, he said.
Evacuating poses its own challenges. “You don’t know when it will actually happen, and you also don’t want to get stuck.”
The 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in June killed at least 29 people in Israel, according to the Israel Defence Forces.
In Iran, at least 610 people were killed, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
“We are prepared for any scenario. And if the Ayatollahs make the mistake of attacking us, they will experience a response they cannot even imagine,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at an IDF officers’ graduation ceremony last week.
Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba, one of Israel’s largest hospitals, also sustained a direct hit from an Iranian missile in June, causing minor injuries and extensive damage.
“It will take several more years until we finish rebuilding everything that was destroyed,” Shlomi Codish, the medical centre’s director general, said.
A quarter of the hospital’s beds and more than a third of its operating rooms have been unusable since the strike, Codish said.
Now, the hospital is preparing for the possibility of another war.
“Once the order is given, we’ll have to move 400 to 500 patients on very short notice, including premature babies and elderly patients on ventilators,” he said.
They will be moved to the hospital’s protected spaces or discharged home.
“This is our reality in the Middle East; unfortunately, we are a bit more skilled at this due to the circumstances,” Codish said.
Beyond treating the population of southern Israel, he said the hospital must also focus on the staff’s resilience.
There were 2300 people there the day the missile hit, he said.
“When things escalate, it’s a heavy emotional burden for a place that’s already been targeted, including the feeling that the Iranians know exactly how to target us,” he said.
“We are working hard with the team to restore their sense of security.”
After more than two years of Israel fighting on various fronts - from Gaza to Iran and Lebanon - many Israelis seem accustomed to military threats, at least on the surface.
Amid the preparations, most Israelis continue their daily routines, going to work and school until sirens are heard or further instructions are issued by the Home Front Command.
IDF spokesperson BG Effie Defrin said that “the IDF remains vigilant in defence” and that there is there is “no change in the guidelines”.
“It’s very weird to have different life-threatening things fill you with fear in different ways,” said Amalya Liebermann, 27, a video director and editor from Tel Aviv.
“But just trying to keep some sort of normalcy and continue with at least communal living in a way, I think that helps a lot.”
While Israeli news anchors and commentators attempt to parse statements from US President Donald Trump pointing to the possibility of a US attack on Iran, Liebermann chose to spend Saturday afternoon in the warm late-winter sun with her friend Rani Assa Polansky, 26.
They met in one of the city’s more crowded squares, which also became a memorial site for the victims of the October 7 Hamas-led attack.
“After the previous Iranian war, which was really tough and scary, even thinking about the possibility is so anxiety-inducing that it makes me freeze. So I prefer not to think about it,” Liebermann added.
Assa Polansky also prefers not to think of the possibility, but said her boyfriend packed an emergency bag with passports and a bottle of water.
Unlike the campaign in June, when Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, current and former Israeli officials say that Israel now is not expected to strike first and will defer to the US, joining only if necessary.
“The US is leading, and Israel is playing second fiddle,” Energy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of Israel’s Security Cabinet, told Galatz Radio last week.
“As for when Israel joins, we have made it clear: If anyone in Iran tries to divert the fire toward the State of Israel, we will exact a very heavy price,” Cohen added.
“We need to continue to stay out of it, in co-ordination with the Americans, of course,” former national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told Channel 12. “When they need us, we know how to be there.”
“The level of co-ordination and co-operation with the US, as well as the state of readiness within Israel, is at its peak,” Brigadier-General (Res.) Ran Kochav, former Air and Missile Defence Commander and IDF spokesperson, told the Washington Post.
“For 30 years, all Israeli governments tried to ensure that the Iranian problem would not just be an Israeli problem, and they succeeded,” Kochav added.
“The Americans are now leading this effort, and we should be pleased with that, staying involved and co-ordinated - and perhaps even participating, if the Americans agree. There is an opportunity here that likely won’t return in the coming years.”
Iranian and US officials have been engaged in talks that Washington hopes will secure limits on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Trump said last week that Iranian leaders “must make a deal” or “bad things will happen”.
Netanyahu told the annual conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations that any deal must ban all Iranian enrichment of uranium and dismantle “the equipment and the infrastructure that allows” for enrichment.
“In Israel, there is a hope that the Americans will do the job for us,” said Danny Citrinowicz, senior researcher in the Iran and the Shiite Axis Programme at the Institute for National Security Studies.
“Netanyahu wants a broad campaign that will severely damage Iran’s strategic capabilities; for him, this is a dream come true.”
While the US can significantly weaken Iran, Citrinowicz said: “I still don’t see any strategic goal that can be achieved in this campaign”.
Some Israelis voiced exhaustion.
“None of us really wants another war, we’re all really tired,” said Daniel, 29, a resident of Tel Aviv, who works in the tech industry, and spoke on the condition that he identified only by first name because he is still on active reserve duty.
“We do understand that if America attacks Iran, obviously, there will be repercussions against us.
“In Israel, we have to hold these two emotions, right? One is that we want peace, and second, that understanding that maintaining it sometimes does come with a price,” Daniel said.
He added that there is a “a theocratic regime over there that needs to be taken down, so we’re up for it”, because doing so will “do good for the whole region”.
Perhaps with a more moderate regime in Iran, he said, he would be able to visit the country one day.
“Iran is a beautiful place and historically, Persians and Jews got along very well.”
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