Do we have the grit for this?

The reports are starting to come now of the true horrors in Gaza. Children found with their dead mothers, people huddled in bombed buildings trying to nurse injuries with no medical supplies, and many stories of civilians killed while doing nothing other than living. We knew it was bound to come. War is hell, they say, and no matter what Israel does, any fighting in Gaza means civilian deaths. Urban warfare is hard, but when the enemy hides behind civilians, it's much worse. Hamas counted on Israel to either not bomb the civilian shields, or to get the bad PR from doing so. Israel, it seems, decided to take the kid gloves off and go after the bad guys, even if that meant going through the civilians to get to them.

But do we have the grit for this? Will the Israeli and the world public, recognizing the need to stop Hamas (and it's rockets), allow the Israeli military to continue to fight as it has? Or will it be, as Hamas has hoped and planned, that we'll all get sick of the death and pressure for the war to end with Hamas still in power, and still shooting missiles at Israel? There's no good way for this to end, we can just hope that it ends with some change, with some opening that can lead to peace later on.

I gave a treatment today from a woman from Sderot who has sought shelter with relatives in Jerusalem for her and her three children. After enduring missiles for the past eight years, they came here for a few weeks until the war is over, or at least until the missiles have stopped. The clinic where I work had offered free treatments and free use of the sauna and jacuzzi to any resident from the south that is here in Jerusalem. I was happy to donate the hour of my time.

We had a sobering (for me) conversation about her life living with the missiles. Her treatment goal was: to not yell at her children tonight. She described life as always a worry - do you take your kids to school? or to their afterschool activities? Do you let them play outside? Do you go out to get some food? Or will that moment be the moment that a rocket comes down? If you let your child out to play at a friends, will you ever see them again? She's lived in terror and fear for the past eight years, and under that stress, she yells at her kids a lot.

When she left, she said she felt like a new person and that maybe tonight she wouldn't yell. I hope so.