Isabel Kershner
NY Times, Oct. 13, 2023
“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know someone who was there and who was hurt or killed or kidnapped.”
The message popped up at 10:55 a.m. on Thursday: “Looking for volunteers to help unload a truck of equipment for soldiers. We are at the Museum of Tolerance. Come, there is nobody here.”
Barely four minutes after the note appeared in the 1,000-member WhatsApp group for volunteers in the Jerusalem area, Hadas Duchan showed up and got to work dismantling crates of thermal underwear, fleece jackets, hats and other gear procured by an American nonprofit organization.
“It helps you get over your feelings of helplessness,” said Ms. Duchan, 34, an artist whose two brothers are among the 360,000 reservists recently mobilized by Israel’s military after the Hamas terrorist attacks Saturday that left at least 1,200 dead.
As Israel signals that a ground invasion of Gaza could come any day, its shocked and traumatized citizens are pouring their anxious energy into raising funds and collecting goods for those in need: soldiers; survivors of the atrocities; hospitals treating the thousands of wounded; and people whose loved ones were killed, are still missing or are being held hostage in Gaza.