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A week into ceasefire, Israelis’ storied resilience is tested by questions about what was gained
(JTA) — A week into the ceasefire in the Iran war, Israelis have settled into their old normal — sort of.
“Is anyone else completely struggling with the expectation that now that there is the ceasefire we are supposed to go back to work like nothing happened?” one mother wrote in a popular working parents Facebook group.
She described weeks of sleep punctuated by sirens and working from home while caring for children — then being told to return to the office immediately.
Children, too, were sent back to school just hours after the ceasefire began, after weeks of canceled classes and scattershot online learning. Cafes and beaches filled once again with ostensibly carefree Israelis, sometimes in sight of damage from Iranian missiles.
Behind the veneer of Israel’s famed resilience, darker feelings are simmering.
“We all have the jitters. PTSD. We need time to process the insanity. Never knowing if we can shower or go to the bathroom isn’t normal,” one parent responded in the Facebook group. Another asked, “Are we just supposed to pretend the past six weeks never happened?”
Then an even more pessimistic note crept in. “Can we all just get a paid spa day while our kids are in school before we go back to our bomb shelters?” one parent wrote. Another added, reflecting a view widely held across the country, “I’m trying to do as much as I can now before the war starts up again.”
Such is the condition of Israelis during the ceasefire foisted upon them by the United States. They are relieved that — at least in the majority of the country where Hezbollah rockets, still flying from Lebanon, do not reach — they no longer have to plan their lives around proximity to bomb shelters, and that restrictions on gatherings have been lifted. Many are embracing a return to normalcy.
But their feelings also include little sense of victory or stability, as well as a great deal of dread about what’s to come.
For good reason. Even as U.S. President Donald Trump says he believes he will reach a deal with Iran to end the war permanently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is emphasizing that he is ready to resume the fighting.
Signs of confidence about continued calm are fraying. Plans for Independence Day celebrations next week were reinstated and then swiftly scrapped again in multiple cities, not only in the north, where Hezbollah fire has continued despite the ceasefire, but also in southern cities such as Ashkelon.
Three-quarters of Israelis expect fighting with Iran to resume within the next year, a poll by the Institute for National Security Studies found.
Many Israelis believe a return to conflict with Iran, whose Islamic Republic regime, which remains intact, has sworn to destroy Israel, is needed. The same poll found that 61% of Israelis oppose the current ceasefire deal, while 76% say they believe negotiations underway now will not achieve the war’s stated objectives, including dismantling Iran’s ballistic missile system, halting its nuclear program and ending the rule of the ayatollahs.
Another poll, by the Kan public broadcaster, found that only a quarter of Israelis believed the United States and Israel won the war, versus 58% who said they hadn’t. A third, by Agam Labs and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, found that three-quarters of Israelis see the war so far as a failure — and that the ceasefire represents a U.S. concession to Iran.
For Israelis who bore the steep cost of the war in sleepless nights, lost work, terror and death, the tradeoff is hard to accept.
Merav Leviten, who works in high tech and who spent weeks running with her children to an outdoor bomb shelter, said that during the war she had believed the disruption would lead to a decisive outcome.
“It was one thing to be sitting in the shelters being like, oh my gosh, it’s going to be worth it, the Iranian people are going to be able to be free, I’m going to be able to visit Tehran, there’s going to be a whole new order in the Middle East,” she said. “Sure, yeah, I’ll sit in the shelters, I’ll do double time with childcare and work, but it’s all for a great purpose. And now you’re just kind of like, what?”
Paul Mirbach, a founder of Kibbutz Tuval in northern Israel, where he still lives, said that unlike earlier ceasefires that brought a sense of relief, this one left him feeling “less safe and more exposed” than before the war began, capturing a wider frustration among Israelis who endured weeks of disruption and casualties and are now asking what, exactly, was achieved.
Mirbach said he believes a confrontation with Iran was ultimately unavoidable, but argued that the timing was driven in part by political considerations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the expectation that a military victory would translate into political capital ahead of an election. In doing so, he said, the government ignored the reality that Israeli society was already exhausted and the home front insufficiently prepared.
“We needed time to recover and recharge our batteries,” he said, pointing to worn-out reservists, declining morale and businesses still battered from more than two years of war.
“They have taken all we could throw at them and they’re still standing,” he said of Iran, adding that Tehran now appears less deterred and more capable of inflicting damage, with the added risk of retaliation for the killing of senior leadership including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He also pointed to Iran’s ability to disrupt global trade through the Strait of Hormuz as a sign that the strategic threat remains intact.
Others expressed a more conflicted view. Robert Strazynski, an American immigrant who runs a website about online poker, described the military campaign itself as both justified and necessary, arguing that Israel and the United States had achieved significant gains over the past six weeks and that the operation marked a long-overdue move from a reactive posture to a more proactive effort to change the trajectory of the region. He described the campaign as “critically necessary” to address a threat that had been allowed to fester.
“We aren’t warmongers, but if those who seek our annihilation won’t let us live in peace, then we take our destiny into our own hands, and will achieve peace the hard way,” he said.
But he warned that ending the fighting without a decisive victory risked rendering those gains temporary. Like Mirbach, he described the ceasefire as “kicking the can down the road.”
Whatever the prognosis for the current war and future threats from Iran, it’s clear that six weeks of fighting and disruption are complicating any effort to return to normalcy.
Cathy Lawi, a trauma specialist whose organization, EmotionAid, has been working with families, medical staff and first responders since the start of the war, said the effects are not primarily psychological but physiological. After weeks of disrupted sleep, repeated alarms and sustained threat, the body does not simply switch off, she said, leaving the nervous system in a state of heightened alert even as daily routines resume.
“Stress accumulates,” she said. “There is no way to reset after danger. We are constantly in a state of alertness. We’re getting used to not knowing what’s going to happen to us.”
At the same time, Lawi pointed to what she described as Israelis’ ability to hold opposing realities at once. Within hours of the ceasefire taking effect, cafes and bars in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were packed, as Israelis rushed back into public life — a capacity for rebound she described as remarkable.
“We find relative safety in a place of non-safety,” she said. She attributed that response in part to Israelis’ strong social ties, with people relying on one another for support.
Yet the threshold for coping has dropped sharply among those with pre-existing mental health conditions, a population that studies suggest has grown in the past three years, according to psychiatrist Yotam Ginati, who described a surge in acute cases at his clinic in Tel Aviv.
For much of the rest of the population, he said, the load is more likely to be suppressed than treated.
“We’re gaslighting our own distress,” Ginati said. “There’s sun outside, life goes on, and occasionally we run to the shelter. But we’re living with constant existential anxiety, and we keep pushing it away. That may be unavoidable, but it has a price.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post A week into ceasefire, Israelis’ storied resilience is tested by questions about what was gained appeared first on The Forward.
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US Military: ‘Locked and Loaded’ to Strike Iran’s Power Plants, Energy Industry if Ordered
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a briefing on the Iran war, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, US, April 16, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The US naval blockade of Iran is just an example of “polite” behavior during the ongoing ceasefire and US forces are ready to strike Iran’s power plants and energy industry if ordered, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday.
Standing alongside two of the US military‘s most senior officers, Hegseth said Iran needs to choose wisely as it prepares for negotiations with the United States.
“We are reloading with more power than ever before, and better intelligence,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. “We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry. We’d rather not have to do it.”
President Donald Trump’s administration expressed optimism on Wednesday about reaching a deal to end the Iran war, while also warning of increasing economic pressure against Iran if it remains defiant.
That has included a blockade of Iran that went into effect on Monday, with the US military forcing 14 ships to turn around. Dozens of US warships and aircraft, including about 10,000 military personnel, are enforcing the blockade.
Trump is hoping the effort will force Iran to accept US terms for ending the war, which was launched by the US and Israel on Feb. 28, including opening up the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which roughly one fifth of global oil and gas exports ordinarily transits. Trump has said that was also a condition of the ceasefire due to expire next week.
The war has resulted in a major disruption of global oil and gas supplies.
Analysts have said that Iran can withstand a complete halt in oil exports of up to two months before being forced to curb production.
Hegseth, in comments aimed at the Iranian leadership, said that the blockade “is the polite way that this can go.”
READY TO RESUME OPERATIONS
Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said the military was adjusting tactics, techniques, and procedures, but he did not provide any details.
During the same briefing, General Dan Caine, chairman of the US military‘s Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that American forces are “ready to resume major combat operations at literally a moment’s notice.”
US Navy ships would pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran, Caine told the briefing. He added that could take place not just in the region, but also the Indo-Pacific.
Ships trying to break the blockade would be intercepted and warned that “if you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force,” and enforcement would occur inside Iran’s territorial seas and in international waters, Caine said.
No ships have been boarded so far, Caine said.
The US military has widened its blockade to include cargoes deemed contraband, and any vessels suspected of trying to reach Iranian territory will be “subject to belligerent right to visit and search,” the US Navy said in an advisory on Thursday.
“These vessels, regardless of location, are subject to visit, board, search, and seizure,” the Navy said in an updated advisory.
Contraband items listed included weapons, weapons systems, ammunition, nuclear materials, crude, and refined oil products as well as iron, steel and aluminum.
Sources briefed by Tehran have told Reuters that Iran could let ships sail freely through the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz without risk of attack under proposals it has offered in talks with the US, providing a deal is clinched to prevent renewed conflict.
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Trump Says Lebanon and Israel Have Reached 10-Day Ceasefire
Smoke rises following an airstrike in Lebanon, as seen from Israeli side of the border, April 11, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5 pm EST (2100 GMT), signaling a pause in Israel‘s conflict with Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah that has raged in parallel to the war with Iran.
A US official said the ceasefire would start on Thursday.
After announcing the deal on social media, Trump told reporters that leaders of the two countries could meet at the White House over the next week or two.
“It’s very exciting. I think we’re going to have a deal where we’re going to have a meeting, first time in 44 years, and Lebanon will be meeting with Israel, and they’re probably going to do it at the White House over the next week or two,” Trump said, adding that he spoke with both leaders as the ceasefire was announced and was working on a longer term deal.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry had earlier said that peace in Lebanon was essential for talks it is mediating to end the war between the United States and Iran.
Trump said he had held excellent conversations with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
An Israeli cabinet source said Netanyahu’s security cabinet had convened for an urgent discussion on the Lebanon ceasefire.
An Israeli security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Israeli military had no plans to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon during a ceasefire.
In its first comment after Trump‘s announcement, Hezbollah said any ceasefire must not allow Israel freedom of movement within Lebanon. In a statement issued by its media office, the terrorist group said the presence of Israeli troops on Lebanese territory granted Lebanon and its people the “right to resist.”
‘BUFFER ZONE’
Lebanon was dragged into the war in the Middle East on March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive in Lebanon just 15 months after the last major conflict between the Shi’ite Islamist group and Israel.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon since March 2 and forced more than 1.2 million to flee, Lebanese authorities say. Most of those killed have been Hezbollah terrorists, according to Israeli tallies. Hezbollah attacks have killed two Israeli civilians, while 13 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since March 2, Israel says.
Israeli forces have entered areas of southern Lebanon and vowed to maintain control over territory extending all the way to the Litani River, which meets the Mediterranean some 30 km (20 miles) north of Israel‘s border. Israel ordered residents out of the area south of the Litani during the war.
Israeli troops have since destroyed Lebanese villages in the area, saying their aim is to create a “buffer zone” to protect northern Israeli towns from Hezbollah attacks.
Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, speaking to Reuters minutes before Trump‘s announcement, said the group had been informed by Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon that a ceasefire could begin on Thursday evening. After the announcement, he said it would be for 10 days.
Asked if Hezbollah would commit to the truce, Fadlallah said everything depended on Israel halting all forms of hostilities, and credited Iran’s diplomatic efforts for the possible ceasefire.
BEIRUT AT ODDS WITH HEZBOLLAH
The Lebanese government has been sharply at odds with Hezbollah over its decision to enter the war, having spent the last year seeking to secure the peaceful disarmament of the group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.
Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors held rare talks in Washington on Tuesday, despite objections from Hezbollah.
Trump said he had directed US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine to work with the two countries to achieve lasting peace. “Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!” he said in a post on Truth Social.
In another social media post, Trump said he would be inviting Netanyahu and Aoun to the White House for “meaningful talks” between the two countries, which have remained in an official state of war since Israel was established in 1948.
Trump had earlier said that Lebanese and Israeli leaders would speak on Thursday for the first time in decades. However, Lebanese officials said Aoun did not speak with Netanyahu on Thursday, and that Lebanon‘s US embassy had informed Washington he would not speak to him in the near future.
BATTLE FOR BORDER TOWN
Speaking to Reuters again after Trump‘s announcement, Hezbollah lawmaker Fadlallah said Lebanese displaced from the south should wait for the ceasefire to take hold and be extremely cautious in villages occupied by Israeli troops.
Fighting continued to rage in south Lebanon on Thursday, notably in the border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold and strategic prize. A senior Lebanese official said Lebanon believed Israel wanted to secure a victory in Bint Jbeil before diplomatic progress could be made.
An Israeli strike destroyed the last bridge over the Litani River into the south, a senior Lebanese security source said, fully severing the area from the rest of the country after Israel destroyed other crossings during the war.
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Three Arrested After Attempted Arson at Persian-Language Media Office in London
A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) car. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
British police said on Thursday they had arrested three people in connection with an attempted arson attack on the offices of a Persian-language media organization in northwest London, which followed two similar incidents in the British capital.
An ignited container was thrown toward the premises of the parent company of Iran International, Volant Media, on Wednesday evening, landing in a car park where the fire extinguished itself. No damage was reported and there were no injuries, the police said.
Two men, aged 19 and 21, and a 16-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of arson endangering life. The arson attempt was not being treated as terrorism, but counterterrorism officers were involved in the investigation, police said.
Iran International said a suspicious vehicle was denied entry to its London site shortly before incendiary devices were thrown into a nearby car park.
It said it viewed the incident in the context of “growing threats and intimidation” directed at the organization and its journalists.
The incident comes a day after police arrested two suspects following an attempted arson attack on a synagogue, also in north London.
JEWISH COMMUNITIES AND IRANIAN DIASPORA INCREASINGLY TARGETED, POLICE SAY
Last month, several ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola were set alight while parked near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of north London.
Matt Jukes, a deputy commissioner for London’s Metropolitan Police, said in a statement on Thursday he understood why conflict overseas and heightened tensions in Britain would be “deeply worrying.”
“London’s Jewish communities and the Iranian diaspora in London have, in recent years, been increasingly targeted by individuals, groups, and hostile states intent on spreading fear, hate, and harm,” Jukes said.
British authorities have previously warned that there is a threat to journalists working for Persian-language outlets that are critical of Iran’s government. In 2024, a journalist working for the television news network Iran International was stabbed in the leg near his home in south London.
Britain’s MI5 spy boss said last October that his agency and British police had tracked more than 20 Iranian-backed plots to kidnap or kill British nationals or individuals based in Britain who were regarded by Tehran as a threat.
“We are dealing with an unprecedented level of national security investigations, some with suspected links to foreign states and many of those have dangerous and often reckless intentions,” Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, told reporters on Thursday.
She added that the incidents had taken place against a backdrop of “global instability within which we’re seeing sustained and increasing aggressive and hostile activity.”