On the shores of the Dead Sea, about 1,500 Israeli and Palestinian women had gathered, holding hands and calling for an end to what they called a “vicious cycle of bloodshed”. It was an October evening in 2023 and they had travelled from villages, settlements and refugee camps around the region for a mass peace rally jointly organised by the Israeli movement Women Wage Peace and the Palestinian group Women of the Sun.
Two of the organisers were friends: Yael Admi, 66, an Israeli mother of six, and Reem al-Hajajreh, 43, a Palestinian mother of four. The women had hoped their message would cut through decades of violence and mistrust. But three days later, Hamas launched its deadly attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, followed swiftly by what turned into a genocidal war by Israel on Gaza which left more than 70,000 dead, most of whom were women and children. The fragile hope embodied by the Dead Sea event was overtaken overnight by grief, fear and fury.
