HERZLIYA, Israel — Alon Keren, 21, spent two weeks in uniform inside Gaza, then got a two-day furlough last month when Israel and Hamas agreed to a brief cease-fire.
"First thing was the laundry," he says about his quick visit home, sitting in the backyard of his parents' house in Herzliya next to a heat lamp and citrus trees. "Good showers, good food, good sleep, good friends."
