Hanging

My father, z'l, used to say you can get used to anything, even hanging, if you hang long enough. After 640 days of the October 7th War, I am still not used to our young men and boys dying in battle in a war we never asked for. This morning, I awoke to the awful news of five more precious lives snuffed out by an explosive device in Beit Hanoun. Along with that was a "Good Morning " message from my son in Gaza letting me know he was safe. An hour or so later, his wife called and informed me that he had been near the explosion. Swallowing my tears, I tried to be supportive to her. She, in turn, tried to reassure me. It's not easy. Sometimes, a ceasefire and having our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives home again sounds so tempting. But what about the 50 hostages still in the terror tunnels? And what about the 888 fallen soldiers? They will have died in vain if Hamas accepts a ceasefire only so they can prepare for more attacks as they've done in the past. Their evil cancer must be stopped, but please, HaShem, end the malignancy without any more losses.