The dramatic escalation of violence in Israel has changed many things.

That Hamas could launch such an effective surprise attack had shaken faith in Israel's defence and intelligence apparatus. That so many rockets could be stockpiled in Gaza has raised new questions about Iran's involvement and whether certain kinds of foreign aid had been misappropriated. Israel has mobilised massive numbers of troops. Political analysts are considering the diplomatic implications if Israel were to occupy Gaza again or if Hezbollah were to launch a serious assault on Israel from Lebanon.

But it has not changed the determination of South African expat Jews, many with young families, to remain in Israel and, if necessary, to fight for what they consider their homeland.

News24 spoke to a range of South Africans in Israel with different reasons for moving to that country and different views of where Israel should be headed politically.

All said they were not considering reverse immigrating under any circumstances. Because crime or economic opportunities may have seen them leave South Africa, but their Jewish identities would see them stay in Israel. 

A growing war, a looming humanitarian crisis

On Monday night, Israel's government said it now estimated that more than 800 people died in the initial attack, including many women, children, and elderly people, and that some 150 were being held as hostages. The Palestinian health authority said that 687 people had been killed in Gaza in Israel's strikes, including 140 children and 105 women.

The count on both sides is expected to grow, even if fighting were to stop, with many people gravely injured.

Hamas, for the first time, suggested it was open to "political dialogues" when Al Jazeera asked if a ceasefire were possible, having achieved its targets, but Israel said it could never be at peace with Hamas.

The Israeli military said it had called up an unprecedented 300 000 reservists and would impose a total blockade of Gaza, what the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, described as a "complete siege," with no water, food, or fuel allowed in. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza would "deteriorate exponentially," with the UN believing essential supplies would soon run out.

On Monday night, Israel said its artillery had responded to launches out of Lebanon, and Hezbollah said three of its members had been killed by Israeli artillery fire in south Lebanon, raising the spectre of escalation far north of Gaza.

'Israel is our home'

In 2021, some called it an "exodus" as more than 500 South African Jews made plans to move to Israel, a new record driven by everything from loadshedding to crime. In 2022, that was down to around 400. But a steady flow of immigrants has seen more than 20 000 people move from South Africa to Israel over the last 75 years.

South African expats have described their horror at the war and its toll but said it made no difference to their decision to stay. 

And not because their experience of South Africa's transition gives them any hope of a sudden, miraculous change in Israel.

"Given what the ANC represents, in historical terms, for black people, it is almost insulting to black South Africans and to the ANC, and what they seek to achieve, to make any comparison between them and Hamas," said Sam Hyde, an expatriate South African whose work for the Jewish People Policy Institute think tank includes conflict resolution between Israel and Palestinians.

The ANC used to be described as a terrorist organisation, said Hyde, but that is about the only parallel that can be drawn, and his hopes for helping to establish peace is not via negotiations that include Hamas, but only once Hamas is no longer in the equation – possibly via Israeli "regime change."

That matched the views of Joshua Schewitz, who left South Africa in 2011 and spoke from a few dozen kilometres outside Gaza, where a constant barrage of rockets on the weekend saw his three young daughters spending a great deal of time in their bomb shelter.

The children had been warned to not open the door under any circumstances, he said, for fear that Hamas terrorists in stolen uniforms could try to kidnap them.

"Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, they are extremists that do not have a goal of creating a country, their goal has always been to destroy Israel," he told News24. "But there are Palestinians who want to create a country, those are the people we will talk to. We are never going to have peace with the militants, but we will have peace."

A South African coder who moved his family to Israel in 2014 and who lives more removed from the fighting said friends and family outside the country often ask if he is happy with the move.

"Do we regret the decision to move? I always answer them the same way. No, we don't regret our decision," he said. "This is where we belong. Israel is our home, and we will fight for it."