DISPATCH | TEL AVIV
Queueing for croissants with a gun: Israel one month after the massacre
The ‘Iron Dome’ defence has held firm against Gaza missiles. But on the streets people carry assault rifles in case of an attack
A man carries his AR 15 assault rifle while standing in line at a cafe with his partner and his dogs close to Tel Aviv beach
OLIVER MARSDEN
The Sunday Times
Early-morning joggers plod along the seaside promenade. A man arranges plastic loungers in rows, a game of beach volleyball is under way — and the first bathers are venturing into the limpid shallows.
On the surface, all looks normal in sunny Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial and cultural capital, whose balmy weather, pristine beaches and bustling restaurants are usually a Mediterranean tourism magnet. Now, though, the advertising blurb seems out of date. A distant rumble wafts across the sea, the thud of artillery in a war just over 40 miles away in the Gaza Strip.
Thousands of people, many of them children, are reported to have been killed in the assault on Gaza, which followed the slaughter by Hamas fighters last month of 1,200 of Israel’s
