MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
Burgers, coffee and haircuts for Israeli soldiers back from Gaza
A charity offers a moment of brief respite to the IDF troops on the front line
Israeli troops enjoy some home comforts near the border with Gaza thanks to volunteers
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
At a motorway junction 12 miles from the Gazan border, a smell greets Israeli soldiers returning from the front line. It is not cordite but the smell of burgers, onions and coffee.
Taking half an hour of respite from the fighting, members of the Israel Defence Forces stop to eat, wash and get a haircut in services supplied by civilians who have mobilised themselves to feed their troops.
“First trim in three weeks,” one 20-year-old soldier said. He is among the 20,000 troops a day being catered for by Swords of Iron, a charity formed on October 7 by five friends.
Soldiers take a moment to relax at the site. They are catered for by a charity that was set up by five friends
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
As women in volunteer T-shirts assembled buns with circles of tomatoes and onions next to containers of chopped carrot, dozens of others grilled meat
