Sitting on a leather sofa in flip-flops and shorts, smoking and eating snacks, a group of middle-aged Israeli men look like they are watching a soccer match on TV, but they are perched atop a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip watching a very different kind of contest.
The buzz of drones flying overhead is interrupted by the blast of rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave. Surrounded by camera crews who rush to catch the action, the men watch for the distant explosions of Israeli airstrikes, occasionally offering their commentary on the fighting.
"I don't come up here to cheer at their troubles," Yochanan Cohen, 57, said of his neighbors in Gaza. "I'm sick of sitting at home all day. Everything is closed. People are scared. Many have left, and those who've stayed won't go out."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.