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From our special correspondent in Hura, Israel – The victims of the October 7 Hamas attack included at least 19 members of the Negev Bedouin Arab community, both civilians and members of the Israeli armed forces. The loss has prompted community volunteers to provide aid to a minority that has often suffered state discrimination, as well as calls for a return to peace negotiations to end the deadly cycle of violence.
Mazen Abu Siam’s face furrows with worry lines as he recalls the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and its deadly toll on his community.
“Fortunately, it happened on a Saturday, the Sabbath. If the attack happened during the week, there would have been many more Bedouin victims in the kibbutz, perhaps even dozens. This is unprecedented in our history,” explains Siam.
The Hamas attack inflicted a heavy toll on the Negev Bedouin Arabs, an ancient, traditionally pastoralist nomadic people now settled mostly in Israel’s southern Negev desert. Twelve members of Siam’s community were killed, seven are currently being held hostage and dozens more were injured in Saturday’s attack.
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“The first rocket fired by Hamas fell here, in Hura. It killed a 5-year-old boy. Another killed four children two kilometres away, wounding the rest of the family. The third killed a woman and her grandmother,” says Siam, reclining on embroidered cushions in a Bedouin tent propped by a modern metal structure seemingly at odds with the traditional interiors.
His quiet recounting of death and hostage tolls is suddenly cut short by the deafening roar of F-16 fighter jets overhead. The veterinarian and Bedouin activist, who is also a member of the municipal council of the nearby town of Rahat (population 80,000), barely raises an eyebrow. The Gaza Strip is barely 40 kilometres away. He’s grown accustomed to the sounds of…
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