Two months into a battle with Hamas, the faces of Israelis taken hostage to Gaza still appear on individual posters plastered across Jerusalem bus stops and flashed across buildings.

According to Reuters, the sombre mood was all-consuming today at the start of Hanukkah, the first Jewish festival since Oct 7 when Israel says Hamas massacred 1,200 people.

It was a solemn moment for all of Israel and not only for the families of the 138 Israelis still held hostage. For some Israelis, the feeling is of a country shrinking.

Some 200,000 Israelis have been uprooted from both the south of Israel where Hamas infiltrated and the north of Israel where Hezbollah attacked from Lebanon. Absent tourists because of the war, hotels have accommodated many of the evacuees.