October 7, 2023, caught Israel off guard. That day, Hamas fighters and other terrorist militias overcame Gaza's fortified border and launched an attack in Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the small Palestinian territory. The experience of such vulnerability led to a trauma still felt in Israel today.
On October 8, 2023, Israel's government launched an attack on Gaza, and the two years since have been horrific for Palestinians in the enclave. Operations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed at least 66,000 people — an estimated 80% of them civilians — and injured about 169,000 others, according to conservative estimates by the Hamas-run Health Ministry of Gaza. International agencies believe that the true death toll is much higher.
The International Organization for Migration has reported that 90% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, leaving 1.9 million people of the 2.1 million population internally displaced. Because of the "total blockade" that Israel has imposed on Gaza, large swaths of the territory are experiencing an acute famine that has so far killed at least 450 people — 150 of them children.
Israel's war aims only partially achieved
Following the October 7 attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out two main objectives for the war in Gaza: To recover all hostages taken from Israel and to "destroy" Hamas. Two years on, he has achieved neither. Of the 251 hostages taken to Gaza, 148 have been returned to Israel alive. Eight were recovered by the IDF; the remaining 140 were released by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel. The remains of several dead hostages have also been returned to Israel.
According to the Israeli government, 48 hostages are still being held. Of these, only 20 are thought to be alive.
Hamas — which Israel, the EU and the US, among other governments, deem a terrorist organization — still exists in Gaza, although many of its fighters have been killed in the past two years. Israel has also killed a series of leading Hamas figures, among them Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. Despite this, the group continues to operate.
In late September 2025, US President Donald Trump presented a 20-point peace plan for Gaza that calls for the release of all remaining hostages and the disarmament of Hamas, with fighters who "commit to peaceful co-existence" with Israel receiving amnesty. This would effectively mean the end of Hamas as an armed militia.
Israel's enemies have been weakened
Fighting has not been limited to Gaza over the past two years. Hezbollah, which is active in Lebanon, and Yemen's Houthis both expressed solidarity with Hamas when the war on Gaza began. All three organizations — Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas — are reported to receive financial and material support from Iran.
Hezbollah launched numerous attacks against Israel in 2024 and 2025 in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Houthis have also repeatedly targeted Israel with rockets and drones.
Israel took military action against all of these organizations, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with an explosion in Beirut, and a number of Hezbollah fighters in a coordinated attack of exploding electronic devices that grabbed headlines in September 2024. Airstrikes on southern Lebanon further weakened Hezbollah.
Israel's air force also attacked Iran for several days, severely damaging nuclear facilities. The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in central Tehran embarrassed Iran's regime.
The toppling of Syria's longtime ruler, Bashar Assad, by rebels in late 2024 meant that Iran lost yet another regional ally. Israel's opponents in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza were thus dealt a severe blow, with Israeli military primacy in the region now more firmly established than ever.
Israel accused of genocide
The way in which Israel has waged its war on Gaza has sparked international condemnation.
Over the past two years, Israel's army has bombed hospitals, refugee camps and schools in Gaza, killing thousands of women and children, as well as countless journalists, rescue workers and aid workers. On multiple occasions, Israel has deliberately blocked aid deliveries intended to alleviate the suffering among Gaza's civilian population, with officials claiming that the goal was to prevent aid supplies from falling under the control of Hamas.
These actions, among others, have led to accusations that Israel's government is committing genocide against Palestinians. An independent UN human rights commission, as well as the International Association of Genocide Scholars and Israeli human rights organizations such as B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, too, say Israel is engaging in genocide. Netanyahu's government denies this, claiming that there is no evidence and Israel has the right to self-defense.
In December 2023, South Africa brought a case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violating the UN Genocide Convention. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his then defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Israeli government and its supporters rejected the warrants, and Hungary later even announced its withdrawal from the ICC.
Recognition of Palestinian statehood
The dire conditions in Gaza have lent momentum to efforts to recognize an independent Palestinian state. About 140 countries worldwide had done so before October 7, 2023. Two years on, 20 additional countries have now also formally recognized Palestine — including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and Canada.
By doing so, the governments have expressed support for a two-state solution: An independent Palestine alongside Israel. Netanyahu claims that Palestinian statehood would "reward" Hamas. But governments that have offered recognition have ruled out the possibility that Hamas would play any role in a Palestinian state.
Numerous countries have halted their arms exports to Israel in response to the ongoing war in Gaza. Several countries — including Colombia, South Africa and Malaysia — have imposed sanctions on Israel.
The European Union has been discussing punitive economic measures. An increasing number of member states also support suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, restricting visa-free travel to the European Union for Israeli citizens and blocking imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Germany and some other EU member states have so far, however, refused to go along with these measures.
Israel's social fragmentation
In Israel, opinions diverge on whether, or how, the country should continue its war in Gaza. The far-right national security and finance ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, respectively, favor continued military action against Hamas and have publicly suggested that Israel could annex the occupied West Bank — a step that would effectively put an end to any plans for a two-state solution.
Other groups in Israeli society have spent months calling for a ceasefire, above all relatives of the hostages still in Gaza. They have staged weekly protests and demanded a negotiated solution. Many say they feel abandoned by their government.
Arab Israelis, army veterans and relatives of IDF conscripts have also taken to the streets in opposition to the war. Overall, more than 60% of the Israeli population supports a ceasefire, according to a survey published in July.
If implemented, Trump's plan for Gaza could succeed in silencing the weapons for now, but the wounds inflicted would likely take decades to heal.
