It was around 6:30 in the morning on 7th October 2023 when Hamas launched one of the deadliest attacks on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. The assault was carried out on a Jewish holiday, and Israeli defenses were caught off guard. Within minutes, thousands of rockets were fired into Israeli cities, while Hamas fighters infiltrated through the border, killing both civilians and soldiers. The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, reacted with full force and declared that Hamas would be destroyed, and soon after, Israel declared a state of war. In the following days and weeks, Israel launched powerful air strikes across Gaza, a small, crowded strip of land. Entire neighborhoods were flattened by continuous bombings. At the point when Israel sent its soldiers for the ground invasion at the end of October, more than half of Gaza’s people had lost their homes. The situation quickly turned into a major humanitarian disaster. It became the deadliest conflict for Palestinians since Israel was created in 1948. Efforts by countries like Egypt and Qatar helped pause the fighting in late November 2023, but it didn’t last long. The war continued, and violence spread to other areas. Hezbollah, a group in Lebanon, began clashing with Israeli forces on the northern border, while Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked ships in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade. By the end of 2023, Israel was facing pressure from around the world, including the US, its closest ally. In early 2024, differences between the US and Israeli governments became more visible. Meanwhile, peace talks dragged on, but Hamas insisted they wouldn’t agree to deal with Israel unless they completely pulled out of Gaza and stopped the war entirely.

In March 2025, Palestine’s representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, tore Israel down by saying that it repeatedly violated a ceasefire deal that was meant to begin on January 19. In a letter to the UN Security Council, he claimed that Israel had broken the ceasefire at least 962 times in a little over six weeks, averaging 23 violations per day. These breaches, according to Mansour, resulted in the deaths of more than 116 Palestinians and injuries to nearly 500. By mid-March, the death toll had risen to 150, even before a major escalation on March 18. On that day, Israeli airstrikes killed over 400 Palestinians in just a few hours. The scale of the attack prompted global media and many political leaders to declare the ceasefire effectively over. Mansour penned, “Israel continues its systematic violations of the law and derision of the international calls for compliance. This is surely a byproduct of the impunity accorded to Israel for far too long. Fearing no consequences, Israel makes such brazen decisions even amid ICJ hearings under the Genocide Convention, blatantly flouting the Court’s binding provisional measures orders”.

Now, my question to you all is: Can a war truly end when the goals of peace and total victory don’t align? That’s the question that is still hanging over the stalled ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, as the hopes for lasting peace slowly begin to fade. Back in January, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire plan with the help of the US, Qatar, and Egypt. The plan had three parts. In the first part, Hamas let go of 33 hostages. In return, Israel freed nearly 1900 Palestinian prisoners and allowed more supplies into Gaza. This part went ahead and ultimately ended on March 1st. Next, they were supposed to start the second part, where all the remaining hostages would be released, and Israeli troops would leave Gaza. That would have meant a full stop to the war. But those talks didn’t happen. Instead, what Israel did was it stopped all aid going into Gaza. Then, the US thought of a different plan, which was to keep swapping hostages for prisoners in the meantime and push the bigger peace talks for later. This change caused trouble because Israel has two main goals: the first one is to bring the hostages home, and the second is to wipe out Hamas. But the problem is, they cannot fully do both at the same time. If they want to get the hostages back, they need to talk to Hamas. But if they want to defeat Hamas, they can’t make deals with them.

There’s confusion over what Israel means with its recent statements. Is it planning to keep fighting until all its goals are met? Or is it just trying to pressure Hamas into accepting a new version of the ceasefire? At the time Israel launched its heavy airstrikes, there wasn’t active fighting on the ground, but both sides were accusing each other of breaking the truce. This happened during a tricky moment. Israel said that it has agreed to a new US proposal to extend the ceasefire. But Hamas rejected it, arguing that it wasn’t the same as the original deal they had signed off on. Israel’s idea was to stretch the temporary ceasefire by 50 more days, giving both sides more time to negotiate the next phase. As part of the plan, Israel said that half of the remaining hostages would be freed right away, and the rest would be released later, but only if the full deal is met with. Hamas said that Israel was just trying to stall and avoid serious talks about the next stage of the agreement. In their view, this move broke away from what had already been promised. Meanwhile, the US, now more openly supporting Israel under President Trump, warned Hamas that it was making a big mistake by waiting things out, saying that time wouldn’t work in Hamas’s favour.

Various Arab countries, as well as the United Nations, have spoken out against Israel, accusing it of breaking the ceasefire deal and violating international law. Despite growing international criticism, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens by the day. With nearly every family affected and entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, the road to recovery is still distant and uncertain. The task of rebuilding Gaza is enormous, as estimated by the UN to cost over 53 billion dollars and span decades.  Tens of thousands have been physically injured. Even more carry trauma that may never fully fade. Long after the last bomb drops, the true cost of war will still be felt in the hearts and minds of the people who have lived.

.    .    .