Hamas’s «Operation Al Aqsa Flood» two years ago and Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip have transformed the Middle East, and reverberated across the world.
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 7 Hamas’s daring «Operation Al Aqsa Flood» two years ago and Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip have not only transformed the Middle East, but also reverberated across the world.
They have again drawn to the 75-year unresolved Palestinian issue, gradually shifting global opinion against Israel as accusations of genocide mounted, and reopening the path toward a Palestinian state, though at a tremendous cost.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants fanned out from Gaza, breached the border fence with Israel and launched a multi-pronged assault — an attack never seen before in the long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
They used gliders and motorcycles to reach a desert music festival and storm Israeli communities in southern Israel, where they opened fire, killing around 1,250 Israelis and foreign nationals and taking 251 others hostage inside Gaza.
According to Israeli officials, 20 of the 48 hostages still held captive in the Strip are believed to be alive.
Hamas’ sophisticated plan shocked the world just as much as Israel’s intelligence failure, slow military response and inability — despite its advanced technological capabilities — to detect and counter missiles fired by the militant group.
It also unleashed Israel’s war on Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, killing more than 67,000 people, injuring 170,000 others, and turning much of the Strip into rubble where many more unaccounted-for victims are still believed to be buried.
Nearly 95% of the population — about 2.1 million people — have been repeatedly displaced during the ongoing war, which has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe, with widespread malnutrition and famine in parts of Gaza.
In Israel, at least 913 soldiers have been killed and 20,000 injured in the war, which has also displaced more than 100,000 people.
The war might end this time with U.S. President Donald Trump’s new 20-point plan, which calls for an immediate cessation of fighting, the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and full humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Under the plan, Hamas will disarm — its members will be granted amnesty to stay or safe passage to leave — and will have no role in governing Gaza. Moreover, Israel will neither occupy nor annex Gaza, and the plan leaves the door open for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.
