Two years ago today, Hamas militants stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages. The attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, shattered a fragile regional balance and triggered a massive Israeli military response that has since transformed Gaza into one of the most devastated places on earth.
What followed was an unprecedented Israeli bombardment and a prolonged ground campaign that has continued, in varying intensity, for two years. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, and Gaza’s already fragile infrastructure collapsed under the weight of war. Today, the enclave’s streets are filled with debris, its population exhausted and displaced.
The United Nations in its September 2025 report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry determined that Israel “is committing genocide” and found “reasonable grounds to determine that Israeli authorities have committed and continue to commit” acts consistent with genocide.
According to figures released by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 170,000 wounded in Gaza since the conflict began. Among the dead are at least 20,000 children, some 10,500 women, and at least 4,800 elderly people. Israel maintains it targets Hamas fighters. Palestinians, however, decry the bombings as collective punishment inflicted on more than two million people.
The destruction has touched nearly every aspect of life. Over 60 percent of Gaza’s homes and buildings have been destroyed or damaged, per U.N. estimates. Schools, places of worship and public facilities lie in ruins. At least 25 of Gaza’s 38 hospitals are no longer operational, and 103 of 157 primary health centers have been destroyed. There is no electricity, clean water is scarce, and most residents survive on intermittent food aid.
The humanitarian situation is dire. More than 1.7 million people — roughly three-quarters of Gaza’s population — have been displaced. Many live in overcrowded tents or makeshift shelters lacking sanitation, running water or medical care. U.N. agencies have announced officially that famine is spreading among the people in Gaza, reporting hundreds of deaths from malnutrition and disease, and tens of thousands of children suffering from acute hunger.
Gaza’s economy is in collapse. The World Bank estimates economic activity has shrunk by more than 80 percent since 2023. With factories, shops and farms destroyed, unemployment has surged above 70 percent. The private sector, once a modest engine of jobs, is gone; reliance on humanitarian aid and informal markets has become the norm.
Education is devastated. Thousands of students have lost years of schooling; many schools have become shelters for displaced families. Teachers and students have been killed in airstrikes. The future of an entire generation is suspended by war.
Attempts to end the war have repeatedly failed. Over the past two years, mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have pushed for ceasefires, prisoner swaps and humanitarian access. Temporary truces — including one in late 2023 — offered brief respite, but none held. Deep mistrust, political divides and lack of enforcement have repeatedly derailed progress.
Calls for peace have come from across the globe. Popes Francis and Pope Leo XIV have urged repeatedly for an end to the violence, along with the Latin and Orthodox patriarchs in Jerusalem, while U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that Gaza’s destruction is “a stain on our collective conscience.” Leaders in Europe, the Middle East and the Arab world have demanded restraint — yet their pressure has not produced a lasting ceasefire.
Israel continues to defend the war as a necessary campaign against Hamas. The Israeli government faces domestic and international scrutiny over how to resolve the conflict, including what governance might replace the devastation once the fighting ends.
As the war enters its third year, hope persists — cautious but real. On 29 September, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a 20-point ceasefire and peace proposal, demanding Hamas disarm, release all hostages and hand over control to a technocratic administration, in exchange for reconstruction, international oversight and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas began in Egypt at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheik on 6 October and continued on 7 October. At the time of publication, negotiations were still underway and Hamas had agreed to release the 40 hostages remaining — about 20 are believed still to be alive — and to transfer administration of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats but asked to negotiate the other points. International reaction has been mixed but largely welcoming of the advancement in ceasefire negotiations. President Trump said the response “shows Hamas’s intention for peace” and insisted negotiations continue in Egypt.
Gazans persevere with cautious optimism, tempered by memory — ceasefires have failed before. For those who remain, survival has become both resistance and routine, and peace for Gazans is still elusive.