Israel and Hamas have been locked in a deadly war that exploded on 7 October 2023, has devastated Gaza and southern Israel, drawn in regional players like Iran and Hezbollah, and is now in a fragile, partial ceasefire and messy “post‑war” phase marked by deals, prisoner swaps, continued strikes, and unresolved political questions.

Quick Scoop: The Core Story

  • On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack from Gaza into southern Israel, killing over 1,300 people, injuring thousands and taking hundreds of hostages. Israel formally declared war on Hamas the next day and imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza.
  • Israel responded with massive airstrikes and then a ground invasion of Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages, causing large‑scale destruction and very high Palestinian casualties.
  • After more than a year of intense fighting, a ceasefire and phased peace deal framework backed by the United States and President Donald Trump was reached, involving hostage–prisoner swaps, partial Israeli withdrawals inside Gaza, and a larger plan to reshape Gaza’s governance and Hamas’s role.
  • Even with a ceasefire in place on paper, Israeli strikes and Hamas attacks have continued at a lower level, and the territory is effectively split between Israeli‑controlled areas and zones where Hamas still operates.
  • As of early 2026, Israel and Hamas are implementing parts of a U.S.-brokered twenty‑point peace plan, including large prisoner releases and a drawn‑out process toward Hamas disarmament and a new governing structure in Gaza, but the situation remains unstable and violent incidents continue.

How It Started: 7 October and After

The 7 October attack

  • Iran‑backed Hamas fighters fired a large barrage of rockets at Israel and crossed into southern Israeli communities, attacking civilians, soldiers, and a music festival near the Gaza border.
  • They killed more than 1,300 people, wounded around 3,300, and took hundreds of hostages back into Gaza, including Israelis and foreign nationals.

Many analysts compare 7 October, in terms of shock for Israeli society, to earlier national traumas, because it shattered the belief that the Gaza border was secure.

Israel declares war

  • On 8 October 2023, Israel’s cabinet formally declared war on Hamas and the defense minister ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza—cutting electricity, fuel, food, and other supplies in an attempt to pressure Hamas.
  • Within weeks, Israel began a large‑scale ground operation in Gaza, focusing first on the north and later moving south toward areas like Khan Younis, in what became a prolonged siege and urban campaign.

What Happened During the War

Military campaign and humanitarian crisis

  • Israel’s goals were stated as: destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, free the hostages, and prevent future attacks from Gaza.
  • Heavy Israeli airstrikes and artillery hit dense urban areas, destroying homes, infrastructure, and government buildings; humanitarian agencies warned of severe shortages of food, medicine, and shelter, especially as winter approached.
  • A week‑long ceasefire in late November 2023 allowed some hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged, but fighting resumed and continued throughout 2024, with periodic pauses and negotiations.

Regional spillover

  • The Gaza war contributed to wider tensions: Hezbollah in Lebanon escalated attacks along Israel’s northern border, and Iran was increasingly drawn into the confrontation through proxy support and tit-for-tat strikes and threats.
  • Analysts warned repeatedly that continued fighting in Gaza risked igniting a much larger regional conflict.

The Shift Toward Ceasefire and Peace Plans

Ceasefire and partitioned Gaza

  • By late 2025, a ceasefire deal to end the war was agreed between Israel and Hamas with heavy U.S. and regional mediation.
  • Under the ceasefire that formally took effect in October, Israel was supposed to halt large-scale offensive operations, loosen some restrictions on aid, and withdraw from certain areas inside the Strip; in reality, it continued to carry out deadly airstrikes that killed hundreds more Palestinians, arguing it was responding to ceasefire violations and targeting militants.
  • The Gaza Strip effectively became partitioned: an Israeli‑controlled eastern zone, and a much smaller, crowded coastal strip where Hamas still had influence and most of Gaza’s roughly two million residents were concentrated.

Trump’s twenty‑point Gaza plan

  • As of February 2026, Israel and Hamas have started implementing the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s twenty‑point peace deal for Gaza.
  • Key elements of phase one include:
    • Hamas releasing all living hostages and committing to return the remains of others.
    • Israel releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and withdrawing its forces to a predetermined line, leaving it in control of about 53% of the Gaza Strip.
* The United Nations and aid agencies scaling up humanitarian operations inside Gaza.
  • Later phases of the plan revolve around Hamas disarmament and a new governance structure for Gaza, but these remain highly contentious and only partially defined.

Where Things Stand Now (Early 2026)

Current status on the ground

  • Even with ceasefire and peace-framework steps, violence continues: Israeli airstrikes in February 2026 killed at least eleven Palestinians in Gaza in response to what Israel called ceasefire violations by Hamas.
  • Aid has increased since Israel partially opened the Rafah crossing, allowing medical evacuations and returns, but humanitarian missions remain limited or blocked due to security concerns or Israeli restrictions.
  • Hamas is reported to be reasserting control over parts of Gaza’s internal security, tax collection, and basic governing functions despite its heavy losses.

Disarmament and new governance

  • Reports from early 2026 suggest that Hamas disarmament could begin as soon as March 2026, tied to a transition of power to a new technocratic government in Gaza supported by Trump’s “Gaza Board of Peace.”
  • Israel has begun building new military bases in territories it controls inside Gaza and is arming anti‑Hamas militias such as the Abu Shabab militia (also known as the Popular Forces), which are operating in Hamas tunnel networks and participating in security around key crossings.
  • A U.S. draft plan would have Hamas surrender all weapons capable of striking Israel in a later phase of the peace process, though it might initially be allowed to keep some small arms, and both Israel and Hamas have publicly stayed vague on the details.

Different Viewpoints on “What Happened”

Israeli perspectives

Many in Israel frame the conflict around three themes:

  • Security and survival: 7 October is seen as proof that Hamas rule in Gaza posed an intolerable threat, and that Israel had to wage a large-scale war to restore deterrence and prevent future massacres.
  • Hostage rescue and justice: The return of hostages became a central national demand, pushing the government toward both hardline military operations and difficult compromises like prisoner releases.
  • International image vs. necessity: Israeli leaders argue they must balance foreign pressure over civilian casualties with what they describe as the need to “finish the job” against Hamas.

Palestinian and Gazan perspectives

From many Palestinian and Gazan viewpoints, the same events look very different:

  • Catastrophic civilian toll: The war is experienced as a disaster of mass displacement, destroyed neighborhoods, and huge civilian casualties, layered on top of years of blockade.
  • Ongoing occupation and siege: Israeli control over large parts of Gaza and tight restrictions on aid, movement, and rebuilding are seen as extensions of a broader occupation and denial of basic rights.
  • Mixed attitudes toward Hamas: Some see Hamas as a resistance movement against occupation; others blame its tactics for bringing overwhelming destruction, even while distrusting Israeli or externally imposed alternatives.

International and expert views

Scholars and diplomats tend to emphasize:

  • Long roots: The 2023–26 war is part of the much older Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which has revolved around territory, security, refugees, and competing national narratives since the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • “Information war”: Both sides fight not just militarily but also over global public opinion, using images from the conflict to argue for their cause and to pressure governments.
  • Fragile peace: The current arrangements are seen as fragile, with ongoing violence, political uncertainty in Israel and Palestine, and unresolved core issues (borders, settlements, Jerusalem, refugees, Hamas’s future, and a Palestinian state).

Quick HTML Table Timeline

[10][3] [3] [8][3] [8][3] [8][3] [9][3] [9][8] [9] [3] [1][3]
Period Key Events What It Meant
7 Oct 2023 Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel; over 1,300 killed, hundreds taken hostage.Shattered Israeli security assumptions, triggered formal declaration of war.
Late 2023 Massive Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza, brief November ceasefire and hostage–prisoner exchange.Huge destruction in Gaza, some hostages freed, but war resumed afterward.
2024–mid 2025 Prolonged fighting, siege of cities like Khan Younis, rising regional tensions with Hezbollah and Iran.Conflict becomes long war with global protests and mounting diplomatic pressure.
Late 2025 Ceasefire deal announced, Gaza effectively partitioned; continued Israeli strikes despite formal truce.Lower-intensity but ongoing violence; humanitarian crisis persists.
Early 2026 Implementation of Trump’s twenty‑point peace plan phase one; hostages and prisoners released, partial Israeli withdrawal to new line.Beginnings of a political transition in Gaza, yet disarmament and final governance unresolved.

TL;DR (Bottom)

  • Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack and Israel’s subsequent war turned the long‑running Israeli–Palestinian conflict into its deadliest chapter in decades.
  • After massive destruction and a regional scare, a ceasefire and U.S.-backed peace framework have paused all‑out war but not ended violence, with Gaza partially under Israeli control and Hamas still present.
  • In 2026, prisoner and hostage exchanges, planned Hamas disarmament, and a new Gaza government are on the table—but the core political issues and mutual distrust remain unresolved.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.