Over two years of genocide, Gaza endured. But Israel lost the world
A girl holds a Palestinian flag after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, central Gaza, 9 October 2025
Adnan Hmidan writes in Middle East Eye on 14 October 2025:
As the ceasefire in Gaza takes effect after two years of relentless devastation, one truth stands clearer than ever: Israel did not win, and Gaza did not break.
For all the ruin and grief, Israel’s war ended not in victory but in exposure – the exposure of a state that failed militarily, politically, economically and morally.
What unfolded in Gaza was not a demonstration of strength, but the collapse of legitimacy.
From the outset, Israeli leaders vowed to “eliminate the resistance”, “purge Gaza”, and “restore deterrence”. Yet, none of those objectives has been realised. The resistance remains standing; its leadership has survived; and its networks continue to function.
Despite the siege, bombardment and destruction, Gaza’s defenders remained organised and unbroken. The Israeli army, once mythologised as “invincible”, emerged battered, demoralised and stripped of its aura of superiority.
What Israel succeeded in doing was killing tens of thousands of civilians, annihilating neighbourhoods, and committing atrocities that the United Nations itself described as acts that amount to genocide.
A pariah state