A year has passed since Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7, 2023 which reignited the war in Palestine. Among the many causes of the conflict we can mention the failure of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, the strengthening of control of the Islamic movement Hamas on the Gaza Strip resulting in the discrediting of the leadership of the Palestinian president Abu Mazenthe continuation of the process of “colonization” of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank by Israel and the escalation of “war by proxy” between Israel and Iran to achieve supremacy in Middle East. A year into the war, the conflict has expanded to other areas of the region, involving several geopolitical actors including the Houthis in Yemen, Lebanon and Iran. Let’s retrace the main events of the last year and take stock of the current situation.
Attention: the Israeli-Palestinian issue is extremely complex and delicate and we are aware that any type of summary risks omitting information; therefore this article must be seen in the context of the contents that we have proposed and that we will propose in the coming days. We therefore invite you not to miss them: you can find everything in the Geopolitics category of our site. Please know that our aim is to make the geopolitical situation understood with maximum neutrality and stimulate interest in further insights.
October 7-8, 2023: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel
The Palestinian attack on Israeli territory (called “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”), which began around 06:30 local time on 7 October 2023 and was inaugurated by the most massive shipment of rockets seen so far in any war pitting Hamas against Israel, involved over 6000 militiamen and armed civilians who, through a coordinated attack of vast proportions, managed to break through the poorly manned Israeli defensive lines and pour into the surrounding territories.
The primary objectives of the Palestinians were the Israeli military installations located in the security belt around the Gaza Strip which have been systematically captured and destroyed. However, the militiamen unfortunately had no scruples. to attack also i kibbutzi moshav and all the others small and large settlements located in the area, reaching even regional inhabited centers of a certain importance such as Sderot, Netivot And Ofakim.
The event that most shocked and shocked world public opinion was massacre of young people gathered to celebrate on the occasion of “Supernova festival” held in the locality of Re’im. The toll suffered by Israel during those first two days amounts to 1180 dead, 3400 injured between military and civilians e 251 hostagesmany of which are still in the hands of Hamas today.

The Israeli reaction and the siege and occupation of Gaza
There Israeli reaction the attacks of 7 October were followed almost immediately with the name of “Operation Swords by Iron”was characterized by extreme harshness and, according to many, by being disproportionate in its methods and outcomes (so much so that in the West a certain portion of public opinion began to speak openly of genocide). Over the course of bombings and of ground military operationswhich have now affected the Gaza Strip for an entire year and have allowed Israel to inflict important blows on the military structures of Hamas and the other Palestinian militant groups present in the Strip, have however been destroyed and devastated both Gaza City and the smaller population centers of what is one of the areas with the highest population density in the world.
Since the war events are still in full swing, it is too early to draw a definitive assessment of the losses that this war has unfortunately inflicted on the Palestinian people, but already now the figures provided by Gaza Ministry of Health and relaunched by United Nations they talk about over 40,000 dead, around 100,000 injured and a number of missing people that some estimates place as high as 20,000. However, research published in July 2024 on The Lancet estimated that the overall worsening of living conditions and the increase in mortality caused by the war and its consequences could translate into potentially resulting in the deaths of 186,000 peoplewhich would be equivalent to 7.9% of Gaza’s population before the outbreak of the conflict.
The expansion of the conflict to the Middle East
The situation immediately showed the potential of being able to expand to the point of involvement the entire Middle Eastern regionwhich unfortunately happened, with Israeli military operations which progressively extended to include, with varying degrees of intensity, also the West BankThe Lebanonthe SyriatheIraqit Yemen el’Iran. Iran and Lebanon have recently made headlines around the world, given Israel’s ground invasion of southern Lebanon and missiles fired from Iran at Israel.
On the other hand, the Israeli initiatives were partly the result of the reaction to the attacks coming from these areas, and in particular from the movements and countries proclaimed as part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” (allies of Hamas); in part, however, they followed a sort of dangerous “geopolitical inertia” demonstrated by the political-military leadership of the Jewish State. Particularly the prime minister Benjamin “Bibi” Natanyahusurprised by the events of 7-8 October 2023, is seeking with all its strength a convincing military victory also in order not to lose internal popular consensus.
In the meantime the war has once again certified theimpotence of the United Nations which failed to stop the continuation of the conflict, failing in their objective of imposing themselves on both the Hamas and Israeli leadership. In partial apology to the UN Secretary General, António Guterresand of all the officials responsible for the organisation’s work, it must, however, be admitted that the main world powers, primarily the United States, but also Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and, subsequently, all the others have demonstrated a substantial disinterest in truly committing themselves to the objective of stopping the clashes and obtaining a true and lasting peace.