Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports

The terrorist groups in Gaza supported by Iran and Qatar have at the weekend finally accepted to release remaining Israeli hostages held in the city’s tunnels as the window for peace continues to close with more hostage deaths in their hands.

Of the 48 remaining hostages, Oracle Intelligence gathered, only about 18 to 20 are believed to be alive as Israel continues its unforgiving military campaigns in search of its citizens snatched from homes in the southern part of the country.

The acceptance of ceasefire by Hamas brings to question the gains and outcomes of the senseless invasion of Israel by the group on October 7, 2023; a shocking and ruthless killing spree that sparked the ongoing war which has taken about 65,000 lives in Israel, Gaza, West Bank, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Qatar.

Besides the death numbers, over 35 percent of Gazan population are reported to be homeless. The city is in ruins, and the entire population lives on humanitarian aid.

Hamas and its allies including Iran, Islamic Jihad, Houthi Rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syrian militias had refused international appeals from Russia, United States, Jordan and even the Palestinian Authority in West bank to release the Israeli Hostages quickly to avert worsening devastation in Gaza.

In the ensuing war with the terrorists, Israel has since decimated the Hamas leadership, bombed out Hezbollah in Lebanon, weakened Iran, overran Syria and now moves to completely take over the Gaza City until its citizens are released by Hamas.

With rising human tolls as Hamas increasingly adopt use of human shield to avoid Israeli strikes, and Israel’s sworn military grind in the Gaza City, President Donald Trump had stepped in with a peace plan that demands Hamas to release Israeli hostages or contend with intense military aggression.

President Trump gave Hamas until Sunday, October 5, to accept the ceasefire deal.

Hamas responded on Friday, accepting certain key parts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan, including ending the war, Israel’s withdrawal and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian captives.

Also, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a hardline ally of Hamas that also holds hostages, on Saturday endorsed Hamas’ response to a U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza.

Whereas Hamas’s response triggered a chorus of optimistic statements by world leaders urging an immediate cessation of the deadliest conflict involving Israel since its creation in 1948 and demanding freedom for the Israelis still held in the enclave; analyst count the cost of the war which started with a drug fuelled killing spree when the terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, few months after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Hamas’ stance, and its backing by Islamic Jihad, may raise the spirit of Gazans, who had watched one ceasefire effort after another fail as Israeli strikes hit the strip over the past two years, creating a humanitarian crisis and displacing millions.

Amid the optimism several issues remain unresolved, such as whether Hamas will agree to disarm, one of Israel’s main demands. Some Palestinians also express fear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the most far-right government in Israel’s history, will ultimately withdraw from any plan to end the war.

“What is important is that Netanyahu does not sabotage this, because now that Hamas agreed, Netanyahu will disagree, as he usually does,” said Jerusalem resident Jamal Shihada.

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson issued a warning on Saturday for residents of Gaza City, saying it remained a “dangerous” combat zone. He urged residents in a post on X to avoid going north in the enclave or nearing any areas where the military operates.

News website Axios earlier reported that the Israeli military would shift to defensive operations in Gaza and halt its plan to seize Gaza City. But Israeli airstrikes persisted early on Saturday but they were less intense, after U.S. President Donald Trump had called for a halt to the bombing saying Hamas was ready for peace. In its daily update, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli fire killed at least 66 Palestinians across the enclave in the past 24 hours.

Netanyahu’s office said Israel was preparing for “immediate implementation” of the first stage of Trump’s Gaza plan for the release of Israeli hostages following Hamas’ response. Shortly after, Israeli media reported that the country’s political echelon had instructed the military to reduce offensive activity in Gaza.

Trump’s plan and Hamas’ reaction won support around the world, from Australia to India to Canada and European capitals.

“An end to this terrible war is within reach,” said Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

President Trump, who has cast himself as the only person capable of achieving peace in Gaza, has invested significant political capital in efforts to end the war that has left U.S. ally Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.

Trump said on Friday he believed Hamas had shown it was “ready for a lasting PEACE” and added that “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!”

Domestically, the prime minister is caught between growing pressure to end the war from hostage families and a war-weary public. He also contends with demands from hardline members of his coalition who insist there must be no let-up in Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

After the October 7 attack by Hamas which shook Israel to its core, the country initiated a military campaign in Gaza that has also frequently gone beyond its borders, altering the Middle East’s political landscape.

On October 7, Hamas fighters and other terrorist militias overcame Gaza’s fortified border and launched an attack in Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the small Palestinian territory. The experience of such vulnerability led to a trauma still being felt in Israel today.

On October 8, 2023, Israel’s government launched an attack on Gaza, and the two years since have been horrific for Palestinians in the enclave.

Operations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed at least 66,000 people — an estimated 80% of them civilians — and injured about 169,000 others, according to conservative estimates by the Hamas-run Health Ministry of Gaza. International agencies believe that the true death toll is much higher.

The International Organization for Migration has reported that 90% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, leaving 1.9 million people of the 2.1 million population internally displaced. Because of the “total blockade” that Israel has imposed on Gaza, large swaths of the territory are experiencing an acute famine that has so far killed at least 450 people.

Following the October 7 attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out two main objectives for the war in Gaza: To recover all hostages taken from Israel and to “destroy” Hamas. Of the 251 hostages taken to Gaza, 148 have been returned to Israel alive. Eight were recovered by the IDF; the remaining 140 were released by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel. The remains of several dead hostages have also been returned to Israel.

According to the Israeli government, 48 hostages are still being held. Of these, only 20 are thought to be alive.

Hamas — which Israel, the EU and the US, among other governments, deem a terrorist organization — still exists in Gaza, although many of its fighters have been killed in the past two years. Israel has also killed a series of leading Hamas figures, among them Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.

In late September 2025, US President Donald Trump presented a 20-point peace plan for Gaza that calls for the release of all remaining hostages and the disarmament of Hamas, with fighters who “commit to peaceful co-existence” with Israel receiving amnesty. This would effectively mean the end of Hamas as an armed militia.

The war has also achieved weakening of Israel’s enemies as fighting has not been limited to Gaza over the past two years. Hezbollah, which is active in Lebanon, and Yemen’s Houthis both expressed solidarity with Hamas when the war on Gaza began. All three organizations — Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas — are reported to receive financial and material support from Iran.

Israel took military action against all of these organizations, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with an explosion in Beirut, and a number of Hezbollah fighters in a coordinated attack of exploding electronic devices that grabbed headlines in September 2024. Airstrikes on southern Lebanon further weakened Hezbollah.

Israel’s air force also attacked Iran for several days, severely damaging nuclear facilities. The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in central Tehran embarrassed Iran’s regime.

The toppling of Syria’s longtime ruler, Bashar Assad, by rebels in late 2024 meant that Iran lost yet another regional ally. Israel’s opponents in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza were thus dealt a severe blow, with Israeli military primacy in the region now more firmly established than ever.

Just recently, Qatar which also provides diplomatic shield and financial support for Hamas’ leaders also suffered Israeli air strike that targeted to take out Hamas leaders in Doha. Israel has apologized to Qatar on the prompts of President Donald Trump who holds great friendship with leaders of the Arabian gas nation.

However, the way in which Israel has waged its war on Gaza has sparked international condemnation.

Over the past two years, Israel’s army has bombed hospitals, refugee camps and schools in Gaza, killing thousands of women and children, as well as countless journalists, rescue workers and aid workers. On multiple occasions, Israel has deliberately blocked aid deliveries intended to alleviate the suffering among Gaza’s civilian population, with officials claiming that the goal was to prevent aid supplies from falling under the control of Hamas.

These actions, among others, have led to accusations that Israel’s government is committing genocide against Palestinians. An independent UN human rights commission, as well as the International Association of Genocide Scholars and Israeli human rights organizations such as B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, too, say Israel is engaging in genocide. Netanyahu’s government denies this, claiming that there is no evidence and Israel has the right to self-defense.

In December 2023, South Africa brought a case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violating the UN Genocide Convention. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his then defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Israeli government and its supporters rejected the warrants, and Hungary later even announced its withdrawal from the ICC.

The dire conditions in Gaza have lent momentum to efforts to recognize an independent Palestinian state. About 140 countries worldwide had done so before October 7, 2023. Two years on, 20 additional countries have now also formally recognized Palestine — including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and Canada.

By doing so, the governments have expressed support for a two-state solution: An independent Palestine alongside Israel. Netanyahu claims that Palestinian statehood would “reward” Hamas. But governments that have offered recognition have ruled out the possibility that Hamas would play any role in a Palestinian state.

Numerous countries have halted their arms exports to Israel in response to the ongoing war in Gaza. Several countries — including Colombia, South Africa and Malaysia — have imposed sanctions on Israel.

The European Union has been discussing punitive economic measures. An increasing number of member states also support suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, restricting visa-free travel to the European Union for Israeli citizens and blocking imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Germany and some other EU member states have so far, however, refused to go along with these measures.

In Israel, opinions diverge on whether, or how, the country should continue its war in Gaza. The far-right national security and finance ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, respectively, favor continued military action against Hamas and have publicly suggested that Israel could annex the occupied West Bank — a step that would effectively put an end to any plans for a two-state solution.

Other groups in Israeli society have spent months calling for a ceasefire, above all relatives of the hostages still in Gaza. They have staged weekly protests and demanded a negotiated solution. Many say they feel abandoned by their government.

Arab Israelis, army veterans and relatives of IDF conscripts have also taken to the streets in opposition to the war. Overall, more than 60% of the Israeli population supports a ceasefire, according to a survey published in July.

If implemented, Trump’s plan for Gaza could succeed in silencing the weapons for now, but the wounds inflicted would likely take decades to heal.

ON the whole, Oracle Intelligence reports that the October 7, 2023 terrorist onslaught on Israel unraveled the grand scheme of the Islamic regime in Iran to use proxy militants to undermine Israel. It also exposed the full breadth of terror network serving destabilization plans with which Iran’s leaders intended to maintain a haze of fear in the region.

The ensuing war brought into picture the regional power play in the region and the contest for supremacy and influence. It also showed that whereas Israel is perceived as a common enemy, most Middle East countries are not comfortable with the breeding of terrorists in the region by Iran.

With the period the war has lasted, it has become clear that violence and war does not benefit both the strong and the weak, as each life lost brings sorrow and humiliation to the bereaved. Now Iran is sober after a stint of war with Israel. Its proxy warriors also recognize their vulnerabilities because them the octopus is struck in the head, the arms go limp.