{"id":33632,"date":"2026-10-07T09:38:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T09:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=33632"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T09:38:44","slug":"3-years-after-october-7-hamas-attack-a-scarred-israel-a-devastated-gaza-and-a-middle-east-no-longer-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=33632","title":{"rendered":"3 years after October 7 Hamas attack: A scarred Israel, a devastated Gaza and a Middle East no longer the same"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134761976,imgsize-1705972,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/israel-gaza.jpg\" alt=\"3 years after October 7 Hamas attack: A scarred Israel, a devastated Gaza and a Middle East no longer the same\" title=\"Israelis mark the October 7 anniversary in Israel as Gaza continues to bear the war\u2019s devastating toll\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Israelis mark the October 7 anniversary in Israel as Gaza continues to bear the war\u2019s devastating toll\">Israelis mark the October 7 anniversary in Israel as Gaza continues to bear the war\u2019s devastating toll<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Three years after Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the shockwaves of that day continue to shape lives, politics and security across the Middle East. What began as a devastating assault on southern Israel grew into a prolonged war in Gaza and then widened into a regional confrontation involving Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran and Iran-backed groups.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"2\"\/>The conflict has left behind two deeply traumatic realities &#8211; the Israeli experience of the attack, hostage-taking and continuing security fears, and the Palestinian devastation caused by the war in Gaza. Beyond the immediate human cost, the conflict has also altered alliances, weakened Iran\u2019s regional network, changed Israel\u2019s military calculations and disrupted diplomatic efforts across the region.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>For those who lived through October 7, however, the consequences are not measured only in geopolitical shifts. <!-- -->They remain embedded in ordinary moments, places and memories, reminders of a day that transformed the meaning of safety, freedom and home.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"9\"\/>\u201cThe smell of hell.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/>That is how one Israeli resident describes what a barbecue now smells like.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/>Living close to Gaza, Deganit Bar Hay told AP the smell of burnt flesh has become a trigger, making it difficult for her to barbecue.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Israel\" msid=\"134761644\" imgsize=\"59243\" resizemode=\"4\" width=\"\" title=\"Benny and Maggy Solomon, parents of Oct 7 victim Hila Solomon, attend a memorial at the Nova festival site in southern Israel (Credit: AP)\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-59243,msid-134761644\/israel.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Benny and Maggy Solomon, parents of Oct 7 victim Hila Solomon, attend a memorial at the Nova festival site in southern Israel (Credit: AP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/>Along the highway running parallel to the Gaza Strip, where people were gunned down while trying to flee on October 7, memorials now stand beside the road.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>Cars smashed and riddled with bullets have been preserved elsewhere, stacked in rusting heaps. Portraits of young female military spotters, whose warnings about a possible attack were disregarded, mark another set of lives lost that day.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>For those who survived the attack and those who were taken hostage, the meaning of ordinary life changed too.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>\u201cFreedom has completely changed the way I see life,\u201d Emily Damari, who was abducted wounded from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and released in January 2025, told Reuters.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"27\"\/>After captivity, she said, even opening a refrigerator or drinking cold water felt like something to be grateful for. \u201cBeing free, at home, surrounded by my family and my people is something I will never take for granted again.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"29\"\/>Eli Sharabi, taken hostage from nearby Kibbutz Be&#8217;eri, spent 491 days in captivity. His wife Lianne and daughters Noiya and Yahel were killed in the October 7 attack, while his brother Yossi was taken hostage and died in Gaza. <!-- -->Released in February 2025 emaciated after what he said was prolonged hunger, shackling and beatings, Sharabi told Reuters: \u201cI choose life. I choose to keep living fully, while carrying Lianne, Noiya, Yahel and Yossi with me in everything I do.<!-- -->\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"34\"\/>Three years later, those memories remain raw in Israel. But there is another landscape of memory just across the border.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"36\"\/>In Gaza, children are growing up with different reminders of the same war &#8211; lost parents, amputations, displacement, damaged homes and years without anything resembling a normal childhood. <!-- -->DW reported the stories of 15-year-old Mahmoud Abu Shadaq, recovering from injuries caused by an airstrike, and eight-year-old Layan Abed, who lost her father during the conflict.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"40\"\/>Aid groups are providing rehabilitation and mental-health support, but the scars are likely to outlast the fighting.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"42\"\/>That is the paradox at the heart of the three years since October 7.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"44\"\/>One attack produced two vastly different but deeply traumatic legacies &#8211; the Israeli trauma of the assault and hostage-taking, and the Palestinian devastation that followed Israel&#8217;s military campaign in Gaza.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"47\"\/>And the consequences did not stop at Gaza&#8217;s borders.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"49\"\/>What began with Hamas&#8217;s assault on southern Israel became a war in Gaza, then a wider confrontation involving Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran and Iran-backed groups across the region. It has altered Israel&#8217;s security doctrine, weakened Iran&#8217;s regional network, unsettled Arab states, disrupted diplomacy and pushed the Middle East into a new and still uncertain balance of power.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"52\"\/>Three years on, the question is no longer simply what happened on October 7. It is what October 7 set in motion.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"54\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>October 7, 2023: Day the \u2018iron\u2019 wall broke<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Just before 6.30am on October 7, 2023, Israel\u2019s much-vaunted \u201ciron wall\u201d along Gaza began to fail. Explosives dropped by drones knocked out communication towers and remote-controlled guns, while snipers targeted sensors and cameras. Israeli defenders were left staring at blank screens as roughly 2,200 rockets rained towards southern and central Israel.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"58\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The morning Israel\u2019s defences failed&lt;br&gt;\" msid=\"134761691\" imgsize=\"443485\" resizemode=\"4\" width=\"\" title=\"A minute-by-minute look at how the October 7 assault broke through Israel\u2019s border defences.\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-443485,msid-134761691\/the-morning-israels-defences-failedbr.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A minute-by-minute look at how the October 7 assault broke through Israel\u2019s border defences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"60\"\/>Then came the breach. Hamas fighters cut through the 20-foot-high fence or blew openings into it. Motorbikes, pickup trucks and bulldozers poured through, followed by hundreds of armed men. Others arrived on motorised paragliders. About 30 breaches were eventually made, allowing an estimated 1,500 fighters into Israel, The Guardian reported.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"62\"\/>It was more than a fence being breached. It was the collapse of an assumption \u2014 that Israel\u2019s technology, intelligence and military superiority had made a large-scale assault from Gaza almost impossible.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"65\"\/>\u201cWe have decided to put an end to all of the occupation\u2019s crimes,\u201d Hamas commander Mohammed Deif announced as the attack began, declaring the \u201cal-Aqsa deluge\u201d.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"67\"\/>Within hours, the assault had turned deadly. Fighters stormed military positions and nearby communities, reaching the Supernova music festival, where at least 260 people were killed and others taken hostage. In kibbutzim such as Be\u2019eri, residents barricaded themselves inside reinforced rooms as gunmen moved through the communities. <!-- -->At Zikim, soldiers at a military base were overwhelmed before reinforcements arrived.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"71\"\/>Files, images, and data analysis are unavailable until usage resets tomorrow at 2:01\u202fAM. Continue chatting with text only, or upgrade for more access.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"73\"\/>The scale of the failure soon became clear.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"75\"\/>Israeli intelligence had detected increased communications activity among militants in Gaza before the attack. Egyptian security services had also warned of an impending event. <!-- -->But Israeli officials assessed the activity as connected to a military exercise and decided that the alert level did not need to be raised, The Guardian reported. Three surveillance balloons used to monitor the border had also broken down and had not been replaced.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"79\"\/>The result was a catastrophic intelligence and preparedness failure: a border designed to keep Gaza&#8217;s militants out became a route into Israel, while the forces meant to respond were caught unprepared.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"82\"\/>For people inside the communities along the border, the technological failure quickly became intensely personal.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"84\"\/>In Nirim, resident Eldad Hess and his family hid inside a reinforced shelter as gunfire erupted outside. \u201cTen minutes later we heard automatic rifle shots outside the house,\u201d Hess told The Guardian. \u201cI understood what was happening but in my heart I couldn&#8217;t believe what was happening.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"86\"\/>His family survived. <!-- -->Others did not.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"90\"\/>By late morning, Israel had declared war. At 10.34am, Israeli strikes began hitting Gaza. At 11.35am, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis: \u201cCitizens of Israel, we are at war. Not an operation, not a round \u2013 at war.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"92\"\/>The language of the conflict changed almost as quickly as its geography.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"94\"\/>The attack had begun as a meticulously planned assault on southern Israel. Within hours, it had become the opening act of a war that would transform Gaza, redraw Israel&#8217;s security calculations and eventually pull much of the Middle East into its orbit.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"97\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gaza\" msid=\"134761755\" imgsize=\"584317\" resizemode=\"4\" width=\"\" title=\"Palestinian children walk amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Gaza war (Credit: Reuters)\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-584317,msid-134761755\/gaza.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Palestinian children walk amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Gaza war (Credit: Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3>Gaza became war&#8217;s price, and its unfinished question<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>The military campaign that followed October 7 devastated Gaza.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"101\"\/>Entire neighbourhoods were destroyed, millions were displaced and a generation of children has grown up amid death, injury and uncertainty. The humanitarian crisis became one of the defining consequences of the war.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"103\"\/>Even after a ceasefire agreement in October 2025 secured the release of the remaining hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the larger Gaza question remained unresolved.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"106\"\/>According to Reuters, Israeli strikes have continued despite the ceasefire. Gaza&#8217;s health ministry says at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the truce, while Israel says its strikes target Hamas and accuses the group of trying to rearm and carry out attacks. Hamas denies the accusation.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"108\"\/>Meanwhile, Israel&#8217;s effective control over Gaza has expanded to around two-thirds of the enclave, Reuters reported. <!-- -->The advance of the Israeli-controlled \u201cyellow line\u201d has squeezed Gaza&#8217;s roughly 2 million residents into a shrinking coastal area where many live in tents or damaged buildings.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"112\"\/>The numbers tell one part of the story. The more difficult question is what happens next.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"114\"\/>Trump&#8217;s plan envisaged Hamas disarming, Israeli forces gradually withdrawing, an International Stabilization Force taking over security and a new Palestinian technocratic administration governing Gaza.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"117\"\/>None of those pieces has fully fallen into place.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"119\"\/>The proposed force has a commander and commitments from several countries but has yet to be assembled. A Palestinian technocratic governing body appointed in January has yet to enter Gaza. Hamas has indicated a willingness to hand its weapons over for storage under a US-backed Palestinian administration, but Israel has rejected any withdrawal before complete disarmament.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"122\"\/>And reconstruction is barely beginning.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"124\"\/>A $2.45 billion plan announced by the Board of Peace in September is dwarfed by an EU-UN estimate of $71.4 billion needed for recovery and reconstruction over the next decade, Reuters reported.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"126\"\/>The war may have ended in parts of Gaza. The question of what Gaza becomes has not.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"128\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gaza\u2019s unresolved future&lt;br&gt;\" msid=\"134761773\" imgsize=\"508392\" resizemode=\"4\" width=\"\" title=\"Even after years of war, the biggest questions over Gaza\u2019s governance, security, disarmament and rebuilding remain open\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-508392,msid-134761773\/gazas-unresolved-futurebr.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Even after years of war, the biggest questions over Gaza\u2019s governance, security, disarmament and rebuilding remain open<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"130\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>The war crossed the fence, then crossed borders<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>The first major regional spillover came from Lebanon.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"133\"\/>Hezbollah, Iran&#8217;s most powerful regional ally, entered the conflict, opening another front along Israel&#8217;s northern border. <!-- -->What had been a long-running Israel-Hezbollah confrontation now became part of the October 7 war.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"137\"\/>Then came Yemen.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"139\"\/>The Houthis attacked Israel and targeted shipping in the Red Sea, turning a conflict thousands of kilometres away into a threat to one of the world&#8217;s busiest maritime corridors. US and British military action followed.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"141\"\/>Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria also became part of the wider confrontation.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"144\"\/>The significance was larger than the individual attacks. October 7 demonstrated that a war involving Israel and Hamas could activate an entire network of armed groups built over decades.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"146\"\/>And then the network itself began to fracture.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"148\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>Iran&#8217;s \u2018axis of resistance\u2019 stopped looking invincible<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Before October 7, Iran&#8217;s regional influence appeared formidable.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"151\"\/>Hamas governed Gaza. Hezbollah possessed a vast arsenal in Lebanon. Bashar al-Assad remained in power in Syria. The Houthis controlled large parts of Yemen and threatened shipping lanes. <!-- -->Behind them stood Iran, whose missiles and nuclear programme had long been central to Israeli and Western security calculations.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"155\"\/>Three years later, that picture has been transformed.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"157\"\/>Hamas lost its top leadership, including Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel in October 2024. Hezbollah suffered major losses. Assad is no longer in power in Syria. Iran&#8217;s own territory has come under direct Israeli and US military attack.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"160\"\/>\u201cThe old order \u2014 Iran as the region&#8217;s disruptive spine, its proxies as the tools of pressure and deterrence \u2014 is gone,\u201d Bilal Saab, a Chatham House fellow and former Pentagon official, told The Washington Post.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"162\"\/>Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, put the change more starkly: \u201cThis has changed the region forever.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"164\"\/>But a weakened Iran does not automatically mean a more stable Middle East.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"167\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"From one attack to a regional war&lt;br&gt;\" msid=\"134761861\" imgsize=\"348137\" resizemode=\"4\" width=\"\" title=\"The conflict widened from Gaza to Lebanon, the Red Sea, Iraq, Syria and eventually direct Israel-Iran confrontation\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-348137,msid-134761861\/from-one-attack-to-a-regional-warbr.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The conflict widened from Gaza to Lebanon, the Red Sea, Iraq, Syria and eventually direct Israel-Iran confrontation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3>Shadow war finally came into open<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>For decades, Israel and Iran largely fought without declaring a conventional war against each other \u2014 through proxies, covert operations, assassinations, cyberattacks and strikes on Iranian-linked targets.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"171\"\/>October 7 accelerated the collapse of that distance.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"173\"\/>The confrontation increasingly moved from the shadows into direct exchanges of missiles and drones, exposing the limits of the old system of indirect deterrence.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"176\"\/>For Israel, the result has been a dramatic increase in military dominance.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"178\"\/>A former senior Israeli military official told The Washington Post that, despite the continuing trauma of October 7 and the ongoing war, Israel had reached a position few had imagined possible.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"180\"\/>\u201cWe are still traumatized from 7th October. There is still war,\u201d the official said. \u201cIsrael is not untouchable, but we have made it very expensive to touch us.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"183\"\/>That may be Israel&#8217;s biggest strategic transformation since the attack: October 7 produced not only a determination to prevent another such assault, but a willingness to use overwhelming force far beyond its immediate borders.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"185\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>Israel won battlefield. What does it do with power?<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Military dominance brings its own dilemma.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"188\"\/>Israel&#8217;s neighbours may have welcomed the weakening of Iran and its allies, but the emergence of an Israel with fewer regional constraints has also created unease.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"191\"\/>\u201cThe focus on security comforts Israelis but unnerves their neighbors,\u201d The Washington Post reported, citing regional analysts. An Israel less constrained by powerful rivals raises questions about whether military superiority could turn into overreach, particularly in the West Bank.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"193\"\/>Saab told the paper that Gulf leaders, while wanting to see the Iranian regime weakened, also worry about \u201cthe trigger-happiness of Israel\u201d.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"196\"\/>Inside Israel, however, the emerging philosophy is increasingly being framed as security through strength.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"198\"\/>\u201cWhen this is over, I think you&#8217;re going hear our leaders talk about Israel&#8217;s desire for peace through strength,\u201d an Israeli official told The Washington Post. \u201cWe are going to fight our enemies as strongly as possible and hug our friends as close as possible.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"200\"\/>The shift is significant.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"202\"\/>For much of its history, Israel&#8217;s military strength was primarily presented as a shield. <!-- -->After October 7, the war has pushed Israel towards using that strength to actively reshape the strategic environment around it.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"206\"\/>Whether that creates lasting security remains one of the region&#8217;s biggest unanswered questions.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"208\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>Palestinians at centre, increasingly without control<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>There is another paradox.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"211\"\/>The war has put the Palestinian question back at the centre of international diplomacy. Yet Palestinians themselves have little control over what comes next.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"213\"\/>Gaza has been devastated and its population repeatedly displaced. <!-- -->The future of its governance remains unsettled. In the West Bank, settlement expansion and calls for Palestinian displacement have intensified.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"217\"\/>The debate over Gaza&#8217;s future has also exposed sharply different visions.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"219\"\/>Trump&#8217;s plan says Gaza should be rebuilt for its people. Israeli right-wing politicians have called for \u201cvoluntary emigration\u201d. Israel&#8217;s defence ministry established an office in 2025 to oversee such departures after Trump had suggested Gazans could be permanently displaced. <!-- -->Trump later backed away from the idea following strong opposition from Arab states and international criticism.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"223\"\/>The competing visions leave Gaza caught between reconstruction, Israeli security demands, Hamas&#8217;s future and the unresolved question of Palestinian statehood.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"225\"\/>The October 7 attack was intended by Hamas to alter the regional balance. Instead, Palestinians have emerged from the war facing a destroyed territory and an uncertain political future.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"228\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>Gulf states no longer just watching from sidelines<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>The war has also changed the calculations of countries that were not direct combatants.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"231\"\/>Saudi Arabia had been moving towards a potentially transformative relationship with Israel before October 7. The war disrupted that trajectory and pushed the Palestinian question back into the centre of Arab diplomacy.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"233\"\/>At the same time, Gulf states have had to watch Iran&#8217;s missiles and drones reach closer to their own territory.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"236\"\/>Saudi Arabia and Turkey are emerging as important players in the next regional order. Both are deepening relationships with China, maintaining channels with Russia and continuing to work with Washington \u2014 a form of strategic hedging as they assess what a more powerful Israel and a less predictable US presence mean for them.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"238\"\/>The Gulf&#8217;s old calculation was relatively straightforward: American security guarantees, economic stability and the containment of regional rivalries.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"241\"\/>After October 7, none of those assumptions looks quite as secure.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"243\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The region\u2019s power shift&lt;br&gt;\" msid=\"134761879\" imgsize=\"287526\" resizemode=\"4\" width=\"\" title=\"Three years of war have reshaped the balance of power across the Middle East\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-287526,msid-134761879\/the-regions-power-shiftbr.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Three years of war have reshaped the balance of power across the Middle East<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"245\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>3 years on, Oct 7 is still reshaping map<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>The most consequential change may be that the region no longer has the same centre of gravity.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"248\"\/>Before October 7, Iran&#8217;s network of armed allies was at the height of its influence. Israel was powerful but largely operated within a familiar system of deterrence. Arab states were cautiously pursuing normalisation and economic integration. The Palestinian issue, while unresolved, had increasingly been pushed into the background of regional diplomacy.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"251\"\/>The attack shattered that equilibrium.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"253\"\/>Israel emerged more militarily dominant but also more isolated. Gaza emerged devastated. Iran&#8217;s regional network was badly weakened, but the collapse of that network created uncertainty rather than a settled alternative. Saudi Arabia and Turkey gained greater room to manoeuvre. Gulf states became more conscious of their own vulnerability. The US remained indispensable but its regional choices became more consequential \u2014 and more controversial.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"256\"\/>The result is not necessarily a new Middle East yet.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"258\"\/>It is a Middle East in transition.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"260\"\/>\u201cThis has changed the region forever,\u201d Vaez told The Washington Post. \u201cBut with what consequences still has to play out.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"262\"\/>And perhaps that is the clearest measure of what three years of war have changed.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"264\"\/>For an Israeli survivor, the smell of a barbecue can still bring October 7 back.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"266\"\/>For a child in Gaza, an airstrike can mean a missing parent, an injured body or another lost home.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"269\"\/>For Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf states, the same three years have rewritten calculations about power and security.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"271\"\/>The attack began with a breach in a border fence.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"273\"\/>Three years later, the breach has become a fault line running through the entire Middle East.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"275\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>From Gaza\u2019s ruins to a global shock<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>The deepest consequences of October 7 are still visible in Gaza, where three years of war have transformed everyday life. Homes, neighbourhoods and essential infrastructure have been devastated, while repeated displacement has uprooted much of the territory\u2019s roughly two million people.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"279\"\/>The destruction has extended far beyond buildings. Gaza\u2019s economy has been pushed into collapse, with 92% of economic establishments damaged or destroyed and unemployment reaching 78%, according to UN figures cited in September. Nearly 98% of schools have been damaged or destroyed, while Gaza\u2019s health system has been left barely functioning. For many families, access to water, electricity, shelter, healthcare and education has become a daily struggle.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"282\"\/>The war has also reshaped the geography of Gaza. Israeli military control and restrictions have pushed Palestinians into increasingly smaller areas, while the so-called Yellow Line has become a new dividing point inside the territory. The result is a population living amid destroyed homes, damaged infrastructure and limited access to basic services, even after the October 2025 ceasefire.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"284\"\/>But the economic consequences did not remain confined to Gaza or the Middle East.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"287\"\/>The war disrupted energy markets and global supply chains, with the Strait of Hormuz emerging as a critical pressure point. Around 25-30% of global oil and about 20% of liquefied natural gas pass through the waterway, exposing major energy importers in Asia and Europe to higher fuel and power costs.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"289\"\/>Shipping disruptions have increased freight and insurance costs, while interruptions to fertiliser supplies have raised concerns over food prices. <!-- -->The shock is particularly severe for poorer countries, where food accounts for a larger share of household spending and governments have less fiscal space to absorb higher costs.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"293\"\/>Financial markets have also felt the effects, with higher borrowing costs, tighter financial conditions and increased volatility adding to pressures on economies already carrying heavy debt burdens.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"296\"\/>The IMF has described the shock as global but uneven: energy importers are more exposed than exporters, poorer countries more than richer ones, and economies with limited reserves more than those with stronger buffers.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"299\"\/>That may be the widest legacy of October 7. The attack began in southern Israel, but its consequences have travelled through Gaza&#8217;s ruins, across the region&#8217;s borders and into the world&#8217;s energy, food, trade and financial systems.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"301\"\/>Three years on, October 7 is no longer only a date that changed the Middle East. It has become a fault line whose economic and geopolitical aftershocks continue to reach far beyond it.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/world\/middle-east\/3-years-after-october-7-hamas-attack-a-scarred-israel-a-devastated-gaza-and-a-middle-east-no-longer-the-same\/articleshow\/134758697.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israelis mark the October 7 anniversary in Israel as Gaza continues to bear the war\u2019s devastating toll Three years after Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the shockwaves of that day continue to shape lives, politics and security across the Middle East. What began as a devastating assault on southern Israel grew into a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Israelis mark the October 7 anniversary in Israel as Gaza continues to bear the war\u2019s devastating toll Three years after Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the shockwaves of that day continue to shape lives, politics and security across the Middle East. What began as a devastating assault on southern Israel grew into a [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":2,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":17,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/israel-gaza.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}