Around 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times, and more than half the territory remains under Israeli military control. On the third anniversary of the Hamas-led attack, Palestinians still lived in vast tent camps amid rubble and restrictions on goods and aid, while Israel’s government had yet to order an official inquiry into the failures of Oct. 7.
The attack killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. In southern Israel, families gathered at intersections, bomb shelters and the site of the Nova music festival, where militants overran a gathering. This was the first anniversary with all hostages returned. The human cost isn’t a ledger that can be closed when a military operation pauses.
The people inside the numbers
Elkana Bohbot, 37, spent 738 days in captivity after militants abducted him from the Nova music festival. He said he spent most of that time 50 meters underground, in a dark, damp tunnel, held in a small cell with other hostages, given very little food and allowed to bathe only every few weeks. His captors made him appear in propaganda videos, including one in which he acted out a fake call to his family.
Since his release last year, Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation, written a book, started a speaking career, traveled with his family and celebrated holidays and birthdays he had missed. His wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter in August. Bohbot told The Associated Press that Michele was “not a symbol for my people, she is more of a symbol for the enemy.” He added: “So this child is the message for you that we were here, and we will always be here forever.” Those words belong to a family rebuilding a life, not to the military arithmetic surrounding it.
More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says around half were women and children and does not distinguish civilians from militants. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government; U.N. agencies and independent experts consider its figures generally reliable. Most of Gaza’s population of about 2 million people live in squalid tent camps. Large parts of its cities have been reduced to rubble.
A ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, halting the heaviest fighting, but Israeli strikes continued almost daily. The ministry said 1,145 Palestinians had been killed since the ceasefire, while seven Israeli soldiers had been killed in that period. Hamas described its Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli military occupation, land seizures and settlement construction. An independent Palestinian state appeared more distant.
The apparatus keeps expanding
The Israel Defense Forces said it had struck approximately 100,000 targets since the war began: 65,000 in Gaza, 28,000 in Lebanon and Syria, 4,500 in Iran and 80 in Yemen. The military said more than 31,500 rockets, missiles and drones had been launched at Israel from multiple fronts. These totals map the reach of armed organizations and states; they don’t account for families pushed from their homes or the damage left behind.
Israel said its campaign aimed to topple Hamas’s government in Gaza, destroy the group and free the hostages. The IDF assessed that Hamas was no longer the military and governing organization it had been before the attack, but said it “continues attempts to rebuild and rearm.” Gaza remained divided between Israeli- and Hamas-controlled areas. Talks on Hamas disarmament and reconstruction had made only limited progress.
During the ceasefire, Israel’s control in the Strip expanded from an initial 53 percent to around 63 percent, with about 40 army posts maintained in the Israeli-held area. The attack and the military campaign that followed aren’t interchangeable acts, and the figures don’t make them morally equivalent. They do show civilians living under the power of armed authorities, while rival projects for control continue.
An inquiry postponed, a force enlarged
The Israeli government held official memorial services on Oct. 5, closer to the Hebrew-calendar anniversary. Families marked the date amid divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war and his reluctance to order an official inquiry into the failures of Oct. 7. A contentious Israeli election was due at the end of the month.
At a military conference on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said the army was concluding its investigations. “We must not become mired in them, but rather learn, draw lessons, implement them, and move forward,” he said. He called for an expanded security margin and said: “The size of the IDF is our strategic depth.” The military also said its reserve force had grown by about 36 percent, and combat reservists were expected to serve an average of 80 to 100 days this year, above its initial estimate of 55 days annually.
Haaretz analysis said the attack exposed failures by the defense establishment, state institutions and the government, while officials who dismissed warnings remained in charge and the Netanyahu government delayed an independent inquiry. The same analysis said wars across multiple fronts had brought neither victory nor an end to fighting. Three years after Oct. 7, the state has a growing force structure and a tally of targets. Families still waiting for a public reckoning have something less concrete: another postponed answer.