This week marks three years since Hamas’ massacre of October 7 2023, in which some 1,200 people, most of them Israeli civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage.

What followed were two years of devastating war waged by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza, which a UN commission of inquiry, leading genocide scholars and major human rights organisations have concluded amounted to genocide. Much of the strip lies in ruins and more than 74,000 Palestinians are dead, with thousands more believed to remain buried under the rubble.

A year ago this week, a US-imposed ceasefire was finally forced on both sides – though mainly on paper. While major IDF assaults have ceased, Israeli attacks in Gaza have continued, in addition to unbridled Jewish settler violence in the West Bank.

Despite this, global attention on Gaza has waned. As the US–Israeli war with Iran began dominating the headlines, earlier pledges by many states to help drive the peace process forward have proved once again wanting, even hollow.

Now, Israel is preparing for a highly polarised parliamentary election on October 27, which could be consequential for the entire region. If a less extreme government takes office, will the world’s attention to Gaza and the West Bank – and the pressure it has generated – hold?

What the peace plan delivered, and what it didn’t

The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan in Gaza largely succeeded. The remaining living Israeli hostages came home in exchange for close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and the remains of deceased hostages were returned over the following months. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans moved back to the north. Israeli forces pulled back to a “yellow line”, and the UN Security Council endorsed the plan and a US-chaired “Board of Peace”.

However, the world’s expectations for “all guns to fall silent” were soon dashed. A year after the ceasefire was signed on October 9 2025, the Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures the UN uses, reports close to 1,400 Gazans have been killed.

Aid remains restricted, meaningful reconstruction has yet to begin, and another winter is approaching for families living in tents and damaged buildings.

Without sustained international engagement, the second phase of the Trump plan has largely stalled. Hamas has not disarmed. An International Stabilisation Force intended to bring security to Gaza has........

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