Explained: Between killed, killers and captives, Gaza completes a semester of war

Israel-Hamas war: Six months on, the world is counting the losses in West Asia that began after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel that left about 1,200 dead. The retaliatory state of war in the blockaded Palestinian enclave of Gaza has killed an estimated 33,000 Palestinians.

The Hamas onslaught on October 7 included an unprecedented massacre at a music festival which concluded with the Palestinian militant group taking some 250 hostages inside Gaza.

As Israel's retaliatory state of war began with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call to 'destroy' Hamas, hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents moved towards south of the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

WION's Sneha Swaminathan reached out to a student in the middle of the crisis who described the desperate nature of humanitarian crisis.

"The situation is now extremely dire. Many people have left their homes on foot, covering a distance of 33 kilometres. It's a painful scene with a huge number of families leaving the city, carrying their belongings, mattresses, and suitcases," he said.

Israel-Hamas war: What is the scale of human losses?

In 182 days since, about 134 Israelis and others continue to remain captives, many presumed to be imprisoned underground and some tortured and sexually abused.

Among killed are also the ones who were neither Israeli nor Palestinian but foreign nationals out there to help, such as six of the seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen who were killed in three separate strikes from an Israeli drone earlier this week.

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Besides, the Palestinian death toll rising above 33,000 iswidely described as an undercount.Many thousands of uncounted Palestinian dead lie under the rubble of over 85 per cent of buildings in Gaza that have been partially or completely destroyed in Israeli airstrikes.

Hamas losses: Has Israel 'destroyed' Palestinian militant group?

According to Israel, Hamas has lost an estimated 10,000 men. This accounts formore than a third of their fighting force, along with three battalion commanders and seven members of the ruling political bureau.

The group has lost or used up almost all its arsenal of rockets. But most of its key leaders remain alive.

Despite the retaliatory hellfire brought upon Gazans due to Hamas's attack on Israel, the approval of Palestinian group's role in the war reportedly stands at about 70 per cent, according to the veteran Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki.

Spotlight on lack of reform of global governance mechanisms

Among emerging powers in the global order, the lesson from Gaza has been that it is time for new voices to join the top table.

The United States vetoed pro-Palestine resolutionsthree times since the war began, showing how exactly the rules arebent.

South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, described Gaza as the last manifestation of the conflict against colonialism and imperialism, and went to the international court of justice to prove her point.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, spoke of a similar crisis. “The current international system, devoid of fundamental concepts such as solidarity, justice and trust, cannot fulfil even its minimum responsibilities,” he said.

Joe Biden's failed Jordan summit

The Israel-Hamas war also exposed the limits of Washington's diplomatic overdrive. In fact, it suffered defeat after defeat across the capitals around the world when dealing with matters related to war in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden's wartime visitto West Asia early on in October was upended by a deadly strike at aGaza hospital that killed hundreds of Palestinians, in the deadliest civilian casualty event of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. On October 17, whenBiden'sAir Force One took off from Joint Base Andrews to Tel Aviv, protesters halfway across the world in the Jordanian capital of Amman attempted tobreach security barriersplaced close to the Israeli embassy.

As Biden's plane was still inside the US air space, the announcement came from Amman's foreign ministry.

The Jordanian kingdom cancelled a scheduled four-war summit between Joe Biden, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Egypt's PresidentAbdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the Palestinian Authority leaderMahmoud Abbas.

After a brief ceasefire that led to a brief halt in fighting and exchange of Israeli hostages with Palestinian prisoners, the diplomatic efforts have failed to halt Israel's retaliatory onslaught in Gaza.

While Cairo and Doha have been doing their part to ensure halt in fighting, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains determined to realise his goal of destroying Hamas despite massive protests against his administration across Israel.

Iran's strategic influence amid Gaza war

Through its Houthi allies attacking shipping in the Red Sea, and Hezbollah targeting Israeli positions in the border areas,Iran has asserted itself as a crucial strategic influencer over three major economic choke points: the Suez canal at the north of the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb strait at its south and the strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf.

Six months on, the outcome of the war remains unclear. The decimation of Hamas doesn't amount to its absolute destruction, as was Israel's stated goal. But the flux in West Asia continues to remodel the rules of global engagements during conflict.