On a Thursday morning in Jerusalem, as Shin Bet officers lined up to receive commendations at the President's office, Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a message that was as much a war bulletin as a ceremony speech. Iran still wants to destroy Israel, he told the assembled intelligence officers, but that desire is now far outpacing its ability to act on it. "We have done most of the work," he said, "but there is still work to be completed." It was a rare public accounting of where Israel's leadership believes the broader regional conflict now stands, nearly three years after it began.

The war that Netanyahu was describing was ignited on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants breached the fence separating Gaza from southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting 251 others. Many of those hostages were subsequently held for months under conditions that survivors have described as involving prolonged starvation, physical violence, psychological torment, and, in a number of documented cases, sexual abuse. Those accounts have deepened the emotional intensity with which Israeli officials frame the ongoing campaign, which Netanyahu characterised in blunt terms: Israel is "settling accounts" with those responsible, and, he added, "not many remain." Yet the accounting looks starkly different depending on where one stands.

Since a ceasefire agreement came into effect — an agreement that was supposed to reduce the fighting — Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,375 additional people in Gaza, according to local health officials. The total Palestinian death toll recorded by Gaza's Health Ministry, a body whose figures are regarded as broadly reliable by United Nations agencies, has now exceeded 73,789.