A War of Devastation and Stalemate
Two years. Twenty-four months. Over 700 days since the world watched in horror as the fault lines of the Middle East fractured with a violence that still echoes today. The initial shock has long since subsided, replaced by the grinding, soul-crushing reality of a protracted conflict. The question, posed with the grim wisdom of a man who has witnessed decades of such tragedies, veteran BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen, hangs heavy in the air: Two years on, will Israel and Hamas finally seize the chance to end this war?
As we look back from the vantage point of late 2025, the landscape is one of profound, almost unimaginable devastation. Gaza, once a vibrant, crowded strip of life, is now a geography of rubble and ghosts. The humanitarian crisis, a headline from the war’s first weeks, has become a chronic condition, a permanent scar on the world’s conscience.
For Israelis, the trauma of October 7th, 2022, remains a raw, open wound, a constant spectre that has reshaped national identity and hardened political resolve. The psychological toll on both sides—the children who know only sirens and shelters, the families forever broken—is a debt that will take generations to repay.
The Mirage of a Military Solution
This fragile, blood-soaked stalemate was not the declared objective of either side. Israel’s stated goal was the complete eradication of Hamas. Two years on, while Hamas’s military capabilities have been severely degraded, its ideology and political presence endure. The group has proven it can be bombed out of its tunnels but not out of existence. For Hamas, survival itself is framed as a form of victory, yet it is a victory presided over from the ruins of the society it claims to govern.
On the Israeli side, the political calculus is just as fraught. The initial unity forged in crisis has splintered, with the government facing immense internal pressure from a right-wing demanding total victory and a weary public, including hostage families, who desperately crave closure. After two years of immense military, economic, and diplomatic expenditure, the realisation seems to be dawning that a purely military solution is a mirage.
An Opportunity Born from Exhaustion
So, where is the “chance” Bowen speaks of to end the war? It lies not in a grand peace conference, but in the quiet, bitter exhaustion setting in on all fronts. The chance exists in the narrow space between two impossibilities: Israel’s inability to fully destroy Hamas and Hamas’s inability to destroy Israel.
For this chance to be seized, immense obstacles must be overcome. Both sides would need to step back from maximalist demands. For Israel, it means confronting the politically toxic question of a future for Gaza that isn’t permanent occupation. For Hamas, it means accepting a political reality that falls far short of its founding charter. The international community, from regional players like Egypt and Qatar to global powers like the United States, will be indispensable.
The path forward is one of grim, pragmatic necessity. The chance is there, born not of hope, but of the shared agony of a war with no victors, only varying degrees of loss. The alternative is to condemn another generation to this inheritance of hatred. The world is watching to see if leaders on both sides will finally choose a bitter peace over a pointless war.
