The ceasefire with the Iranian regime began eight days ago on June 24. Despite the fact that we in Israel had just endured nearly two weeks of being truly terrorized – in a way that brought back the same fear and panic we felt in the first weeks after October 7, 2023 – in true Israeli fashion, much of the country almost immediately went back to normal, as if it never happened.
To many, this might seem like a strange, foreign concept.
How does one go from two weeks of sleepless nights, from anxiety triggered by every loud noise, from obsessing over “what else should I pack in my emergency bag?” to waking up the next morning, putting on a clean shirt, and commuting to the office like it’s any other day – often through the very train stations where hundreds had spent the previous night huddled underground, using them as bomb shelters?
Because in Israel, we don’t have a choice. If we stopped living our lives because of terrorism, we would never truly live at all.
But the truth is, the scars of war here are not always visible. Yes, Tel Aviv may look like it’s back to its buzzing, energetic self, but none of us are truly back to normal.
We’re still physically and emotionally exhausted from nights without rest. We still flinch at every unexpected sound. Some of our friends and families are trying to rebuild their homes, some reduced to rubble. We still instinctively scan for bomb shelters wherever we go. Certain neighborhoods of the city remain devastated from the regime’s missile attacks.
We may be walking through our days as if everything is fine, but the truth is that none of us have been the same since that horrific and traumatic day when Hamas stormed our borders, tore through southern communities and a music festival, burned, decapitated, and gang raped innocent civilians, and dragged people (dead and alive) into captivity.
Yes, on one level, we have seen extraordinary strength from our military. We’ve witnessed the full power and reach of the IDF, not just against Hamas, but against more formidable and dangerous fronts.
During the Hezbollah pager operation, Israeli agents managed to plant detonators in communication devices undetectable even by X-ray, an operation that revealed the depth of our long-term infiltration of Iran-backed proxies.
Over the past two years, Israel has eliminated nearly every senior Hamas operative behind October 7, along with key figures within Iran’s terror network, including Ismail Haniyeh, taken out on Iranian territory no less.
We have seen, perhaps more clearly than ever, that Israel holds undeniable military superiority, even over the head of the octopus itself: the Islamic Republic of Iran. By any rational measure, Israel has restored the deterrence it lost on October 7.
Still, it doesn’t feel like deterrence has been restored. Not while 50 hostages remain in Hamas captivity. Not while Hamas still holds power over Gaza. Not while the people of Israel continue to live with the aftermath of trauma that no battlefield victory can erase. So what comes next?
Next steps
For Israelis, the priority remains clear: we must bring the hostages home and bring this war in Gaza to an end.
According to Israeli officials, Hamas leadership is now in deep panic following Israel’s recent military success against Iran, and the fear they once instilled in the population is cracking.
The brutal terrorist group ruled Gaza for decades by stealing aid, hoarding resources, and reselling them at extortionate prices. But the creation of a new Western-backed aid mechanism – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – has finally begun to break that system of control.
Since late May 2025, GHF has been delivering nearly a million meals per day directly to the people of Gaza.
Their success has been so tangible that the Trump administration pledged $30 million to support it. Just imagine what Gaza could have looked like if, instead of handing Hamas $30 million each month, Qatar had funded efforts like this.
Israeli journalists are now reporting that local Palestinian clans have even begun to approach the IDF with ideas for governance in a post-Hamas Gaza.
On top of this, Israel appears to have achieved a significant intelligence breakthrough. In just the past few weeks, the bodies of eight hostages have been recovered, another blow to Hamas’ grip, and another sign they are losing control.
Meanwhile, the US administration is expressing optimism about a possible ceasefire and hostage deal in the coming weeks.
But here in Israel, we know it’s never that simple. Hamas has yet to agree to key Israeli demands: full control of the Philadelphi Corridor to prevent weapons smuggling, Hamas’s disarmament, and the exile of its leadership from Gaza. Whether any of this will come to fruition remains uncertain.
But where we stand right now feels like a tipping point in the Middle East. A real shift is possible. Countries like Saudi Arabia (and perhaps even Syria) could soon normalize ties with Israel. And if they do, they might finally work with the US to fight terrorism and bring quiet, stability, and hope to the region.
We can imagine a future where stable Arab states play a genuine role in improving Palestinian lives, not by funding terror or looking the other way, but by building schools, hospitals, homes, and jobs. A future where Palestinians are no longer pawns in someone else’s war, but empowered human beings with dignity, agency, and peace.
That future depends on our leaders – in the West, in Israel and in the Arab world – to make the brave and bold choice of cracking down on Hamas and forcing it to disarm.
There is no future for Gaza – no freedom, no peace – while Hamas remains in power. If the world truly wants to help the embattled coastal enclave, then it must finally confront the truth: liberation for Palestinians begins with the defeat of Hamas.
Only then can Israelis and Palestinians alike begin to heal from the trauma of war and move toward a shared, sustainable peace.
The writer is the co-founder and CEO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm that specializes in geopolitics.