The term "calculated adventure" does not originate from me, but rather from Khaled Meshaal, one of the remaining prominent leaders of Hamas, following the assassination of Ismail Haniya two days ago in Tehran. I do not consider this a calculated adventure at all; it is rather a gamble at the expense of ordinary victims who have paid the price for a decision whose consequences unfolded with the firepower of oppressive Israeli military machines, leveling the ground to dust.
Three hundred days have passed since what Meshaal refers to as the calculated adventure, and those who have paid the price are the ordinary Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, with over 150,000 casualties between martyrs and injured, most of whom are children and women, and around 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and famine that have claimed the lives of children and the elderly due to the horrific siege and relentless bombardment that shows no mercy.
Despite the International Criminal Court's intention to issue international arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their responsibility in war crimes and crimes against humanity, Tel Aviv continues to bombard the Gaza Strip. The bombardment has also extended beyond Gaza to include other countries such as Yemen, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. All of these have paid the price for this calculated adventure.
Medical sources in Gaza have reported that the toll from the Israeli occupation's aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to 39,445 martyrs, the majority of whom are children and women, and 91,073 injured, in addition to the assassination of several leaders, perhaps foremost among them Ismail Haniya, the head of Hamas's political bureau, and Muhammad Deif, whose assassination was recently announced, among others. More than 155 journalists have been martyred, and 100 media institutions have been destroyed, with over 100 journalists arrested, most of whom remain detained in occupation prisons.
Among the results of 300 days of this adventure is the near-total destruction of the Gaza Strip, putting it outside any equation of resistance to the occupation for the foreseeable future, and instead placing it in a framework of reconstruction and reconsideration of governance. The strip has been reoccupied—at least during the war—and certainly after that, a new reality will prevail, regrettably determined by Israel, with limited pressure from mediators or major states and organizations, which will certainly focus more on reconstruction and relief efforts, matters that require tremendous financial power or external oversight that entrenches the geographical national separation and postpones the announcement of the State of Palestine.
As a result of the October 7 adventure, tens of thousands have fled the Gaza Strip after the devastation it experienced, and the matter of their return remains a mystery, akin to the right of return for Palestinians displaced since '48. The adventure has allowed Israel to make significant strides toward its grand project of undermining the treaties it has signed with the Palestinians, culminating in Oslo, and has significantly bolstered its settlement presence beyond even the pessimists' expectations.
This is what the calculated adventure has wrought; what would have happened had it been uncalculated, oh brother "Abu al-Walid"?
