The collapse of Israel's intelligence and security remains unresolved and the officials who dismissed warnings of Hamas' attack are still in charge. As Netanyahu's government delays an independent inquiry, war rages on, and the scars have yet to heal
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Three years since that Saturday, Hamas' attack on the communities and military installations near the Gaza border largely remains unfathomable. The attack itself was extremely unusual in its scale, and its catastrophic results highlighted the extent of failure by the defense establishment, state institutions and the government at the top. In response, Israel waged war across multiple fronts, none of which have seen victory or even an end to the fighting.
Even the heavy blows Israel dealt its enemies failed to extricate it from the strategic quagmire trapping it, nor did they heal the scars from that day.
Haaretz measures three years since 7 October only by Israel's failures, Israel's scars and Israel's lack of victory. Its one reference to what Israel did in Gaza is "heavy blows Israel dealt its enemies", which writes out the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians and folds them all into "enemies". Palestinians do not appear in the article at all.
Writes the death out
Serious
“the heavy blows Israel dealt its enemies”
Why this matters
Haaretz describes Israel's assault in its own voice as "heavy blows" dealt to "enemies". It uses no word for killing and says nothing of who was hit.
The impression it gives
A reader comes away thinking Israel's three years of military action struck enemy forces, with no civilian dead worth naming.
The context
Coverage of the same anniversary reports that Israel's offensive killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed much of Gaza and drove most of its two million residents from their homes. The article never says killed, never says Palestinians and never names the genocide.
On the recordThe UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry found, on 16 September 2025, that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.ohchr.org (opens in a new tab)
Israel's offensive, which the UN Commission of Inquiry has found to be genocide, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed much of Gaza, yet it failed to extricate Israel from its strategic quagmire.
Writes Palestinians out of their own story
Minor
“Israel waged war across multiple fronts, none of which have seen victory or even an end to the fighting”
Why this matters
Haaretz judges Israel's war in Gaza only by whether Israel won. It does not say who was killed or what happened to Gaza.
The impression it gives
A reader takes the cost of three years as Israeli failure and Israeli pain alone, set against an attack whose results the article calls "catastrophic".
The context
The same day's coverage records tens of thousands of Palestinians killed, most of Gaza's two million people driven from their homes, and Israeli strikes continuing almost daily despite a ceasefire. None of this appears, while the article twice dwells on Israel's unhealed scars.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“the scars have yet to heal”