Despite Gaza ceasefire, Palestinians and Israelis will forever live in the shadow of genocide
After 15 months of Israel's relentless war on Gaza, a ceasefire agreement came into effect on Sunday.
Three Israeli captives and 90 Palestinian prisoners have been released so far as part of the deal.
Displaced Palestinians have begun returning to their shattered neighbourhoods, while Gaza's civil defence has started the grim task of recovering an estimated 10,000 bodies still buried under the rubble.
While it remains far from clear whether this moment marks the end or even the beginning of the end of the war, many in Israel see this moment as an opportunity to reflect on the country's war goals and whether they have been achieved.
Before the agreement was signed last week, Arye Yoeli, editor of the Religious Zionist website, Srugim, gave his verdict.
According to Yoeli, the war's goals were threefold: to dismantle Hamas's military wing, to topple Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and to return the hostages.
"None of them have been achieved," Yoeli wrote.
"After the hostages deal, the total victory is Hamas's. Netanyahu promised 11 months ago that 'we are within touching distance of victory', and two months later, he spoke of 'one step from victory'. Maybe we should translate this sentence into Arabic."
Israel exposed
It can be said, at least for now, that Israel's other undeclared goals have also not been achieved.
At the start of the war, Israel's intelligence ministry reportedly circulated a plan to force Gaza's population south into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
More recently, the Generals' Plan envisaged the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, with Israeli settlement organisations backed by government ministers gathering at the frontier in anticipation of a new land grab.
But neither scenario has come to pass.
Tens of thousands have been killed, and Gaza's towns and cities have been almost completely destroyed. Orphans, amputees, and everyone else who survived the onslaught will live in its shadow for the rest of their lives.
But the Palestinians are still there.
And while the devastation of Gaza is plain to see, that destruction may also hold up a mirror to the damage that Israel's war has inflicted on the fabric of its own society.
In the eyes of many, Israel has been exposed as a brutal and genocidal state, its own leaders now accused of war crimes.
Soldiers who have posted ample evidence of their own misdeeds in Gaza on social media face the risk of arrest if they travel abroad.
Many in Israel appear to have internalised the sort of language used by Israel's then-defence minister Yoav Gallant - now wanted by the International Criminal Court - who, at the start of the war, described Palestinians in Gaza as "human animals" and vowed to impose a total siege on the territory.
Writing in Haaretz last month, Israeli psychologist Yoel Elizur warned of the prospect of an epidemic of "moral injury" among returning soldiers, drawing on research into the psychological damage suffered by soldiers who fought in Gaza during the First Intifada from 1987 to 1993.
It remains to be seen what the ultimate reckoning will be for this generation of soldiers and reservists and Israeli society at large.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.