Most wars end with two competing narratives from the main protagonists, but the Gaza war has three: the Hamas version, the narrative of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the narrative of his opponents.
Hamas on Monday claimed victory at the end of the bitter two-year war. The militant group said it had secured the release of Palestinian detainees and that Israel had failed in its military objectives in Gaza, with the deal being reached last week similar to one Hamas offered Israel at the start of the war.
Hamas claimed it was always keen on ending the war but Israel had thwarted several attempts to bring peace.
The images of hundreds of thousands of Gazans returning north to Gaza City were presented as a victory for “sumud” (Arabic for steadfastness) and retaining Palestinian hold on the land, while preventing a repeat of the 1948 “nakba” or catastrophe, which heralded the birth of the Palestinian refugee crisis during Israel’s war of independence.
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Netanyahu, in a televised address after the ceasefire was declared, took credit for what he termed Israel’s victory, claiming his resolute leadership and refusal to buckle under pressure, domestic and from abroad, was the decisive factor.
He cited his insistence on ordering the army to attack Rafah earlier in the war and Gaza City in the last few months, despite intense international pressure, as examples.
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“Throughout the entire war, there were those who claimed ceaselessly that we would not be able to get back all the hostages without completely withdrawing from the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“I thought differently, and I acted differently.”
But many on the right in Israel believe Israel should have continued fighting until “total victory” and the elimination of all Hamas resistance.
Amit Halevi, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud party, broke ranks, calling the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians who killed Israelis “humiliating”. Israel freed more than 1,900 Palestinians, including 250 who had been serving life sentences. More than 1,700 had been held without charge since the start of the war two years ago.
“The nation should have bowed its head today and lowered the flag to half-mast,” said Halevi on Monday, adding that Israel should have announced “to Hamas and to the whole world that the Jewish people will not forget or forgive until the complete annihilation of the neo-Nazis in Gaza and the restoration of Israeli control over this strip of our homeland.”
The opposition in Israel are also not endorsing Netanyahu’s version of events. When US envoy Steve Witkoff tried to praise Netanyahu in his speech in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square over the weekend, a large section of the vast crowd booed when his name was mentioned.
Netanyahu’s opponents maintain that the ceasefire was only clinched when Donald Trump forced the deal on the reluctant Israeli leader who has been accused of deliberately prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political survival, fearing that ending the fighting would endanger his coalition.
“Netanyahu isn’t willing to pay the political price of bringing back all the hostages,” claimed opposition leader Yair Lapid.
The opposition note that the Gaza ceasefire does not include the key elements demanded by Netanyahu over the last two years: there is no “total victory”; Hamas is still armed and on the streets without a guarantee for disarmament or leadership exile; Gaza’s postwar governance remains vague; and the Trump peace plan includes a clause for a pathway to Palestinian statehood and a future role for the Palestinian Authority.
Opinion polls in the coming days and weeks may provide an indication of which of the contrasting narratives the Israeli public believes.
If Netanyahu’s version triumphs he may consider early elections.
