10/7 Three Years After the Hamas Terrorist Attack
Three years after October 7, there is still no comfortable way to write about hope.
How does one discuss progress without appearing to diminish the murdered? How does one acknowledge military victories while families continue to live with unbearable loss? How does one celebrate resilience without making those who are struggling feel that they should have recovered by now?
While I am mindful of the painful fallout of horrors of 10/7, an honest assessment requires us to recognize what has improved alongside what remains broken.
October 7 exposed catastrophic failures. It also revealed extraordinary courage. The years since have brought significant achievements, profound suffering, and opportunities that remain unfinished.
The question is what we will do with all three.
Bringing our people home
Perhaps the most meaningful change since the first and second anniversaries is that the hostage ordeal has finally ended in one essential sense: those held in Gaza have been brought home, alive or for burial. On January 26, 2026, the remains of Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage, were recovered and returned to Israel. The ADL’s chronology records that this came 843 days after the attack.
That achievement deserves recognition. So do the soldiers, negotiators, families, and supporters whose efforts helped make those returns possible.
“Home” however, cannot mean “healed.” For survivors, freedom begins another difficult journey. For families whose loved ones returned in coffins, there is no reunion that restores what was stolen.
We should feel gratitude for those who came back without allowing gratitude to obscure the terrible cost of the wait.
Real military achievements – and their limits
Israel has demonstrated that those who organize mass murder cannot assume they will remain beyond its reach.
Yahya Sinwar, a principal architect of October 7, was killed by Israeli troops in October 2024. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike the previous month. These were substantial blows to organizations responsible for terrorizing Israelis and destabilizing the region.
Such achievements matter. They disrupted leadership and demonstrated operational capabilities that Israel desperately needed after the failures of October 7. Unfortunately, eliminating terrorist leaders does not automatically deliver lasting security.
Reuters reported on October 4 that Hamas still controls most of the areas in Gaza where Palestinians live, while Israeli forces hold more than 60 percent of the territory. Reconstruction remains stalled. A ceasefire has not yet produced a durable political settlement.
The next test is whether military achievements can become conditions in which families can live safely and terrorist organizations cannot rebuild their power.
The quieter victories
Some of the most important victories are taking place far from a battlefield. They are happening when survivors form relationships, pursue an ambition, or help someone else through pain.
Reuters’ October 5 report, “For freed Israeli hostages, every moment is now precious,” describes Emily Damari marrying and starting a clothing business after captivity. It also describes Eli Sharabi helping establish a center for families coping with trauma and disabilities, honoring the family members he lost.
These stories should never become demands that every survivor turn suffering into inspiration. Nobody owes the public an uplifting ending but they offer something powerful – evidence that devastation does not always have the final word.
As someone who speaks about meaning and happiness, I find this distinction essential. Meaning does not erase grief, but it gives a person a reason to keep living while carrying grief. The good that people create afterward belongs to them. It does not make the atrocity necessary or redeem the perpetrators.
An economy that still has a future
There are also reasons for cautious economic hope.
In its June 2026 Economic Outlook, the OECD projected Israeli growth of 3.3 percent in 2026 and 5.6 percent in 2027, describing a recovery in activity following the April ceasefires with Iran and in Lebanon. These are forecasts, subject to security developments, but they point toward the possibility of rebuilding and renewed growth.
An economy capable of recovering after repeated shocks is a national asset. Still, a growth figure cannot tell us whether a small business has survived, whether a reservist’s household has recovered financially, or whether a displaced family feels secure enough to return.
Recovery must reach people’s lives otherwise, encouraging statistics will coexist with exhaustion at the kitchen table.
The wounds we cannot see
The most sobering evidence concerns mental health.
The Times of Israel’s October 4 report, “After three years of war, Israeli kids bear the brunt of still-rising mental toll,” describes a Clalit Health Services analysis covering approximately five million members. New PTSD diagnoses doubled in the first year after October 7 and continued rising through the subsequent years.
This should shape our understanding of national security. A child who cannot sleep, a survivor afraid to leave home, or a parent struggling to function needs more than praise for Israeli resilience. They need accessible treatment, stable schools, supportive communities, and time.
Resilience should mean that help is available when strength runs out.
Turning pain into public responsibility
Another hopeful development is the willingness of people directly affected by October 7 to enter public life.
Reuters reported on October 5 that at least nine Israelis from families caught up in the attack are running for parliament. They represent different political positions but share a stated desire to help heal the country. Their candidacies offer no guarantee of better government. They do suggest that some citizens are converting grief into responsibility.
That responsibility must include accountability for October 7. Future achievements cannot cancel the obligation to establish how such a failure occurred and what must change.
Protecting Israelis, preventing Hamas from restoring its capabilities, and supporting a viable civilian future in Gaza are challenges that must be addressed together.
What would victory look like now?
Three years later, victory must have a human definition.
It would mean children sleeping safely. Survivors receiving sustained care. Families rebuilding homes and livelihoods. Leaders earning trust through competence and accountability. Military gains supporting a durable security framework.
There is much to recognize: hostages brought home, terrorist leaders removed, economic recovery within reach, and survivors choosing to build again.
There is also much that remains unresolved – and suffering that has become more entrenched with time.
We can hold both realities without diminishing either.
On this anniversary, our obligation is to remember the murdered, stand beside the living, and turn the courage revealed by catastrophe into institutions worthy of that courage.
October 7 showed us the depth of human cruelty. The years ahead must show what sustained human responsibility can build.
About the Author
Antony Gordon is a Fulbright Scholar and graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Antony’s TEDx Talk has surpassed one million views and was recognized as one of the decade’s most influential TED Talks. He is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author and the host of the critically acclaimed podcast, The Antony Gordon Show, one of the verticals in Lighthouse-Edutainment a multi-media platform that he launched with the backing of The Yucaipa Companies after working as the Strategic Advisor for Jimmy Donaldson a/k/a MrBeast for several years.
