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"We will crush and destroy Hamas. Israel will win."

Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu had spent years pursuing a strategy of managing rather than resolving the Gaza conflict — tolerating Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority in a 'divide and contain' approach. October 7 shattered that strategy. Facing political ruin, criminal indictments on corruption charges, and a coalition dependent on far-right ministers demanding maximalist war aims, Netanyahu navigated the war's military and diplomatic dimensions under impossible constraints. His personal political survival and the nation's security interests were not always aligned.

"We have been waiting for this for years. The time has come to say: enough."

The most consequential and most ruthless figure in Hamas's history, Sinwar spent 22 years in Israeli prisons — released in a 2011 prisoner exchange — and emerged with a plan for an attack that would shatter the status quo. He reportedly ordered the October 7 attack even knowing it would result in catastrophic harm to Gaza's civilian population, calculating that Israel's response would destroy the normalization process with Arab states and force the Palestinian cause back onto the global agenda. He moved through Gaza's tunnels for a year as Israeli forces hunted him, and was killed by a chance infantry patrol in October 2024.

"We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly."

A former IDF Chief of the Southern Command who commanded operations in Gaza during the 2014 war, Gallant became Defense Minister in Netanyahu's government. His announcement on October 9 — that Gaza would face a 'complete siege: no electricity, no food, no water, no gas' — became one of the war's most controversial statements and was cited in international legal proceedings. Gallant reportedly clashed with Netanyahu repeatedly over the war's direction, particularly on hostage deal negotiations, and was dismissed in November 2024.

"This is the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on earth."

The most elusive figure in Hamas's history, Mohammed Deif had survived at least seven Israeli assassination attempts — losing an eye, several fingers, and suffering severe injuries — over three decades as Hamas's military commander. He was the strategic architect of Hamas's tunnel network and rocket arsenal, and alongside Sinwar, the operational planner of October 7. He was killed on July 13, 2024 in an IDF airstrike in Khan Younis that also killed an estimated 90 civilians — a strike that triggered international condemnation but eliminated the man who had evaded Israel longer than any other target.