October 7, 2023 was the day when Hamas launched the air, sea and land attacks on Israel that killed dozens of people. Hundreds of others were also taken hostage. That triggered relentless bombing of Gaza by Israel which has led to more than 67,000 Palestinians losing their lives to this day. Critics argue that Hamas's October 7 attack was the cause of Gaza being reduced to rubble and the fate of 2.2 million Palestinians being ruined.

The joint US-Israel 20-point peace plan for Gaza launched on September 29 calls for ceasefire in Gaza; release of hostages; withdrawal of Israeli forces from the besieged territory and deployment of an international stabilisation force consisting of Muslim countries; neutralisation of Hamas; and formation of an interim government composed of Palestinian technocrats.

This brings us to ask, what has Hamas gained from its October 7 attack on Israel? Why didn't it contemplate Israeli retaliation to its attack? Was the Hamas attack on Israel aimed at preventing Abraham-II accord in which the Saudi recognition of Jewish state was said to have been coming? Had Hamas not attacked Israel and continued with its low-level conflict, the people of Gaza wouldn't have suffered such devastation.

The so-called 20-point peace plan - which ensures liquidation of Hamas and imposition of an external hold over the Palestinian territory - came in the aftermath of the meeting of eight Muslim-Arab states held on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session in New York and President Donald Trump's........

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