The ceasefire in Gaza is raising hopes among many in Israel that the country can begin to repair its image abroad, after months of deepening isolation due to the toll of the two-year conflict.

Public opinion in the West has shifted significantly since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, triggered the subsequent war in the Strip.

Amid outcry about offensive’s humanitarian cost, several Western nations have publicly recognized a Palestinian state in recent months – despite staunch opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the United States.

Foreign polls have shown weakening support for Israel’s military campaign, even in its most important ally, the United States.

More than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health authorities, which don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, and whose toll is unconfirmed. Israel estimates it has killed some 22,000 combatants in Gaza as of August, as well as some 1,600 inside Israel on and immediately following the October 7 invasion.

Reuters spoke to 13 current and former Israeli officials and experts who acknowledged that the war has had a major reputational cost. Several expressed hope that the release this week of the remaining living hostages and some bodies of abductees in exchange for Palestinian terror convicts and detainees as part of a first phase of the Gaza accord could start the process of reviving the Jewish state’s reputation.

“This could help Israel regain some of the empathy and legitimacy it lost during the war,” one Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this week.

Peter Lerner, a former IDF international spokesperson, said that would require policy action on the part of Netanyahu’s government, rather than just words.

He called for “a clear, credible commitment to peace, protection of innocent lives, respect for international law, and a serious investment in regional and humanitarian partnerships.”

Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment. The prime minister did not attend a summit in Egypt on Monday, meant to discuss steps towards a permanent end to the Gaza........

© The Times of Israel