Finally, it’s important not to lose sight of the human dimension of the conflict. Among the many stories of heroism to emerge so far is that of Amir Tibon—a prominent Israeli journalist who found himself Saturday morning in the besieged Nahal Oz kibbutz with his family—and his father, Noam Tibon, a retired IDF general. Ronny Reyes recounts:

“You have to be quiet. You have to be locked,” [Noam] told his son when he called from the home’s safe room. “Trust me, I will come. This is my profession. Nobody, nobody, can stop me.” Over the span of ten hours, the determined father raced from Tel Aviv to his son’s home, where he rescued several survivors of Hamas and fought against the terrorists while on his way to save his family.

Noam Tibon and his wife raced from Tel Aviv to Nahal Oz, about an hour-and-a-half away, stopping along the way to help survivors of the Nova music festival massacre who were running away barefoot. After delivering as many people as they could to a safe location away from the border, Tibon went back and arrived at the outskirts of Nahal Oz, where he pulled out a pistol to join IDF fighters chasing away Hamas forces.

It was one of Amir Tibon’s daughters who first recognized the former general’s voice on the other side of the armored window, alerting them that he had finally arrived.

While the current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has never been friendly to Hamas, his government has objected strenuously to the Israeli campaign in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip. Haisam Hassanein explains why:

Cairo has long been playing a double game, holding Hamas terrorists near while simultaneously trying to appear helpful to the United States and Israel. Israel taking control of Rafah threatens Egypt’s ability to exploit the chaos in Gaza, both to generate profits for regime insiders and so Cairo can pose as an indispensable mediator and preserve access to U.S. money and arms.

Egyptian security officials have looked the other way while Hamas and other Palestinian militants dug tunnels on the Egyptian-Gaza border. That gave Cairo the ability to use the situation in Gaza as a tool for regional influence and to ensure Egypt’s role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would not be eclipsed by regional competitors such as Qatar and Turkey.

Some elements close to the Sisi regime have benefited from Hamas control over Gaza and the Rafah crossing. Media reports indicate an Egyptian company run by one of Sisi’s close allies is making hundreds of millions of dollars by taxing Gazans fleeing the current conflict.

Moreover, writes Judith Miller, the Gaza war has been a godsend to the entire Egyptian economy, which was in dire straits last fall. Since October 7, the International Monetary Fund has given the country a much-needed injection of cash, since the U.S. and other Western countries believe it is a necessary intermediary and stabilizing force. Cairo therefore sees the continuation of the war, rather than an Israeli victory, as most desirable. Hassanein concludes:

Adding to its financial incentive, the Sisi regime views the Rafah crossing as a crucial card in preserving Cairo’s regional standing. Holding it increases Egypt’s relevance to countries that want to send aid to the Palestinians and ensures Washington stays quiet about Egypt’s gross human-rights violations so it can maintain a stable flow of U.S. assistance and weaponry. . . . No serious effort to turn the page on Hamas will yield the desired results without cutting this umbilical cord between the Sisi regime and Hamas.