Two years ago, Hamas was putting the finishing touches to its plan to attack Israel. In Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed that the Palestinians were a problem to be managed. The real threat, he insisted, was Iran.

Netanyahu's rhetoric opposing Hamas was undimmed, but he had also given permission for Qatar to funnel money into Gaza. It gave him space for his real priorities in foreign policy - confronting Iran and finding a way to normalise relations with Saudi Arabia.

In Washington, then-President Joe Biden and his administration believed they were close to hatching a deal between the Saudis and Israelis.

It was all a series of illusions.

Netanyahu has refused to establish an enquiry to look into the mistakes he made alongside his army and security chiefs that gave Hamas its opportunity to attack with such deadly effect on 7 October 2023.

The century-long conflict between Jews and Arabs for control of the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean was unresolved, festering, and about to explode into a war that looks to be as consequential as its other landmarks, in 1948 and 1967.

The Middle East has been transformed since 7 October, and almost two years into the war, the conflict in Gaza is at another inflection point.