Political analysts react to deadly Hamas attack

From being labeled “Israel’s 9/11,” to the culmination of a “50-year time bomb,” political analysts are reacting to the Israel-Hamas conflict and contemplating what happens next as the fighting extends into a second day.

At dawn Saturday, Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an infiltration into Israel by land, sea and air. The attack came hours after a barrage of rockets were sent from Gaza into Israel. The offensive occurred during a major Jewish holiday, and a day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

The attack certainly “did not come out of the blue,” said Dan Steinbock, founder of global consultancy firm Difference Group. 

“The Israeli-Hamas War is a logical result of 50 years of failed military policies,” Steinbock said in an e-mail to CNBC. He added that the attack marked the first major direct conflict within the Israeli territory since the country’s founding.

“It is a game-changer in the Israeli-Palestine conflict,” Steinbock added. 

At the time of publication, at least 250 Israelis have reportedly been killed with more than 1,860 injured, according to NBC News. The Palestinian Healthy Ministry, meanwhile, has recorded 256 deaths and 1,790 injuries in Gaza.

“Massive attacks by Hamas leadership into Israel … This is no less than Israel’s 9/11,” said the president of Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, in reference to the scale of the attack.

Israel is in its “strongest geopolitical position” in decades, Bremmer said in a video analysis, elaborating on Israel’s normalization of ties with various nations. Bremmer cited the Abraham Accords, which opened diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE, as well as Morocco and Bahrain. More recently, talks of potentially normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel had been in the cards.

“And if you are the leadership of Hamas, refusing to accept Israel’s right to exist … watching the politics of the region turn against you … Well, certainly that is part of the reason why Hamas would have decided to engage in this level of unprecedented strikes against Israel,” Bremmer concluded.

Israel’s defense system is hallmarked by its “Iron Dome,” an anti-rocket air defense system shielding its heavily populated areas since 2011. The dome claims to have a 96% success rate, however, some of Hamas’ rockets have bypassed the defenses and struck buildings inside Israel.