Arab Media Focuses on Gaza Destruction for October 7 Anniversary

Three years after Hamas launched its October 7 invasion of Israel, Arab media coverage has focused heavily on Gaza devastation and celebrates the assault as Al-Aqsa Flood, while offering no statements of sympathy for Israeli victims from Arab leaders.

Three years after Hamas carried out its October 7 invasion of Israel, media outlets across the Arab world have marked the anniversary by training their focus squarely on the massive destruction in Gaza.

State Media in Egypt and Independent Press in Jordan Frame the Anniversary

Egypt’s state-owned Maspero marked the anniversary by using Hamas’s own terminology for the assault, publishing an article titled New details emerge about the Al-Aqsa Flood… and featuring analysis exclusively from Palestinian and Egyptian professors. The report described the operation as a crushing blow that enabled Hamas to occupy settlements in the envelope and kill hundreds of soldiers and officers. However, it made no mention of the more than 800 civilians killed during the attack, which included Naama Abu Rashed, a Bedouin-Israeli newborn who died fourteen hours after an emergency Cesarean section following a gunshot wound to her pregnant mother.

Meanwhile, the independent Jordanian daily Al Ghad also omitted specific victim counts in its coverage. Instead, the paper highlighted Israel closing crossings from Gaza and the West Bank for two days, while reporting that Hamas justified the unprecedented assault on eleven military bases and twenty-two settlements to end the siege on Gaza and thwart plans to impose sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al Ghad relied on casualty figures supplied by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian deaths.

Contrasting Assessments of War and Regional Consequences

Coverage across state and independent outlets placed heavy emphasis on the human toll inside the Gaza Strip following the initial breach. Egyptian state media detailed the wider conflict by reporting that approximately 74,000 Palestinians were killed and about 100,000 others wounded, alongside the destruction of roughly ninety percent of Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure. Dr. Emad Mohsen alleged in state media reports that Israel unleashed a killing machine driven by a raging desire for revenge, resulting in genocide and crimes against humanity.

Above all, the true face of Zionist extremism, its expansionist desire, its thirst for Palestinian and Arab blood, its call for displacement, genocide, murder, settlement, and the undermining of the Palestinian dream of freedom and national independence, was revealed.

Al Ghad

In Lebanon, the independent news website Janoubia took a different analytical approach, publishing an assessment titled 8 dangers threatening Israel on ‘October 7th!’ While the Janoubia article also referred to the operation as Al-Aqsa Flood and left out mention of the victims, it focused heavily on Israel’s broader security situation and acknowledged several military achievements by the Israel Defense Forces.

Shifting Focus to Intelligence Failures and Advance Warnings

Another prominent theme in regional coverage has centered on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received advance warnings of the attack from Arab states, shifting attention away from Hamas’s actions and toward alleged intelligence and political failures. While Haaretz reported that Netanyahu denied receiving an advance warning from the United Arab Emirates, The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel had warned Netanyahu of Hamas’s plans—an allegation Netanyahu has similarly denied.