The surprise 2023 Hamas-Israel war has completely changed the central conflict in the Middle East. As the conflict has expanded to take in other regional players, the future of Israel as a regional superpower is now in doubt, as is the international system.

This important book looks at the immediate background to the 2023 war and asks whether the international system can contain two simultaneous wars in Europe and the Levant.

It covers the wars won and partly lost by Israel, in 1948 and 1973; the rise of Hamas and fall of the PLO; how Hamas took the Israelis by surprise; Hezbollah, the West Bank and Syria joined the fight; the role of the regional powers; the war's impact on Israel's society, economy and the IDF; and how the conflict impacts the whole region's relationships with the west.