(Antonio Gutteres, UN Secretary General)
"Shelves are empty. Wallets are empty. Stomachs are empty. Just one bakery is operating in the whole of Gaza."
There's no resolution in sight and Israel's army chief predicts the war will last for months.
Analysts say the fighting may consign the Palestinian territory to yet more devastation and an open-ended Israeli occupation.
Let's take a closer look.
Even if the war does end early in 2024, Israel will likely maintain a military occupation of Gaza.
No Palestinian authority acceptable to Israel - including the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority - appears able to take over soon.
Nor will Hamas readily cede control.
Most Arab states are unwilling to get involved.
That leaves Israeli occupation, an ongoing siege and no real reconstruction.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to articulate a plan for post-war Gaza.
Most politicians and analysts say the Israeli vision is to emulate the occupied West Bank model.
That means having some designated authority running civic affairs while Israel maintains security control.
Netanyahu has said Israel will keep some form of security control of all Gaza indefinitely, but he insists this would not amount to reoccupying the strip.
Netanyahu seeks to obliterate Hamas for its attack on October 7, in which Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 people.
"They have only two possibilities: surrender or die."
Gaza's Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar hopes to trade remaining hostages for thousands of Palestinian prisoners, end the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza and put Palestinian statehood back in play.
Neither of these aims look attainable in 2024.
Analysts say that eradicating Hamas will likely result in thousands more civilian deaths, the devastation of Gaza and further displacement of hundreds of thousands of Gazans.
And even if Israel succeeds in eliminating Hamas commanders, it will not be enough for Israel to claim it has destroyed the group and end the war.
Most analysts also agree it will be nearly impossible to eradicate the Hamas ideology, with recent polls showing a rise in its popularity.
There is no sign the war will usher in a revival of peace talks and bring about a two-state solution as the United States hopes.
