In light of the recent cease-fire agreement, Palestinians and their supporters abroad have gone from accusing Israel of committing genocide to jubilantly proclaiming that Hamas has won the war. Supporters of Israel say this narrative flip demonstrates that the Palestinians’ claim they were victims of “genocide” was both convenient and false.

“How exactly can you ‘win’ a genocide unless you were lying about genocide in the first place?” is how a New York congressman, Ritchie Torres, raised a point in a post on X. He added: “No victims of a genocide would ever claim to have ‘won’ a genocide.” 

Mr. Torres was responding to a statement shared by Nerdeen Kiswani, the co-founder of a hard-line anti-Israel group, Within Our Lifetime. Although Ms. Kiswani has, for months, protested against what she described as a “genocide” unfolding in Gaza, she notably shifted her tune in the wake of the cease-fire agreement. 

“Gaza has won, Palestine has won, resistance has won. Imperialism and Zionism has lost, the Democratic Party has lost, the future of the Zionist state continues to be eroded,” Ms. Kiswani declared on X. A similar sentiment was shared by a Palestinian journalist, Bayan Abusultan, who gleefully wrote: “I can’t believe I survived to witness this day.” She then pitched what was “next on the list” of Palestinian victories — the day Israel “ceases to exist.”

The cease-fire, if it holds, comes after a 15 month war that has severely degraded Hamas’ military capabilities and killed most of its leadership. Israel has not, however, achieved its stated goal of complete elimination of Hamas. It’s unclear if Hamas — which has shown an ability over past decades to reconstitute itself — will be able to retain control of Gaza at all going forward.

In any event, the “narrative shift” from victim to victor was foreseen by American political commentator, Dave Rubin, even before the ceasefire agreement was signed. He shared his prediction that “if this hostage deal goes through, the same people who told you that there was a genocide in Gaza will now tell you that their side won.” 

Sure enough, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have taken to the streets in droves to celebrate their “victory.” Videos of jubilant gatherings have circulated online, including footage of Palestinian children in militant garb being paraded around carrying machine guns. 

The current head of Hamas, Khalil Al-Hayya, responded to the ceasefire by praising the October 7 attack as a major achievement and describing the ceasefire deal as a “historic moment.” The Palestinian people, he said during a televised speech from Qatar, “have thwarted the declared and hidden goals of the occupation. Today we prove that the occupation will never defeat our people and their resistance.” 

The hostage release and ceasefire deal, which was signed by Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams in Doha this week, comes 15 months after thousands of Hamas militants invaded Israel through the Gaza border and launched an unprecedented terror attack.

Amid the ensuing war, Israel successfully eliminated 40 out of the 54 Hamas leaders who organized the attack, including its mastermind, Yahya Sinwar. The Israel Defense Forces estimates that it has killed a total of 18,000 Hamas combatants since the start of the war.

The devastation Israel inflicted on Hamas’ leadership and military capabilities was cited by President Trump’s first term ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, as evidence that “those saying that this is a victory for Hamas have got it wrong.” He argued that Hamas agreed to the deal because it “knows that its days are numbered,” especially given that “every single member of Trump’s foreign policy team” has “unequivocally” called for the terror group’s eradication. 

Claims of a Hamas victory were similarly derided by a pro-Israel advocacy account on X, Jews Fight Back. The group listed several characteristics of a wartime victory — including achievement of military objectives, territorial gains, intact leadership, and others — and put Hamas’s outcomes to the test. Their conclusion? “The only thing Hamas ‘achieved’ was the total devastation of Gaza, senseless death, suffering, and misery.”