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The reprieve brought by the ceasefire in Gaza is substantial. Within Israeli borders, the liberation of the living hostages has resulted in extensive joy. In Gaza and the West Bank, jubilations are taking place as as many as 2,000 Palestinian detainees start to be released – though distress persists due to ambiguity about which prisoners are returning and where they will be sent. Across northern Gaza, residents can at last return to dig through rubble for the remains of an estimated 10,000 missing people.

Peace Breakthrough Against Previous Doubts

As recently as three weeks ago, the chance of a ceasefire looked improbable. Yet it has come into force, and on Monday Donald Trump departed Jerusalem, where he was cheered in the Knesset, to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, he joined a high-level peace conference of more than 20 world leaders, featuring Sir Keir Starmer. The plan for peace launched at that summit is due to be continued at a conference in the UK. The US president, working alongside international partners, successfully brokered this deal take place – regardless of, not owing to, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinian Statehood Hopes Moderated by Past Precedents

Aspirations that the deal marks the first step toward Palestinian statehood are comprehensible – but, given historical precedent, somewhat optimistic. It lacks a transparent trajectory to sovereignty for Palestinians and threatens separating, for the foreseeable future, Gaza from the West Bank. Furthermore the total ruin this war has caused. The lack of any timeline for Palestinian self-governance in the US initiative contradicts boastful mentions, in his Knesset speech, to the “epochal beginning” of a “age of abundance”.

The American leader was unable to refrain from sowing division and individualizing the deal in his speech.

In a time of ease – with the hostage release, halt in fighting and resumption of aid – he decided to reinterpret it as a ethical drama in which he solely reclaimed Israel’s dignity after alleged disloyalty by past US commanders-in-chief Obama and Biden. Notwithstanding the Biden administration twelve months prior having undertaken a similar deal: a ceasefire connected with humanitarian access and eventual political talks.

Substantive Control Essential for Legitimate Peace

A plan that denies one side meaningful agency is incapable of delivering legitimate peace. The truce and aid trucks are to be embraced. But this is not yet policy development. Without systems guaranteeing Palestinian involvement and authority over their own institutions, any deal endangers cementing oppression under the discourse of peace.

Aid Necessities and Reconstruction Challenges

Gaza’s people urgently require emergency support – and nutrition and medication must be the first priority. But restoration cannot wait. Among 60 million tonnes of debris, Palestinians need support restoring residences, learning institutions, healthcare facilities, places of worship and other organizations shattered by Israel’s incursion. For Gaza’s provisional leadership to prosper, funding must flow quickly and protection voids be filled.

Like a great deal of Donald Trump's diplomatic proposal, references to an international stabilisation force and a proposed “board of peace” are disturbingly unclear.

Global Backing and Future Prospects

Substantial international support for the Gaza's governing body, allowing it to take over from Hamas, is likely the most promising prospect. The immense hardship of the recent period means the moral case for a solution to the conflict is arguably more critical than ever. But although the truce, the homecoming of the captives and vow by Hamas to “disarm” Gaza should be accepted as favorable developments, Mr Trump’s record provides scant basis to believe he will accomplish – or deem himself compelled to endeavor. Short-term relief does not mean that the possibility of a Palestinian state has been moved nearer.