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T reprieve brought by the end of fighting in Gaza is immense. In Israel, the liberation of surviving detainees has led to widespread elation. Across Palestinian territories, festivities have commenced as up to 2,000 Palestinian detainees begin their release – though anguish lingers due to doubt about which prisoners are returning and their destinations. Across northern Gaza, residents can now return to sift through wreckage for the remnants of an approximated 10,000 missing people.

Ceasefire Emergence Against Earlier Odds

Just three weeks ago, the probability of a ceasefire seemed unlikely. Yet it has taken effect, and on Monday Donald Trump travelled from Jerusalem, where he was cheered in the Knesset, to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, he attended a prestigious peace summit of in excess of 20 world leaders, featuring Sir Keir Starmer. The diplomatic roadmap begun there is set to advance at a conference in the UK. The US president, cooperating with international partners, managed to secure this deal come to fruition – regardless of, not due to, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Aspirations for Sovereignty Tempered by Past Precedents

Hopes that the deal marks the opening phase toward Palestinian statehood are comprehensible – but, considering past occurrences, slightly idealistic. It provides no definite route to sovereignty for Palestinians and threatens dividing, for the near term, Gaza from the West Bank. Then there is the total ruin this war leaves behind. The omission of any schedule for Palestinian self-governance in the US initiative gives the lie to boastful references, in his Knesset speech, to the “monumental start” of a “age of abundance”.

The US president was unable to refrain from polarising and personalising the deal in his speech.

In a moment of relief – with the freeing of captives, ceasefire and renewal of aid – he chose to recast it as a ethical drama in which he alone reinstated Israel’s honor after purported betrayal by past US commanders-in-chief Obama and Biden. This even as the Biden administration twelve months prior having undertaken a similar deal: a cessation of hostilities connected with relief entry and eventual political talks.

Meaningful Agency Vital for Sustainable Agreement

A proposal that refuses one side substantive control is incapable of delivering authentic resolution. The halt in hostilities and aid trucks are to be applauded. But this is not yet political progress. Without processes securing Palestinian engagement and control over their own establishments, any deal risks cementing subjugation under the rhetoric of peace.

Humanitarian Priorities and Rebuilding Obstacles

Gaza’s people urgently require relief assistance – and nutrition and medication must be the initial concern. But restoration must not be delayed. Amid 60 million tonnes of wreckage, Palestinians need support restoring dwellings, learning institutions, hospitals, mosques and other institutions devastated by Israel’s incursion. For Gaza’s provisional leadership to succeed, financial support must flow quickly and protection voids be filled.

Comparable with much of the president's diplomatic proposal, allusions to an global peacekeeping unit and a suggested “board of peace” are worryingly ambiguous.

Worldwide Endorsement and Prospective Outcomes

Substantial worldwide endorsement for the Gaza's governing body, permitting it to take over from Hamas, is likely the most hopeful possibility. The tremendous pain of the previous 24 months means the ethical argument for a settlement to the conflict is potentially more urgent than ever. But even as the ceasefire, the return of the captives and pledge by Hamas to “disarm” Gaza should be acknowledged as favorable developments, the president's track record provides scant basis to believe he will fulfill – or consider himself obligated to try. Temporary ease does not mean that the likelihood of a Palestinian state has been brought closer.