The Gaza ceasefire agreement may be Trump’s biggest diplomatic achievement – but the devil is in the details Donald Trump

For Donald Trump, a peace agreement — or even a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas — could be the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.

The details and sequence of the deal to end the Israeli war in Gaza remain vague, but the statement of purpose by both Israel and Hamas carries meaning. By agreeing to an agreement with the political support of Arab countries and other regional powers, this is the best chance to end the war since the collapse of the ceasefire in March, which returned Gaza to a grinding war that left nearly 68,000 people dead, most of them civilians.

Since March, there have been rumors of a deal being reached, but nothing close to this. The first phase of the peace plan, as Trump called it in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, is clear and straightforward: the return of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a limited Israeli military withdrawal. But locating all the hostages and managing the Israeli withdrawal could be complicated.

In keeping with the tone of Trump’s presidency, hopes were expressed with hyperbole, with the president saying, “All hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw its forces to an agreed-upon line as the first steps toward a strong, lasting, and everlasting peace. All parties will be treated fairly!”

There is a lot to discuss. The administration’s proposed 20-point peace plan attempts to thread the needle between creating conditions for a ceasefire and negotiating a permanent end to the war; Difficult questions regarding the future of Hamas and whether the armed group will disarm, along with Israel’s vision for Gaza’s future, remain to be resolved.

We’ve been there before: The Trump administration was in a rush to negotiate an end to the Gaza war even before the inauguration, and a hastily organized ceasefire collapsed in January over the sequence of releases of hostages still being held in Gaza.

However, this is a crucial moment. As the US President spoke at an anti-Antifa roundtable on Wednesday afternoon, he received a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “Very soon. We need you to approve the Social Truth post soon so you can announce the deal first.”

No one said that Israel’s war in Gaza must end with peace agreements similar to the Oslo Accords or with political deliberations.

It is a very different moment – ​​an openly partisan and volatile American president, who has nonetheless used his unpredictability to keep his allies and enemies off balance. Trump is also said to be motivated by a desire to see himself as the first US president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize since Barack Obama.

The award is scheduled to be handed out on Friday, and the desire to give the US president the win has raised political considerations in Washington and throughout the Middle East.

The remaining tensions are palpable. In a statement, Hamas called on Trump and other parties to “ensure that the Israeli occupation government fully adheres to the terms of the agreement.” The fear is that Israel will resume its attack once it returns its hostages.

“We will never give up the national rights of our people until freedom, independence and self-determination are achieved,” the group said, an indirect reference to the desire for a Palestinian state that Netanyahu has rejected and the White House has largely abandoned as well.

Netanyahu also has political considerations to deal with. He said that he “will call on the government on Thursday to approve the agreement and return all the dear hostages home.” He must manage the response of right-wing members of his government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who have threatened to topple the government in the event of a ceasefire.

Trump has tried to overcome these considerations with brute force, threatening “total hell” in Gaza against Hamas if his desire for peace is not achieved. When Netanyahu expressed doubts about the deal, he told the Israeli leader: “I don’t know why you’re always so negative… This is a win. Take it,” according to Axios.

The US President is said to be planning to travel to the region this weekend to sign an agreement. This is his moment, and it may take all of his branding and personal influence to prevent another collapse of talks and a return to the fight in what could constitute a diplomatic defeat for his administration.