A triumphant President Donald Trump declared Monday that the release of 20 living Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire deal was not only the end of the Israel-Hamas war but also “the end of the age of terror and death.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wouldn’t go that far, and Hamas has not agreed to disarm. A lot remains up in the air. But Trump and his team deserve credit for the first meaningful step toward de-escalation in a two-year war that has shattered Israeli and Palestinian families and left Gaza in rubble.
In a speech to Israel’s parliament, Trump called the deal “a brilliant point in time.” He told the Knesset, “Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change.”
We hope the president is right. The deal works because its first phase postpones the hardest questions. By narrowing the focus to the things closest to the people on both sides of the conflict — returning the hostages and getting desperately needed aid into Gaza — Trump was able to strike an arrangement that Israel and Hamas could agree on.
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No doubt that Israel’s unrelenting military campaign has weakened Hamas and its Iranian allies. But it took leadership from Trump and his aides to get us to this point. The president had become disturbed by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to news reports.
Trump leveraged his relationships across the Arab world and took advantage of a moment of weakness after Israel’s unilateral bombing of Qatar last month. That strike, aimed at Hamas leaders meeting with intermediaries, angered regional partners and opened the door for Trump to reassert himself as the broker others couldn’t be.
Trump’s unpredictable nature also worked in his favor. Netanyahu knew he could not afford to lose Trump’s support. Facing reelection and waning patience from the Israeli public, Netanyahu could now frame his concession as an act of loyalty to Israel’s closest ally.
Israel has a right to defend itself after the despicable terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 men, women and children. But as the war progressed, Israel settled into an indefensible position by blocking basic aid to an untold number of civilians in Gaza, including children. That had to stop.
The most difficult work remains. Gaza has been devastated by two years of conflict — neighborhoods reduced to debris, families displaced and a death toll in the tens of thousands. Sorting out the future governance of the territory will be the greatest challenge of all.
For now, the world’s attention must turn toward getting aid into Gaza. We hope Trump will remain engaged in the peace effort and press the chance to loosen Hamas’ grip on the region while allowing Palestinians to rebuild.
