A Delicate Olive Branch

Is the Gaza peace deal a genuine turning point or just a pause before the next storm?

- Seema Guha

For Gaza's over two million people, it is a rare moment of respite. The incessant bombings over the last two years have stopped; the 20 Israeli hostages are back home. So are the 2,000 Palestinians prisoners. For now, the skies are clear. US President Donald Trump has already taken a victory lap with a whirlwind visit to Israel and Egypt and is basking in global attention, projecting his peace plan as the deal that ended two years of bloodshed.

Yet, beneath the applause, lies an uneasy vacuum. Who will govern Gaza once the dust settles? Will Hamas, though bruised and battered, lay down its arms or is it merely a tactical retreat? The promised stabilisation force remains invisible, and Israel—under a triumphant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—shows little sign of loosening its military grip. For many in the region, relief is tempered by doubt: is this a genuine turning point, or just a pause before the next storm?

Trump is optimistic that the peace agreement will hold. "The sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace," Trump declared and went on to add that a "golden age" has dawned for both Israel and the Middle East. Gershon Baskin, the Israeli columnist and activist who played a vital behind-the-scenes role in the negotiations, working with the US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, gave all credit for the deal to Trump. The president asserted America's power to get a reluctant Netanyahu on board. In an interview with Karan Thapar, Baskin said: "It's huge and we can't underestimate the importance of this moment. The war is over."

He denied that the agreement is iffy and short on detail. Baskin said that the process to get a multinational force in Gaza and ready a Palestinian government to take over the administration are on. He was speaking as an "insider", but to the rest of the world, the agreement is short on details.