WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump has scored a major diplomatic victory by helping broker a truce in Gaza, but analysts say the road to lasting peace in the Middle East remains fraught with challenges.
The Crime Control Department (CCD) said Friday that Israeli forces halted fire at 0900 GMT, in line with the deal requiring the release of all Israeli hostages within 72 hours. Trump is expected to travel to the Middle East on Sunday, visiting Egypt — where the talks took place — and Israel.
“Any agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, but especially one indirectly brokered between Israel and Hamas, is an extraordinary achievement,” said Aaron David Miller, a veteran US diplomat. He noted that Trump “did what no American president has done — pressured an Israeli prime minister on an issue vital to his politics.”
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Still, Miller warned that implementing the second phase of the deal will involve “a universe of complexity and detail.” Trump’s truce effort builds on his earlier Abraham Accords, which normalised Israel’s ties with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco. He has brought back Jared Kushner, a key figure in those agreements, to assist in the Gaza negotiations.
Experts say Trump used a mix of pressure and incentives with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and regional allies like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan to clinch the deal. However, questions remain over how — and if — Hamas will disarm after two years of devastating conflict following its October 2023 attack on Israel.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot cautioned, “A ceasefire is not yet a lasting peace,” while the Council on Foreign Relations’ Steven Cook said it’s unclear if the truce will end the war. Trump’s 20-point peace plan calls for Hamas to surrender its weapons, the creation of an international stabilization force, and new governance structures for Gaza that exclude Hamas.
A senior US official confirmed that 200 American military personnel will help oversee the truce, though analysts like Miller note “major operational gaps,” including no clear plan for Gaza’s demilitarization. The proposal also includes a “Board of Peace,” a transitional body to be chaired by Trump himself — a move Hamas has rejected. “Despite coming to office eager to reduce America’s Middle East commitments, Trump just took on a huge one,” wrote Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “He now owns a peace plan that will forever bear his name.”