What happened
As the war in Gaza passed the two-year mark last week, President Trump’s all-out push to end the conflict gained momentum, with negotiators from Israel and Hamas meeting with mediators in Egypt to consider his 20-point peace proposal. The plan calls for Hamas to release its remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners; for the terrorist group to disarm; and for Israeli forces to pull back and allow for a temporary authority to administer the Gaza Strip. Trump leaned heavily on both sides to come to an agreement, reportedly urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in private to stop being so “f—ing negative” and “take the win,” and openly warning Hamas that it faced “complete obliteration” if it rejects the plan. He sent Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and informal adviser, to oversee the talks, which also include mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.
Israel chose not to hold an official ceremony to commemorate the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks because it fell on a Jewish holiday. But thousands gathered unofficially in communities near Gaza, where Hamas had overwhelmed Israeli defenses, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Across the border, thousands of Palestinians—already grappling with a hunger crisis, mass displacement, and Israeli air strikes—fled another Israeli offensive on Gaza City. “Our families have died, our homes are gone,” said Sanaa Adwan, a displaced woman in Khan Younis. “We pray to God that this war will end as soon as possible.”
What the editorials said
“President Trump will deserve credit” if the deal ends the fighting—and it must, said The Boston Globe. The conflict must end to free Evyatar David, an Israeli hostage forced by Hamas captors to dig his own grave. It must end so the severely burned Palestinian teen Rahaf Al-Dalou, in Boston for treatment, can return home. But Gaza needs “a political and diplomatic solution” that will “hold the peace, not just end the war.” Can Trump commit to the long-term nation building that will be required?
One point must be nonnegotiable, said The Wall Street Journal: “the speedy release of all hostages.” Hamas said “yes, but” to Trump’s plan, asking to water down the proposals that it be disarmed and excluded from a Gazan government, but the president pretended to hear only the “yes.” That was by design. If Trump can get the group to step one, which is hostage release, he will not only end the agony of many Israeli families. He will also rob the terrorists of “most of their leverage to determine how the rest of the proposal is implemented.”
What the columnists said
This has been “the longest, most violent war between Israel and Hamas in history,” said Daniel DePetris in the Chicago Tribune. Since the Oct. 7 assault, more than 1,150 Israeli soldiers have been killed, while Gaza authorities say Israel’s relentless strikes have killed some 67,000 Palestinians—some of them dying while waiting in line for food aid meant to relieve the widespread famine. Millions of people have been displaced. My home still stands, barely, said Gaza resident Ghada Abdulfattah in The New York Times, but it’s one of the few. Some 90% of this enclave of 2 million people has been bombed to ruins, and nearly everyone has an injured relative. “Gaza feels like a city of amputees.”
The war has also profoundly transformed Israel, said Constantin Schreiber in Politico, leaving it “struggling with its identity, its democracy, and its place in the world.” Traumatized by Hamas’ vicious slaughter of their children, Israelis mostly backed Netanyahu’s overwhelming military response as he not only obliterated most of Hamas but also severely weakened other enemies, like Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. But while Israelis feel safer, many fear their country is growing “more Orthodox, more militaristic, and less democratic.” And as ever more Western nations accuse them of genocide and recognize Palestinian statehood, they are “increasingly disconnecting from the West.”
Left to himself, Netanyahu would not end the fighting now, said Yair Rosenberg in The Atlantic. His far-right coalition partners want to empty Gaza of Palestinians, and until recently he thought he had an ally in Trump. But he went too far last month when he ordered the bombing of Hamas officials who were meeting in Qatar to discuss a U.S. proposal. Trump was angry, and he has now “successfully bullied” Netanyahu to the negotiating table. To get an inked deal, “he’ll need to do more of that.”
Israel and Hamas consider the U.S.’ 20-point peace plan exchanging hostages for prisoners
