The defiant appearance of heavily armed Hamas fighters during Sunday’s handover to the Red Cross of three Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the 7 October 2023 terrorist atrocities was a sinister reminder, if one were needed, that the ceasefire deal negotiated last week hangs by a thread – and could snap at any moment.
The basic problem, going forward, is that neither Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, nor Hamas’s reconstituted leadership, truly wants the truce to endure. Netanyahu was strong-armed, metaphorically kicking and screaming, into agreeing the deal by Donald Trump and his special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
