On October 8, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Hamas and Israel had agreed to a cease-fire deal in Gaza. According to initial reporting, Hamas will free the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza; in return, Israel will free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and withdraw its troops from part of the enclave. Although Trump’s 20-point proposal aims to bring sustained peace to Gaza and address long-standing drivers of the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the next steps and many of the thorniest issues remain unsettled — raising the question of whether a cease-fire will open up real progress toward ending the war or offer just a brief respite.
Foreign Affairs Editor Daniel Kurtz-Phelan spoke with Philip Gordon about what the deal means for Israel, Gaza, and the wider world, and what may happen from here. Gordon has long experience as both a practitioner and scholar of U.S. Middle East policy. He served as National Security Adviser to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and as the National Security Council's Middle East Coordinator during the Obama administration. His many books include Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East. Gordon and Kurtz-Phelan spoke the morning of Thursday, October 8. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Does this deal mean, as Trump says, “peace in the Middle East”?
It is an extraordinary day, and if hostages are released as announced, and there is even a temporary cease-fire that provides some relief to the people of Gaza, we should rejoice. But the deal is a long way from “peace in the Middle East.” I would call it more of a respite from the hell of the past two years and an opportunity to move forward.
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