Israel and Hamas have agreed to a broad “peace deal” brokered by the Trump administration.
The agreement, at the very least, involves a cease-fire between the two sides, a prisoner exchange and a partial pullback of Israeli troops in Gaza.
Simon Rabinovitch, Stotsky Professor in Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University, says news of the deal was greeted with “a lot of optimism” and a “powerful sense of relief.”
So far, the sides have agreed to several key points: a cease-fire; that Hamas would release its remaining hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners; and that Israeli troops would partially withdraw.
“The difference this time is that there are parameters to end the conflict, and most of all, an agreement for all remaining hostages, alive and dead, to return,” Rabinovitch says. “Israelis want the hostages returned and can’t envision an end to the conflict without that taking place.”
These initial steps constitute “phase one” of a larger 20-point plan that includes a series of ambitious but mostly blurry bullet points — the final step of which is Israel “progressively hand[ing] over the Gaza territory it occupies” to a transitional authority, according to the plan.
01/17/25 – BOSTON, MA. – Simon Rabinovitch, Stotsky Associate Professor in Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies poses for a portrait on Jan. 17, 2025. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
11/08/23 – BOSTON, MA. – Zinaida Miller, Professor of Law and International Affairs, poses for a portrait in East Village on Nov. 8, 2023. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Simon Rabinovitch, an associate professor, says the Trump administration’s peace plan was greeted with “a lot of optimism” in Israel. Professor Zinaida Miller says the plan lacks substane. Photos by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
In this first stage of the deal, Hamas would release 20 surviving hostages still held in Gaza and return the remains of 28 more. In exchange, Israel would free nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and hand over the bodies of 360 Palestinians. That exchange is set to take place over the next 72 hours.
The plan also calls for Hamas to “lay down its weapons,” that postwar Gaza be put under the control of a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee,” and that an “international stabilization force” be permitted to move in and help secure the war-torn region, among numerous other sticking points.
But those details — and others — are vague, says Northeastern professor of law and international affairs Zinaida Miller.
She notes that while the Trump plan appears to support a peaceful resolution to the more than two-year-old war, it fails to address the future of Palestinian self-determination in the region.
“There isn’t a long-term vision for Palestinian society, and I think that’s important to highlight,” she says. “And as the Palestinians weren’t involved in the negotiations, it is shocking to think about this as a peace plan.”
However, Miller says that any cessation of hostilities is cause for celebration. And, according to Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, the U.S. military has confirmed that Israeli forces have repositioned themselves along the boundary stipulated by the agreement, within Gaza.
With much still to play out, is this the breakthrough Trump, Israel and Palestinian leaders hoped for to finally stop the bloodshed?
“I think it says less about Trump’s dealmaking than it says about his leverage and his willingness to use it,” Rabinovitch says. “At the point he wanted the conflict to end he forced that outcome because the Israeli prime minister understands how reliant the country is on the United States and that Trump has fewer apprehensions about breaking longstanding relationships or agreements than other presidents.”
Rabinovitch notes that Trump was “also effective in using his leverage to bring other parties on board, such as Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, and to have those states exert pressure on Hamas.”
Rabinovitch notes that, broadly speaking, the deal is popular, but “Benjamin Netanyahu is not.”
“For now, his right-wing coalition partners say they will remain in the government, but it’s difficult to know how long that will last,” he says. “Everyone in the governing coalition understands that the polls do not favor their parties. That means they have an incentive to let as much time pass as possible before required elections next October to sell to the Israeli public the past two years of war as an achievement.”
Tanner Stening is an assistant news editor at Northeastern Global News. Email him at t.stening@northeastern.edu. Follow him on X/Twitter @tstening90.