Donald Trump has brokered a historic agreement aimed at ending the Gaza conflict and securing the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, bringing relief worldwide.
His 20-point peace proposal successfully achieved its initial ‘phase one’ goals, which include the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and the introduction of humanitarian aid.
The pursuit of a sustained peace still faces significant obstacles, such as the disarmament of Hamas and issues concerning the governance and reconstruction of the war-torn area.
In the coming months and years much will rely on continued pressure from the US, experts said.
‘Trump’s direct involvement, along with high-level national engagement, was undoubtedly pivotal in reaching this point,’ stated John Hannah, a former national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), in an interview with the Daily Mail.
‘If the implementation of this phase one is the only achievement, it’s a tremendous accomplishment for the president. It opens the door to move toward stage two and improve conditions in Gaza.’
He continued: ‘There remains a great deal of work to accomplish the remaining points of the 20-point plan. We must remain optimistic and strive to ensure as much of this plan succeeds as possible.’
‘A peace framework for post-Hamas Gaza is going to be an even more difficult and complicated task but he [Trump] got this done pretty damn quick.’
President Donald Trump brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas
People gather in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to celebrate the agreement for U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, to end the Israel-Hamas war
On Thursday, all parties signed the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal following talks in Sharm El-heikh, Egypt.
It came just over two years since Hamas carried out its terrorist atrocity in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas assault and 251 were taken hostage.
Following the initial agreement it is expected a partial pullback of Israeli forces out of populated areas in Gaza will start.
Hamas is expected to release the last 20 living hostages early next week, and Israel will free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas will also hand over the remains of around 28 hostages believed to have died, but that may take longer.
At the same time, hundreds of aid trucks will start moving into Gaza. Negotiations for the next phases of the peace plan would then be expected begin.
A large crowd gathers at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, to celebrate following the announcement of a ceasefire agreement expected to take effect in the Gaza Strip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-R) meeting with US President Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, (2-L), the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner (L), and Minister Ron Dermer (R), in Jerusalem, 09 October 2025
‘There are some very difficult negotiating days ahead and I think they’re going to take quite a while,’ said Hannah.
‘If you told me six months I guess I could see us beginning to have heavy details worked out, and some beginning of implementation by then, but it’s hard to determine.
‘It just depends on how many horses you put to this and how frequently you’re able to continue calling on the President of the United States to make a call when he when he has to.’
Hamas has long demanded that Israeli troops leave Gaza completely before it disarms.
Meanwhile, Israel has discussed keeping troops in a buffer zone inside Gaza and in a narrow corridor on the border with Egypt.
John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser in his first term, told the Daily Mail: ‘Hamas, are they going to disarm? How hard was it to get the IRA to disarm back before the Good Friday Agreement? And what convolutions they had to go through.
‘It’s in this plan, I think, to put weapons beyond use because the IRA didn’t want to say ‘destroy the weapons’ so they were going to put them beyond use. And they’ve actually used that phrase in this (Gaza) plan.
‘You can say these things and you can pretend that there’s agreement but there isn’t. There was no agreement with Hamas on any of it, and no agreement with Iran.’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers news of a deal to President Donald Trump during a meeting in the State Dining Room at the White House
An Israeli military truck transports a tank out of the Gaza Strip after President Donald Trump’s announcement on the Israel-Hamas agreement on the first phase of a Gaza peace plan
He said the plan appeared too complex.
‘Woodrow Wilson at the end of World War I, came up with the famous 14 Points. George Clemenceau, who was prime minister of France at the time, said ’14 Points, that’s really pretty strong, the good Lord only had 10.’
‘I think it’s too complicated. It envisages a terror-free Gaza. Everybody wants a terror-free Gaza but it’s one thing to write down principles and objectives that you want, it’s another thing to get it done.
‘To do something that is likely to have a permanent effect you have to be prepared to to negotiate out things in advance, sufficiently detailed that you can make it work, and there’s simply no basis here to think that’s going to happen.’
Under the peace plan an international body called the Board of Peace will oversee an administration of Palestinian ‘technocrats’ in Gaza.
Trump’s initial 20-point plan called for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to lead the body.
Palestinians waiting for the implementation of the ceasefire agreement
Hamas has so far not agreed, saying Gaza’s government should be worked out among Palestinians.
Hannah said a challenge would be ‘figuring out who the monitors of disarmament are going to be, and who’s going to make up the international force that will take on any remnants of Hamas post war.’
Hamas will probably ‘fight tooth and nail’ to survive as some kind of force in Palestinian politics, he said.
But he added: ‘We’ve now had two years of hell. This is the first moment in which you can at least envision there are real possibilities, real chances, to do something not only significant in Gaza on behalf of Israeli-Palestinian relations, but maybe more broadly and then onward and upward in the region.’
