Implementation of week two of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal has gone according to plan, more or less. But anyone who seriously believes that there’s smooth sailing ahead for the three-phased accord should lay down and wait quietly until the feeling passes.

This isn’t an agreement between the United States and Switzerland. It’s the grudging result of 15 months of bitter, bloody conflict between two combatants seemingly pledged to the other’s destruction. One of those parties – Hamas – engaged in the willful and indiscriminate killing of civilians; serial sexual violence; the taking of hostages; and is designated by the agreement’s principal mediator as a foreign terror organisation. The other – Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose overriding goal is to stay in power – would prefer the war in Gaza continue, and thus is in no hurry to reach the agreement’s second stage, which imagines the end of the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Foreign Policy