Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his followers are insisting that Israel can restart the war in Gaza at the conclusion of Phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement and that President Donald Trump will back them, but it’s all speculation. Haaretz analyst Amos Harel argues that in Israel, it is not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is in control but rather Trump, despite whatever deals that the prime minister made to keep his government together. “It is not at all clear that the leaders of either side are interested in [phase 2],” Harel writes. “And still, it could be that on Sunday we climbed the first rung of the ladder toward completing the deal and ending the war, thanks to Donald Trump’s exhortations just days before he is sworn in for a second term as U.S. President.”
“The talk about resuming the war, which is supposed to happen at the end of Phase 1 in six weeks, is already mainly theoretical,” Harel says later, after pointing out that the flow of up to 1 million Palestinians back to northern Gaza could make it difficult for the IDF to resume operations there. “The decision now lies with Trump. The many promises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to ensure that the Religious Zionism party stays in the government for the duration of the first phase are destined to clash with Trump’s demands. If the American President insists that the war in Gaza must end, Netanyahu will have a hard time defying him.”