Peace at last? Lasting truce demands good faith by Israel and Hamas

Lasting truce demands good faith by Israel, Hamas

Despite jubilation around the world, the prospects of a lasting peace in the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas, with 120,000 dead or wounded, many of them women and children, and 1.9 million Gazans displaced, appear shaky. At stake is the absence of good faith over the terms of a three-stage ceasefire deal to which Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed after painstaking indirect negotiations by Qatar and the United States (US), owing to the deep mutual distrust. As things stand, the Israeli Cabinet has delayed a final signoff, which was due on Thursday. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is