Donald Trump talked up the US-orchestrated peace plan for Gaza during his visit to Israel and Egypt, enhancing its political and diplomatic significance, thereby making it more difficult for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wriggle out of it – as he did after two previous ceasefires.

The 20 remaining living Israeli hostages were freed by Hamas as well as the bodies of two of the 28 dead hostages, while 2,000 Palestinian prisoners have been arriving in Gaza and in Ramallah on the West Bank.

In a speech to the Knesset in Jerusalem, Trump claimed that his 20-point plan heralded not only long-term peace for Palestinians and Israelis, but “the historic dawn of a new Middle East”. He even forecast a peace deal with Iran, which the US and Israel bombed this summer. Netanyahu also talked of the end to the war as something permanent, where previously he had emphasised its temporary nature.

Despite Trump’s attempts to prevent Israel backing out, much of the 20-point peace plan is vague and subject to negotiations, giving Netanyahu plenty of future opportunities to blame Hamas for reneging on the deal and curtailing desperately needed food and medical supplies entering Gaza. But Trump is basking in........

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