The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, expected to begin its first phase Sunday, has brought relief to the international community but questions about whether the truce will hold — an issue that President-elect Trump will have to oversee when he takes office next week.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a fragile three-phase agreement to return hostages and prisoners, and establish a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Trump, who took credit for the ceasefire deal, as did President Biden, appears to have wanted to take office with the conflict behind him, but he will now have to manage the details of a tense pact that could take months to resolve. He will also have to work closely with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a complicated domestic situation in Israel.

John Hannah, senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), said Trump may have to take interest in fully implementing the plan.

“Now he inherits the deal, which has still yet to be executed and implemented in all its different phases, and so my guess is he's going to now be invested in seeing this deal succeed all the way through Phase 2,” Hannah said in a Thursday webinar. “He's not going to want to see a restart of this war on his watch.”

Trump could also be persuaded to show interest if it’s tied to an incentive, such as Israel normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, a process that was halted by the war and would be a huge diplomatic success for his administration.

“If this gets wrapped into broader normalization, then there's a possibility that he will maintain interest,” said Osamah Khalil, chair of the international relations program at Syracuse University. “But if it doesn't look like the Saudis are going to move forward, or that the price is too high for them to put significant pressure on Netanyahu, then you can see him losing interest.”

The outgoing Biden administration is hoping that Trump will continue the work done this week and in November, when a similar fragile ceasefire was reached with Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the Trump administration must ensure there is a lasting peace in the region.

“For the incoming administration, I think it will be important to continue to show here is one path,........

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