This may not be the conclusion Israel imagined when it launched its campaign in Gaza. Not all the hostage bodies are home. Hamas is bruised, but not broken. The region remains volatile. Yet even as combat continues, the United Nations Security Council, backed by an American administration long assumed to be ‘pro-Israel’, yesterday endorsed a resolution that places an armed international force in Gaza, sketches a vague pathway to Palestinian statehood, and outlines a governing arrangement in which neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority is central.

For Israel this is a moment of profound uncertainty – a reminder that military operations, however successful, do not automatically dictate the shape of the political landscape that follows.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s restrained endorsement of the Trump-backed UN Security Council resolution was delivered online in English but not echoed in Hebrew. That reflects the strategic ambivalence surrounding it. The broader diplomatic framework, associated with Trump’s regional vision, promised much: the return of all the hostages, the eventual disarmament of Hamas, and the prospect of avoiding a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. It ties into larger regional realignment strategies, including proposed economic corridors from India to Europe and expanded normalisation with Arab states. For many in Israel’s defence and diplomatic corps, these are tangible goals. The UN........

© The Spectator