Relief, joy, and rare hope washed across Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank Thursday as Israel and Hamas finalized a hostages-for-prisoners release and ceasefire deal.

The dramatic breakthrough signaled the potential end of a conflict that reverberated around the world and set the region on a knife-edge, drawing in combatants from Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen.

The prospect that the harrowing two-year war was finally coming to an end arrived almost as suddenly as the surprise Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered it. Some 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage in that attack.

Why We Wrote This

As Israel and Hamas finalize the first phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, many in the region are focused on what can go wrong after two years of war. Even so, joy

See Full Page