US President Donald Trump has undeniably scored a diplomatic victory by helping to broker a truce for Gaza, but the path to the lasting peace he says he wants for the Middle East is littered with obstacles.

And it remains to be seen whether the 79-year-old Trump — who is not exactly known for his attention to the fine print — will devote the same level of energy to the conflict over the long term, once his victory lap in the region is over next week.

“Any agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, but especially one indirectly brokered between Israel and Hamas is an extraordinary achievement,” Aaron David Miller, who worked for multiple US administrations of both parties, told AFP.

“Trump decided to do something that no American president… of either party has ever done, which is to pressure and squeeze an Israeli prime minister on an issue that that prime minister considered vital to his politics,” said Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

But Miller, who has participated in Middle East peace talks over the years, warned of the “universe of complexity and detail” that remains to be hashed out with respect to the implementation of phase two of the deal.

The Israeli army said its troops had ceased fire at 0900 GMT Friday in the Gaza Strip, in anticipation of the release of all Israeli hostages, dead and alive, in the subsequent 72 hours, in compliance with the deal it reached with Palestinian armed group Hamas.

Trump has said he expects to head to the Middle East on Sunday, with stops in Egypt, where the talks took place, and Israel.

Art of the deal?

Given that every US president over the past 20 years has been unsuccessful in resolving crises between Israel and the Palestinians, Trump’s accomplishment is already remarkable.

But the Republican billionaire president has broader aspirations — to revive the Abraham Accords reached during his first White House term, under which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco offered Israel diplomatic recognition.

Trump has brought his son-in-law Jared Kushner, one of the architects of those accords, back into the administration to work with special envoy Steve Witkoff on the Gaza negotiations.

Officials and foreign policy observers agree that Trump deftly used a mix of carrot and stick — publicly and privately, and especially with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to get the deal done.

He also leveraged his strong ties with Arab and Muslim leaders including Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

For Miller, Trump clearly played a “decisive” role.

But while the agreement’s first phase appears to be on track, much remains undefined, including how — and if — Hamas will agree to disarm after two years of devastating conflict in the Palestinian territory, following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

“A ceasefire is not yet a lasting peace,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday, after meeting with European and Arab ministers on how to help the Palestinians in the post-conflict period.

Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote: “Whether this leads to an end to the war remains an open question.”

Huge challenges

Cook says the challenge now is to fully implement Trump’s 20-point plan, which calls for Hamas to surrender its weapons, the creation of an international stabilisation force and new governing structures for Gaza that will not include the Palestinian resistance group.

Trump insisted Thursday that “there will be disarming” by Hamas and “pullbacks” by Israeli forces.

Then on Friday, he added: “I think there is consensus on most of it, and some of the details, like anything else, will be worked out.”

But his administration will need to work hard to finalise the deal, and ensure that Arab countries in the region are invested in helping rebuild a devastated Gaza.

A team of 200 US military personnel will “oversee” the Gaza truce, senior US officials said Thursday.

Miller said there are “operational” holes in the plan as it stands, including “no detailed planning for either how to decommission and/or demilitarise Gaza, even if you had Hamas’s assent, which you don’t.”

The plan also calls for the creation of a so-called “Board of Peace,” a transitional body to be chaired by Trump himself — a proposal Hamas rejected on Thursday.

“Despite coming to office eager to shed America’s Middle East commitments, Trump just took on a huge one: responsibility for a peace plan that will forever bear his name,” wrote Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

An insider has just dropped a bombshell about Jennifer Lopez, and it seems she is yet to accept that her relationship with Ben Affleck has hit its end.

The source spoke about this in an interview with Heat World where they were quoted saying, “it’s understandable that she’d have a hard time moving on, it was all such a crazy whirlwind and it fell apart so suddenly.”

“But it’s been over a year and she’s still clinging on so tight,” the source added. So much so that “she’s refusing to accept that this is the end, she’s convinced that there is more to their love story and will not let go.”

According to the insider, “one thing about Jennifer is that she’s incredibly stubborn, when she’s convinced of something she won’t quit.”

“It’s one of the secrets to her massive success and a great trait in that sense, but it’s not a positive thing when it comes to her love life, it’s keeping her stuck.”

Even her friends are starting to get concerned because “she constantly finds ways to bring Ben up in conversation. After the way he treated her you’d think it would be to complain, but a lot of the time she just wants to reminisce about their past. Even something as random as her cat walking into the room can get her talking about him and some moment they shared.”

Still she’s “caught up in this pattern of magical thinking” the insider said near the end.

Plus “she’s insisting that they’re meant to be together, that it’s written in the stars and she can will it into being.” But “friends have tried to gently tell her that she’s only making this all a million times harder on herself, that what she really needs to do is manifest the strength to let go, but she’s fixated on the idea that Ben is her soulmate and can’t get past that.”

Adele is living a quiet and private life as it is reportedly as part of her long-term plan.

The Hello hitmaker’s no formal outing for more than a year has sparked concerns among fans on why one of the world’s most celebrated singers has apparently disappeared from the spotlight since her last performance in Las Vegas in November 2024.

Sources shared with Radaronline.com that the 37-year-old singer is “living like a hermit,” and she made a deliberate decision to distance from public life.

“This break isn’t like the others,” an insider told the outlet. “She’s deliberately distancing herself from the public.”

“Her life right now is very private – almost reclusive. She’s careful about what anyone gets to see, even people who’ve known her for years.”

Another industry source shared that Adele “has never been comfortable with fame.”

She “loves being on stage, but she can’t stand the attention that surrounds it.”

Now, “she’s finally living the way she’s always wanted to – completely on her own terms.”

Back in August 2024, during two-year residency Weekends With Adele, the Grammy-winning artist informed the Munich crowd that was going to take a break from music.

“I will not see you for an incredibly long time. I just need a rest, I have spent the last seven years building a new life for myself, and I want to live it now,” she said to an emotional concertgoer.

Sharing similar sentiments Adele, who is already mom to a son, said during a performance at Caesars Palace in May 2024 that she wanted to have more kids.

“Once I’m done with all of my obligations and all of my shows, I want to have a baby. And I want to have a girl because I’ve already got a boy. I feel like she might be the person I love the most in the world and I’ll probably hate the most in the world as well.”