Middle East Sees Peace For Now

It’s 2025, a ‘year of continuous nightmare,’ and Israel stands at an impasse.

The nation has faced challenges before, but as the country limps into October, the international spirit is sinking into a growing state of despair. Casualty estimates in the Gaza War have numbered 70,000 (68,000 Palestinian, 2,000 Israeli) lives lost over the 2 years that this conflict has waged in the Gaza Strip. After months of long negotiations and bombings, the Israeli Government led by Prime Minister “Bibi” Benjamin Netanyahu reached a ceasefire agreement with the Gazan terrorist group, Hamas. The deal resulted in Israeli forces withdrawing to occupation of only 53% of the Gaza strip, a release of 2,000 Palestinian captives, and most importantly Hamas releasing its 20 Israeli hostages that were captured during the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th two years ago, according to BBC. The agreement is only in the first stages so far, but Hamas has so far facilitated the release of 2 Israelis hostages, with more expected to be on the way, according to the Associated Press.

In an attempt to smooth over relations in the region and to make his first official visit to Israel, Vice President J.D Vance (R-OH) toured the country, echoing American officials’ hesitant optimism at the potential peace agreement, stating that things are going “better than I expected,” according to the Associated Press. Vance visited with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet members to discuss the ceasefire agreement, partially brokered by the United States. In another statement to AP, Vance stated that “Once we’ve got to a point where both the Gazans and our Israeli friends can have some measure of security, then we’ll worry about what the long-term governance of Gaza is,” he said. “Let’s focus on security, rebuilding, giving people some food and medicine.”