00:00As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington next week for a meeting with
00:05US President Donald Trump on a possible ceasefire deal with Hamas, it's worth pausing to ask
00:11what exactly is a ceasefire? Trump, in his usual style, already announced on his social media
00:18that Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire and warned Hamas that if they do not agree,
00:26it will only get worse. Meanwhile, Qatar and Egypt have been working with the US
00:31to get the ceasefire deal through. Hamas has so far not responded. A ceasefire is an agreement
00:39to halt fighting between opposing parties in a conflict. It can be temporary or permanent and
00:46either declared unilaterally by one side or agreed upon by both or all sides involved.
00:52But ceasefires are not the same as peace treaties and they don't resolve the underlying issues.
01:01They are often just a first step towards de-escalation and diplomacy. In major conflicts
01:08like the one between Israel and Iran, ceasefires can be particularly complex. The two countries have
01:15no formal diplomatic relations and are engaged in a long-standing proxy and cyber conflict.
01:23So, any ceasefire between them usually requires mediation by a third party, a country or an
01:30organization trusted or at least tolerated by both sides. In this case, the United States has called
01:39a ceasefire between the two nations. Since May 10, when India and Pakistan decided to stop the
01:47military conflict, Trump on multiple instances claimed that he helped settle tensions between the two
01:54nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors and that America would do a lot of trade with them if they stopped the
02:01nuclear conflict. But India's External Affairs Minister S. Jai Shankar stressed that the May 10 ceasefire was the
02:09outcome of direct military-to-military communication between the two countries, including India's Operation Sindhur
02:17and not U.S. mediation. The primary purpose of a ceasefire is to stop violence and save lives. When hostilities are
02:26paused even briefly, it allows civilians to access aid and evacuate danger zones. Ceasefires also reduce the
02:36risk of miscalculation and further escalation, giving leaders time to assess their positions and explore
02:44possible diplomatic solutions. However, ceasefires are fragile by nature. They are often broken due to
02:52weak terms that both sides interpret differently, no enforcement mechanisms, there's often no neutral
03:01party on the ground to monitor violations, or rogue groups who reject the deal entirely and keep attacking.
03:09In some cases, one side may even exploit the pause to regroup militarily. So, while ceasefires are
03:17critical to saving lives and opening doors for diplomacy, they are not the end of conflict,
03:24merely a pause. Whether they hold or collapse often decides how many more lives will be lost before true
03:32peace is ever possible.
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