Good morning. Major questions remain about the guardians of Gaza’s fragile peace – more on that below, along with the Bloc’s budget demands and the Blue Jays’ profitable playoffs. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Ottawa is normalizing ties with India, focusing on foreign interference then free trade
- Experts say the Lapu-Lapu festival suspect should have been in hospital before the attack
- Federal agency failed to track ‘forever chemicals’ in a Newfoundland town’s water, residents say
Israeli tanks in Gaza yesterday.Leo Correa/The Associated Press
Middle East
What comes after the ceasefire
At the leaders’ summit in Egypt on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump once again said the war between Israel and Hamas was over. Not just that – the trickiest diplomatic work had been handled, as well. “The first steps to peace are always the hardest,” Trump declared, flanked by flags and foreign dignitaries, on a stage where colossal white letters spelled out PEACE 2025. By yesterday afternoon, he heralded the start of the ceasefire’s second phase.
That might be premature. Two crucial Phase 1 conditions – Hamas’ handover of the remaining dead hostages, and Israel’s unrestricted allowance of aid into Gaza – both stalled yesterday, testing the fragile truce just hours after Trump completed his victory lap in Sharm el-Sheikh. Two previous ceasefires fell apart following hostages-for-prisoners trades.
But even if both sides manage to hold up this end of their bargain, preventing another ceasefire collapse will require heroic work – and Trump’s 20-point plan, while sweeping in scope, is awfully short on specifics. Here’s who is meant to keep the peace on the ground in Gaza.
International stabilization force. This force, intended to provide security until Palestinian troops can step in, would likely be made up of personnel from Arab and Muslim states, including Qatar, Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates – though none of these countries has actually confirmed they’re participating. They want a mandate from the UN before they send people over; that mandate hasn’t materialized yet.
It’s also unclear how the force would be funded and trained, or what precisely it would be expected to do. At a White House press conference yesterday, Trump warned that if Hamas didn’t hand over its weapons – which it has long rejected outright – then “we will disarm them.” Did he mean the international force? Or Israel? Or American soldiers? The U.S. said it would dispatch 200 troops to monitor the ceasefire, but they’ll be stationed at a base in Israel and will not enter Gaza.
Last month, President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country – proposed sending at least 20,000 of its troops to serve as Gaza peacekeepers. The optics of that offer, however, got a little dicey on Monday in Egypt, when a hot mic caught Subianto asking Trump for a meeting with his son Eric. The Trump Organization opened its first golf club in Indonesia earlier this year. According to the company’s website, another club in Bali is “opening soon.”
Palestinian technocrats. Under Trump’s peace plan, Gaza will first be governed by a temporary committee of apolitical Palestinian technocrats, overseeing day-to-day services in the postwar Strip. Over the weekend, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told the Associated Press that 15 committee members had been vetted by Israel and approved by all Palestinian factions, including Hamas. He did not specify who these technocrats are or when they might start.
Donald Trump and foreign leaders at the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press
There’s also no information about how long the temporary arrangement would last or who determines its end – or which party takes control after that, since Israel insists the Palestinian Authority cannot play a role in Gaza’s government affairs. More than 75 per cent of Gaza’s current population has had zero say in their political future. They were either too young to vote in 2006, the last time elections were held, or hadn’t yet been born.
Donald Trump. Both the international troops and the Palestinian technocrats are set to be overseen by a “Board of Peace,” definitely chaired by Trump and potentially led by former British prime minister Tony Blair. (Or maybe not: On Monday, Trump mused that Blair might not be “an acceptable choice to everybody” on his board.) Who else is on the board? Great question. That hasn’t been announced.
The board is meant to supervise Gaza’s redevelopment, although it is hard to fathom the scale of the work ahead. The UN estimated yesterday that US$70-billion will be required to rebuild Gaza. Roughly 80 per cent of homes and buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombing, producing 61 million tonnes of debris. More than 50,000 children are in emergency feeding programs, and the vast majority of Gaza’s crops are gone, making food production at scale impossible. Recovery will take decades.
But now that Trump feels he’s brought “eternal peace” to the Middle East, it’s conceivable his attention might wander. He already reminded U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff this week to start hashing out a nuclear deal with Iran, but not before resolving Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump has even soured on some of the praise he’s garnered for his work in Gaza. Time magazine just put the U.S. President on its cover, shot from below, backlit by the sun, alongside the headline “His triumph.” It didn’t go over well. “This is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out,” Trump posted on social media. “What are they doing, and why?”
The Shot
‘Toronto is basically Canada’s team and everyone rallies behind them.’
Round the Horn owner Kristin McNeill embraces Blue Jays fans Matt English and Kristie Nairn during the second game of the ALCS, in Toronto, on Monday.Duane Cole/The Globe and Mail
At sports bars and shops across the country, the Blue Jays’ playoff run has been remarkably good for business – just one more reason for the team to pull off a win in Seattle tonight.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: The Bloc Québécois laid out six non-negotiable demands for the federal budget, including extra health money for the provinces and Old Age Security benefits.
Abroad: The military said it had seized power in Madagascar after weeks of youth-led protests and the sudden departure of the president to an unknown foreign location.
Tech: Meta announced that teens on Instagram will be restricted to PG-13 content – and can only see more mature stuff with their parents’ consent.
R&B: Grammy-winning neo-soul singer D’Angelo has died at 51 after a long bout with cancer.
Cuts: Small landlords are worried about their financial future after Ottawa slashed international student permits.
Hits: Taylor Swift is squeezing a bit more juice out of her Eras Tour, releasing a six-part docuseries and a full-length concert film on Disney+ in December.