A ceasefire agreement regulates the cessation of fighting and military activities for a period of time in a conflict zone. It may be unilateral or mutually agreed upon, and is a critical step toward resolution of conflict and violence. It may be established to provide a setting conducive to peace negotiations, talks or humanitarian endeavors like the evacuation of injured soldiers.
Ceasefire agreements typically include a variety of specific provisions, depending on the nature of the armed conflict. These can include: the scope (land, air, and sea) of the cessation of hostilities; instructions down the chain of command to execute the ceasefire; monitoring arrangements; follow-up negotiations to discuss additional de-escalation and/or peace processes; prosecution of war criminals or amnesties; the return of displaced persons and refugees; the reestablishment of the state administration over the territory; the merging of State and non-State armed forces; and timetables for the termination or modification of the ceasefire.
In the context of protracted social conflicts with intrastate dimensions, ceasefire agreements are often intended to operate not as stand-alone agreements but as pre-negotiation instruments that serve to frame and shape substantive new constitutional arrangements. This can be especially difficult in cases of conflict where there are strong partisan interests that make it hard to achieve agreement on the scope of the ceasefire.
A key question is whether the Gaza truce will lead to a larger movement towards peace, and the answer will depend on a number of factors. One is the willingness of the Trump administration to push its closest ally, Israel’s hard-right government, toward a path that includes an eventual Palestinian state. The other is the willingness of Iran to accept the scope of the truce.
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