Six weeks after launching its Gideon’s Chariots offensive, “Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza as a stepping-stone to long-term peace, President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday. But the Jewish state’s Islamist adversaries may take more convincing. Despite the steady pummeling they have sustained at Israel’s hands, both Hamas and the Houthis refuse to give up the fight, while Iran threatens to reemerge like a defeated Marvel villain featuring in a post-credits scene.

Israel’s agreement to the ceasefire terms comes ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to the White House on Monday, where he hopes to spend more time talking about trade than war. The exact terms of the present ceasefire agreement are not publicly known, but Israel will accept no peace that leaves Hamas in power in Gaza, or that leaves their hostages in the hands of Hamas. “For Israel, any long-term ceasefire must include the removal of Hamas from power, the dismantling of its military wing and the exile of its senior commanders,” Axios noted.

Needless to say, these terms are difficult for Hamas’s military wing and senior commanders to stomach, even if they are just consequences for Hamas’s October 7 massacre. When Hamas proposes ceasefire terms, they always permit the terror group to retain its hold on power.

As a result of this fundamental impasse, throughout the past 21 months of war in Gaza, over-eager ceasefire predictions have been as common as sand fleas in the Gaza dunes. However, the current proposal stands out for the remarkable fact that Israel has accepted ceasefire terms proposed by Qatar, a Gulf oil state that has long sheltered Hamas operatives. This suggests that even Qatar is impressed by the reasonableness of Israel’s position — such that they have proposed terms Israel can accept — and that Hamas’s rejection of these terms would therefore be unreasonable to the same degree.

Thus far, Hamas has given no indication that it will accept the ceasefire terms, and it is up to Qatar and Egypt to convince them. With Israel’s agreement, American diplomats believe it has fulfilled their part. “We came with ideas, and our objective today was to get Israelis to agree. And they did,” said an unnamed U.S. official.

President Trump has gone further, openly pressuring Hamas with dramatic consequences if it refuses the deal. “I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump warned.

The president was likely referring to Israeli plans to systematically expand their Gaza operations into the remaining areas. “We’ll do to Gaza City and the central camps what we did to Rafah. Everything will turn to dust,” said an unnamed official. “It’s not our preferred option, but if there’s no movement toward a hostage deal, we won’t have any other choice.”

That makes it sound simple, but the multi-front nature of Israel’s war makes it far from simple. Yet again, Israeli missile sirens blared Tuesday in response to a Houthi missile attack, as well as two projectiles launched from Gaza. Fortunately, Israeli air defenses intercepted all the incoming ordnances. But the attack demonstrates that Israel still has to concern itself with possible missile attacks, even after its air force devastated the Iranian regime’s missile launching capabilities.

With all of the conflicts that have drawn to a close, Israel never reached a resolution with the Houthis in Yemen. When the U.S. signed a ceasefire with the Houthis in May, the agreement neglected to address Houthi attacks against Israel.

As a result, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to respond forcefully to the hapless Houthi attack. “The fate of Yemen is the same as that of Tehran,” he declared. “After striking the head of the snake in Tehran, we will also strike the Houthis in Yemen. Whoever raises a hand against Israel — that hand will be cut off.”

All of these threads lead back to the Iranian regime. For decades, Iran’s radical Islamist government has sponsored and orchestrated a network of radical Islamist terror organizations encircling Israel — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other smaller groups. The aim of the Iranian regime, like the aim of its terrorist network, is “death to Israel,” “death to America.”

And, after Israel and the U.S. thoroughly destroyed Tehran’s nuclear program, the ominous specter of Iran’s nuclear program has already begun to rise, undead, from its shallow grave. Iran has now implemented legislation suspending its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is the U.N.’s nuclear inspection agency.

This move violates Iran’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), under which Iran agreed not to pursue or obtain nuclear weapons. Iran has already threatened that any effort to enforce the treaty against them by enacting tougher sanctions would provoke them to withdraw from the NPT, following a precedent set only by North Korea. Despite its damaged centrifuges, bombed-out bunkers, and assassinated nuclear scientists, Iran sure seems committed to building a nuclear weapon.

Thus, Israel hammered Hamas, neutralized Hezbollah, and bombed Iran’s missile launchers — and, what offered to be more dangerous, its nuclear weapons program — into the ground. Israel has agreed to ceasefire terms with whatever is left of Hamas, but the attacks keep coming.

Israel just wants to live in peace. They just want to enjoy, “among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” But not her enemies! Israel’s enemies only want peace after Israel has been annihilated.

For Israel, the psalmist’s complaint remains literally true, “Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!” (Psalm 120:6-7).