Following recent cease-fire deals between Israel and Hamas, many networks have turned to the Ford School’s Javed Ali for insights on the next steps to achieving peace between the two. Ali spoke on various implications of the deal, such as returning the hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, which will require time and care to certify.
“What are the challenges of disarming Hamas?” ABC News, October 13, 2025 - Commenting on the retaliation of the Israeli military post-cease-fire deal, Ali mentioned, “This is a significant development over the past few weeks. This is the biggest Israeli military response to what they will describe as violations to the cease-fire, but it sounds like it will not lead to the collapse of the peace deal, and that hopefully things will remain under the terms of the deal going forward.” He also claimed that these attacks are “Going to be the reality of what happens on a day-to-day basis, where these proceed violations and then Israel, under their rules of engagement and directions from Prime Minister Netanyahu, may launch retaliatory attacks against whoever they think is attacking them.” Ali told ABC News that until Israel believes the cease-fire violations have stopped, they will continue to strike those who appear to violate them.
“How soon could hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas occur?” Channel News Asia, October 9, 2025 - On Channel News Asia, Ali asserted the gravity of the situation given how long it has taken the forces to reach a cease-fire agreement. “This is clearly a significant moment… there's still a lot of detail that has to be worked out, and then getting into the implementation. But the fact that we even have a statement like this from, firstly, President Trump, and then Prime Minister Netanyahu, and statements from Hamas, suggests that the different parties have agreed to the peace plan from a couple weeks ago,” stated Ali. He also argued that there are key aspects of the deal that need to be addressed quickly. These factors are “The return of the hostages, demilitarization of Hamas, withdrawal of Israeli troops, and cessation of military operations, the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, these are all things that in the short term that are going to be really important to address,” said Ali. When asked how long it make take for the cease-fire to be realized, Ali noted, “I expect it would take at least a few days for all of that to move forward and it has to be done the right way as well with again all that sort of, you know, with the right sort of conditions around it in a very dignified sort of process.”
“What to know about proposed Israel-Hamas Gaza ceasefire and next steps” ABC News, October 9, 2025 - When discussing the cease-fire oversight troops made up of military from various middle eastern countries, Ali questioned on ABC News, “How will all these troops get on the ground and oversee the different aspects of aid and reconstruction and security that are going to have to happen in the Gaza strip? How will they coordinate with the IDF, what are the rules of engagement how will they prevent being caught in the cross-fire between any resumption of fighting that may occur, even at low levels, I mean these are really important questions and I don’t think that, we just don’t know the details yet that over that really important aspect of the deal.” Speaking with ABC, Ali offered concerns that these oversight groups are not tied to a UN organization, which is unprecedented for this type of deal.
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