Is a Gaza Ceasefire Incoming? Dems Manage Shutdown Messaging. Tensions Rise in Chicago.

Cautious Optimism in Gaza

There’s a dangerous optimism building in the Middle East, and I know that’s not usually something you want to bet on, but here we are. The White House is describing this as more than just an end to the war between Israel and Hamas. They’re framing it as a generational peace, and the key shift seems to come out of the recent UN General Assembly meeting. A 20-point peace plan was agreed upon by several neighboring Muslim nations. And while we don’t know for sure whether countries like Qatar and Oman are serious about pulling financial support from Hamas — if they are, that changes everything.

Marco Rubio’s commentary on ABC’s This Week laid out the emerging framework: an IDF pullback followed by hostage releases, then, eventually, Hamas de-armament. That order matters. It’s the kind of sequencing that can either build trust or let the entire thing collapse — and according to Rubio, that IDF pullback hasn’t happened yet. Which means, in this delicate timeline, we haven’t even started the 72-hour window that Trump keeps referencing.