TEL AVIV — When approving the hostage deal last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed to ending the war in Gaza. However, in a bid to maintain his coalition, he also assured far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that Israel would resume fighting in the Strip until Hamas is defeated. 

Netanyahu is now faced with how to find a balance between the deal and the pledge he made to Smotrich.

The first phase, which lasts for 42 days, should see the Israeli military retreat from urban areas and the east-west Netzarim Corridor. The second phase involves the Israeli military first retreating from the Philadelphi Corridor on Gaza’s border with Egypt, and then completing its withdrawal from the Strip and ending the war. Smotrich insists that Israel should not stop fighting until the stated goal of the war — which is to eliminate the military and governing capabilities of Hamas — is fulfilled. But Hamas will surely consider Israel's refusal to evacuate the Philadelphi Corridor and its resumption of fighting as a breach of the deal. 

Israelis credit Trump with achieving the current deal with Hamas for the release of hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Still, in one of his first pronouncements in office, Trump expressed doubts about the prospects of the agreement. But that does not mean the American leader is not expecting the Israelis, and especially Netanyahu, to be grateful for the efforts he invested in clinching a deal even before entering office. Clearly, Trump would like to see Netanyahu go through with the agreement, including phase two.