Three-phase deal requires new negotiations to advance and is highly vulnerable amid little trust between the sides

• Israel-Gaza war – live updates

The hours-long delay in implementing the Gaza ceasefire agreement is not a good omen for a deal that many fear could be doomed to failure as it moves through its challenging three phases.

While it is a truism that all negotiations to end conflicts rely on cautious trust building and are highly vulnerable to spoilers, the deal to end 15 months of fighting in Gaza that followed Hamas’s surprise attack on 7 October 2023 is more obviously fraught than most.