Whether Trump can bring an end to the war depends on specifics that Trump has not yet offered; on Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces pressures that extend well beyond Trump; and on the definitions of the words “war” and “end.

Like the Biden administration, which worked for a cease-fire in Gaza that never was, Trump wants the war there to end sooner rather than later. In a phone call ahead of the election, the president-elect told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wrap up major military operations in Gaza before Inauguration Day.

Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday want Donald Trump, who won the US election, to end the war between Israel and Hamas that has devastated their territory.