BY DAVID M. HALBFINGER

New York Times

TEL AVIV, Israel — The run-up to Thursday's ceasefire agreement with Hamas was not smooth for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

After railing against a Palestinian state at the United Nations, he was made to accept at least the eventual possibility of such a state just three days later at the White House. When Hamas' acceptance of President Trump's plan to the end the Israel-Hamas war came with so many caveats that his allies saw it as a rejection, Netanyahu was pressured into going along with it anyway.

And after promising Israel a "total victory" that would ensure the Gaza Strip could "never again" threaten them, Netanyahu agreed Thursday to pull its military back before Hamas had assented to any form of disarmament, let alone to surre

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