A succession of high-ranking US officials have found themselves in Israel in recent days – first special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner on Monday, then Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.

Their focus has been clear – to stop the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal from collapsing. And that essentially means ensuring that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not back out of the agreement, which ended two years of war earlier this month.

The presence of the US officials in Israel has been described as “babysitting” – designed to twist the arm of a far-right government itching to find any excuse to relaunch the war, which killed more than 68,000 Palestinians.

And so far, the administra

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