Ceasefires in the Middle East are currently in effect, but deadly strikes continue to occur frequently across all three existing agreements. The situation involves ongoing high-risk posturing and unstable ceasefire arrangements. The ceasefire in Gaza is active, and the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been renewed. The U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon requires a complete end to Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives from areas south of the Litani River, with the Lebanese army to assume full control of those security zones. Talks for a comprehensive peace deal are planned for later this month. President Donald Trump remarked that a ceasefire may be interpreted as reduced rather than halted violence. Peace efforts are hindered when the order of conflict events is misrepresented to hide which side reignites violence. The concept of a ceasefire as a temporary pause during armed conflict dates back at least one thousand years and was originally known as a 'truce of God.' Legal scholar Hugo Grotius viewed ceasefires as temporary states that do not end the legal condition of war, stating that if hostilities resume, no new declaration of war is needed because the state of war is 'not dead but sleeping.' Ceasefires are often seen as temporary pauses that may lead back to war.