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Mounting civilian casualties and growing worldwide frustration with Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have placed the U.S. government in a difficult position. Washington backs Israel in its offensive against the Islamist group to degrade its military capabilities and prevent another serious attack against Israeli territories and civilians. However, the Biden administration is no longer convinced that Hamas can be fully eradicated militarily. Instead, U.S. officials are interested in a pause in fighting that could lead to a formal end of the war, starting with a hostage exchange deal that plants the seeds for new political and administrative arrangements in Gaza.

Mounting civilian casualties and growing worldwide frustration with Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have placed the U.S. government in a difficult position. Washington backs Israel in its offensive against the Islamist group to degrade its military capabilities and prevent another serious attack against Israeli territories and civilians. However, the Biden administration is no longer convinced that Hamas can be fully eradicated militarily. Instead, U.S. officials are interested in a pause in fighting that could lead to a formal end of the war, starting with a hostage exchange deal that plants the seeds for new political and administrative arrangements in Gaza.

While cease-fire talks in Cairo have seemingly stalled due to Hamas’s unrealistic demands and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intransigence, the Biden administration appears determined to use the current crisis as a basis for a long-term arrangement that includes the recognition of a Palestinian state.

There is concern about the fate of Hamas and what remains of its governance, control, and militant assets after hostilities end. Scenes from Gaza of areas vacated by Israel Defense Forces ground troops, particularly in the northern part of the coastal enclave, have shown several instances of Hamas reappearing in supposedly cleared zones, demonstrating the group’s potential for surviving the war.

The risk of going back to business as usual after this war terrifies me. I am originally from Gaza. I have lost more than 31 of my family members who were killed by IDF airstrikes in Gaza City and Rafah. Both of my childhood homes are gone. My immediate and extended family are all homeless, having had to regularly flee in pursuit of safety. This personal dimension is precisely why I’ve been desperately seeking pragmatic ideas, outlined below, that address humanitarian aid provision and the stabilization of post-war Gaza through new security arrangements. This is not an intellectual or analytical issue for me. It is an existential one that threatens the survival of what remains of my family in the Gaza Strip and the preservation of the territory that I once called home.

While the Biden administration and the United Kingdom are reportedly exploring options for recognizing a Palestinian state, such recognition is unlikely to change much on the ground. What is needed now, more than ever, is an effort to use Gaza as a model for Palestinian statehood and sovereignty.

There is a unique opportunity now, before the implementation of a cease-fire agreement, no matter how long a pause in fighting lasts, to force Hamas to agree to steps that are more likely to result in a path forward. Such a path would allow for Gaza’s redevelopment and political transformation as part of an incoming Palestinian state. Doing so will require applying maximum pressure on Qatar, which is Hamas’s sole political ally capable of making the group moderate its demands during hostage and cease-fire negotiations.

After all, Qatar is not only negotiating on behalf of Hamas but is also hosting the group’s senior political leadership and was the group’s financial lifeline before the Oct. 7 massacre. Additionally, Al Jazeera Arabic has for years been the primary media platform for promoting Hamas’s narratives and bolstering the group’s propaganda which entrenched Hamas’s control over Gaza.

The U.S. must exert its influence over Qatar, including by leveraging the........

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