The toll of war is often measured in figures: the number of people killed, injured or displaced. But how do we calculate the cost of ending a war?

In the case of Gaza, where Israel continues to pursue a 20-month military offensive, the sacrifices will be difficult to quantify.

US President Donald Trump had been confident that a ceasefire would be reached this week as Israel and Hamas negotiate through mediators in Doha. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited and left the White House without a deal being reached.

It’s not the first time such talk talks have dragged on, but the collapse of the previous truce brings caution in its wake. Between the lines of any potential agreement are conditions that could be catastrophic for Gaza. What would aid distribution look like after the war ends? Will the entire population be “concentrated” into camps, as Israel's defence minister stated? Is reconstruction an option at all at this point? Will the strip be militarily occupied? Meanwhile, what impact will all this have on the West Bank?

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher discusses the painstaking efforts to end the war in Gaza and how a ceasefire could impact security, aid and governance in the enclave. She speaks to Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group, and Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.

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During a visit to the Gulf in May, US President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement that he would revoke sanctions on Syria. This week, he kept that promise.

He signed an executive order on Monday to waive or review penalties, some of which have been in place for decades. The move comes as a relief for struggling Syrians after almost 14 years of a brutal civil war that has devastated their economy.

For their transitional leader Ahmad Al Shara, it’s a milestone that could give him the legitimacy that he and his Hayat Tahrir Al Sham-led government so desperately seek. But it also brings him new and complicated challenges.

“President Trump wants Syria to succeed – but not at the expense of US interests,” the White House said, while establishing ties with Israel would be a priority. The question is, what pressures could this impose on the new Damascus government?

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, guest host Ban Barkawi looks at US interests in Syria and the fine line Mr Al Shara will have to walk to keep his people and the West happy. She speaks to Jihan Abdalla, The National’s senior correspondent in Washington, and Omar Dahi, director at Security in Context.

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After 12 days of war between Israel and Iran, a ceasefire has brought a sense of cautious relief to the region.

Even after almost 21 months of war in Gaza and its spillover into neighbouring countries, the latest escalation set a dangerous precedent that could provoke more cycles of warfare and destabilise the Middle East.

The question is how did we reach this boiling point? The answer goes back decades, to a time even before the 1979 revolution in Iran when the country enjoyed a more co-operative relationship with Israel under the shah.

At the same time the region was going through a transformative period against the backdrop of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and rising anti-imperialist sentiments. As events unfolded and political leaderships changed over time, so did the strategic interests that Israel shared with Iran.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher dives into the context that soured the relationship between the two countries, and the more recent events that brought about the air war.

She is joined by The National's assistant foreign editor Aveen Karim, senior fellow at UCLA Burkle Centre for International Relations Dalia Dassa Kaye, and independent Israeli analyst Ori Goldberg.

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