New Delhi, Oct. 23 -- Schedules save lives, not podium lines-judge this "pause" by trucks, fuel and names returned.

GAZA STRIP - A week into what negotiators call a "first phase," the ceasefire looks less like leadership and more like damage control. Israeli authorities trumpet a tactical pullback while keeping gates on a hair trigger; Washington applauds itself from a podium and then shrugs when schedules slip; Europe mumbles about leverage it rarely uses. On the ground, families count trucks and hours, not speeches. The only arithmetic that matters is whether aid arrives, power flows, and people come home alive, or at least come home. That is the ledger by which this pause will be judged, however loudly officials insist otherwise. Earl...