New Delhi, Oct. 5 -- Ceasefire by Sunday night in Washington, hostages at the center, mediators race to lock verification

With a Sunday deadline looming in Washington time, the fragile outline of a ceasefire in Gaza is taking on more detail and more risk. The White House says Hamas has delivered a response to President Donald Trump's proposal. Israeli officials say they have issued instructions to prepare for a first phase of the plan, a step they describe as contingent on verifiable movement on captives and security arrangements. Mediators in Egypt are arranging technical talks, while families of hostages measure hope by the hour. In the background is the same stubborn math that has shaped every pause and every collapse in this war: how...