If a ceasefire takes hold in Gaza, it will be a case of better late than never. But it is worth taking stock of the devastation caused by Israel’s massive and continuing response to the admittedly horrific Oct. 7, 2023, attacks during which about 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, is more than 57,000. An essay published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing a well-regarded international scholar, estimates that the real number is much higher — closer to 100,000. And once you include deaths from starvation and disease, it might now even surpass that number. At around 5% of the population, this might be the worst level of wartime death in the 21st century. This analysis has been disputed, but even the critique notes that the death toll is staggeringly high. Gaza has mostly been reduced to rubble, and according to the United Nations, of the population of about 2.1 million, 1.9 million people have been displaced during the war.

Nothing can make right what has been done to these people, but there is one path forward that could give some meaning to their misery: a Palestinian state. It is not as unimaginable as it might seem.

The central reality to understand is that a Palestinian state will only come into being if Israel embraces its founding. The idea that Israel can be “forced” into granting this concession to the Palestinians simply does not recognize the realities of power on the ground.

But circumstances today make it conceivable that Israel could move in this direction. Two outside leaders are key. The first is President Donald Trump, who is seen in Israel as the most pro-Israeli American leader in memory. He could use that political capital to urge Israel to give Palestinians political rights and statehood. The second person with real leverage is Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman. More than any other prize, Israel seeks normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia. MBS, as the crown prince is known, should insist that the price of peace is a Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is often seen as the greatest obstacle to a Palestinian state. But he is now in an unusually strong position and could use it to make history. Outside of Gaza, Israel’s wars have succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination. Hezbollah is decimated, Syria’s Assad regime is history, and Iran is weaker than at any point in decades, its nuclear program seriously degraded. Even in Gaza, Hamas is a shadow of its former self.

The next Israeli elections will take place in just over a year or potentially even sooner. Imagine if Netanyahu went to the polls as the man who destroyed Hamas and Hezbollah, defanged Syria and Iran, and finally found a way to settle the Palestinian issue while keeping Israel secure. He could win the election without the extremist right-wing partners who have insisted that the price on their support is no movement toward any Palestinian state. He alone might be able to convince Israelis that shocking the world with a peaceful resolution with the Palestinians would keep Israel safe — while keeping him in office.

In his remarks at the White House on Monday, Netanyahu spoke of making peace with Israel’s Palestinian neighbors and even spoke about a Palestinian state. He said it would not have all the attributes of a normal state, implying that Israel would retain certain powers relating to security. But that is surely the start of a negotiation that could bear fruit.

It’s easy to make the pessimistic case. In the wake of Oct. 7, Israelis are deeply suspicious of any concessions to Palestinians. In the wake of the mass casualties in Gaza, Palestinians are unwilling to accept Israeli terms for statehood. The Israeli government has been brutal not just in Gaza but also in the West Bank, where since the Oct. 7 attacks, at least 18,000 Palestinians have been arrested, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, around 50,000 settlement units are on pace to be approved just in 2025, and Israeli settlers have engaged in violence against Palestinians at unprecedented levels. Ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir are trying to create conditions for either a permanent apartheid state or the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians — possibly both.

But this is precisely why it is urgent to at least try to make a bid for another path forward. For those who feel that any Palestinian state that would emerge would only be a rump entity, it is worth noting that every time the Palestinians have walked away from a deal, the next one has been much worse. In 1947, they could have accepted nearly half of the old Mandate for Palestine. In 2000, the Camp David plan gave them about 95% of the West Bank and Gaza, most of which was proposed again by Ehud Olmert in 2008. Today, they will be lucky if they can get 70% of that land. When you are the weaker party, as time goes on, the deal gets worse. Better to take the best deal they can get now and use it to build a state that demonstrates success.

At the end of the day, there is only one man who can set this ball rolling: Trump. And were he to succeed, as someone who has criticized much of his chaotic and counterproductive foreign policy, I would not hesitate to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Email: fareed.zakaria.gps@turner.com.