All living Israeli hostages are expected to be released Monday under the ceasefire brokered by President Trump. Palestinian families in Gaza return home to sift through what’s left.
ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
Israel says it expects to receive 20 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza on Monday. It’s part of a ceasefire deal brokered by President Trump that will also include the handover of bodies and Israel’s release of almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees. NPR’s Mid East correspondent, Jane Arraf, joins us from Amman. Hi, Jane.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Hi, Andrew.
LIMBONG: This exchange is taking place, of course, after a ceasefire in the two-year long war took effect on Friday. Jane, tell us first – what’s happening on the ground in Gaza?
ARRAF: Well, Israeli troops have pulled back to that agreed line, although they still control a large percentage of Gaza. And Gaza authorities say about 200,000 people have returned to the north since that ceasefire took effect, even though there’s very little standing where they came from. And there are thousands more still walking along the coastal highway towards Gaza City. But let’s listen to NPR’s Anas Baba, who was one of those returning to Gaza City after the ceasefire.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORNS HONKING)
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: It feels like I’m witnessing a place being born again. Men return first, searching for what’s left. Some mark the dirt now for tents. Others – they clear the rubble for barely standing homes here, just to spend the night inside. They are simply glad that there’s – some walls are still standing. On every corner, there is reunion, silent praises, dust-covered faces pressed together. The joy of surviving here doesn’t erase the grief, yes, but for a moment, it holds closer.
ARRAF: And then Anas, who has covered this war from the start and seen so many of his journalist colleagues killed, says Gazans don’t wait for permission to live. He says they carry hope like oxygen, that Gaza’s not only rubble – it’s resilience. And he says people are scared and stubborn but says, basically, they’re willing themselves back into existence.
LIMBONG: A key part of this whole agreement, and the main reason that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the ceasefire, was the release of Israeli hostages. So what’s expected to happen tomorrow?
ARRAF: Well, Hamas has a deadline of noon tomorrow, and likely before that, they’ll be releasing those hostages together. They include civilians and active-duty soldiers who were captured on October 7, when the Hamas attack sparked the war. They will initially be taken to hospital. And after that, there’s the release of bodies of those Israeli hostages, 28 who are believed to have died during captivity. Following that, and we’re not sure when yet, Israel is to release about 1,700 Palestinian detainees, most from Gaza, but in addition to that number, more than 200 from the West Bank.
But a prisoners organization says Palestinian families were warned by Israeli authorities not to celebrate and not to talk to media. In fact, an NPR producer went to see the family of one prisoner from Ramallah due to be released. She says they refused to talk because of the warning and seemed very afraid. Israel plans to deport most of the West Bank prisoners, so it’s not clear if they’ll even be able to see their families. Israel has refused, though, to release some of the most prominent Palestinian prisoners. That includes a Marwan Barghouti, who is seen as a unifying force among Palestinians and a potential leader.
LIMBONG: So President Trump, he was a key driver of the deal, and he’s expected to arrive in Israel on Monday. What is expected from that?
ARRAF: He’s going to address Israeli Parliament, and he’ll meet hostage families – families of the Israeli hostages. And then he’ll travel to Sharm El-Sheikh, the Egyptian Red Sea resort, where he will cohost a summit with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. El-Sisi is calling it a peace summit. There are leaders of almost 20 countries and organizations invited, including regional and European heads of state.
LIMBONG: There’s a lot going on here. So what else needs to happen for this war to end?
ARRAF: Well, quite a lot because the ceasefire is just the beginning. Israel says it still needs to ensure Hamas won’t be a threat, so that has to be worked out. It’s still unclear who will govern Gaza and who will pay for reconstruction. And most Arab countries are insistent that this has to be the start of a process that leads to a Palestinian state, but that’s unlikely to be hammered out at this summit.
LIMBONG: There’s famine in Gaza and so much destruction. What is happening with the effort to finally get more aid delivered to the people of Gaza?
ARRAF: Well, to start with, I mean, we’re looking at starting at less than zero. There are entire neighborhoods razed to the ground by Israeli airstrikes, no functioning hospitals in the north, no electricity, no schools. And then civil defense teams now are still searching for bodies that were in areas too dangerous to get to before. So far, they’ve found 233, according to Gaza health authorities. It says that’s in addition to at least 67,000 people killed during the war, many of them women and children. So for those who have survived, winter is coming, famine is spreading – there’s a huge need. But crucially, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is set to reopen. Israel had been restricting aid, but it’s now agreed to allow at least 600 trucks a day to enter – all of them still checked by Israeli authorities.
LIMBONG: Yeah. So President Trump obviously played a pivotal role in the ceasefire. What is the U.S.’s role in this going forward?
ARRAF: Well, the U.S. is sending 200 military personnel to a civil military coordination center, along with military people from other countries. The U.S. role will be partly to liaise with the Israeli military. But they’ve made it clear this isn’t boots on the ground here. It’ll be engineering, logistics, as well as typical military expertise, and there will be no U.S. soldiers in Gaza itself.
LIMBONG: That’s NPR’s Mid East correspondent, Jane Arraf. Jane, thank you so much.
ARRAF: Thank you.
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