LEILA FADEL, HOST:
After two years and two days, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza. But unlike in the past, President Trump says this plan is for a permanent end to the war. He says in this first phase of the deal, Israel will pull back its troops, though not fully withdraw from Gaza. For more on this, we're joined by NPR's international correspondents Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv and Aya Batrawy in Dubai, who have been covering all of this for these two years and two days. Good morning to you both.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Thank you, Leila.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: So, Daniel, I want to start with you. When does the ceasefire begin and when are people freed on both sides?
ESTRIN: The ceasefire has not yet gone into effect. A person briefed by Egyptian officials close to the talks, who was not authorized to speak publicly, tells us that the plan is the following - the ceasefire is expected to take effect at the end of today. Then Israel will begin pulling back its troops from parts of Gaza Friday. On Saturday, Hamas will start retrieving hostages, and President Trump is expected to make a trip to the region on Sunday. And then by Monday, Israel will allow hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza, bringing food and desperately needed supplies. And also by Monday, Hamas is expected to begin releasing the 20 living hostages, and Israel will begin releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including women and children. It is expected to take much longer for everyone to recover the bodies of 28 dead hostages. Some are under rubble in Gaza.
FADEL: Aya, what's the reaction been in Gaza among Palestinians?
BATRAWY: Yeah. I mean, there was some sporadic celebration, but it's mostly been muted. I mean, look, Leila, you know, people have been living a nightmare in Gaza for two years, and it's not over. It's not something that you just wake up from overnight.
FADEL: Yeah.
BATRAWY: Have a listen to Ahmed Eid (ph), a father in Gaza, who told NPR it's way too soon for him to celebrate.
AHMED EID: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: So Eid says, "what exactly should I be happy for with all the bloodshed and martyrs?" He says he's been living in a tent with his children, displaced from his home, that he's lost 150 family members in Israeli attacks in this war, and that the people around him, also in tents, don't have any food or water.
It's hard to capture the scale of loss in Gaza. You know, the health ministry there says 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in this war. Twenty thousand of those are children. And the U.N. says another thousand children have lost limbs. Most homes are destroyed, and it will take years to sift through that rubble, where there are thousands of tons of unexploded bombs and bodies buried under that rubble.
FADEL: Wow. So much to deal with in the future. Daniel, what are the reactions from Israeli families who have loved ones still held hostage in Gaza?
ESTRIN: Well, this morning at Hostage Square, as it's known in Tel Aviv, where the families of the hostages have gathered for two years, rallying to end the war and to release their loved ones - this morning, they were cheering and singing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing in non-English language).
ESTRIN: But despite that sense of hope and excitement, we also heard mixed feelings from the crowd. We spoke to one man named Rotem Cooper, who called it subdued happiness. His dad, Amiram Cooper, was taken hostage to Gaza in the Hamas-led October 7 attack two years ago. He survived a long time in captivity in Gaza, but he died there. So he's hoping for his dad's body to be returned in this deal. And he actually blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said, torpedoed deals on the table throughout the war that could have freed his father alive. And his only praise this morning was for Trump.
ROTEM COOPER: It's President Trump. It didn't happen because of something the Israeli government did or the prime minister. It's happened despite what the prime minister did.
ESTRIN: And what the prime minister did was last month, he ordered a strike on Hamas' negotiators in Qatar. It failed to kill them, and analysts say that that actually was the moment that led to where we are today. It helped President Trump get Arab countries on board with a peace plan, and analysts say Trump is now the one who will need to guarantee this is a success moving forward.
FADEL: Now, you two have been covering this war, as I said, for the entire time. How would you summarize this moment, Daniel?
ESTRIN: I would say that each side comes out with something in its hands, but also significantly weakened. Israel gets hostages back. It has had military victories over the past two years, knocking down its enemies throughout the region, but it is more globally isolated than ever before. And Hamas has survived - but for now. It has lost Gaza. It has dramatically weakened. We will have to see in the next phases of this deal just how sidelined it is. But I just want to underscore just the feeling here that it's history, and it's very emotional, a very emotional day here.
FADEL: Yeah, of course. Aya, what about you?
BATRAWY: Well, Leila, to me, this moment is really about the cost of this war. Of course, Trump, Netanyahu and Hamas want to paint this as a moment of victory for themselves. But the rubble and the ash of Gaza that everyone is emerging from, to me, tells a different story. This war was livestreamed for the past two years on all of our social media feeds.
FADEL: Yeah.
BATRAWY: Hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists fought in this war. The entire population of Gaza has been affected. They've lost the lives that they once had and their hope. And so what this could mean is actually a generation of people across the region who don't believe in peace, and that is something the region will have to reckon with.
FADEL: Wow, a generation of people who don't believe in peace.
International correspondents Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv and Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Thank you to you both for your reporting.
BATRAWY: Thank you, Leila.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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