A Deal Emerges for Peace in Gaza and the Release of Hostages

0:00Today on State of the World, a deal emerges for peace in Gaza and the release of hostages.

0:10You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Thursday, October 9th. I'm Greg Dixon. As the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza just passed the two-year mark, there is hope that it could be coming to an end. Both sides have agreed to a ceasefire. And President Trump, who brokered the deal, says this is a plan for a permanent end to the war. The ceasefire is expected to start Thursday night, and in the first phase, Israel will pull back its troops but not fully withdraw from Gaza. In today's episode, we're going to hear reaction from around the region.

0:51In a few minutes, we'll hear how the family of an Israeli hostage whose remains are still in Gaza are feeling about the news. First, we'll hear from two of our correspondents who've been covering this war since the beginning. Leila Faddle spoke to NPR's Aya Batraoui in Dubai and Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. 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. 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.

1:30And 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. Aya, what's the reaction been in Gaza among Palestinians? Yeah, I mean, there was some sporadic celebration, but it's mostly been muted. I mean, look, Layla, you know, people have been living a nightmare in Gaza for two years, and it's not over.

2:12It's not something that you just wake up from overnight. Have a listen to Ahmad Ayd, a father in Gaza, who told NPR it's way too soon for him to celebrate. I'm a child who's hurt and who's hurt. I have 150 people in the family. So Ait 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. The health ministry there says 67 ,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in this war.

2:4920 ,000 of those are children. And the UN says another 1 ,000 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. 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? 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.

3:33But 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 7th 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.

4:11It's President Trump. It didn't happen because of something the Israeli government did or the prime minister. It happened despite what the prime minister did. 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. Now, you two have been covering this war for the entire time. How would you summarize this moment, Daniel?

4:47I 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 is 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. Yeah, of course. Aya, what about you?

5:23Well, 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 live streamed for the past two years on all of our social media feeds. 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.

5:55And that is something the region will have to reckon with. Wow, a generation of people who don't believe in peace. International Correspondents Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv and Ayya Batrawi in Dubai. Thank you to you both for your reporting. Thank you, Leila. You're welcome. Many families of Israeli hostages taken into Gaza have spent the last two years pressing the government to make a deal that would see their loved ones returned. Now that deal seems to have emerged. We're going to hear now from Udi Gorin. His cousin, Tal Hayemi, was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, and his remains are still being held in Gaza.

6:33Udi spoke to A. Martinez. When you heard for the first time that an agreement had been reached, what was going through your mind and your heart? I think Rotem Cooper, that we've heard earlier, said it right. You know, the first is a sigh of relief because finally this is what we've been striving for for these two years. you know, protesting out in the streets, traveling all around the world, speaking to politicians, going here to the Israeli parliament. The demonstrations and the rallies and all we've done led to this very moment. So the first thing is a sign of relief, is a sign of relief. But then we've got to remember exactly what the correspondents just said.

7:16Some of the murdered hostages, they can't be found, or at least Hamas says they can't find them. My cousin is a murdered hostage. And we are here, we, the hostage families, and all the people that support this cause, we are here until the last remaining hostages back in Israel. We all deserve to have this closure and have them brought back. What's your understanding about Tal's remains? Are they not found? Do you know if you'll be able to get it somehow? Unfortunately, this is not an information that is disclosed to us because, you know, it actually makes sense in order to not jeopardize the military and the intel's efforts to retrieve all the bodies.

8:01So all we have left is, you know, really aspire for the best. But for me, it really doesn't matter because this struggle is not about Tal. It's about all the hostages that need to be back home. What would it mean to you, though, to have his remains back with you? You know, there's a term we've come to learn in these past two years, and it's called delayed grief. You know, when you lose someone, you go through the different phases of grieving. And at first there's shock, then there's denial. And then you're supposed to move forward until you come to terms with it and you can rebuild and move on.

8:39And we've just been stuck. We got stuck on October 7th. We don't have time to grieve. We don't even have proof that he's dead. And that just keeps all these families stuck in phase one, which normally, you know, you have to go see a therapist if you're stuck grieving in phase one. But the circumstances are such. And all of these families, all of us, we've lost family members. We've lost friends. We've lost people that we knew and never had a time to stop and grieve them. and that is the first thing that needs to happen in order for us to actually move forward. If you could for just a minute, can you tell us about your cousin, Tal?

9:22Who was he? Absolutely. Tal was kind of a shy person. He's not the first person you would notice when he walked into a room, but he was always the first person people turned to when they needed something fixed or when, you know, he was a civil engineer. He was very good with his hands. When, you know, When people would get IKEA furniture, then he would be the one they would call. And he was also a family man. He was really a part of his community. He would wake up early to make sandwiches for the kids. He would come back home to spend time with them. And the Chaimi clan, they're a big family in the kibbutz.

9:57And they would be together all the time, a lot of times, in Tal's home. Now, we've been places before where deals come close and then they wind up falling apart. I know this feels like it's a done deal, but I mean, are you worried at all that something could happen? It really doesn't. It really doesn't feel like a done deal. It would be a done deal when we would see hostages going into white ambulances in Gaza and driving home to Israel, or in our case, body bags put in white ambulances and driving to Israel. And you're right. We have been let down before. We have been let down miserably. And it will only be a done deal when they're all home.

10:41If you could directly speak to leaders, what would you want them to hear from you? The first thing that needs to happen in order to move forward is bring back all 48 hostages. But after that, what Trump's plan entails is the future for this region. And I have said there's an entire generation that's being traumatized by this war on both sides. And we have to make sure that all the political power and all the will and the vision and the money goes into implementing this plan because we deserve a better future. That's Udi Gorin, cousin of Tal Hayimi, whose remains are still being held in Gaza. Udi, thank you.

11:19Thank you.

11:29That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.