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SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Today, Israelis in Tel Aviv celebrated the announcement of a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners may start going home within a few days. And after two years, the most deadly war ever between Israelis and Palestinians may soon be over. For the latest, we are joined by NPR's Greg Myre in Tel Aviv. Hi, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: A lot of moving parts to this ceasefire deal. What is happening now, and what would happen after that?
MYRE: Yeah. Israel's government is holding a late-night meeting. It's expected to approve the ceasefire deal, and when it does, it will take effect 24 hours after the vote. Now, this also starts the clock ticking for Israel to start pulling back troops, but it will still have about half of Gaza under its control during this first phase. Now, the clock will be ticking for Hamas, as well. It needs to get the Israeli hostages ready for release. There are believed to be 20 living hostages, 28 dead hostages. President Trump said today this could happen on Monday or Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Israel is to start releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Now, this will likely take many, many days. And on top of all this, Scott, Trump is expected to visit the region over the weekend. This would include a stop in Israel, where he's been invited to speak to the Israeli parliament, and possibly Egypt, where the negotiations for the ceasefire took place. So a very busy few days coming up.
DETROW: But Greg, we have had ceasefires in this war before, and they broke down pretty quickly. So why is this one different so far?
MYRE: Well, Trump put a lot more pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, more than he did when there was a ceasefire in January that collapsed, much more than President Biden did during his final year in office. Trump got Netanyahu to agree publicly to this deal, and then they put the pressure on Hamas. There was a lot of international support, particularly from Arab states like Egypt and Qatar, who work with Hamas. And the Israeli and Palestinian publics were just exhausted. There are strong majorities on both sides who wanted this war to end. So lots of hard days ahead and plenty could go wrong, but there's a lot more momentum and a lot more leaders invested in making this work.
DETROW: I want to go back to something you said a few moments ago, though. The war may be ending, but you mentioned Israeli troops will still be in Gaza. How long are they expected to stay?
MYRE: Scott, there's no clear timeline. Israel has agreed to pull back in phases. It will initially move out of places like Gaza City and other Palestinian population centers. Now, they're eventually supposed to retreat to a buffer zone along the Gaza border but still on the Gaza side of the border. Hamas had always demanded a full withdrawal of Israeli troops, but they just didn't have the leverage in these negotiations. With Israeli troops in Gaza, it wouldn't take much to restart hostilities. And just a final note, the ceasefire isn't yet formally in effect, and Israel did carry out a number of airstrikes today saying its forces came under threat.
DETROW: One big question that people have been asking for years, really - who would rule Gaza going forward?
MYRE: Yeah. That is a huge question. Trump's plan, as outlined last week, says Hamas, which has ruled there for almost 20 years, is supposed to step aside, but they haven't publicly agreed to do that. It's - the plan calls for Palestinian technocrats to take over, at least temporarily, but no one knows exactly who these people are, what authority they would have, how long they'd be there. And on top of this, there's supposed to be a committee - a Gaza committee - that Trump and the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, would head as a so-called board of peace. But they wouldn't be involved in the day-to-day running of Gaza, and it's not clear how they would address problems that might crop up.
DETROW: That is NPR's Greg Myre joining us from Tel Aviv. Thank you so much.
MYRE: Sure thing, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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