AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
After more than 15 months of war, a fragile ceasefire took hold in Gaza today. Many hurdles and challenges remain if the deal is truly to end fighting between Israel and Hamas. Joining us now to discuss is NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Aya, tell us how the ceasefire nearly collapsed before it even began this morning.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Yeah, well, Ayesha, the skies over Gaza were mostly quiet overnight. But just as the ceasefire was set to come into effect at 8:30 a.m. local time, Israeli troops opened fire on people in parts of Gaza, and airstrikes hit areas north to south killing around 20 people and wounding more.
Now, Israel says it was hitting Hamas targets and blamed the nearly three hours it would take for the ceasefire to finally start on Hamas, which was late in releasing the names of three Israeli hostages expected to be freed today. These are three women who were kidnapped from Israel in the Hamas-led attack of October 7 in 2023. They range in age 24- to 31-years-old with one of them a dual British-Israeli national.
Now, what this deal aims to do is to stagger the release of more hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees - many of them also women and children - over the next six weeks. But it faces, like you said, a lot of hurdles and challenges.
RASCOE: The war began with the Hamas attacks that killed about 1,200 Israelis. Since then, Israeli airstrikes have killed nearly 47,000 people in Gaza, according to health officials there. What do we know about what it's like in Gaza today?
BATRAWY: Yeah, I mean, this is the deadliest war between Israelis and Palestinians in their history. Now, NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba - he has been documenting this war from Gaza from the beginning for us. And today, he saw some excitement and disbelief in people's eyes as many of them rushed to see if their homes were still standing in the southern city of Rafah.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN HONKING)
MUHAMMAD ABOMASSUN: (Non-English language spoken).
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: (Non-English language spoken).
ABOMASSUN: (Non-English language spoken).
BABA: (Non-English language spoken).
ABOMASSUN: (Non-English language spoken).
BABA: (Non-English language spoken).
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN HONKING)
BATRAWY: So you can hear him talking as cars are honking in the background in celebration. You know, people are rushing on foot. So Muhammad Abomassun (ph) - he tells Anas Baba he is one of those people rushing back with the keys of his house in his hand. But nearly everyone in Gaza has been displaced from their homes throughout this war, and many of them are going to return to their cities to find their homes a pile of rubble, and that rubble can't be easily removed.
Not only does the besieged Gaza Strip lack enough heavy machinery to lift rubble, health officials say there are more than 10,000 bodies buried under the rubble of these homes, and they are not included in the death count. There are also countless unexploded munitions and bombs left behind, so rebuilding and recovery will be a very difficult task.
RASCOE: The deal also outlines a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza. We've heard your reporting with Anas throughout the war, documenting cases of children dying of starvation and malnutrition. So is more aid flowing in now?
BATRAWY: It is. Already, dozens of trucks have entered Gaza today, with many more expected to enter once Egypt's border with Gaza, the Rafah crossing, opens in the coming days as well. And Gaza needs everything right now, from temporary field hospitals to be built to more food kitchens to distribute meals. They need tents for people to sleep in, winter clothes, even fuel just to keep water pumps running so people can have clean water to drink.
RASCOE: What are the challenges ahead for this fragile ceasefire?
BATRAWY: Ayesha, there is no trust between Israel and Hamas, the two sides here in the war. And so each step of this process has been detailed in the agreement that was mediated by Egypt and Qatar and really pushed for by the Biden and Trump administrations. Of course, the incoming president's set to be sworn in tomorrow. But at each step of this deal, it could falter like we saw this morning, so there's no guarantee that it will last beyond six weeks.
You know, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is under a lot of pressure from hard-liners in his coalition to continue the war in Gaza. Last night, he emphasized this was a temporary ceasefire, and he said Israel retains the right to continue the war if the talks to extend this to a second phase are what he called ineffectual.
RASCOE: So with so many questions about the future of Gaza, what is the feeling of Palestinians there?
BATRAWY: The brutal reality, Ayesha, for many people in Gaza is there's no waking up from this nightmare. Thousands of people have lost everything. We've spoken to parents who've had to bury all their children from Israeli airstrikes. There's also an estimated 17,000 children in Gaza orphaned by Israeli airstrikes or separated from their parents in this war, according to UNICEF. I've also met severely wounded children who've been evacuated abroad. They've lost their limbs in airstrikes. They are also orphaned. So there's no happy ending for a lot of people. Still, we are hearing from people in Gaza. They are determined to rebuild, and they are determined to remain in Gaza.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Thank you so much.
BATRAWY: Thank you, Ayesha. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
