SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
After more than 15 months of intense fighting, an Israel-Hamas ceasefire is set to come into effect in Gaza on Sunday morning. The goal is a permanent end to the deadliest conflict ever between the two sides, but as the ceasefire goes into effect, many complications remain. To walk us through it, we're joined now by NPR's Greg Myre from Tel Aviv, Hey, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: So let's start with this. How would you describe the mood among Israelis and Palestinians on the eve of the ceasefire?
MYRE: There's really a sense of relief on both sides after this exhausting war and particularly for the Palestinians in Gaza. Now, we've seen some small celebrations among Palestinians, and among Israelis, there's a rally in Tel Aviv this evening in support of the hostages. Here's Sharon Calderon, the sister-in-law of Ofer Calderon. He's listed as one of the 33 hostages who's supposed to be released by Hamas in the coming weeks.
SHARON CALDERON: I hope that he's well enough to hug him, to be there to tell him what he has lost at the last 470 days.
MYRE: On the Palestinian side, there's almost universal support for the truce. There's also very strong support overall on the Israeli side, though some on the far right believe Israel has made too many concessions to Hamas.
DETROW: OK, so that's the mood. Now, can you walk us through what happens tomorrow, or what's supposed to happen tomorrow, at least, when the ceasefire goes into effect?
MYRE: Yeah. It's supposed to start at 8:30 a.m. local time. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes since the deal was first announced on Wednesday, but if calm prevails, hostage and prisoner exchanges should begin in the afternoon. On Sunday, Hamas is set to release three Israeli women, while Israel has committed to releasing 95 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. A lot more food and medicine should start flowing into Gaza in the coming days.
But Scott, it's important to understand this will be a very drawn-out process. The first phase stretches for six weeks, and Hamas will only release 33 of the 98 hostages during this period. Israel will scale back its troop presence in Gaza, but it won't remove all its forces until later.
DETROW: A ceasefire and freed hostages are things that so many people have been desperate for since the early days of this war. Negotiations stretched on and on. They seemed to break down so many times. Why do you think it all came together now?
MYRE: I'd point to three reasons. One, critics of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu said he'd been stalling partly because it was a U.S. election year. He wanted to keep his options open until he saw who the next president would be. We should note, the ceasefire agreement looks almost identical to proposals President Biden made last May. So the actual proposal hasn't really changed, but from Netanyahu's perspective, the circumstances are now much more favorable in his view.
DETROW: And Greg, is it fair to say Netanyahu far prefers a Trump administration over a Democratic one?
MYRE: Yeah, that really is true. And more specifically, a second reason this is happening now seems to be Trump's insistence that an agreement be reached before he assumes office on Monday. Trump sent his new Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to join President Biden's team in negotiating the deal in the Gulf State of Qatar. If there was no deal, then Trump and Netanyahu could have had a rocky start. With the deal, it looks like they'll be in alignment, at least for now.
DETROW: So those were two reasons. You said three different factors were top of mind here. What's the third?
MYRE: Yeah. Hamas was badly weakened and increasingly isolated. Israel was not only battering Hamas. It was also hammering Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah signed a ceasefire with Israel back in November, also from a position of weakness. And Israel struck some very heavy blows to Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas. So this alliance lost much of its punch, and it poses much less of a threat to Israel today than it did just a few months ago. Hamas, in particular, found itself badly beaten, its leadership wiped out and no real prospect of getting help from its allies.
DETROW: That is NPR's Greg Myre, joining us from Tel Aviv on the eve of a ceasefire. Thank you so much.
MYRE: Sure thing, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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