Piers Hadil El-Shalchi
Appearances
Up First from NPR
Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening this whole time to go back to war if Hamas did not release more hostages. This time, Israel says it is targeting Hamas militant commanders, wants to degrade Hamas's ability to rearm. That's according to an Israeli official who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Just a reminder, the first phase of the ceasefire ended on March 1st. Over six weeks, Hamas released 33 hostages. Israel freed almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. The second phase was supposed to see a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent end to the war.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
But instead of starting those second phase talks, Israel came back and said it wanted an extension of the first phase, where Hamas would return half the living hostages still held in Gaza. So what did Hamas say? Well, Hamas said that it had held up its end of the first phase of the deal and wanted to start second phase deal talks, refused the extension, which has led to these attacks.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that, quote, the gates of hell will open in Gaza if all the hostages are not returned. And then we also know that the White House spokesperson, Caroline Leavitt, confirmed that Israel consulted the Trump administration before the strikes. And what are we hearing from inside Gaza? Well, I mean, explosions could be heard across the Strip.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
The Gaza Health Ministry says hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, including children. NPR's Gaza producer Enes Baba was at Al-Ahli Hospital this morning.
Up First from NPR
Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Also, an Israeli military spokesman warned residents in several Gaza neighborhoods to start evacuating immediately.
Up First from NPR
Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
So it might be a little too early to tell if the war is fully back on or what these strikes mean exactly for the ceasefire. You know, in recent weeks, Israel has been steadily increasing strikes in Gaza. Hamas hasn't yet responded with its own strikes. But today's assault is, of course, a pressure tactic by Israel to get Hamas to accept that extension. And they're a huge step back.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Israel has blocked all aid, including food and medical supplies, three weeks ago. So aid groups are rationing quickly dwindling supplies. And of course, you know, what does this mean for the fate of the hostages still inside Gaza? Israel says 59 remain held by Hamas, 24 of whom are still believed to be alive. NPR's Hadil El-Shalchi in Tel Aviv.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
You're welcome.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, we're starting to get a little bit more information about the timing of the ceasefire and what this multi-phase deal will look like in the next few weeks. Hamas and Israel have both promised to hold their fire starting at 8.30 tomorrow morning here in Israel. And then no earlier than the same afternoon, we should start seeing people be released.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
33 hostages freed over this first phase for almost 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, first of all, let's remember that this deal contains much of the conditions that President Biden actually helped come up with last May. But geopolitically now, things have changed so much in the Middle East since that time. Hamas has lost a lot of its military capabilities over 15 months of war and suffered serious leadership losses, including its longtime head, Yahya Sinwar.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
And then Hamas's backers, also including Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, have been weakened significantly by Israel. But then there's something new. They're incoming president of Donald Trump. Trump has said all hell will break loose in the Middle East if a deal to end the war wasn't reached just before he becomes president. And that's on Monday.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
And this wasn't just a warning to Hamas. It was also a call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get serious about closing a deal.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, it is the eve of the ceasefire, and Palestinians in Gaza and Israelis are both kind of saying, we'll believe it when we see it. In Gaza, the past few days have been some of the deadliest in recent weeks.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Just last night, there were Israeli airstrikes that the military said targeted Hamas weapon sites and fighters, and Gaza health officials said 122 Palestinians were killed in those strikes, including 33 children. Our producer in Gaza, Enes Baba, talked to Mohamed Aboulkas in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Aboulkas says he's not really optimistic yet, and he won't be until he will be able to go back to whatever is left of his home. And then here in Israel, there is relief that some hostages are coming home, but it will also be heartbreaking to see them suffer from psychological, physical challenges after being held for 15 months.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Sivan Yadin was at a protest in Tel Aviv this week, and she said she doesn't like the deal is carried out in phases. Yadin says she would have preferred that all hostages return home at the same time because they should be reunited now with their families.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, day one, tomorrow, the releases begin. Hamas is supposed to free three female hostages. And then the Israelis are supposed to release 30 Palestinian prisoners for each of them. And then there should be weekly releases and the beginning of a troop withdrawal, a surge of aid into Gaza, and some displaced Palestinians should be able to go back home in the north.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
But negotiators still need to talk about what the upcoming phases are supposed to look like and hopefully bring an end to the war.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
Well, this is the governor of Damascus, Meher Marwan. He's appointed by the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, Ahmed al-Sharah. So he's in his inner circle, really one of Syria's leading officials. Marwan met us in a massive, ornate room. He was very pleasant, wore a suit and tie. He only shook hands with the two male colleagues with me, and we had a wide-ranging interview, almost an hour.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
But at the end, he raised the subject of Israel, which frankly surprised us. You know, remember, Israel has been bombing Syria regularly since the regime fell, and it sees some of the Golan Heights. The governor started off by saying that it was, quote, natural that Israel felt some fear when HTS took power, and so it may have advanced a little or bombed a little.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
Marwan went on to say that Syria's problem was not with Israel and that Syria couldn't be an opponent to Israel and wanted coexistence. Marwan said we don't want to meddle in anything that would threaten Israel's security or the security of any other country.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
Well, it was very obvious he wanted this message to be heard in the United States. You know, he sat up in his chair, made sure we heard him carefully. He said he wanted the United States to use its influence to help mediate this coexistence with Israel. A U.S. official told NPR that the U.S. had relayed the message to Israel.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
And in a statement to NPR, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it rejected any overture from HTS. And Leila, like you said, it was remarkable. For two reasons. First, Syria and Israel have been in a state of war since Israel's creation in 1948. They've never had diplomatic ties.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
And second, this is a message coming from a group designated a terrorist organization by the United States with former affiliation to al-Qaeda. And what was the regional reaction? Well, first of all, the news got huge traction in the Middle East. Almost every Israeli and Arab media outlet picked it up.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
The parts of the interview I used in my radio piece of his voice were played all over Arabic social media. And then that's when the backlash began. Israel and many of its Arab neighbors, like you know, have been at war for decades. And talk of normalization and normalizing relations is controversial, especially after the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
So HDS discussing possible peace with Israel was shocking to many Arabs and, in fact, unwelcome. And has there been blowback for the governor? First, the government itself distanced itself from Marwan and his comments with a statement saying that they did not represent the views of the foreign ministry or of those of Shara, which is contrary to what the governor told us.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
And in the evening, he issued a video distancing himself from his comments to NPR. He said, I did not touch on the topic of peace with Israel and it's not my right to do so. And yesterday evening in an interview with an Arabic TV news channel, HTS leader Shara didn't address Israel directly, but said he didn't want Syria to become a source of political or regional unrest.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
NPR's Hadil El-Shalchi in Damascus. Thank you. You're welcome.