Israel and Hamas’s Fragile Cease-Fire

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily The Fragile ceasefire between. Israel and Hamas now in its fifth day. has been historic in scope and success. at its heart are. hostages as of Monday Night 50 is really.

hostages have been released under its. terms as have 150 Palestinian prisoners. with more releases expected on Tuesday. today my colleague Isabelle kersner on. the Grassroots movement that managed to. pause the War and what it will mean for. the rest of the. [Music]. [Applause]. conflict it's Tuesday November.

[Music]. 28th so Isabelle it's Monday around 900. pm. for you you've had a busy few days. in Israel and that is precisely why we. want to talk to you today so for the. first time since October 7th we have had. for the most part a halt in. hostilities no air strikes in Gaza no. Rockets into Israel and there's been.

this remarkable release of Israeli. hostages and of course of Palestinian. prisoners so tell us what's been. happening well since October the 7th. this country has been at War and then. suddenly on Friday morning at 700 a.m. the guns went silent and this was a. result of a deal that had been reached. between Israel and Hamas with uh. mediation from outside and the outlines.

of that deal was that Israel would cease. fire for 4 days during that time Israel. would allow an increased amount of Aid. and fuel to go into the Gaza Strip and. at the same time Hamas had committed to. release 50 of the Israeli hostages being. held in Gaza in exchange for an Israeli. release of Palestinian prisoners and.

detainees from Israeli jails and. traditionally when you look back to. former conflicts between Israel and the. armed groups in Gaza there've been. ceasefires before and they would break. down often within hours this time. remarkably the ceasefire has held and. that's because at the heart of it is. this issue of the release of. hostages so what is is it about the.

hostages that makes this so historic. bring me into that deal well first of. all for Israel this was an unprecedented. event to have. 240 people taken captive into Gaza at. first the initial impulse was to fight. back to retaliate and the Israeli. government and Military immediately set. the war goal as being eradicated in.

Hamas Rule and destroying its military. capabilities that was the focus from. October the 7th and to a large extent it. felt like the hostage issue in all the. shock and the fog of war was almost. taking a secondary role like a backseat. right but the families of the. hostages they of course had their own. number one priority which was to bring.

their loved ones back home and we saw. the beginnings within a week of a. Grassroots domestic movement led by the. families of hostages and one father in. particular who stands out aai bruch as. someone who really kicked this off so. Isabelle tell me about Mr bradic and. this Grassroots movement that he helped. start so avihai bruch he's a farmer and.

a student of Nursing From A kibutz A. communal Village near the Gaza border. called Kar. AA on the morning of October the 7th he. saw that the neighbor's child a. three-year-old abigil Idan was running. around on the lawn covered in blood. after her father had been shot dead he. ran out and brought her into their home.

and handed her to his wife and he then. went out to get a weapon and start to. defend the. kibuts when he came back home he found. that his family along with the. neighbor's child avigail had all gone. and he didn't know what had. happened it transpired after a couple of. days that they were indeed confirmed as.

having been kidnapped to Gaza wow so his. whole family had been kidnapped. including the little girl that he saved. that's right his wife Hagar and their. three children of fre Uval and orya who. are aged 10 8 and four and the neighbor. little daughter aigal. [Music]. Ean.

okay so what does he do so he was. feeling that the hostages were not first. and foremost in the government's mind. that the country was very focused on the. fighting in Gaza and revenge and he was. frustrated and a week after his family. was taken he just went himself overnight. took a plastic chair sat himself down.

with the family dog outside the military. and government headquarters in Tel Aviv. with a cardboard sign that he'd written. which had a very simple message on it my. family is in. Gaza and by the morning hundreds of. supporters who heard about him began to. join. him. bring. bring and I think that was really the. beginning of the Grassroots campaign.

that we saw grow into a huge force in. the. country posters of the kidnapped people. began appearing all over the country. there's a square in Tel Aviv in front of. the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Opera. and that became the Hub of activity of.

the hostages families so you began to. see installations there like the long. table set for a Sabbath meal with 240. empty chairs and then we saw the. families forming delegations to travel. abroad and meet with world leaders where. is the world why is no one crying out. for these people to be allowed access to. the Red Cross why is no one demanding. just Proof of Life my family my babies.

my wife they need to get out now you. need to use all your power in order to. do so and speak in front of the European. Parliament and go to Geneva and meet. with the international Committee of the. Red Cross another relative of a family. that had been taken to Gaza Yuval haran. he spearheaded what became a long march. which set out from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

bring them on no bring. them government do your. job and by the time they marched into. Jerusalem and to the prime minister's. offices there were thousands of people. filling the. streets.

so really kind of a little movement that. grows into this moral drum beat for the. country and one that was really. impossible to ignore absolutely and I. think they captured the hearts of many. many many Israelis I mean we saw a shift. we saw the hostage issue moving from. being what at first felt like a. secondary issue to the front St age. where the government and the military.

were then describing it as a dual goal. that this campaign was equally about. getting Hamas out of power and bringing. the hostages home okay so that's the. domestic pressure on Netanyahu to do. something about the hostages but of. course that's just one side of the. equation here right the other side is of. course the ceasefire so what was was the. talk domestically about engaging in a.

ceasefire what were Israelis saying well. there hadn't been much talk actually. about a ceasefire the majority of. Israelis were very unified about the. need for this war to be fought that this. Hamas assault could not go unanswered. and there was only small small pockets. of people calling for a ceasefire a. ceasefire does come with risks for the. military and the government because any.

pause in the fighting you're giving time. to Hamas to regroup kind of a breather. for the other side so there was some. debate about whether the ceasefire was a. good idea or not but I think by then the. public pressure to do anything possible. to bring at least some of the hostages. back alive was the main goal there was.

of course another big Force at play. which was the United States we know from. our colleagues in Washington that there. was significant pressure being put on. Israel by the Biden Administration on. the question of Civilian deaths and the. humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. Secretary of State Anthony blinkin in. early November said quote there is more. that can and should be done to minimize. harm to Palestinian civilians so I guess.

I'm wondering what role did the US play. here exactly in terms of negotiating an. actual ceasefire between Israel and. Hamas I think it played a a critical. role the Biden administration had every. interest in some kind of pause. Washington wanted increased Aid and fuel. to go into Gaza to try and mitigate and. ease the humanitarian crisis there and.

yes was becoming increasingly. uncomfortable about the spiraling death. toll of Palestinians in Gaza. particularly the the huge civilian death. toll there of women and children and at. the same time the administration also. had another interest in getting hostages. out because there are nearly a dozen. hostages who are dual us Israeli.

citizens and so there were various. interests at play here and one Israeli. former mosad official who had been. responsible in the past for negotiating. the return of Israeli Mias and hostages. and is now in his words working behind. the scenes he told me that once he saw. the involvement of of of the Americans.

in reaching this deal that's when he. knew it was serious interesting I mean. there is not to be too political and. cynical in terms of the Americans but of. course the question of domestic politics. in the US for Biden you know parts of. the democratic party are calling for a. ceasefire some members of Congress too. were headed into an election season you. know these are important indicators that. I have to imagine the Israelis have been. keenly aware of you know that the US may.

not have endless patience for Israel's. war of course and Israel can only. continue to act at the pace it was. acting as long as it has some. International legitimacy left for its. campaign and it was clear that that was. beginning to wear. th so what we saw was the qataris and. the Egyptians at acting as.

mediators between Israel and Hamas and. the Americans in the background there's. a very very strong pressure Force to. have this deal move ahead and all of. this culminated at 7 a.m. on Friday. morning when the ceasefire came into. effect and then by the evening you saw. the whole country here gripped by these. scenes being AED and broadcast on TV of.

the first group of these hostages being. handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza and. eventually making their way back into. Israel we'll be right. back so Isabelle we left off in this. very dramatic moment a ceasefire fire. finally begins on Friday morning and.

hostages and prisoners are about to be. released so what happens well the terms. of the deal as they were announced was. that Israel would get 50 hostages back. the priority or the criteria would be. that women and children would be. released from captivity and there was. also a principle that children who' been. kidnapped with mothers would come out.

together with their. mothers and on the side of Hamas the. demand was for three prisoners or. detainees to be released from Israeli. custody in return for each hostage so. that would be 150 prisoners and. detainees and again the criteria would. be women and miners teenagers who had. been in Israeli detention and Isabelle.

were these people who had actually. committed crimes on the Palestinian side. well they were all accused of some had. been convicted of you know many were. teenagers who were detained for throwing. stones or people who'd been detained or. tried for association with armed groups. many had not been charged or tried or.

convicted but they all were accused of. something and why are there three times. as many Palestinians being released like. how did that math work we've seen in the. past very. lopsided prisoner exchanges between. Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian. groups so for example when Hamas. captured an Israeli soldier in 2006. gilad Shalit and took him into Gaza and.

kept him captive there for 5 years in. the end Israel got him back in exchange. for more than a thousand Palestinian. prisoners half of whom had been. convicted of deadly Terror acts so in a. way Israel is used to paying more than. one for one and this is what the sides. settled for so tell us about the. releases themselves how does a hostage. physic get out of Gaza what we've been.

seeing since Friday is this nightly. drama where a list is drawn up and. agreed upon by Israel and. Hamas and the list is kept Under Wraps. until it's confirmed that these people. actually are being freed by now goodbye. we done good one and what happens is the.

Hamas armed men hand them over in. southern Gaza wake. up. welome welome you've got these armed. Fighters masked wearing fatigues handing. over these women and children to Red. Cross Representatives the Israeli Army. released video showing the moment above. carrying hostages released by Hamas.

crossed back into Israeli territory they. put into Red Cross ambulances or Vans. and driven across the border into Israel. from. Egypt where they received initial. checkups to see if anybody needed. Emergency Care there were a couple of. cases of hostages. who were helicoptered actually straight.

to the closest hospital to the Gaza. Strip one had a leg injury and needed. surgery and the other was an older woman. Elma Abraham of 84 years old who. actually was in critical condition. because she had not been given her heart. medication that she needs to to. survive.

are there any other stories Isabelle. that stand out to you in terms of the. hostages who were released well. absolutely there's the girl hila and. she's 11 or 12 years old but she. appeared without her mother and this was. against the guidelines that had been. agreed upon that mothers and children. should not be separated there's been. speculation why her mother Rya did not. come out of Gaza with her it was said at.

one point that Hamas didn't know where. she was Hamas doesn't have all the. hostages in its hands other armed groups. have some of them that they couldn't. locate her but since she's been back in. Israel her relatives who've met with her. have said that actually she was being. held with her mother and so you know. we've not had any official. explanation and we saw. aai br's family come back and oh wow the.

pictures just emerged today of his. reunion with his wife and his children. and his wife and children came back with. abigil Idan the neighbor's daughter the. little girl the little girl who'd been. alone who'd lost both her parents on. October the. 7th and had turned four in captivity on. Friday so she has captured the hearts of.

many people here and and she's been. reunited here with her grandmother and. she has two older siblings who survived. October the 7th and what have the. reunions been like well very emotional. from what we've seen you know it's not. just pure joy because many of these. hostages who've been coming back to. Israel have either left people behind in.

Gaza so there are mothers with children. who have left behind their husbands and. the children's father in Gaza there are. elderly women who've left their husbands. behind in Gaza and many who've come out. to find that some of their family. members were killed on October the 7th. and and they didn't know that and only. learned that as they got back here and. what about the pales inan prisoners. being released how did those releases.

play out so my colleague Christina gold. bound who's been covering the release of. the Palestinian prisoners and detainees. has been describing very vividly the. scenes every night in. [Music]. ramala where crowds have gathered. outside the Detention Center where the. prisoners and detainees are released. from. [Music].

and great joy on that. side but again mixed with a kind of. sadness and concern because of the high. death toll in. [Music]. Gaza many of the detainees who've been. coming out Are Young teens for example.

Christina's written about tar dud who's. 17 so he was accused of throwing stones. at Israeli soldiers who were on a. military raid in his neighborhood as. well as possession of weapons or. explosive devices but he wasn't tried. yet and he'd been detained for a year so. his his father described to my. colleagues how. he was glued to his television screen.

for days waiting to see if his son tar. would appear on one of the lists and. finally his name did come up on Saturday. afternoon so his father drove to meet. him in ramala and took him back to cilia. and by the time they got there it was. Dawn and dozens of relatives and friends. were there to greet him and they ended. up driving around the neighborhood in a. 15c car.

[Music]. motorcade do we have a sense of how much. longer this ceasefire is going to last. like what's going to happen well the. original deal was for 4 days which would. end today but Israel from the beginning. had proposed that if Hamas could come up. with another 10 hostages per day Israel.

would be willing to extend the ceasefire. or the pors by another day and that. would be up to a total of 100 hostages. so that would be another 5 days of 10. hostages per day and at first we didn't. hear anything they didn't publicly. respond to that proposition but suddenly. last night the Hamas leadership. announced that they were interested Ed. in seeking an extension and very quickly.

by today the sides have agreed to extend. for another two days at least and see. another 20 hostages come back and that. would mean another 60 Palestinian. prisoners and detainees released and I. think what we're going to see is Hamas. trying to pull this string as long as it. can and you know try and keep the the. ceasefire going as long as it can now.

we're already hearing the beginnings of. reports that Hamas is now willing to. begin to negotiate the release of. captive soldiers but it's difficult to. see how as long as Hamas is dangling. this proposition of more hostages coming. out it's difficult to see Netanyahu say. no that's enough we're going back to the. war so we'll have to see how it plays.

out I think from the perspective of many. Israelis there's an urgency to getting. as many hostages out and that the war. can. wait Isabel stepping back here it seems. like we're at this point that in some. ways Israel's government and Military. was worried about you know the point. where the ceasefire starts to feel kind. of inevitable and longer lasting so what.

does this mean for Israel and its. mission of eliminating Hamas well we saw. Netanyahu yesterday actually visiting. the troops in Gaza for the first time. taking advantage of the. Poes and he pledged to the citizens of. Israel and to the soldiers that we will. be going back to the war Israel would. continue knew until Victory and that. meant eliminating Hamas rule in Gaza now.

what that means people are still not. sure or clear about how do you wipe out. Hamas are you going to get rid of every. single last Hamas fighter with a. kalachnikov it's a goal that many people. see as a little ambiguous and fuzzy. anyway. nobody's sure how this is going to end.

and what comes next but for the time. being the government and the military. are saying that they are absolutely. determined at the end of this ceasefire. to pick up where they left. [Music]. off Isabelle thank you thank you Sabrina.

late on Monday Israel's Army Radio. citing the prime minister's office. reported that the government had. received a list of hostages held by. Hamas who are expected to be released on. [Music]. Tuesday we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today on Monday a 48-year-old man was.

charged with three counts of attempted. murder in the weekend shooting in. Burlington Vermont of three young men of. Palestinian descent the men college. students and friends since childhood had. been staying at the home of an uncle and. had gone out for a walk on Saturday. night when the suspect identified by. police as Jason eaten approached them. pulled out a handgun and started. shooting striking them in the spine the. chest and the back local officials.

called the shooting one of the most. shocking events in Burlington's history. relatives of the men two of whom were. wearing Palestinian cfas a traditional. headdress at the time of the shooting. said they feared that the men had been. targeted for being Arab. American today's episode was produced by. Mary Wilson Luke Vander plug and Ricky. nety it was edited by Lisa chow and Lexi. di contains original music by Diane Wong.

Dan Powell and Marian Lano and was. engineered by Alysa Moxley our theme. music is by Jim brunberg and Ben Lanser. of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina tavernes see you. tomorrow. [Music].