This Sunday, the fighting will stop in Gaza after a ceasefire ideal was reached between Israel and Hamas. Amongst the ruins, thousands of Palestinians have been on the streets celebrating, hugging, and singing as the news that an agreement had finally been reached after fifteen months of war and a lengthy,
drawn out negotiation process with many false starts. If the agreement holds, desperately need a humanitarianate will reach the people of Gaza, many who are living in freezing tents in the middle of winter, and dozens of hostages who have been held in Gaza will return home to Israel. From Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven Am Today. Research director at the Washington Institute, Dana Stroll. Dinah was the myst senior civilian at the Pentagon focused on the
Middle East when the war began. She tells us how the deal was struck and how Trump and Baden aged claiming victory as they are in Obscua is an unlockily alliance. It's Friday, January seventeenth. Dinah, thanks so much for joining us again. What can you tell us about this deal? How was it broken and who was involved in the negotiations.
Well, it's been the United States, Israel, Hamas. But then because the United States and Hamas don't talk to each other directly, there's been key regional partners that have been
part of this, so very specifically Egypt and Cutter. A lot of the Hamas political leadership has actually been living in Doha, the capital of Cutter, for many, many years now, and so what's happened for the past really since October eighth is the United States and Egypt and Cutter in Israel have talks and then the Cutteries and the Egyptians
relay that to Hamas and Doha. Somehow those negotiations get to the military wing of Hamas inside Gaza, and then responses would come back out of Gaza and all the way back to those negotiators in Doha. So that's what has been going on for more than a year.
Ky, you walk us through some of the cha aspects of the agreement Israels withdrawal from Gaza and the relays of hostages.
Sure, so what's really important about this agreement is that it happens in phases, and in each phase the idea is that if each side adheres to its commitments, you move on to the next phase, which is time bound. So this first really critical one is let's call it a cessation of hostilities, not a full permanent ceasefire.
So in the first phase, which is forty two.
Days, Hamas has agreed to release thirty three Israeli hostages. And we don't know how many of the hostages that will be in this group are alive and how many are actually bodies that are going to be returned, but largely these are what's called humanitarian hostages, so women, children, elderly,
and injured. So what's very notable here is not a soldiers that were taken on October seventh, and in exchange for Israeli civilians, Israel has agreed to release a number of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have already been convicted for acts of terrorism and are being held inside Israel in Israeli prisons, and for Israeli soldiers. So here we're talking about the female Israeli soldiers that remain inside Gaza. Israel will release even more Palestinian prisoners for each of
those individuals during these forty two days. In addition, there will be what's called a surge and humanitarian aid, so hundreds and hundreds of trucks going in, and also the Israeli defense forces who are now all over Gaza, also in populated areas, have committed to move back into a buffer zone along the borders of Gaza. That all is supposed to happen over the course of these forty two days, and if those both sides commitments.
Are met, then you move on to the next.
Phase, which is incrementally moving towards a more permanent ceasefire.
Your relation to the hostages. If thirty three is rally hostages are released, how many does that leave in Gaza? Do we know?
We don't know.
So over two hundred Israelis were taken on October seventh. Then of course in this mix of Israelis there were also foreign workers like tie workers, and also a lot of dual nationals. So what's been one of the most frustrating factors over this more than year of negotiations is that Hamas either doesn't know or has refused to disclose the state So the health status of all of these hostages and how many actually are still alive.
The death toll in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry is more than forty six six hundred. What immediate changes will the deal bring to civilians reminding in Gaza.
Well, the most immediate change, hopefully if both sides hold up to their commitments, is what's described as a surge in humanitarian aid, and so what we're talking about here is hundreds and hundreds of trucks going into Gaza every day that will carry medical supplies, water, food, etc.
The challenge, of course.
Is that the scale of need is just so stark in Gaza, and the challenge we're going to have going forward here is that there's still not a great network to make sure that criminal elements, Hamas and others don't weaponize or take aid for their own purposes. That actually leads to even more of a wartime economy.
You mentioned the skyle of night in Gaza. What's a lock for people still living there now?
It's it's pretty terrible, very significant percentage of structure, So buildings in which Palestinians live are destroyed. A large percentage of Palestinians are living in tense right now. Winter is coming in Gaza, and so there is a huge problem of these temporary shelters not being warm or secure enough for what a human beings need to be safe to be warm. Many of the hospitals have been taken offline, so there's a shortage of medicine. There's a shortage of water.
A lot of the water treatment facilities are not operating. Clean consistent water is a challenge, which means that communicable diseases are spreading.
Over of the past year, there have been many attempts TONI guy shad A sayes Faul deal with reports that SESEFA deals have actually been closed only too full, iord last minute. What's different this time around?
I think a few things are different. The first, of course, is the election of Donald Trump, who you can see, I would say, not only in relation to the ceasefire in Hamas Israel negotiations, but all over the Middle East. You can see all different actors, both friendly to the United States and enemies of the United States, like Iran positioning and messaging based on anticipation of a very different approach by Donald Trump's national security team to issues in
the Middle East. And he has made different kinds of threats since his election that if the hostages weren't released, there would be hell to pay.
If those hostages aren't back. I don't want to hurt your negotiation. If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.
He's also made it very clear to Prime Minister Nettanyahu of Israel and his governing coalition that he wants to see a ceasefire, that he didn't want to have an active military conflict when he gets inaugurated.
The other really big factor here that I think is.
Important to mention is that the entire strategic landscape of the Middle East is just different today than it was in October seventh. So if you think about where we were on October seventh, Iran has spent decades investing in this network of terrorist groups and proxies all across the region. That's Hamas and Gaza, Hasbola and Lebanon, the militias in Iraq and Syria, the Huthis and Yemen, and of course he had a state partner in bisharl Assad in Syria.
And you look across the region today, Hamas largely dismantled, incapable of launching the kind of attack we saw on October seventh. The entire senior leadership of Hesbola and Lebanon taken out. We have a new president and Prime Minister in Lebanon who definitely don't want to see has Bola retain its stranglehold and its Iranian influence there. Bisharlo Assad fled Syria is hiding out in Moscow. A new government
is taking hold in Syria very antagonistic toward Iran. And then Iran itself has been targeted by Israel twice over the course of twenty twenty four and Iran itself is more its territory more vulnerable today than it has been at any point in decades.
So the strategic table is reset and Hamas found itself alone.
And I think that dynamic changed the openness of the leaders to agree, at least in this first phase of the ceasefire.
Coming up after the break, what it will take to Rabia, Gaza, Dina, Bise, President bod and then President elect Trump have climbed credit for the CEESEFI deal, with Trump saying it could have only happened as a result of him winning the presidency. The incoming president just posted on his truth social this epic ceasefire agreement could only have happened as a result of our historic victory in November and President bod saying he light at the presass come tools of this plan in mighty last year.
This is a ceasefire agreement I introduced last spring.
Today Hamas and Israel have agreed to that ceasefire agreement.
So what role did bith Potties apply it?
Han?
Shall we think about American involvement in this deal?
So I actually think both sides get credit, which isn't probably a politically popular thing to say, but here's the reality.
If you think about.
The campaign that we just saw in the United States, and the vitriol and the really antagonistic rhetoric between the Biden and the Trump camps, and the competing visions for America's role in the world, we actually saw the two national security teams after the election put politics aside and work together hand in hand. And I think that's just remarkable that they decided to prioritize Israeli lives in Palestinian lives.
I think this could not have happened.
Without the active role participation of the government of Cutter and the government of Egypt. And I think that it reinforces that there really isn't an America alone approach to the Middle East.
Given the closeness of the relationship between Nahu and Donald Trump, with bet Yahoo visiting Marilago on several occasions, why didn't Nahu waite until Trump was sworn in and give him the victory for this the credit for this a rock well.
First of all, Donald Trump was actually quite clear that he wanted the ceasefire before he was inaugurated. So I actually think this is Netaya who hearing Trump very clearly. Number one and number two. Yes, the ceasefire has been announced. Both sides have made their agreements. There's still action that needs to be taken within the Israeli government because the entire government is going to need to endorse the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons in order to release
and get the Israeli hostages home. So you're going to see those images, but probably actually on the other side of Trump's inauguration.
With much of Gaza and ruins have phasible, is it for civilians to return to what's left?
Well, civilians can move around. That's part of the agreement of this ceasefire. So what the Israelis have done over the course of twenty twenty four is position themselves across the middle of Gaza, this quarter called the nets a Rim Quarter, and what it's done is divide Northern Gaza from Southern Gaza. But what's happened now is a lot of Palestans from Northern Gaza are stuck in Southern Gaza
and they can't get back to their homes. And so what's going to happen as the ceasefire further gets implemented, if we get into these subsequent phases, is that the Israel Defense forces are going to remove themselves from this quarter, the nets Riam Quarter, and Palestinians are going to be able to move back to their homes.
But the realities they're not going to find much there.
And Palestinians want safety, they want some sort of basic law and order. They want to send their kids to school, they want to know that they're going to have medicine, food, clean water for their kids, and they want to live a good life. And the reality is that the surge and humanitarian aid is just not going to be sufficient. We need to be talking about massive amounts of international support for clearing the rubble, getting unexploded ordinance from this war.
Out so that kids can run around, people can be safe. We need to talk about building materials that need to get back in to rebuild, and you need a government as some sort of authority, as a civilian governance structure to organize that. And there's absolutely no consensus on what that would look like to deliver that kind of relief to Palestinians.
Well, we look on in hope. In the meantime, Dinah, thank.
You so much for Jatan, Thanks for having me.
Ivan not we still just have fragile the dealies. According to reporting in the New York Times, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin yet Yahoo has now said he won't finalize the ceasefire agreement yet, citing Hamas backing down on some aspects of the deal without saying what they were. Hamas has denied the claim. Meanwhile, negotiators continued working on details, including which Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for hostages in Gaza. Also in the news today, President Jay Biden
has delivered his final address while in office. As well as highlighting his role in the Israel her Mus cease fire deal, he also called for an eighteen year limit for the Supreme Court, a ban on dark money funding campaigns and said presidents should not be immune to legal
consequences for crimes committed while in office. President elect Donald Trump takes office on Monday, and Bill Shorten's retirement from politics has prompted a cabinet reshuffle, with Amanda Rishworth be came in the new Minister for the NDS and Finance Minister Katie Gallaher picking up the Government Services portfolio. Sports and Aged Care Minister Anika Wells has been promoted to
cabinet following her work on age care reform. Her promotion means that the front bench will have an equal split of men and women for the first time. Seven Am is a daily show from Schwartz Media on the Saturday Paper. It's made by Atticus Bastow, Shane Anderson, Christanegate, Eric Jensen, Ruby Jones, Sarah mcpee, Travis Evans, Zoltanfecho and me Daniel James. Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Bordio. That's all for now, see you next week.