AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Negotiations begin in Egypt tomorrow over President Trump's peace plan for Gaza. Hamas says it's willing to release all hostages. It's a pivotal moment in a war that's lasted nearly two years, but there's a lot left to negotiate. Let's talk about it with NPR's Daniel Estrin. He's in Tel Aviv. Hi, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So tell us about the negotiations. What details have been released so far?
ESTRIN: Well, these are very high-level talks. They will involve top Israeli and Hamas officials. Also, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will be there, and the - President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well. They're going to be meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort town in Egypt. Israel wants these negotiations to last only a few days, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the U.S. wants the same. And - the idea being that they'll be discussing the technical details of the release of Israel's hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza. Twenty are believed to still be alive. About 28 are believed to be dead. And in exchange for them, Israel would release nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners. And Netanyahu said this weekend that he hoped that over the next week that he would be able to announce the return of the hostages all at once. But it is being - becoming very clear, Ayesha, that this could take a lot longer.
RASCOE: Well, what are the main stumbling blocks that negotiators still need to address?
ESTRIN: Well, Hamas officials say that some of the bodies of hostages are buried under rubble in Gaza, and so they're going to be needing more time to try to locate them and to recover their bodies. President Trump's plan that he outlined at the White House was that this would be done in 72 hours - that all of the hostages, living and dead, would be handed over within 72 hours - but that apparently is not feasible. We spoke to a person who was briefed by Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to divulge the details and told us that the timetable will likely be extended on the hostage release to seven days instead of 72 hours. And Egypt has prepared heavy machinery and cranes to remove rubble in agreed-upon areas in Gaza to recover the Israeli hostage bodies.
But there are many other issues to be raised in the talks. Hamas will likely be asking the Israeli military to halt their activity during the process of handing over the hostages, working those details out. Hamas will likely seek to negotiate on the Israeli withdrawal line. President Trump put out a map with a big yellow line showing where Israeli troops are going to be withdrawing upon receipt of the hostages, but Hamas will likely seek to negotiate that. A lot is left to discuss. It's a very detailed plan that President Trump laid out for postwar Gaza. These upcoming talks are going to be focused on the first stages. And Hamas really wants one major thing, and that's a guarantee to prevent Israel from returning to war when the hostages are back.
RASCOE: What do people feel in Israel and Gaza? Are they hopeful at this time that these talks could really lead to the end of the war?
ESTRIN: There really is optimism here, Ayesha. There was a protest this weekend, a rally where Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv, calling for the release of hostages. This is Karen Gill (ph).
KAREN GILL: I cross my fingers very hard so it will finally happen because, you know, just when I'm thinking about it, it makes me, like, shiver because, you know, we want it so bad. And let's hope it will happen.
ESTRIN: In Gaza, also, our reporter Anas Baba says that people are cautiously optimistic as well. President Trump asked Israel to stop bombing Gaza at this stage of negotiations, and yet Israel's bombardment does continue there. Gaza health officials say scores of Palestinians were killed just in the last day in Israeli strikes, and NPR's Anas Baba recorded this overnight.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
ESTRIN: So you hear the sound of a warplane and an airstrike. An Israeli official told us that Israel is limiting its activity now in Gaza to defensive activities, not offensive. We don't know how exactly that is being defined, but there really is now hope in Gaza and in Israel that this could be the beginning of the end of the war.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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