Piers Hadil El-Shalchi
speaker
85 appearances
9 recordings
1 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard Jun 2025
Piers Hadil El-Shalchi’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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You're welcome.
Good morning.
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.
33 hostages freed over this first phase for almost 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
But negotiators still need to talk about what the upcoming phases are supposed to look like and hopefully bring an end to the war.
You're welcome.
Up First from NPR · New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions · 3 Jan 2025
podcast
So what did you find? Well, the Golan Heights is a swath of land about 40 miles away from the capital, Damascus. The land is hilly, dotted with olive groves and grazing cows. It's also surrounded by these beautiful snow-capped mountains. I visited the province of Al-Quneitra. It's part of which lies in this buffer zone that the Israelis entered a month ago.
Residents said the troops set up checkpoints, regularly entering their villages and searching homes for weapons. The Israeli military has said they're protecting itself and it coordinates its operations with the local populations. Troops have set up in areas of a village called Al-Hamidiyah, for example. I was on its edge yesterday and saw a tank at a new checkpoint on the main road.
And also, wherever you go, there are these tank tracks all over the roads.
I heard a lot of fear in a village called Al-Baath. I spoke to one Syrian resident, Mohammed Farrokh, who lived maybe 300 yards away from where the Israelis had set up a checkpoint. He said tanks roll into his village constantly.
Farouk says his small daughter now wakes up at night shouting, a tank, a tank, out of fear. In another village I went to, Jabhat al-Khashab, the mayor told me he met with Israeli troops and they told him they wanted to enter their homes to search for weapons.
So to keep the troops out, the mayor went back to his community, rounded up any weapons they had and handed them over to the Israeli military. Also met with one displaced Syrian family who said Israeli troops moved into their village and forced them out of their homes, demolishing buildings along the way. And what's the Israeli military saying about all this?
Showing 41–60 of 85 · page 3 of 5
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