STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump says his own threats forced a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
But that was six weeks ago, and that phase of the ceasefire deal ended with no agreement between Israel and Hamas on what comes next. Now, this week, the president issued what he called the last warning to Hamas after meeting with former Israeli hostages.
INSKEEP: NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy joins us now from Dubai to explain. Hi there.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Hey, Steve.
INSKEEP: I'm just trying to think this through. There was a ceasefire that lasted six weeks. Hamas released some hostages in exchange for Israel freeing some Palestinians. But why haven't they agreed to the second phase yet?
BATRAWY: Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - he never actually sent negotiators to hammer out the details of a second phase. And he wants a different deal now that does not permanently end the war but frees more hostages taken in the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. So instead of proceeding with the original deal, Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, came up with a different plan in recent days that gives Netanyahu what he wants. And to pressure Hamas into this new deal, Israel's blocked all food, fuel and aid into Gaza for six days now. Now countries around the world, aid organizations and several Israeli rights groups say this violates international humanitarian law.
INSKEEP: So how, again, is this plan, this proposal from the Israelis and from the United States different from what was expected?
BATRAWY: So the main difference is the original deal agreed to would have ended the war now - basically, an agreement to lasting truce. And then all remaining Israeli hostages still alive would be freed over the next six weeks, and Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza, and more Palestinian prisoners would be freed. In contrast, the Witkoff plan would have Hamas release half the remaining hostages still held in Gaza now, with only the promise to negotiate a lasting end to the war after six weeks. Hamas has not agreed to that, and Netanyahu may decide not to end the war because of pressure from his far-right coalition. He's in a bind because he has vowed to return all the hostages and eliminate Hamas, but a return to war doesn't guarantee either.
INSKEEP: OK. So we're, maybe at this moment, not getting closer to a permanent end to the war, but people still talk about what that's supposed to look like. What are some of the visions on the table?
BATRAWY: OK. So you may have heard Trump's idea that everyone in Gaza is going to be displaced to other countries, like Egypt and Jordan, and then the U.S. takes over the Gaza Strip somehow, turning it into a world-class real estate development without Palestinians who live there now.
Now, Israel's government has embraced this plan and is drafting up ways to implement it, but Egypt has been clear it will not be a part of Trump's plan to permanently expel Palestinians off the land. And Egypt says the plan is destabilizing to the region and would unravel its decades-old peace treaty with Israel. So instead, Egypt drew up a detailed reconstruction plan for Gaza of its own, and it got the backing of all Arab states at a summit in Cairo this week. They also all rejected any displacement of Palestinians. So Israel and the U.S. immediately criticized this lengthy Egyptian plan. But then Steve Witkoff said this yesterday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
STEVE WITKOFF: I just finished reading it. There's a lot of compelling features to it. We need more discussion about it, but it's a good-faith first step from the Egyptians.
BATRAWY: So, Steve, the plan doesn't address every single concern that Israel or, you know, Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have about, you know, what would come next, and they'll be needed to help fund the reconstruction. But it would exclude Hamas from any governance, and Hamas says they agreed to that.
INSKEEP: Oh, interesting. Aya, thanks so much.
BATRAWY: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR correspondent Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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