MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Negotiators begin talks today in Egypt to try to finally end the war in Gaza. The United States presented a peace plan, and Israel agreed. The talks are to make sure Hamas and Israel get on board with the details on the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. President Trump is asking everyone to, quote, "move fast."
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's Daniel Estrin is following this from Tel Aviv. Hi there, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. They're told to move fast, but how quickly can we expect these negotiations to go?
ESTRIN: It could take longer than what Trump has been suggesting. The sides have to agree on a lot, including which Palestinian prisoners Israel will release. And Hamas is also saying that some of the dead hostages in Gaza are buried under rubble and that it's going to take them time to exhume their bodies. Hamas is going to be coming to this negotiating table this week saying, Israel, you want the hostages? We need more guarantees to make that happen. And they're likely to demand Israel withdraw its troops even farther than the line Israel already agreed to. They'll probably insist Israel halt all its fire while they're locating the hostages. So we expect Hamas to seek maximal concessions, Israel to seek minimal concessions, and it's going to be up to the U.S. and the mediating countries to bridge all of it.
INSKEEP: OK. So granting that this may not end this week, we seem to be getting closer to some kind of conclusion. What has pushed the warring parties to this point?
ESTRIN: Israel's strike targeting Hamas mediators in Qatar last month really was the pivotal moment. It angered President Trump. Qatar, of course, is his close ally. And he got Arab countries on board with his peace plan, so this united front that they presented put Israel and Hamas in a corner. Trump brought Israel on board, and Hamas calculated its standing. It knows it's losing militarily in Gaza. It's losing more territory, with Israeli troops advancing in Gaza City. It needs relations with Arab countries if it wants any kind of future role in Palestinian life.
And Trump is now showing a real desire to end the war. We know he wants a Nobel Peace Prize, and that's going to be announced this Friday - who gets that prize. But Hamas saw the opportunity now to negotiate something with Trump, with the others, maybe to negotiate something in its favor. And I think that's why Hamas has finally agreed to do things that they had been giving a flat no to before. They've agreed to release all the hostages upfront. They're even beginning to signal flexibility about giving up their weapons.
INSKEEP: Are people on the ground hopeful?
ESTRIN: They are, which is really an amazing thing to say. In Gaza, scores of people have been killed in Israeli strikes just in recent days, and still there are voices of hope. Our reporter in Gaza, NPR's Anas Baba, met a 31-year-old man, Muhammad Nassar (ph), who had fled an Israeli airstrike the very night before Hamas announced it was willing to release the 48 hostages. And here's what he said.
MUHAMMAD NASSAR: (Speaking Arabic).
ESTRIN: He said he felt unbelievable joy and that it gave us a glimmer of hope - Hamas' response - that maybe the war would finally come to an end. And in Israel, we are hearing similar voices from families of hostages. They're actually camped outside Prime Minister Netanyahu's home. They want to keep the pressure on him. They're full of nerves, but they finally are allowing themselves to hope.
INSKEEP: NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much, sir.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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