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As Israel and Hamas exchange living and dead captives as part of a U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement, questions are growing about how sustainable the truce is and whether the two sides will progress to the second and third stages of the plan.
"My family is very happy that the families of other hostages that have been returned, dead and alive, are reaching some degree of closure," says Middle East historian Joel Beinin, whose Israeli niece, Liat Beinin Atzili, was held captive in Gaza for 54 days after she was taken by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, while her husband Aviv was killed. The family's story is the focus of a new documentary, Holding Liat.
"All of the rest of the 20-point plan is very dubious, and I have grave doubts about whether any of the rest of it will actually be implemented," says Beinin, who also discusses one-sided Western media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how he came to "abandon Zionism" despite having family in Israel.
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The incident comes days after a cease-fire went into effect in Gaza.
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As President Trump celebrates his Gaza ceasefire deal, major questions remain over what happens next. Democracy Now! speaks with Khaled Elgindy, visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, who breaks down the U.S.-backed peace plan. Though the document includes "vague statements" on how the peace process will unfold, Elgindy says it's wise for "Palestinians to rebuild their national movement" at this time. At the same time, Israel has refused to release political leader Marwan Barghouti, who has spent decades in Israeli prison and is widely seen as a "unifying leader" who could bring all Palestinian factions together.
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Renowned Israeli historian, author and professor Ilan Pappé discusses the postwar prospects of Palestinian statehood and of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under investigation for corruption in Israel and subject to an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Despite the newly implemented Gaza ceasefire, says Pappé, Israeli political leaders have not changed their policy aim to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their remaining territory. "Nothing has changed in the dehumanization and the attitude of this particular Israeli government and its belief that it has the power to wipe out Palestine as a nation, as a people and as a country," he explains. Pappé's latest book is titled Israel on the Brink: And the Eight Revolutions That Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence.
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"War is over," declared Donald Trump Sunday night, as the first phase of the U.S.-backed 20-point Gaza peace plan got underway. Hamas has returned the remaining 20 living hostages back to Israel, while Israel has released around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. We get a reaction to the ceasefire from the Palestinian writer and human rights activist Ahmed Abu Artema. He recently evacuated Gaza, nearly two years after multiple family members, including his son, were killed in an Israeli military attack. "We cannot say we are happy, because we lost everything," he says.
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President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to the "first phase" of a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal for Gaza. The 20-point roadmap includes a swap of captives and a phased Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, though details on many of the planks remain sketchy. Democracy Now! spoke with Palestinian and Israeli analysts on how to interpret the peace plan.
"We're now at a fork in the road," says Mouin Rabbani, a Palestinian Middle East analyst. "While it's very welcome, of course, that the genocide may be coming to an end … this is a renewed Oslo process with an even lower political ceiling." He says there are calls around the globe for a "different paradigm … in which Israeli accountability for its actions replaces these meaningless, endless negotiations about nothing."
Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza, is critical of the deal, saying that "as soon as a ceasefire deal is signed, nobody bothers with the details. Gaza disappears, and it's back to this slow, latent, invisible violence of starvation and engaging people in a permanent state of nonlife."
Ori Goldberg, an Israeli political analyst and scholar, says that the deal was politically advantageous for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Netanyahu can now be the complete package," says Goldberg. "Netanyahu was the fearless leader who fought the difficult, inevitable war, but he is now the fearless leader who brings the difficult, inevitable deal."
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Celebrations broke out in Gaza and Israel overnight after President Trump announced Israel and Hamas have agreed on the first phase of a hostage-ceasefire deal. Trump said the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza would likely be released on Monday. Israel has also agreed to release hundreds of Palestinians held captive in Israeli prisons, but a final list of prisoners has not been released. Eyad Amawi, an aid coordinator who joins us from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, has "mixed feelings, happiness, worries and hopes" about the deal. He is cautious due to "Israeli habits" during ceasefire agreements to "grant themselves more time to punish our people, to increase the suffering."
During the first phase of the deal, Israel will withdraw forces from parts of Gaza and allow more humanitarian aid into the besieged territory. A ceasefire is expected to begin after the Israeli government formally approves the deal.
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