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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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Pressure is mounting for Israel to release many more detainees as part of the U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire deal, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been held under harsh conditions without charge since December, when Israeli troops stormed the hospital — claiming without evidence it was a Hamas command center. Soldiers forced Dr. Abu Safiya out at gunpoint along with patients he had refused to abandon. Famous footage shows him wearing his white medical coat as he climbed over rubble to walk toward an Israeli tank before he was detained.
Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, says that Abu Safiya is one of at least 19 doctors held in Israeli detention without charge. "They are facing a very serious risk for their health and for their lives," says Abbas. "They are being tortured. They are facing violence daily."
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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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