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There are signs that a ceasefire could be close in Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza. U.S. officials have said they are hoping a deal is finalized this month. For families of hostages still held in Gaza and Palestinians still suffering from Israel's bombardment, a deal cannot come fast enough. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: It was another weekend of rallies in Tel Aviv, where the crowds shout, now, and call on the Israeli government to bring home the 100 hostages, including seven Americans.
ORNA NEUTRA: My beautiful son, Omer, my strong, six-foot-two, big, smiley boy.
KELEMEN: On this night, Orna Neutra addresses the crowd. She found out two weeks ago that her son, an American serving in the Israeli military, was killed by Hamas militants on October 7. They took his body into Gaza.
NEUTRA: We will continue to fight for your return and for the return of all the hostages.
KELEMEN: U.S. officials presume that three of the seven Americans still held in Gaza are alive, and they're doing what they can to push all sides to a deal this month. National security advisor Jake Sullivan was in Tel Aviv last week.
JAKE SULLIVAN: I am here today because I believe every day matters, and we're going to use every day we have to try to close the deal as soon as we possibly can.
KELEMEN: There's a sense now that both sides want a deal, and there's new momentum in the talks. Sullivan says that's because the whole region has changed. Hamas has been degraded militarily, and so too have its allies, from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon to the dramatic fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.
SULLIVAN: The loss of Iran's client state in Syria has contributed to that different context. The surround sound of these negotiations is different today than it has been in the past.
KELEMEN: And he says that's why Hamas is showing more flexibility. Akram Atallah, a Palestinian analyst based in London, says Hamas has backed off from its key demands of an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
AKRAM ATALLAH: (Speaking Arabic).
KELEMEN: Atallah says Arab mediators have been telling Hamas to reach a hostage deal before President-elect Trump returns to the White House. Trump has warned that there will be, quote, "hell to pay" if the hostages are not released before he takes office.
(CROSSTALK)
KELEMEN: At the regular rally for the hostages, some family members are worried that the deal won't include all of the hostages and might leave out their relatives. Dahlia Kusnir says two of her husband's brothers were kidnapped in the Hamas attack last year.
DAHLIA KUSNIR: We believe they're alive. We know they're struggling. We know they're having diseases and hunger and starvation and everything. But I believe and I know that they are holding on and hoping, waiting for us to take them out of there.
KELEMEN: Palestinians in Gaza, meanwhile, are desperate for reprieve from the Israeli airstrikes that killed more than 150 Palestinians in just the past few days. According to local health officials, the death toll in Gaza has now passed 45,000.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Non-English language spoken).
KELEMEN: In Zawayda in central Gaza, NPR producer Anas Baba meets Ali Mahmoud. The 37-year-old lived in northern Gaza before the war and has since had to relocate his family nine times. He's skeptical that this deal will get him back home.
ALI MAHMOUD: (Speaking Arabic).
KELEMEN: "If Israel and Hamas agree to a deal that does not include us returning to our homes in the North, this is not a ceasefire to me," he says. He calls it more of a short break than a true end to the war. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
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