AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is now in its second week. It remains precarious, but yesterday, both Israelis and Palestinians had reason to celebrate. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf joins us now from Tel Aviv. Hi, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: So yesterday, four Israeli hostages held in Gaza were released. In exchange, Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. What was the scene like?
LONSDORF: Yeah, there were scenes of joy on both sides, which is rare these days. Here's what it sounded like in Tel Aviv when it was announced that the soldiers, the four women hostages, had made it into the custody of Israeli forces.
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LONSDORF: And here's what it sounded like in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, when busloads of Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released there.
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LONSDORF: The four Israeli hostages were whisked off to a local hospital for medical checks and to have privacy with their families. And on the Palestinian side of things, about half of those released were sent to the occupied West Bank.
RASCOE: Now, this type of exchange - Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees - happened last weekend, too.
LONSDORF: Yeah.
RASCOE: But this exchange was different. Explain that to us.
LONSDORF: Yeah, so last time, it was mostly women who were released and some boys under the age of 18. Many of them had been held without clear charges or were charged with relatively minor crimes. This time, there were some Palestinian prisoners released that had been convicted of serious crimes - orchestrating terror attacks on Israel, like suicide bombings and shootings. Many had life sentences. You know, that includes prisoners like Wael Qassim. He was sentenced to 35 life terms. He assisted in the Hebrew University suicide bombing in 2002 that killed nine people, including five Americans. You know, this was part of the agreement, to release prisoners like this, but Israel agreed to it only if they were deported. So about 70 prisoners yesterday were sent first to Egypt, and then they'll be sent on to other Arab countries.
RASCOE: Kat, what can you tell us about Palestinians from northern Gaza who were supposed to be able to start returning today?
LONSDORF: Yeah.
RASCOE: Is that happening?
LONSDORF: In short, no. It's been delayed. Israel says that Hamas was supposed to deliver a different hostage yesterday, one of the only civilian women left. So Israel announced that it would delay Palestinians returning to north Gaza until the release of that woman is arranged. Hamas says delaying the return to the North is in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, you know, our producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, says that thousands of people are gathering in Gaza waiting to go north. He told us that the roads are jammed packed with cars and people. Here's a voice note he sent me from earlier today from one of the main routes north called Salah al-Din.
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: I'm standing in the middle of Salah al-Din. Thousands of cars are waiting. All of those cars is totally full. We can see trucks. We can see here donkey carts. Every single person took their belongings. They dissembled the tents.
LONSDORF: He told me that people are now sleeping in the street, waiting for the green light to return. And many of these people don't know what they're returning to. A lot of the North has been devastated by more than a year of fighting. But Anas says that crowds have just been growing and growing over the past 24 hours, as people are eager to end their displacement and find out what's left.
RASCOE: President Trump was talking about Gaza yesterday and said, quote, "you're talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing." He suggested Jordan or Egypt take in Palestinians from Gaza. What have been the reactions to this?
LONSDORF: Yeah, Trump said this when talking to reporters traveling with him on Air Force One. This is not U.S. policy right now. He said this in the context of talking about how destroyed Gaza is and that Palestinians should be removed in order to rebuild it. And in answer to a question, he said that it could be a permanent move.
Much of the Israeli government has been pretty quiet about this idea this morning. Hamas, on the other hand, strongly rejected it, saying that the whole reason Palestinians endured this war was to stay on their land. You know, there's - there isn't really a plan for what happens after the war in Gaza, and the amount of rebuilding that needs to happen is immense. And right now, it is unclear how that will happen.
RASCOE: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv. Thanks, Kat.
LONSDORF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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