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Celebrations in Gaza and Israel after Ceasefire Deal Is Announced; Hamas Requires "Formal Declaration" Ending War before Releasing Hostages; Alarming Surge in Malnutrition in Gaza; Gaza Hopes for an End to War after Two Years of Suffering. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired October 09, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Welcome to our second hour of this show, CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson, from our Middle East
programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi, on a momentous day for this region this hour.
The Israeli security cabinet is convening ahead of a government vote on a ceasefire plan that will end two years of agony for the nearly 2 million
Palestinians in Gaza and for the Israeli hostages, still held captive in the enclave, and their family members, waiting for them to come home. At
least that is the plan.
This meeting, coming after Israel and Hamas agreed to several key points in U.S. president Donald Trump's 20-point plan, including a halt to the
fighting and return of all the hostages by Hamas.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will also be released, along with 1,700 people from Gaza who have been detained by Israel in the two years since
the October 7th Hamas attacks.
The agreement also means aid will flow back into Gaza at levels not seen since the last ceasefire back in January. This is how it looked and sounded
in Gaza after president Trump announced the ceasefire on Wednesday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): A ceasefire deal, of course, not the ceasefire itself. Celebrations there and also in Israel, where families of the
hostages are awaiting their release.
There are difficult issues ahead that still must be resolved, including Israel's demand that Hamas lay down its arms, disarms; the timeline and
conditions for a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and the future governance of the enclave.
Nic Robertson is following developments for us from Cairo.
Lay out for us what we can expect in the coming hours, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, Israel right now holding a security cabinet meeting. It's expected, despite some dissension
from right-wing members of prime minister Netanyahu's cabinet, to pass and give its assent an agreement to the ceasefire.
Hostage release, first phase, part of president Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan. Now it is being seen as Hamas as requiring Israel to agree to a
formal end to the war.
So one of the other things we're expecting here in Sharm El Sheikh, where the proximity talks have been going on and have been continuing today, is
that there will be a formal signature of the agreement of this first phase. We don't have a text for that yet.
And in the meantime, on the Hamas side, there still seem to be discussions with the mediators and effectively onto Israel about the names of some of
the Palestinian prisoners. The 250 life-sentenced Palestinian prisoners that Israel is agreeing to release.
Hamas has asked for some high-profile figures. It's not clear that Israel is going to going to hand those over but that seems to be part of the
ongoing discussion.
And also, Hamas has said that there have been some tweaks in the agreement so far in terms of handing back all the hostages in a quick succession, the
living and the dead.
And that appears to stem from the fact that they do not know where the remains of all the deceased hostages are or at least not able to lay their
hands on them 100 percent confirmed quickly.
But that also seems to be something that is part of a discussion, is not a point of disagreement and is not going to off-rail the process at the
moment.
And I think beyond that, Becky, it's a little hard to know. We do know that, once the Israeli cabinet agrees to all of this, then the IDF moves to
that yellow line, the so-called yellow line of retreat, giving them 53 percent control over Gaza.
[10:05:04]
Once they're in place, 24 hours after the cabinet has made its agreement, the 72 hours for the handing back of the hostages begins. That's the
mechanics of the process. Details of the behind-the-scenes still relatively opaque to us, Becky.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Nic. Thank you.
The ceasefire then, as Nic pointed out, in Gaza, will or should begin immediately after Israel's cabinet approves the agreement, they say within
24 hours, which is expected to happen later today. That's according to two Israeli officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): For now, there are signs that some violence does continue in the enclave. This explosion was seen several hours ago from
southern Israel. CNN's Paula Hancocks reports on the cautious optimism among Gaza residents that this deal will hold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One woman's prayers of thanks that the war is ending as phase one of the Gaza ceasefire plan is
agreed.
What sounds like celebratory gunfire is heard in the distance. As the sun rises, Gazan residents assess their new reality.
"I feel joy," this man says. "Two years of torment and repression, displacement, lack of food and water. I'm happy the war will end. The
bleeding we see every day will end. The nightmares we see."
This 70-year-old woman says, "It's true. I'm happy in the moment. But now we feel the pain of our memories. I lost my daughters, my brothers'
daughters and their children. Most of our family died and our homes were destroyed."
This man voices concern. He says, "We have seen ceasefires before that lasted two months and then the war returned. It's true, I am extremely
happy but my joy is tinged with caution and fear."
Despite the hope of the promised surge in humanitarian aid, the harsh reality of Gaza has not changed. Two years ago, 12-year-old Mohammed Abu
Ammar (ph) was in school. He's now 14 and this is his life in Gaza, sifting through rotting waste to find anything that he can sell to help his family
survive.
"We collect wood and plastic for fires," he says. Anything else to light a fire with. Two years ago, before the war, I didn't even know where the
garbage dump was."
There are 11 people to feed in his family. He says two of his brothers were killed by a drone strike after being displaced from Gaza City.
This is al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis, an area the Israeli military has forced hundreds of thousands of Gazans to move to over the course of this war.
This is the area Israel calls a quote, "humanitarian zone." Hopes that peace will last this time are palpable across Gaza but also tainted by
previous disappointments, a peace that some in Gaza have never even known - - Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Right. We're going to take a very short break. Still to come, they have agreed to phase one of a ceasefire plan.
Can that pave the way to peace between Israel and Hamas?
Our next guest joins us to talk next steps and a sense of whether that agreement will hold.
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ANDERSON: All right, let's get you more now on what is going on in Israel. As we understand it, the cabinet is now meeting, the Israeli security
cabinet meeting on this Gaza ceasefire plan that was agreed between Hamas and Israel overnight in Sharm El Sheikh. Jeremy Diamond is with us now.
What more are you hearing from government officials in Israel as this security cabinet meeting convenes, Jeremy?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, we heard just recently from the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar, who did not directly
address whether or not this ceasefire plan will actually lead to an end of the war in Gaza.
But he made clear that all of the wars goals are, quote, "anchored" in the outline of president Trump's plan and that Israel is committed to achieving
them, which is another way of saying that he believes that this ceasefire plan will actually lead to the government realizing all of the goals of the
war and therefore being able to end it.
And it is important to note that, even though we haven't heard explicitly from the Israeli government or from the Trump administration that this plan
leads to an end of the war, it is what we are hearing from other parties involved in this.
The Qataris, the Egyptians, as well as sources involved in the negotiations, who I've been speaking to and you as well, I'm sure, Becky,
all indicating that this plan will lead to an end of the war in Gaza, bringing an end to so much suffering that we have witnessed in this region
for the past two years.
And where I am right now in Hostage Square, as you know, has been the scene of people raising up their voices, expressing their hopes and their demands
that the Israeli hostages be released.
And behind me now you can see so many people who have come out here to celebrate the fact that those hopes and dreams are finally becoming a
reality.
That Israeli government vote scheduled for, you know, the next couple hours, very likely, finally bringing about the reality of that vision and
setting off that 72-hour clock in order for those hostages to be released, Israeli troops to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the much-needed entry of
humanitarian aid into Gaza as well, Becky.
ANDERSON: Right, Jeremy. Thank you. That is what we know at this point as the security cabinet convenes.
My next guest then -- and thank you, Jeremy -- is the head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom. He is also a former ambassador
to the U.S., an advisor to the Palestinian president. Ambassador Husam Zomlot, joining me now from London.
Firstly, I just want to get your reaction to this moment in time, a ceasefire expected in the hours to come and a move to release the hostages
in an exchange for Palestinian prisoners who are in Israeli jails.
What is going through your mind right now, sir?
AMBR. HUSAM ZOMLOT, PALESTINIAN MISSION TO THE U.K.: A deep, deep sigh of relief, Becky, that finally our people in Gaza are going to at least see
the end of this unprecedented mass murder, mass starvation and mass destruction, the genocide that has been in real time in front of the world.
But also caution. We have experienced Netanyahu in the last ceasefire agreement. So we welcome it as a first step. And we realize that we need
not to relax, not to rest but to keep the momentum, keep the pressure. So this is the end of Israel's genocidal war.
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This will see the full withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army out of Gaza. This will see the immediate relief and delivery of humanitarian aid
desperately needed following the starvation of our people for all these months.
And this will see the immediate rebuilding and reconstruction of Gaza and the unity of Gaza with the West Bank inseparable, Gaza should be and must
be and will be, from the state of Palestine and the one legitimate Palestinian government.
And we need to learn the lesson finally -- and this is the most important - - that, since the 7th of October and all that followed of the atrocities, that these are the symptoms we must be set on the root cause and we must
from now not only end the genocide but end the occupation altogether and bring peace and justice to Palestine and the region.
ANDERSON: Well, this is the first phase of a road map. It is, as you rightly point out, too early to call an end to this war as it stands at
present. Certainly so many people want to call an end to this war.
But let's be quite clear. We need to see more detail at this point.
What is your understanding of whether Israel has given Hamas any assurances that it will permanently stop fighting and withdraw fully from Gaza?
ZOMLOT: Israel's assurances have always been reneged. And look at what Israel is doing in Lebanon. There is a full ceasefire in Lebanon between
Israel and Lebanon and Israel violates that ceasefire every single day.
So the guarantees that we need must come from the mediators; from Egypt, from Qatar and from the U.S., particularly that president Trump is invested
in this and has offered this as his peace plan.
So we do need to see such international guarantees. And we need -- we need to keep the global movement for Palestine momentum, Becky, because the
people of the world, the millions all over the world are the main reason that their governments realize that they cannot absolutely continue
pretending that genocide is not happening.
And all the decisions and all the official momentum you saw is because of the movement. So this is a message through your program, we must keep the
work. It's just beginning.
ANDERSON: Crucially, the next step would be that Hamas would have to disarm.
Were or would this second phase to be enacted, do you believe that's going to happen?
ZOMLOT: Becky, Gaza now needs baby formula. It needs doctors and nurses. Gaza now needs really an unprecedented international efforts to bring life
back to Gaza after all these months and two years of utter destruction.
Gaza needs bulldozers to take out the rubble. It needs really hands of building with us, Gaza. I don't think we need weapons right now. What we
need is the unity of our people is the unity of our land and is the unity of our political system.
We have one address. We have one government. The agreement is there will be a Palestinian technocratic committee that is linked directly to the
Palestinian central government authority.
And the Palestinian security services will be in charge of making sure that our people are secured, are protected and, from there, we move toward,
again, making sure that it's the state of Palestine that has the sovereignty over the land of Palestine and the ability to provide for its
people and protect its citizens.
ANDERSON: I understand your perspective and I get your position on this. With respect, I asked -- not with respect, actually, because I'm very --
very much wanted to hear your personal perspective.
What I'm also interested in hearing from you is whether you believe that Hamas will disarm.
Because the next step in this comprehensive plan, that would include all of what you have just suggested -- the baby formula, the bulldozers, the
cleanup, everything that Palestinians in Gaza need at the moment will not happen unless both parties agree to this plan. That plan includes Hamas
disarming.
So your sense of whether that is likely to happen?
ZOMLOT: Well, my understanding of the talks in Sharm El Sheikh and the agreement, it includes that it is a technocratic government that will be in
charge of Gaza.
And my understanding is that Hamas accepted long ago and confirmed in that agreement that they will have no role in the governance in Gaza.
And when it comes to governance, there will have to be one security apparatus that is legitimate, belonging to the government of Palestine,
that only Palestinians can govern themselves. So in that regard, yes.
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I think we are heading in that direction. And we also need not only to see the disarmament of one side. We want to see the disarmament of the Israeli
army that is surrounding Gaza, simply because, you know, this isn't just a one-sided situation, Becky.
And I assure you, Netanyahu is simply maneuvering and he's just waiting for another opportunity for a loophole somewhere to come back to this. I don't
see him taking a decision to end the entire war and to withdraw his forces. I see him maneuvering to bring back the hostages, the exchange of
detainees.
And then from there, God knows what he has up his sleeves. And that's why we want to make sure that, while we take that deep sigh of relief, we also
keep that pressure, that work to make sure that we keep going in the direction of ending the whole war.
And to swiftly go in the direction of what president Trump's plan has offered, which is the right to self-determination of the Palestinian
people, which is statehood.
And therefore that's exactly where we need to focus our efforts, rather than getting into details here, because this is what Netanyahu and Israel
always divert us to us, the gritty-nitty (sic) details. This is time to end the occupation once and for all.
ANDERSON: The problem is that Israel's stated goal is to annihilate Hamas. Whether you agree that that is ever possible or not, that includes the
disarmament, the complete disarmament of that organization.
Look, I get where you are, where you're positioned and you have explained why you think agreement to not being governance going forward, which would
also include decisions about security, might be the way of answering that question.
Look, you know, there is much hope that Donald Trump's the leverage that the U.S. clearly have under Donald Trump and his administration will be
really used going forward, not just in this first phase.
His plan calls for a board chaired by him and to include Tony Blair, for example, to oversee Gaza. And I want to quote their plan here.
Until -- "the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including president Trump's peace plan in
2020 and the Saudi-French proposal of late and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza."
Now I just wonder what you believe those who have drafted this road map believe and have accepted and supported this road map that includes the
Arab states in this region, what those steps for reform are of the Palestinian, of the PA, as you understand them.
And is this plan workable going forward?
Is it feasible?
Is it realistic?
ZOMLOT: Reform, number one, Becky, is a Palestinian demand. It's our people that demanded reform. And it's a legitimate demand. And there is
such a commitment toward that reform. So it shouldn't be just portrayed as an external pressure.
The Palestinian people want to see a democratic political system. They want to see elections as soon as possible. The Palestinian people want to see
one address, one government, one law.
The Palestinian people see themselves as united and they see their land as united and they don't want any further fragmentation. So in that line, yes,
I see that is as possible. I see our commitment to be firm to our people, first and foremost.
And I believe that what we need right now is to empower and strengthen the Palestinian national institutions and representation, the Palestinian
government, the PLO in this regard, and to make sure that international assistance and help and support is there in abundance to help us doing what
should be done.
That Palestinians must govern themselves. No other entity governs Palestinians and that the support come from the world so we actually build
it bottom up toward the commitment of president Trump and the 20 plans (sic) that this is about the right to self-determination.
And this is about, in the end, statehood. So if this is the goal, so everything we take, every step in the road we take must lead to that
sovereignty, that statehood, that end of occupation, including making sure that it's the Palestinian national institutions.
It's the Palestinian legitimacy, it's the Palestinian people that who govern themselves, rebuild their country according to their needs and their
priorities, not according to any other consideration.
ANDERSON: Let me briefly ask you who you believe could or should emerge as the leader of Gaza and a future Palestinian state.
ZOMLOT: There is no such a thing as a leader of Gaza. There is such a thing as a leader of the Palestinian people and leadership of the
Palestinian people. That includes a president.
[10:25:00]
A parliament of the state that is now recognized by the absolute vast majority of the world, minus the U.S. and Israel. And it should include a
renewal of our democratic process all the time.
And let the Palestinian people elect their leaders. Becky, there is a lot of talk about the people of Gaza. There is no such a thing. I am a person
who was born in Gaza. There is the Palestinian people in Gaza and Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
So there will be one leader, one president for the people of Palestine and that one president shall be elected by the people of Palestine. There isn't
any other formula.
ANDERSON: I know your name has been in the mix, certainly on some people's lips. I've asked --
(CROSSTALK)
ZOMLOT: You're going to get me in trouble, Becky.
ANDERSON: I know what your answer will be, are you -- exactly what you told me last time. You're going to get me in trouble, Becky, so I won't ask
again. I'll leave it there. But we very much appreciate your time today.
And we do hope that the coming hours and weeks are going to be positive ones. Thank you very much indeed.
Next up, a major breakthrough in the war in Gaza and a big win for Donald Trump. We'll look at what's next after Israel and Hamas agree to the first
phase of a new ceasefire plan.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson.
And Donald Trump has said he may travel to Egypt this weekend after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of his Gaza ceasefire plan. Egypt, of
course, is where negotiators have been meeting all week to secure the deal.
The U.S. president says he is also likely to visit Israel. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited president Trump to address the Israeli
parliament. Well, Kevin Liptak is in Washington, D.C., with more on president Trump's plans.
But before we get to those plans, I just want you to step back for a moment. Take us back to what happened behind the scenes.
How do we get here in this diplomatic effort to get this over the line?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And there had been so many starts and stops on this over the last two years. But clearly, in
talking to officials, they do identify the president's frustration around that Israeli attack in Doha at the beginning of September as something of a
turning point in all of this.
That essentially led the president to renew his efforts to try and come up with a deal. It led Steve Witkoff, the president's foreign envoy, and Jared
Kushner, his son-in-law, to try and compile this 20-point plan that the president had put together.
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And really pushed these two sides to the negotiating table. And I think, in the president's mind, he really thought that, at that moment, he had more
leverage over Benjamin Netanyahu than he had had at any point previously.
He really did feel like Netanyahu had overstepped when he did that and he used the ensuing three weeks to bring these sides together. And it's clear
in talking to officials that the president essentially willed this into reality. There were various points at which both sides of this, all sides
of this expressed misgivings.
And the president essentially pushed those aside and pushed through. So there was a moment at which, you know, the Arab nations were concerned that
Israel had made too many changes to this plan and encouraged the White House to not release it publicly. They did so anyway.
Eventually those Arab nations got on board. When Hamas said that they had agreed to the deal, Benjamin Netanyahu was concerned that it wasn't a full-
throated endorsement. He was a little more skeptical.
The president essentially told him, stop being negative, get on board, stop bombing Gaza. Let's get this over the finish line.
And so you see, at various points, the president really pushing through to try and get this over the finish line, which is what he's done. The
president now talking about going to the Middle East to celebrate what is clearly the biggest diplomatic accomplishment of his term so far.
But at the same time, acknowledging that this is just the first phase. And you hear that from the president, you hear that from almost every official
here at the White House, which is that there is still a lot of work to be done before they can declare this war over.
You know, they have to sort out the issue of whether Hamas will disarm. They have to sort out the issue of who will govern Gaza going forward.
Those are big questions that no one has been able to resolve up until this point.
But they clearly do feel like the momentum that the president has built over the last several weeks will continue. And the president certainly very
eager to go to the region to mark this historic moment.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): As we see hostage families and Palestinians celebrating an historic agreement between Israel and Hamas, you would be
forgiven for thinking that we've been here before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Gershon Baskin, a former Israeli hostage negotiator who has worked on the current proposal, posted on X, "What we should know is
that this deal could have been done a long time ago.
"Hamas agreed to all of the same terms in September 2024. There have been numerous attempts to reach a diplomatic solution between Israel and Hamas
in the past two years."
In November 2023, six weeks after the October 7th Hamas terror attacks, a four-day truce was agreed. I spoke with Qatar's lead negotiator at the
time, Mohammed al-Khulaifi, as he was urging the international community to seize what he described as the window of opportunity for diplomacy. Have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED AL-KHULAIFI, QATAR LEAD NEGOTIATOR, ISRAEL-GAZA HOSTAGE DEAL: Within the four days pause, in each day, there will be an obligation on
each side, an obligation on the Israelis and an obligation on Hamas, making sure that they're going to fulfill those obligations in each day.
ANDERSON: Who will be released?
AL-KHULAIFI: So this agreement specifically focuses on civilian women and children in each side and both sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, without an agreement, Israel resumed its war on Gaza on December 1st of that year after it said Hamas restarted firing rockets into
Israel.
Well, after months of further violence in Gaza in May 2024, Hamas agreed to a proposal mediated by Qatar and Egypt. However, Israel said the terms that
Hamas accepted were still far from meeting its requirements.
Well, days later, the IDF continued airstrikes, killing multiple Palestinians. The Arab nations continue to pursue diplomacy. This is what
Dr. Majed al Ansari, the official spokesperson for Qatar's ministry of foreign affairs, told me last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MAJED AL ANSARI, OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON, QATARI MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Since the collapse of the last pause, we always knew that we
needed a comprehensive deal that would lead to a longer pause and would lead therefore to a more sustainable ceasefire between the parties of this
conflict.
We are right now engaged in constructive dialogue between both sides. Situation on the ground is very much difficult, and we are nowhere near
ideal at the moment, however, we are working day and night to make sure that we have the right ideas going across between both sides.
There are things that are very difficult to work out between both sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, in July of 2024, Israeli prime minister Netanyahu derailed a potential agreement by introducing new demands at the 11th hour, which
Israel called clarifications.
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Frustration in Israel mounted in particular among the families of the hostages, fueling sentiment in Israel that the prime minister was purposely
prolonging the war and torpedoing deals for his own political benefit.
Well, the last truce was in January of this year. Donald Trump, who was then the president-elect, posted on social media that there would be "hell
to pay" if the captives in Gaza were not freed before he came to office.
Well, on January the 15th, Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage exchange and a ceasefire. Hamas released bodies and hostages for weeks until Israel
delayed the release of more than 600 prisoners and detainees, citing violations of the deal by Hamas.
And that was in March. The Israeli military restarted airstrikes, killing dozens of Palestinians and ramping up its attacks.
Well, right now, these are live pictures of the Israel-Gaza border, showing smoke coming from Gaza City hours after the ceasefire was announced. After
years of agony for both sides, the hostage families and Palestinians in Gaza are hoping this will be the beginning of the end of the conflict.
Well, we're now joined by our panel tonight. Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and author of
"The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East."
Also with me is Nomi Bar-Yaacov, an international peace negotiator and fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security and Policy.
All right, Fawaz, let's start with you. The security cabinet has convened. They have said, should they get agreement, which they are expected to do,
on this ceasefire plan, that a ceasefire will go into place in 24 hours and hostages should be released within 72 hours of that.
Clearly, whilst we can't call the end of this war, this is clearly a good first step.
Your analysis of this moment and where you see it leading?
FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, I think it's the beginning of the end of the humanitarian
catastrophe for 2 million, 2.2 million Palestinians.
The loss, the suffering, the pain, the famine, the starvation, the trauma, for more than two years, it's also the beginning of the end of the horror
for the Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and captives.
But I think it's a temporary moment of relief. I don't think we're going to see the end of the war itself. What we will most likely see is that the end
of the all-out Israeli, all-out war in Gaza.
But the Israeli prime minister has made it very clear he will never pull out his troops completely from Gaza. He wants to establish a buffer zone.
And he said, he made it very clear, he would like freedom of action all over Gaza in the same way that he does in the West Bank and Lebanon and
Syria.
So while we should celebrate this temporary moment of relief for the Palestinians and the hostages and the prisoners, I think we should remain
cynical and realistic about that. What president Trump -- it's not a peace plan. It's really we're talking about the first phase.
And Trump's plan is littered with minefield, literally. And every minefield could implode the next and the third phases of the -- president Trump's
plan.
ANDERSON: What do you make of the further points in this plan?
We are right at the beginning of what is a 20-point plan. The comprehensive plan needs an awful lot of gap-filling and implementation, enforcement
mechanism and all the stuff that, you know, is going to take weeks, months, if not years to really batten down.
And what do you, in a broad sense, what do you make of that road map for a comprehensive plan for peace?
(CROSSTALK)
GERGES: Well, Becky, I think --
ANDERSON: And aspirations at least, if nothing else, for Palestinian statehood?
GERGES: Well, look, Becky, you just had the Palestinian ambassador in the U.K. and he basically is extremely hopeful. But I think it's mainly wishful
thinking.
Trump's plans has nothing to say about Palestinian basic rights. Trump's plan has nothing to say about Palestinian self-determination. Trump's plan
has nothing to say about the Palestinian state, as we understand it, a viable Palestinian state in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East
Jerusalem.
If you allow me, again, I want to really be a bit cynical. I think the strategic, the overarching strategic aim of president Trump and prime
minister Netanyahu is to basically get the hostages back.
[10:40:07]
And they should get the hostages back. But everything else is really minor details. And that's why the focus on the first phase -- and Hamas basically
is under -- was under tremendous pressure, militarily, politically and in terms of human terms in Gaza.
And also Turkiye and Qatar and Egypt have exercised a great deal of pressure on Hamas. Hamas really faces a moment of reckoning, an existential
moment. It's cornered, its back to the wall. So the reality is you're going to see -- and, again, I hope I am wrong.
I think the Middle East has been a graveyard, is a graveyard for political optimism. And the morning after will not really see a major fundamental
change in the plight of the Palestinians or even, let alone, the end of Israeli occupation of the West Bank or Gaza and East Jerusalem.
ANDERSON: Nomi, Fawaz hopes he is wrong. But he has real reservations about whether we are likely to see anything further than this temporary
pause in order to elicit the release of the hostages, both alive and dead.
What's your sense?
NOMI BAR-YAACOV, INTERNATIONAL PEACE NEGOTIATOR; FELLOW, GENEVA CENTRE FOR SECURITY AND POLICY: I think we need to proceed with cautious optimism. I
have zero tolerance for negativity. I know we've had an awful lot of obstruction and -- over the past two years.
But I do think that, at the moment, we're in a very, very different point. We have reached a point at which U.S. president Donald Trump has managed to
get together the neighboring states, namely Egypt and Jordan, to agree with the key three Gulf states, namely the UAE, where you are, Becky, and Saudi
Arabia.
And, of course, Qatar being the lead mediator over the past -- the past two years, plus Turkiye. And I think they were pivotal at this particular
summit at 2 pm -- sorry, 2 am last night, local time, where Hamas and the Israeli delegation and, of course, all the mediators were present in the
first -- in the same room.
It's the first time. It's the first time ever that you've had an official Israeli delegation sitting in the same room as a Hamas delegation, with a
host of mediators at top level. You had the Qatari prime minister, the head of securities from Egypt and Turkiye.
Again, I stress new, relatively new, at Trump's request, with an absolutely key role in persuading Hamas to agree to the terms of this agreement.
And I disagree with Fawaz. I usually agree with him but I totally disagree. This is a framework agreement. And it's full not of minefields. It's full
of gaps. And it's a framework and it has to be viewed as such.
And our job as peace negotiators and -- is to fill in the gaps and to ensure that it does -- it does work. And we don't know yet, of course. But
one idea would be to see whether the Nobel Peace Prize committee tomorrow will make some announcement that, you know, they thank president Trump for
getting this far.
And if, within a year, serious progress toward peace and a Palestinian state, which, of course, includes the West Bank and Gaza, will be made,
then, you know, there would be a good chance that they can phrase it however they like.
But you know, it's -- we mustn't let tomorrow, the deadline of the Nobel Peace Prize, be the end of the commitment from the U.S. because we, of
course, know that this would not have happened had president Trump not put his full weight behind this together with the Muslim states, the Arab
states, the neighboring states.
This is -- we're in a completely different ball park to where we were in January, in January this year. It's a completely -- January this year,
Trump wanted, before his election, to have a ceasefire. And he allowed Netanyahu in March to fraud the deal with catastrophic results. He's not
going to make the same mistake twice.
ANDERSON: If -- as I understand it, you need to be nominated by February the 1st if you are to win the Nobel prize that year in October. I mean,
it's not clear at this point. I don't think, certainly not publicly, that anybody nominated him before February the 1st.
We've had a lot of public demonstrations of support and nominations since then. It will be interesting -- and certainly there's some -- there are
some betting people out there who believe that he may win that award tomorrow.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Nomi, I do just want to close this out. Go on.
BAR-YAACOV: Yes. No, I just said that there's no ambiguity and flexibility in the rules because, I think, you know, it's one of those --
ANDERSON: So you still believe he may win this tomorrow?
[10:45:00]
BAR-YAACOV: I said what I think. I think that it would be really good if they make an announcement. If someone else wins it for this peace for this
year and they make some sort of announcement to acknowledge the massive efforts that he's made and say that they can't reserve it for next year.
But they can say, you know, we recognize this and we very much hope that, maybe next year, they can use the technicalities, as you said at first, of
the February date and say, you know, maybe by the end of this time next year for progress, if serious progress is made toward peace.
As I said, they can't reserve it for him but they can encourage him to continue with a full-on commitment, which is very necessary. Otherwise,
there's no doubt that Israel will obstruct the agreement.
ANDERSON: Yes. I think you make a very good point there. Keeping up the pressure, we need to see that momentum now through phase one and into that
next stage. It is terrific having you on. Thank you very much indeed for joining us today.
It is a really important day. I mean, the Egyptian president has called this history in the making. This agreement, of course, was cut in Sharm El
Sheikh in Egypt, in the city of peace, as it is known.
So many times we've seen, over the years, peace agreements cut there. So we'll see.
Still ahead, let the hostages out and let aid pour in fast. That is the call from the United Nations, which says it has three months' worth of
supplies ready to go. A member of the U.N.'s team in the Middle East joins me, up next.
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Well, the Gaza deal agreed to by Israel and Hamas will see aid deliveries into the territory resume. And those couldn't be more important. Hamas has
been giving more details.
It says five crossings would be opened and 400 trucks would enter on the first day, eventually increasing to 600. Look, let's talk about what that
means on the ground for the people of Gaza.
Juliette Touma is the director of communications for the U.N. Palestinian relief agency. She joins us now live from Amman.
Your agency says you have enough aid to last Gaza's whole population for three months, ready to go.
What does that mean on the ground, like, you know, in real terms, what is it?
JULIETTE TOUMA, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, UNRWA: It means -- great to see you, by the way, Becky. Thanks for having me.
It means we can get into Gaza in three hours really. I mean, we have stuff here in Jordan, stuff in Egypt. We've been waiting for a green light since
March. And we have not been able to deliver any supplies. However, our teams on the ground, UNRWA has (INAUDIBLE) thousand people. They continue
to provide services.
[10:50:00]
And they're ready to get those supplies and deliver them directly to people in need.
ANDERSON: So how will you ensure those supplies get into the hands of those who need it?
TOUMA: So what we normally do is we bring the supplies ourselves. And our teams and the teams in Gaza give it directly to people in need, in our
shelters or around the -- those shelters. It's directly. We don't have a person or a body in between.
ANDERSON: Right. And as you understand it, it will -- this will be what we understand to be the U.N. mechanism for delivery of aid. That is different
from what we've seen on the ground., of course, with the GHF. That is not going to be the way that, as you understand it, this will be a U.N.
operation once again.
Will it?
TOUMA: Well, we don't know. The devil is in the detail. And we should get all those details as the days go by. But there is no other way to do
humanitarian response at the scale needed in Gaza, Becky, without the United Nations, including UNRWA.
ANDERSON: Got it. Right. Your organization also says there are 660,000 children. That's two-thirds of a million kids wanting to get back to
school.
Now are you optimistic that that could actually happen and happen quickly as the guns go silent?
We cross our fingers that that is -- well, more than cross our fingers -- that that is going to happen and that will be, you know, a -- not just a
temporary period?
How quickly can you get these kids back to normal life?
TOUMA: I don't think there is anything like normal life for the children of Gaza, 1 million of them, who have lived through the unimaginable. What
no child and no adult should in fact go through or experience.
All we're saying is that UNRWA has about 7,000 teachers in Gaza. We used to have half of those children in schools. And we can do that. And hence why
it's essential to allow us to do our work.
And if we don't get those kids and others back to school, we risk them becoming a lost generation. And we all know what that means. From previous
conflicts we worked in, falling prey to early marriage and child labor and also to extremist groups as well.
ANDERSON: Yes.
The question is, will you be allowed to get on with that work?
And you clearly making that point tonight. It's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.
TOUMA: Great to see you.
ANDERSON: All right. We're going to take a very short break. Thanks.
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ANDERSON: Well, there's no doubt that this is just the beginning of a lot of intense negotiations as we look ahead to what the day after in Gaza may
look like. But as we await the formal ceasefire announcement from the Israeli security cabinet, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what this
means for those who have suffered the most.
[10:55:00]
For 733 days, it has been 733 days of anguish for the hostages and their loved ones, awaiting them back in Israel, and 733 days of relentless
bloodshed and bombardment in Gaza.
Now some families may see their loved ones finally back home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
ANDERSON (voice-over): The mother and sister of hostage Matan Zangauker there, celebrating his coming return with other families in Israel.
Well, as we deal with scenes of jubilation in Gaza, where over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed over the last two years, according to local
officials, though some estimates put that number much higher, among them nearly 20,000 kids.
Now children in Gaza may finally find a reprieve from the devastation. So I'm going to leave you with the hope and joy that we are hearing from them
today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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END
