What is a ceasefire?

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🗓️ 16 November 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

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Summary

President Trump says his Gaza peace plan will end the war between Israel and Hamas and launch a new era of peace in the Middle East. But a month into the ceasefire, progress on implementing the 20-point plan appears to be stalling. Today on The Sunday Story, NPR correspondents Aya Batrawy and Daniel Estrin unpack the ceasefire plan and why it’s not going according to plan. Why is the deal so fragile, and what does this mean for Gaza? And for the first time in over two years of war, NPR goes to the part of Gaza where Israel is fortifying its military occupation.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is a Sunday story where we go beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story.
0:06.9	This month, NPR's Daniel Estrin entered Gaza for the first time in more than two years.
0:12.5	He departed from Tel Aviv.
0:14.3	With outdoor cafes, high-rises life, and in just one hour driving along Israeli highways, I arrived at the Israeli fence with Gaza.
0:26.1	He joined a military embed into Gaza with the Israeli military. This is the only way for journalists to enter Gaza as Israel continues to bar journalists from independent access.
0:39.2	I entered in an Israeli military vehicle with 11 other journalists.
0:44.5	So we've driven right through the Israeli fence.
0:49.7	There are a couple of Israeli military jeeps behind us.
0:52.4	And within minutes, we were at this Israeli military outpost.
0:57.6	And we were taken to an outlook.
1:01.0	Finally, he was able to see for himself what parts of Gaza look like today.
1:05.8	Oh, my gosh.
1:06.3	I'll give a quick explanation.
1:07.8	As you are seeing in front of you is the battlefield of Sajaya.
1:12.5	To the left is Gaza City.
1:15.8	I climbed up to the top of a dirt berm, and the first thing you see is just this endless expanse of rubble.
1:27.9	It's colorless, gray cement mangled, what used to be homes and schools.
1:36.3	I mean, I'm struggling to describe it.
1:39.3	We've seen pictures of destruction in Gaza, but to stand there and to take it all in feels like something entirely different.
1:52.3	Last month on October 8th, the Trump administration announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza.
2:00.6	President Trump said the deal would not only end the
2:03.3	two-year war, but also launch a new era of peace. At long last, we have peace in the Middle East,
	...

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