Up First from NPR - The Contours of a Ceasefire in Gaza, Preventing Future Wildfires In LA

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause fighting after 15 months of war. What's in the current ceasefire deal President Biden announced Wednesday, and how are people in Israel and Gaza reacting to it? Plus, Los Angeles has some of the strictest wildfire rules in the country. Why weren't they enough to prevent catastrophe?For more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Neela Banerjee, Jerome Socolovsky, Ally Schweitzer and Lisa Thomson. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Iman Ma'ani and Lilly Quiroz. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and our technical director is Zac Coleman.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

After 15 months of war, Israel and Hamas have agreed for it to stop, at least temporarily. Because at long last, I can announce a ceasefire and the hostage deal has been reached. What is in the deal? I'm Leila Fadl with Michelle Martin and this is Up First from NPR News. People in Gaza and in Israel say they're cautiously hopeful that this deal could end the war and return hostages home. But what comes next in a Palestinian territory where so much is now rubble? Who governs?

Who rebuilds? And Los Angeles has some of the toughest rules in the country to deal with the threat of wildfires. Why weren't they enough to prevent the ongoing catastrophe? Stay with us, we've got news you need to start your day. Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause their fighting after more than a year of war. The past 15 months of conflict have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza, and left the enclave

in ruins. And Israelis have remained distraught and in limbo over the fate of family and friends held hostage in Gaza after the October attack by Hamas that started the war. Here's President Biden announcing the agreement yesterday. I'm deeply satisfied. This day has come, finally come, for the sake of the people of Israel and the families waiting in agony. For the sake of the people of Israel and the families waiting in agony and for the sake of the innocent people in Gaza who suffered unimaginable devastation because of the war. The Palestinian people have gone through hell.

The deal follows months of torturous negotiations which threaten to collapse many times. And even today, there are questions about when Israel will approve the deal. For more on the current shape of this agreement and how people in Gaza and Israel are reacting, I'm joined by two NPR correspondents in the region, Ayah Batraoui in Dubai and Hariel El-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Good morning.

I am going to start with you. This is described as a ceasefire, but tell us what it would actually do and does it include a path to end the war, not just pause it? Well, the key thing is if this agreement is implemented as it's been announced, it will start with a pause in airstrikes that will last six weeks and that would begin on Sunday. And in those six weeks, we're going to see a complex prisoner exchange that would include 33 hostages taken from Israel, including two Americans released over those 42 days. Hundreds of Palestinians held in Israel, many of them women and children without

charge, would be freed. And crucially, a flood of needed food, fuel, and medical supplies would enter Gaza. We would also see Israeli troops withdraw from populated areas to the perimeters of Gaza and that would allow displaced people to return to their rubble and homes and whatever's left of them in Gaza City in the north. And all of this is going to be happening while mediators, Qatar and Egypt in the US, are working on the next phases to implement this so that it really truly does lead to a complete ceasefire. So a lot of moving parts.

A lot of moving parts, very complicated. Haddi, let's go to you on this. How are people in Gaza reacting? I mean, well, Palestinians will tell you they've been going through hell, as President Biden said. So this is welcome news for Palestinians in Gaza. But while there is some cautious hope, you know, some say it's too little too late. Airstrikes have still continued since the deal was announced just last night. Gaza health officials said 73 Palestinians were killed. Our producer in Gaza, Enes Baba, he's been covering the war since the beginning there. He's been displaced himself several times.

He talked to Mahmoud Al-Hom, sender al-Balah in the center of Gaza. He asked him why there were almost no celebrations in Gaza last night. Homs says people are afraid to be happy, that leaders have come close to a deal before and it always breaks down. Well, you know, this is a war that the media really hasn't been able to cover as thoroughly

on the ground as we would like. Of course, we're very grateful to have our colleague, Anas Baba, there. But do we have a sense of whether other journalists will be able to regain access to Gaza anytime soon? Well, international journalists, yes, they've been barred from entering Gaza since the start of this war by Israel. Even if the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza reopens, Israel is the occupying power.

It will decide when and who can enter Gaza. And there is no sign whatsoever that Israel will allow international journalists in at any time or independent investigators as well. Hadiya, let's go to you on this question. Let's turn to Israel. How is the public reacting there? I mean, to be honest, the sentiment here is not entirely different from that in Gaza. Danielle, let's go to you on this question. Let's turn to Israel. How is the public reacting there? I mean, to be honest, the sentiment here is not entirely different from that in Gaza.

When news broke, for example, last night, our producer, Itai Stern, went to downtown Tel Aviv where Israelis have been gathering to call for the return of the hostages. And he said the mood was subdued and hopeful. You know, like Palestinians, they're waiting to see the deal actually get implemented. Israelis have felt unsafe. Thousands of rockets have been fired from various parts of the Middle East, Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza. And there's also been frustration with the Israeli government itself for taking so long to get to this point.

But most deeply, Israelis have felt pain, and they're ready to heal. Itai spoke to Aya Sharif. Sharif says a ceasefire and the return of the hostages will allow the beginning of the healing process for everyone in this country. Aya, talk about the origins of this agreement. Could you just say more about how it came about? Well, Michelle, the timing here is everything. We have an incoming President, Donald Trump, who's bringing with him an incoming sense

of urgency to get this deal done before he's sworn in. He threatened hell would be unleashed on the region if a deal wasn't secured before then. So this deal, it's been on the table since May. But why now? Well, there are many factors, but among them is the Israeli public has grown exhausted by this war. It's being fought mostly by reservists. We have more than 400 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza throughout the conflict.

And top military figures in Israel have been saying publicly, there's nothing more to achieve militarily, tactically on the ground. Hamas' battalions have all been dismantled. Yes, the group can still fire rockets, but nothing compared to its capabilities before. And given all the ups and downs in the negotiations, can it still fall apart?

I mean, we're actually all waiting for the deal to be finalized and approved by the Israeli government. Netanyahu is in a very tricky position politically because his government may actually collapse if there's some right-wing ministers who are against the deal and they're threatening to withdraw from the government that could send Netanyahu to elections. And then many Israelis also reject the deal because they're against releasing Palestinian detainees and prisoners from Israeli jails. And there's also a small but loud movement to rebuild Israeli settlements in Gaza. And as we speak

today there are still talks happening in Qatar being worked out between the two sides like specifics on the gradual withdrawal and timetable for when Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza. There's also a timetable being discussed for the rebuilding of Gaza and reconstruction there. So mediators, Qatar, and Egypt, they have mechanisms to monitor that this deal is being fully implemented, like the amount of aid that needs to enter Gaza, the exchange of prisoners. But look, ensuring that a ceasefire holds and continues, that's going to really fall on the shoulders of the Trump administration as the key guarantor here. And they'll do that through diplomacy and pressure.

Okay. So let's say things go as planned. What can we expect to happen in the coming days and weeks? I mean, if we don't have a cabinet crisis in Israel and if all those details that Aya just mentioned do indeed get worked out, the ceasefire is meant to start on Sunday. We'll start seeing some Israeli hostages released, including female Israeli soldiers in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and then negotiators still need to sit back down and finalize the next phases of this deal. And, you know, this deal does try to do a lot, but what it doesn't do is specifically address

some serious questions, such as, who is going to govern Gaza from the Palestinian side? Hamas still holds sway on the ground, and it isn't promising to lay down its arms. Will there be Arab and international peacekeeping forces in Gaza? Who will monitor that? And also, how do you begin even rebuilding? You know, yes, Arab Gulf states will pour money into Gaza for reconstruction, but the destruction is overwhelming. Hospitals, roads, water infrastructure, sewage systems. And ultimately, this deal

does not guarantee the security of either side long term because it does not address the core issues of a pathway to lasting peace or Palestinian statehood. That is, NPR's Aya Batraoui in Dubai and Hadil Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Thank you both so much for sharing this reporting. You're welcome. Thank you. Los Angeles has a long history of destructive wildfires. That's why today it has some of the country's toughest wildfire policies.

LA County has strict building codes and it limits new development in risky areas. But the fires burning now are leading many people to ask if that's enough. Lauren Sommer from NPR's Climate Desk is here to talk about some of the shortfalls and what other communities, including LA, could do better. Hi, Lauren. Hi, Leila. So first, I feel like there's been a lot of focus on what LA did get wrong in this terrible

moment. But there were things that you found that LA was doing right in preparing for the wildfires, right? Yeah. You know, in a lot of ways, LA is a leader on wildfires, because there's a lot communities can do ahead of time to reduce the chances that houses will burn. And you know, LA realized how vulnerable it was

back in the 1960s. Design for disaster. This is a documentary from the Los Angeles Fire Department that it made after the Bel Air fire in 1961. That fire also had extreme winds, and they realized it was the burning embers blown by the wind that spread that fire so fast. Deep within the smoke, burning shingles carry a mile and a half to start new fires, which grow to join the main fire. So knowing this, what fire scientists found,

did local officials change their policies? Yeah, you know, Los Angeles was one of the first major cities to ban wood roofs. And now there are strict rules about the vegetation around homes in risky areas. Every year, residents get an inspection for defensible space. Trees have to be cut back from your roof. You know, the brush has to be spaced out. The gutters have to be cleared of dead leaves. And in 2022, Los Angeles County did more than 58,000 inspections.

And what happens if homeowners don't cut back their vegetation? The city or county will find them and then hire a contractor to do the work, which the homeowners also have to pay for. Many other Western states don't have policies. They're even close to this. But even in California, they're realizing it's not enough because studies show it's the

area right next to a house that matters the most. So starting next year, there are going to be new rules for almost no vegetation within five feet of a house. And that's already causing a lot of pushback from homeowners who like to have that greenery, you know, outside their windows. Yeah, something to look at. Okay, so what else could LA have done to be better prepared? California has tough building codes for fire prone areas that require using fire resistant building materials, you know, like the roof or the siding.

But that's only for houses that have been built since 2008. And the majority of LA's housing stock is older than that. Yeah, and then getting a new roof or replacing your siding. I mean, that's expensive, right? Out of reach for some people. Yeah, definitely. I spoke to Michael Goelner, an engineering professor at UC Berkeley about that.

And he said there are grant programs to help homeowners harden their homes as it's known, but they're very small. It's a couple homes here and there. We need to do this on a mass scale. What we're really going to see an impact is what we do before the fire just to make communities safer and so that they're not going to burn down. And you know, one other thing that LA could have done, both the city and county don't

have community wildfire protection plans. These are plans that are commonly used in other places to identify where the big vulnerabilities are and those are just in the early stages of being written in LA. That's Lauren Summer from NPR's climate desk. Thank you Lauren. Thank you. And that's up first for Thursday January 16th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Leila Fadl. Make your next listen. Consider this. The team behind NPR's All Things Considered goes deep into a single news story in just 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Nila

Banerjee, Jerome Sokolowski, Ali Schweitzer, and Lisa Thompson. It was produced by Zia Bach, Nia Dumas, Iman Maani, and Lili Kuros. We get engineering support from Nisa Hyness and our technical director is Zach Coleman. Join us again tomorrow.