A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Gaza's main border crossing reopened today. The Rafah border had been sealed for nearly a year. Its reopening advances the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, but that agreement is moving forward at a snail's pace. NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv. Daniel, so what are things looking like at the Gaza border crossing so far?
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Well, this morning, Israel and Egyptian state TV announced the crossing was open. But it only took until evening before the first Palestinians were allowed to cross. An official from the World Health Organization told us that 15 Palestinians have been allowed to leave Gaza. That five medical patients, mostly young men, plus companions. And then another group of medical patients who received treatment during the war in Egypt are expected to cross into Gaza with their families, so that's another 50 people returning to Gaza. These numbers are minuscule compared to the need. Gaza health officials say 20,000 people need medical treatment abroad. They cannot get that treatment in Gaza. Plus, there's no agreement yet on allowing humanitarian aid through the crossing. This is just people crossing from Gaza into Egypt and vice versa. But what we are seeing here is a very limited, mostly symbolic border opening. It is still a milestone.
MARTÍNEZ: Still a milestone. How so?
ESTRIN: Well, it's been extremely difficult for Palestinians to leave Gaza these last two years of war. It's also been hard for those who did flee to be able to return to Gaza. In 2024, Israeli troops captured this border crossing area and have mostly kept it shut ever since. And it was only through pressure from the U.S. that Israel allowed the crossing to begin to reopen, and that happened after the last body of an Israeli hostage was recovered last week in Gaza.
Now, one concern that many in the region have is, will Israel try to encourage mass emigration of Palestinians out of Gaza through this border crossing in order to reduce the Palestinian population of Gaza? We will have to watch the numbers. At the same time, we're not seeing any arrangements yet for average Palestinians, not just medical patients, but average people who wish to leave Gaza and rebuild their lives elsewhere.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So what are the next stages then of the Gaza ceasefire agreement?
ESTRIN: Well, a committee of Palestinian technocrats working under President Trump's Board of Peace are supposed to enter Gaza and take control from Hamas and start overseeing Gaza's rehabilitation. Hamas says it's ready to hand over the reins to that Palestinian committee, but we don't know yet when they will be allowed to enter. When will Israel allow them in? When will there be security on the ground that will allow them to operate safely there? There are so many crucial steps that need to be taken according to the U.S. plan for Gaza that we just haven't seen any progress on yet, whether that's a new Palestinian police force in Gaza or an international stabilization force that's supposed to deploy in Gaza to oversee the disarmament of Hamas.
In the meantime, with no progress on any of those issues, masked militants and armed clans and Hamas are filling the vacuum. What we hear a lot in Israel now from Israeli officials is that they are very skeptical that the U.S. plan for Gaza and for disarming Hamas simply won't work and that only Israeli troops can disarm Hamas. So it really is up to the U.S. A major test for President Trump, whether he will force progress on this ceasefire agreement.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you.
ESTRIN: You're very welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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