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Aya Batrawy

NPR international correspondent and Gulf bureau chief based in Dubai, formerly an Associated Press Middle East correspondent for over a decade.

Nov 16, 2025

10:18
What's supposed to happen in phase two, and is there progress being made?
10:25
The ceasefire plan is still not in phase two.
10:28
It's been difficult to transition from the first phase to the next because the second phase really redraws the security architecture of Gaza.
10:37
This is the phase in which Hamas is supposed to disarm.
10:41
That's a key part of the ceasefire deal, and a key part of that is bringing in an international stabilization force.
10:48
That would be international troops, mainly Arab and Muslim forces, to come in and provide the security that Gaza would need and to disarm Hamas, but not by force.
11:00
That is when you would start to see the other puzzle pieces coming together, which is Israel withdrawing from more than half of the territory that it currently controls.

19 MINS LATER

30:28
So all of that will make it very difficult for Israelis to feel a sense that this chapter is over.

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