Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss possible scenarios for the Gaza ceasefire and Sharif speaks with Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi.

JEREMY SCAHILL AND SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS, DROP SITE NEWS, FEB 28, 2025

Saturday marks the end of Phase 1 of the Gaza ceasefire and exchange of captives deal and there is currently no agreement on proceeding to Phase 2. From the beginning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has portrayed the agreement as only one phase with the aim of getting as many Israeli captives released as possible while reserving the option to resume full-scale war and bombardment of the Gaza Strip. According to the signed deal, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor and that has not happened. Negotiations on Phase 2 were supposed to begin on February 3 and that did not happen because Netanyahu refused to send negotiators.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy, billionaire businessman Steve Witkoff, was scheduled to travel to Israel on Wednesday but then delayed his trip, saying he wanted to see negotiations between Israel, Hamas and mediators from Qatar and Egypt to resume. Soon after Witkoff postponed his travels, Netanyahu dispatched a team of Israeli negotiators to Cairo to restart talks. Hamas has maintained that it is committed to the original agreement but said it is open to an omnibus deal that would envision the release of all Israeli captives in return for a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal. Israel, with support from the Trump administration, is insisting not only that Hamas not be involved with governance in post-war Gaza, but that its military wing be disbanded and disarmed and that its leadership leave Gaza entirely. The next week is going to be crucial.

On the new episode of Drop Site News’s podcast, Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss the recent developments with the Gaza negotiations, as well as Egypt’s role in possible Gaza reconstruction and governance paths. A forthcoming Arab League summit is expected to be centered around presenting an alternative plan to Trump’s threats to turn Gaza into a U.S.-owned “Middle East Riviera,” one which would not include the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians of Gaza. Abdel Kouddous has just returned from Lebanon and discusses his reporting from the devastated south of the country in the wake of Israel’s withdrawal. Sharif also speaks with a leading political figure in Hezbollah and member of the Lebanese parliament Dr. Ibrahim al-Moussawi about Trump’s demand that Hezbollah be expelled from the Lebanese government and the pledge by Lebanon’s new president that he will impose a monopoly on the use of arms, which suggests a plan to disarm Hezbollah. They also discuss the future of Hezbollah in the wake of the assassination and funeral of the group’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.