Israel - Hamas Truce Deal

Understanding the Gaza Peace Deal: A Closer Look with Takaro Kids

In this episode of Takaro Kids, we delve into the ongoing and complex conflict between Israel and Palestine, with a focus on the recent peace deal mediated by the US. We discuss the historical background, the key events leading up to the current situation, and the implications of the truce. We also touch on global reactions and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, highlighting the efforts of activists like Greta Thunberg and Mandla Mandela. Additionally, we explore Donald Trump's notable role in brokering the peace agreement and speculate on his potential Nobel Peace Prize candidacy. The episode concludes with a quiz question related to the recent Nobel Peace Prize announcement.

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:14 Historical Context of the Palestine-Israel Conflict
01:00 Recent Escalations and Peace Deal
02:21 International Reactions and Influences
04:53 Activism and Humanitarian Efforts
06:39 Details of the Peace Deal
09:41 Rebuilding Gaza and Future Prospects
14:15 Nobel Peace Prize Announcement and Quiz
16:41 Closing Remarks and Contest Winner

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Transcript

Debkanya 0:00

Are you starting? Am I starting

Kiran Menon 0:02

Mics. Camera. Action. Welcome to Takaro Kids. We are a weekly podcast that helps kids of all ages understand the events that shape the world around them. And this week one of those events is actually happening in Gaza it's about the whole Palestine Israel conflict. And if you've been listening to Takaro for a while, we have covered this before.

Debkanya 0:29

That's right. We've been talking about it for a long time because this war has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years. It all began when, the Jewish and Arab people, they were, living in the same land. But after World War ii, this land was divided into parts. Where the Jewish people were given a certain portion and said, this is your home from now on, which meant a lot of Palestinian people who used to live there before had to leave, had to find another place. So this conflict has been going on for a long time. And then things got really, really bad, if you remember. October 7th, 2023, two years ago, things got really bad. A lot of, Hamas militants who went into Israel and they attacked people there. A lot of people lost their lives. A lot of israeli people were kidnapped by Hamas. Hamas is a militant group, fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people. So they went in, they attacked Israel, and then after that, Israel obviously decided to go in and fight Hamas and completely destroy anyone who was responsible for these attacks. Right. So, and you know what's been happening? It's been in the news. Gaza is in ruins. many people have lost their lives and their homes, and they're living in tents as refugees. There's no food. There's no water, there's no medicine. So it's been a really, really horrible time. But why is it important now all the more, because just recently, a peace deal has been agreed on between Israel and the Hamas representatives. And that is extremely important because finally, finally, the Palestinian people who've been suffering in Gaza can maybe breathe a sigh of relief and say, Hey, this is now going to come to an end, and maybe we will get our lives back again.

Kiran Menon 2:16

Yeah, so, so I think uh, you know, the big topic for this week is the truce deal, right? Or the peace deal.

Debkanya 2:21

Yeah.

Kiran Menon 2:21

it was brokered by the US and Mr. Donald Trump was a very, very key part of this deal. In fact, he has actually been very instrumental in getting both of them to the same table to have a conversation, you know, he and his representatives, whether jared Kushner, the Secretary of State, Mark Rubio, whoever else it may be, they've all kind of worked towards creating this peace deal. And there are that, I mean, the whole world is very divided on this, right? US has been pretty much, you know helping Israel kind of go through this entire process. But on the other hand, a lot of the European nations have recognized Palestine as a state, and that is the big problem. Israel does not want Palestine to be a separate state. They say Gaza is theirs and they need to kind of control it. Countries like France and Germany and some of the others have kind of gone in and recognized Palestine as a state, which goes against what Israel's fighting for. So there was a lot of this drama that was happening. And now with this truce deal we we're hopefully kind of gonna see a lot more peace come in. And what's very interesting, Debbie, is that, we actually have Donald Trump to thank for this, and he also thinks it'll be of the many reasons why he will potentially be a very, very strong candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Can you imagine?

Debkanya 3:51

Yeah, he's been, he's been pitching himself for that prize for a while

Kiran Menon 3:55

Yeah.

Debkanya 3:56

you know, for example, he did say that even when the attacks happened in Pehelgam, in India

Kiran Menon 4:02

Yeah.

Debkanya 4:02

that he was responsible for making India and Pakistan stop fighting. therefore he should be given the Nobel Peace

Kiran Menon 4:10

In including Russia, Ukraine. He's been brokering

Debkanya 4:14

I mean,

Kiran Menon 4:14

a deal over there, so Yeah.

Debkanya 4:15

lot of, there's a lot of conflict in the world all the time. And I mean,

Kiran Menon 4:19

Yeah.

Debkanya 4:19

unusual that Trump has so much conflict going on during his time as president, but the fact that he's actually taken quite an aggressive stand and, you know, spoken to leaders and said, Hey, you've gotta stop fighting.

Kiran Menon 4:32

Kudos. Yeah. Kudos.

Debkanya 4:34

So, so, yeah. So he, he does feel that he needs, he deserves that Nobel Peace Prize.

Kiran Menon 4:39

Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 4:39

we'll see.

Kiran Menon 4:40

And everything had come to a head, right? When it comes to, you know, what's happening in Gaza, there was so many things that were happening over the last couple of months because it really started picking up, as I said, many countries you know, recognized Palestine. But at the same time there was this Flotilla which went over and they were kind of sent back with some very, very, I would say, influential and well-known people like Greta Thunberg, for example, right?

Debkanya 5:05

This is the second time that Greta Thunberg. Now, for anybody who doesn't know who she is, she's a 22-year-old climate activist from Sweden. Greta has been famous for, for the way she's fought for awareness about climate change, for the environment. And now she's decided to speak up for Palestine as well, to free Palestine. This is the second time she's tried to go in a Flotilla. Flotilla is basically a group of boats. Now all aid, remember we said the people in Gaza do not have access to food, water, medicines, and a lot of basic things, right? Because Israel has blocked all parts. So what a Flo does is they are saying that we are going to get to Gaza by sea. We are gonna take our boats and we are gonna try and go to the shore and make sure that the aid reaches people over there. So Gretta has done this once before. She was part of a Flotilla. She was arrested, detained,

Kiran Menon 5:57

sent back?

Debkanya 5:57

sent back. Exactly.

Kiran Menon 5:59

Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 5:59

for the second time, she, and it's not just her, there's a big group of activists from around the world, actually, they have also gone in this flotilla to try and get aid into Gaza, and they've also been detained and sent back, so a lot of people speaking up for Gaza, but now I think what's most important to remember is the people of Gaza themselves now can. Hopefully say that. Okay. If there's a peace deal, and this peace deal is important because it's immediate. This, it means immediate ceasefire. That's what they've agreed to, which means stop shooting, fighting right now. There is no

Kiran Menon 6:34

Yep.

Debkanya 6:34

wait for it. Maybe in two weeks time, three weeks time, and in exchange what has been agreed on. Now this is a 20 point peace deal, okay? There are many, many points. Now this issue is very complicated, but some of the main things are, one is immediate ceasefire. They've also agreed that the hostages that the Hamas militants, remember we told you October 7th is when they kidnapped a lot of Israeli people. Some of them are still in captivity, so they've agreed that Hamas militants will release these hostages back and in exchange what Israel will do. Now over the years, Israel has also been arresting a lot of Palestinian people. Anyone who spoke up against Israel, anyone who spoke up for the Palestinians right to their land. They arrested those people and put them in jails in Israel. So they have agreed that they will release a lot of Palestinian prisoners as well, right? So I think that also is, is quite a big deal.

Kiran Menon 7:28

It's huge. Yeah. Because I think Israel was using the whole hostage situation as one of the main reasons why they were attacking the Hamas and why they were kind of, you know, on this path to obliterate, to really destroy Hamas as an organization. In fact, they've been very successful at it as well. One of the reasons that this peace deal is happening, at least that's what some people are saying, is because a lot of the Hamas leadership have actually been killed by the Israelis. And so Hamas itself has grown weaker and weaker as an organization to stand up for itself. So they're in a situation where they may be, you know, better off with a peace deal than to try and keep fighting. That's what some people are saying, which all of it could be factors, and it's so complicated, like you said, that you can't pinpoint just one.

Debkanya 8:15

Yeah. And as it goes in all peace deals and agreements, right? You have to give a little, you have to accept a little bit concede a little. So in this case, you could say, yeah, Hamas has been weakened. But, and Hamas did say that we will only do this, we will only give back hostages if we get, you know, this land for Palestinians. They're not going to get that.

Kiran Menon 8:35

This piece still doesn't even outline any of that. It doesn't even touch the land part of it or anything. Right. And it's, and they're still going ahead with it, which is why I think many people are saying it's maybe because they've actually weakened as an organization so much. Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 8:49

one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is Hamas' entire objective behind doing this was to also draw attention to this cause, right to the cause of the Palestinians, because now, like we said, it's been happening for years and years. Israel has a lot of supporters across the world, America being its biggest ally. So there was not that much attention that was being given to this cause there was no noise about it from the international community. There was no support from the international community for the Palestinian cause you know, a few years ago, as much

Kiran Menon 9:20

Right.

Debkanya 9:21

today, imagine the number of people who've now spoken up and actually taken sides with Palestine and not with Israel. Israel has been, has taken quite a beating in terms of its reputation in the

Kiran Menon 9:33

Yes, a hundred percent. Yeah.

Debkanya 9:35

Hamas might claim is, is a small victory

Kiran Menon 9:38

Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 9:38

for, for itself, right?

Kiran Menon 9:41

And, and I think now with this truce deal coming in and, you know, peace kind of hopefully setting in, what is next is also a really big question, right? Because Gaza, like you said, has been pounded.

Debkanya 9:52

Mm-hmm.

Kiran Menon 9:53

It's kind of brought down to rubble. I think I read somewhere that 80% of entire Gaza strip is just rubble now with no houses, no schools, no hospitals, no nothing, right? And so how do you rebuild that and who's responsible for rebuilding that? Is it Israel? Is it Palestine. I mean, who knows who's gonna rebuild that as well. Right? And USS said they will send some troops over as well to help with the peacekeeping and to make sure that aid is still provided for all those who need it in the Gaza region. So it's still so complicated. You know, this peace deal is very, very, very good news, but it is still so much unknown, I think.

Debkanya 10:35

There's a lot of repair that needs to be done, not just in terms of, you know, the city itself or the infrastructure, repairing of people's lives is I think what is

Kiran Menon 10:44

Oh yeah.

Debkanya 10:45

Multiple generations because you're talking about so many kids who've not been able to go to school for like now,

Kiran Menon 10:53

Mm-hmm.

Debkanya 10:53

families who

Kiran Menon 10:54

I mean, so many kids who have not had food, proper food for days

Debkanya 10:59

yeah.

Kiran Menon 11:00

and it's a really sad state of affairs.

Debkanya 11:02

It has been very sad and I'm so glad that finally maybe aid is going to reach the people who need it. And there's the fighting is going to stop, but yeah, it's a huge, huge development in this story.

Kiran Menon 11:14

The fact that so many people have now been bringing this issue to the forefront of news globally is also a big reason why this has been pushed so much. Netanyahu, who's the Israel Prime Minister, when he went and spoke at the UN a week ago or a, a week and a half ago in, in New York, most people

Debkanya 11:38

walked

Kiran Menon 11:38

got up and left. That itself is a statement, right? Most country representatives of the United Nations got up and left, and so there's so much brand bashing that Israel has, you know, gotten obviously because they've been just so aggressive. So I'd say inconsiderate to the people in, in Gaza. So there's a lot of those factors also that have to come in. And there are two sides to the coin. Obviously Israel's talking about the fact that they had to make sure that they are defending their people and Hamas is talking about defending their people.

Debkanya 12:13

Yeah. Yeah. People have not backed down. There's been a lot of pushback.

Kiran Menon 12:17

Yeah.

Debkanya 12:18

Have been trying to get aid across to Gaza. I saw this lovely story, Kiran, about how people are actually, putting food into plastic bottles, right. And closing these plastic bottles and throwing them into the sea, hoping that they will float across and reach the other coast.

Kiran Menon 12:37

God. Wow. My God. Yeah.

Debkanya 12:39

And they're just throwing these bottles hoping that some aid, some food and filling it with food grains, right? Like rice and lentils and different, different things like that. Dry goods, putting them into these bottles and sending them across, hoping that a little bit of food can reach someone. Right? So

Kiran Menon 12:54

But then that's another question, right? And I mean, it's throwing plastic bottles into the ocean.

Debkanya 12:59

I think when there is no food to eat, you do not think about pollution.

Kiran Menon 13:03

Mm. Fair enough. Fair enough.

Debkanya 13:06

you prioritize. You prioritize. But yeah, speaking of another you know, well-known activist by the way that I was very interested to see who's

Kiran Menon 13:14

Mm-hmm. joined

Debkanya 13:14

Greta Thunberg in the, in this latest flotilla, the Sumud called, was is this person called 'Mandla' Mandela. And now that last name I was very curious because the other Mandela that we know is Nelson Mandela, and turns out Mandla Mandela is his. Grandson, right. Nelson Mandela, for some of you who might not know, he's the former South African president and he's a very famous activist who fought for equal rights for black people in South Africa. Okay. He fought against something called apartheid. Appetite is basically where there was a lot of discrimination. People, black people were not allowed to have jobs or land, or a lot of rights were taken away from them. And Nelson Mandela's famous for that, and he actually won the Nobel Peace Prize for that as well. So his grandson is part of this flotilla..

Kiran Menon 14:02

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and you know, it was like a no brainer to give him the Nobel Peace Prize because he was jailed for years because of his activism. And then he came back and then became the President of South Africa. But now that you talked about the Nobel Peace Prize, it's very, very interesting because as of the time of this recording, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner has been announced, right?

Debkanya 14:26

yes. Extremely important announcement made, and we had to talk about it because we want you to know the news as soon as it happens. So yes, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has been announced, but. In good old Takaro fashion we are not going to tell you the name because we want you to go and find out. So that is our quiz question for this week. Who just won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize? We are going to give you options. Option one. Maria Ressa. Option two. Maria Corina Machado. Option three. Malala Housafzai. Option four, Nargis Mohammedi. Who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize?

Kiran Menon 15:15

Good question and breaking tradition we have asked a quiz question, which we have not talked about

Debkanya 15:21

Mm-hmm.

Kiran Menon 15:22

in the episode. That is amazing.

Debkanya 15:25

we'll talk about it because I think the next episode we are going to do is going to be about winner why a big deal and why she

Kiran Menon 15:34

Who is the winner? Who are we gonna be doing the episode about?

Debkanya 15:38

Nice try. Nice try. Our listeners will have to send that in. All they have to do is go to www.takarokids.com, put in their answers, or they can DM it to us on Instagram and we will pick a winner and make the announcement in the next episode.

Kiran Menon 15:57

In fact, last week we asked a question, which was related to the episode that we did, and the question was, which famous movie was inspired by the life of, Sonam Wangchuk, the Ladakhi activist who we talked about last week. The options that we gave were A Beautiful Mind. Catch Me If You Can. Three Idiots and 12 Monkeys. And we even said it was a famous Hindi movie. So out of those four, there's only one Hindi movie and the option, so the

Debkanya 16:28

not a

Kiran Menon 16:28

right answer, yeah, it's not a very obvious Hindi name But the right answer is Three Idiots

Debkanya 16:36

Yes.

Kiran Menon 16:38

We actually have a winner. We have Naushad from Delhi, who is a 11-year-old boy who is the winner. Congrats Naushad.

Debkanya 16:49

Congratulations. Well done.

Kiran Menon 16:51

And as usual and as tradition, you will get your gift certificate and I will also ask for your address so you can get your Takaro kids t-shirt.

Debkanya 17:05

Yay! I know you can't see him, but Kiran right now is wearing the Takaro kids t-shirt. The design on the Takaro Kids t-shirt is something that we mention almost at at the beginning of every episode.

Kiran Menon 17:19

If you do want to see the episode, you can always do that on YouTube as well. Just make sure that you only get your YouTube access for the Takaro Kids video. But until next week where we will talk more about the Nobel Peace Prize, it is. Bye-bye.

Debkanya 17:38

Bye bye.