Israel, Hamas Peace Deal Latest; Federal Worker Layoffs; Health Care Subsidies

It's day two of the U.S.-brokered peace deal between Hamas and Israel.

The clock is ticking on the negotiated exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

I'm Scott Simon.

And I'm Aisha Roscoe with Up First from NPR News.

Hamas is preparing to release the remaining hostages as Israeli troops withdraw from parts of Gaza.

We'll have more on that.

Plus, the Trump administration on Friday started laying off thousands more federal employees as a government shutdown closes out its second week.

We're also going to take a look at the healthcare subsidies that are about to expire, why they're at the center of the current shutdown.

So stay with us.

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After two years of fighting, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a peace deal.

It's only been in place for a couple of days, and there are still a lot of unknowns.

But one of the earlier, more concrete steps involves the release of Israeli hostages held since the October 7th, 2023 attack, in exchange for roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

And Pierce Kerry Khan joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Kerry, thanks for being with us.

Good morning.

What have you been hearing from Gaza now that Israeli troops have pulled back?

We are seeing a massive movement of people coming out, trying to reclaim some of their lives, assessing damage, just taking in the sheer devastation and destruction of Gaza after two years of war.

NPR's reporter, Anas Baba, who is in Gaza City, sent us amazing images and testimonies of this flood of people on foot walking amidst rubble.

They're coming from south to north toward Gaza City, which has just been under this punishing, massive offensive by Israel and is in ruins.

Baba says, for the first time, there are no Israeli bombardments or airstrikes, and people are out trying to find shelter, clearing rubble.

He says they are on the move.

It feels like I'm witnessing a place being born again.

But Gazans here, they don't wait for permission to live.

They carry hope like oxygen.

Gaza is not only rubble.

Gaza is resilience and what I see today is people sackered and stubborn but writing themselves back into existence.

We're now watching for promised surge of aid through the UN allowed back into Gaza soon.

That'll include food, shelters, and vital medical supplies.

And meanwhile, Israel waits for the return of 20 living and as many as 28 dead hostages.

What is the mood in Israel?

There is celebration.

There's hope and cautious optimism, I'd say.

I was at the downtown Tel Aviv Public Plaza dubbed Hostage Square, where there has been a lot of hugging and adulation for President Trump for personally brokering this deal.

I also spent time yesterday with the nursing director of Belinson Hospital that's in central Israel.

A third of the released hostages will be taken there.

I spoke with Dr.

Michael Steinman, and she says everything is ready for them: rooms, medical care, family areas.

And she also said this time will be different since these hostages released are the last ones.

They will not be leaving anyone behind, which was very traumatic for those freed in the past.

I'm telling them,

welcome home.

Oh, so glad to see you.

So glad and you're in good hands.

You're in good hands.

You came home.

We're here.

We'll take care of you.

She says reintroducing food will be difficult and will be gradual.

They will get rehab and all the medical care necessary.

What are some of the challenges ahead, Carrie?

There are a lot, but I'd say the top two are disarming Hamas and governance of Gaza after the initial hostage and prisoner detainee exchange is over.

Trump's plan calls for an international so-called Board of peace to take over Gaza, which will be run by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

There are a lot of details about how that will be constituted and run.

Late last night, Hamas issued a statement to say they would not accept any, quote, foreign guardianship and that governing Gaza was a Palestinian matter.

Hamas-run civil police force has already been seen on the streets in areas where the Israeli army withdrew.

Yesterday, too, we heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talking tough like he always does, reiterating that Hamas must disarm or face a resumption of military action.

Kerry Kahn and Tel Aviv, thanks so much.

You're welcome.

The rifts have begun.

That's how Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vogt announced on X that reductions in force are happening.

That means more federal employees will lose their jobs.

All of this unfolds as the government shutdown rolls on.

To tell us more about that, as well as what the Hamas-Israel peace deal may mean for the Trump administration, NPR senior political contributor Ron Elving joins us.

Ron, thanks for being with us.

Good to be with you, Scott.

How big an achievement is this ceasefire for President Trump?

We are still in the first phase of watching this agreement play out, but even now, it's a significant achievement.

Just getting these parties, Hamas with all its factions, Israel with all its factions, all coming together on an agreement on these terms.

So it's an enormously welcome breakthrough.

And if it holds up, it would certainly be a highlight of Trump's presidency, perhaps reminiscent of the way the Camp David Accords were the pinnacle of Jimmy Carter's presidency.

But we haven't seen the return of the hostages yet.

We still don't know whether that will lead to the next steps in the peace plan or potentially unleash more violence.

If Trump and his team can keep Bibi Netanyahu on board, and if he in turn can control his hardliners, hardliners, this will indeed be a monument to peace and to Trump and his administration, and they will deserve a great deal of credit.

Staying with foreign policy for a moment, the President said yesterday he plans an additional 100 percent tariff on China starting November 1st or sooner.

Should we take his words as policy or posturing?

China announced some new restrictions on the export of rare earths, which are minerals crucial in high-tech manufacturing.

Trump erupted with promises of payback.

He said he would raise tariffs 100% on everything Chinese.

Now, perhaps we should be accustomed by now to this kind of threat from Trump, especially to gaudy numbers like 100%.

But Wall Street took it seriously, had its worst day in six months with deep losses in the midst of what has been a long-running rally for stocks.

So what happens next?

We've seen this thrust in Perry before.

Will Chinese President Xi's trip to the U.S.

be canceled and which side will do the canceling?

And we wait to see how much this disrupts the most important trading relationship in the world, the relationship between the two largest economic powers.

U.S.

government shut down heading into its third week.

Layoffs of federal workers have begun.

When asked by a reporter yesterday how many layoffs he'd authorized, the president said a lot.

And it'll be Democrat-oriented because we figure, you know, they started this thing, so they should be Democrat-oriented.

It'll be a lot, and we'll announce the numbers over the next couple of days, but it'll be a lot of people, all because of the Democrats.

I think he's blaming the Democrats.

What more can you tell us?

Yes, he continues to blame the Democrats, and he is openly punishing the people in blue states, whether they're Democrats or not.

I think we all know at this point that the impasse between lawmakers and Congress has caused federal workers to be furloughed.

But fired?

Their jobs are just as mandated by legislation as they were before.

They have been assured their jobs were protected and they would get back pay.

Now the White House is casting doubt on both.

And the cuts are concentrated in some highly sensitive departments such as health and treasury.

We've seen the figure of 4,000 already and more.

And the aggressiveness of these firings is causing some heartburn among Republicans as well as the targeted Democrats.

Republicans have voters who work for the federal government too, and even more who depend on the government for services and for other things as well.

Ron, are we reaching the point where enough people are feeling the effects of this shutdown that we can expect some movement to bring it to an end.

People are feeling it, Scott, at airports, in farm country, wherever people do business with the government in any way or depend on it in any way.

Republicans had hoped those people would blame the Democrats and put pressure on them.

Some do and some have, but polls show more people are blaming the president and his party.

So can there be an end in sight?

Yes, when both sides Both sides are willing to talk seriously about the coming cuts to health care.

Cuts that will hurt people in red states as much as in blue states and very possibly hurt them more.

Some of Trump's biggest counties have very high rates of dependence on Medicaid.

Republicans say they are willing to talk about health care and its costs after the shutdown ends.

But if they have ideas and a willingness to address this issue, people who are suffering are very likely to ask, why can't they talk now?

And Pierre Senior Political Contributor Ron Elving.

Ron, thanks so much.

Thank you, Scott.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress can't seem to agree on a spending bill.

At the heart of their disagreement are the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, which makes access to health care more affordable to millions of Americans.

And extending these subsidies is a major sticking point for the Democrats.

But who's relying on these subsidies and what will losing them mean?

We're joined now by NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin.

Hi, Selena.

Hi, Aisha.

Okay, so we're talking about Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, right?

That's the focus.

Yeah, exactly.

Those are the health insurance marketplaces where 24 million people buy their coverage.

And, you know, 24 million is a record for enrollment in these plans.

But that's still not a huge slice of the population.

It's only about 7%.

So why is it such a big political issue if it's not that many people directly affected?

Well, you know, one reason is that it's an influential group.

You know, the people who need to buy insurance like this don't get insurance through their jobs and they don't qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, which are the public programs for seniors and low-income people.

So, often they're, you know, small business owners or employees.

They're farmers or ranchers, and they really have no alternatives to these marketplaces.

They go to healthcare.gov or their state marketplace and basically find a plan there or bust.

A few years ago, the federal government changed the premium subsidy system to make these plans much more affordable for people.

And that financial help is what the current political stalemate is about.

If Congress does nothing, the subsidies run out at the end of the year.

Is that correct?

Yeah, exactly.

And if they do expire, enrollees are going to face much higher health insurance premiums next year.

The average increase is 114%, according to KFF, which is a nonpartisan health research organization.

So one interesting fact is that three in four of these enrollees live in states that President Trump won in last year's election.

There has been a huge amount of growth in enrollment.

Enrollment has tripled in Texas and Louisiana and Mississippi in the last few years.

So this is going to hit Republican voters really hard.

So what does the public think about these subsidies?

The public really likes them.

78% of the public thinks that Congress should extend this financial help, including most Trump supporters.

That's according to a recent poll by KFF.

The basic divide in Congress right now is with Democrats saying the subsidies have to be extended or it's going to be catastrophic for consumers.

Most people don't have an extra $1,000 in their monthly budget, for instance, right?

So millions of people are expected to drop coverage and become uninsured.

Some Republican lawmakers have expressed worries about these premium hikes, but conservative policy groups are really adamant that Republicans need to stand firm.

They've always opposed the Affordable Care Act and they really don't like the enhanced subsidies.

They say there might be concerns about short-term premium increases, but long-term, it's going to be too expensive for the government.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates it'll cost the government $350 billion over the next decade if the enhanced subsidies were to be extended permanently.

Are there any signs of a solution to get the government back open?

At this point, no.

There are some efforts for a bipartisan compromise, but there aren't serious formal talks between the parties that could lead to a breakthrough in the near future.

And there is a timing crunch here on the health insurance side.

Open enrollment begins in Idaho next week.

It opens everywhere else November 1st.

And as people go in and start shopping for a plan, many of them are going to see these eye-popping premiums.

So even if they haven't been following the political debate, the issue is going to get very real for them when they start to see those numbers.

That's NPR's health policy correspondent, Selena Simmons-Duffin.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

And that's up first.

For Saturday, October 11th, 2025, I'm Scott Simon.

And I'm Aisha Roscoe.

Dave Mistich produced today's podcast with assistance from Ryan Bink and Delaina Quarick.

Our editor has been Deep Parvaz, along with Melissa Gray, Diane Weber, and and Miguel Macias.

Andy Craig directed.

Our technical director was David Greenberg, with engineering support from Zo Vankenhoven, Nisha Hines, and Valentina Rodriguez-Sanchez.

Our senior supervising editor is Shannon Rhodes.

E.B.

Stone is our executive producer.

And our deputy managing editor is Jim Kane.

Tomorrow on the Sunday story, a look at how immigration and customs enforcement, or ICE, is changing under the Trump administration.

And you know, we have so much more on the radio, so please find your local station at stations.npr.org.

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