AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Israel and Hamas have failed to reach a ceasefire agreement this weekend. Israel accepted the agreement proposed by President Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, who says Hamas' response to it is, quote, "totally unacceptable." This back and forth comes during continued chaos around efforts to get aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where there is widespread hunger and the U.N. warns of looming famine. This morning, Gaza health officials report at least 31 killed and more than 200 wounded when Israeli troops fired on crowds hoping to collect food from a new U.S.-backed group. NPR's Daniel Estrin is in Tel Aviv. Good morning, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So what happened today around this new food distribution program in Gaza?
ESTRIN: There are reports of Israeli military gunfire near two different food distribution sites, according to Gaza health officials. These are two sites run by this new group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with private American armed contractors, and they're under Israeli military supervision. Gaza health officials report scores were killed and many were critically wounded near one distribution site in southern Gaza. There are videos circulating from Gaza showing lifeless bodies piled onto donkey carts and people rushing those carts to hospitals. And in central Gaza, at another food distribution site, health officials were reporting a second shooting, and there's a video circulating showing enormous crowds running in an open field, and you hear the sounds of gunfire.
RASCOE: So how is Israel responding to that?
ESTRIN: The Israeli military and the U.S.-backed group have been offering incomplete answers, and they're only addressing one of the reported shootings, the one in south Gaza. The military says it's unaware of injuries by Israeli fire within the food distribution site. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says there is no fire in the close proximity.
All of this is semantics, Ayesha, about location. They are not addressing the actual claim that shootings are happening at all. As people are told to go to these sites to get food, there are large crowds trying to get there, and health officials and witnesses say - and videos from the scene show - that people are being fired upon and with deadly consequences. There were similar shootings this past week, as well, according to Gaza health officials, but the U.S. State Department has been defending this food program as a success.
Our colleague in Gaza, Anas Baba, met a young man today named Ramzi Abu Ghaben. His family is in a makeshift tent on the sidewalk. They're displaced, and here's what he said.
RAMZI ABU GHABEN: (Speaking Arabic).
ESTRIN: He says, "these food sites are supposed to be humanitarian, and they're not humanitarian." He says, "everyone should be able to have a right to food without fear." And his main demand, he says, is to stop the war to get flour so he can eat. Now, the United Nations World Food Program has tried to deliver flour in Gaza. It says all of its flour trucks were looted Saturday, and it says the humanitarian situation is spiraling.
RASCOE: Daniel, what is the latest on Gaza's ceasefire negotiations after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff presented a new ceasefire proposal late last week?
ESTRIN: Right, Israel said it accepted that proposal, and Hamas finally gave its response Saturday and accepted some parts. It accepted a 60-day ceasefire. It agreed to release about half of the living hostages and half of the deceased hostages it seized in the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. So that is the main progress in terms of reaching common ground. But for the other parts, Hamas offered counterproposals, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Hamas should instead take the deal on the table, enter immediate talks and then all those sticking points can be negotiated in the talks.
RASCOE: So what does Hamas object to in the proposal?
ESTRIN: Well, they want guarantees up front that Israel will not do what it did last time, in the last ceasefire earlier this year, which is to get hostages back and then not enter talks on how to bring a permanent end to the war. So what Hamas wants is to spread out the release of hostages this time throughout the duration of the ceasefire to ensure that Israel holds its fire rather than free the hostages towards the beginning of the ceasefire. And Hamas has some other demands also, like it doesn't want humanitarian aid coming in through this new system the U.S. and Israel set up with a private American group where we have seen so much chaos.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much, Daniel.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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