STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This story underlines how desperate people in Gaza have become for food.
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
People continue trying to pick up flour and other supplies at designated locations, even though many are being killed. In multiple incidents Sunday, Palestinians say Israelis opened fire. They count more than 100 dead. That's the deadliest day yet for people attempting to collect basic supplies. Israelis dispute the number and contend they fired, quote, "warning shots at people."
INSKEEP: NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv. He's been covering this whole war from the beginning. Daniel, welcome.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: How did the day unfold?
ESTRIN: Well, Gaza health officials say Palestinians were seeking food throughout Gaza and were killed by Israeli fire at various points in Gaza, but the majority were killed in one single incident. And that was in northern Gaza, as the United Nations World Food Programme had a convoy of trucks crossing into Gaza carrying flour and food. The WFP says large crowds of people were desperate to get that food, and they approached the trucks, and they came under fire by Israeli tanks and troops. The Israeli Army says thousands of Palestinians were gathering and posing a threat to forces, which is why the Army opened fire. They are questioning the death toll reported by Gaza health officials.
INSKEEP: I want to acknowledge the uncertainties here of any given incident, Daniel. Sometimes, we don't know for sure the specific facts and the specific facts are disputed, but we also have here an eyewitness account of what's going on in Gaza. It comes from our NPR colleague Anas Baba, who's been covering the war since the beginning. What did he see yesterday?
ESTRIN: Well, he's been talking about very little food to be found anywhere in Gaza. He visited Gaza City's main hospital, Shifa Hospital, as it was dealing with a rush of casualties and the wounded being coming in from that Israeli shooting, I was describing near the U.N. aid trucks. He filmed the body of a 15-year-old boy with braces on his teeth, killed while trying to get food. He filmed a 13-year-old boy wounded there in the hospital. And he spoke with an American doctor, Dr. Nour Sharaf, who is working at the hospital with the World Health Organization. Let's listen to some of his conversation with her.
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: I saw you today once I entered the hospital and the ER, and I saw you freezed.
NOUR SHARAF: I think I was in shock. I've never seen anything like this in my entire life. Lots of young children have come in with gunshot wounds to the head and to the abdomen, chest. People are coming in with severe malnutrition. A lot of the times I see these young kids, and I think that they are way younger than they actually are because they're very small. Everyone is skin and bones.
ESTRIN: Anas Baba also met a man in his 50s, Hassan Abu Marasa, who was wounded in his head and leg from Israeli tank fire.
HASSAN ABU MARASA: (Non-English language spoken, crying).
ESTRIN: "Hunger makes you desperate," he's crying there. "I have no food at home. I went out to feed my kids, and this is what happened to me," he said. And this is not just Israeli military shootings, Steve, it's also malnutrition. Gaza health officials say at least 18 Palestinians died of extreme hunger over the past day.
INSKEEP: Given all that, what are the prospects for a ceasefire?
ESTRIN: I spoke with a person in Israel who is briefed on the ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, not authorized to speak publicly, but told me that there's optimism among some Israeli officials that a deal could be reached in a matter of days. That deal would see a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. It would be a 60-day ceasefire, a hostage prisoner exchange, but we see no breakthrough yet, and we are seeing hunger and desperation for civilians in Gaza.
INSKEEP: NPR's Daniel Estrin is in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thanks as always for your reporting.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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