MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Going overseas now. Hunger is rampant in Gaza. More than 100 human rights and aid organizations have delivered a statement saying what they call Israel's, quote, "total siege" has, quote, "created chaos, starvation and death."
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
The United Nations warns that 1 in 5 people in Gaza face starvation. Meanwhile, representatives for Israel and the U.S. have left Qatar, where they've been negotiating a possible ceasefire in Israel's war in Gaza.
MARTIN: With us now to tell us more about all of this is NPR's Emily Feng, who is in Tel Aviv. Emily, hello. Thanks for joining us.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Hi, Michel.
MARTIN: So let's start with the ceasefire negotiations. They've been going on for more than two weeks now. Do we have a sense of where they stand?
FENG: There has been no result so far. You know, there had been hope building in Gaza, in Israel, where I am, over the last week for a potential 60-day ceasefire. And the U.S.' Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, had traveled to Italy to meet with Israeli representatives this week, as well. You know, one of the sticking points in these negotiations is just how much of an Israeli military presence will be in Gaza long term.
But Hamas presented its response to this issue and other issues, and an Israeli source involved in the negotiations said that Israel found this response, quote, "workable." And then the negotiations hit a bump on Thursday. Israeli negotiators, as you mentioned, suddenly left Qatar saying they needed to consult with leaders back home.
The U.S. team also left, and then Witkoff said Hamas, quote, "does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith." Hamas quickly said in a statement, it was, quote, "surprised" by the negative statements from Witkoff. Israel's state media, however, is assuring that there's no collapse to the talk, just a pause. And Witkoff said the U.S. will consider other alternatives from negotiations for stabilizing Gaza, but he didn't elaborate what those were.
MARTIN: So in another development, France's president, Emmanuel Macron, says France will soon recognize Palestine as a state. Could that affect negotiations?
FENG: Well, that's precisely the argument from French officials about why they're recognizing Palestine. They argue that when Israel sits down to negotiate with Palestinians, it's an unequal relationship because they're not sitting down as two equal states. And that's why France says there's no peace.
Now, more than 140 countries already recognize Palestine as a state, but France - this is notable - is the first G7 country to do so. Israel and the U.S. have strongly opposed this. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said France's decision, quote, "rewards terror." And Secretary of State Marco Rubio called France's decision reckless.
MARTIN: So tell us more about the war in Gaza and the state of civilians there. Gaza health officials say the latest figure is 113 people have died of malnutrition there, and some of them certainly children.
FENG: Yeah. There's no beating around the bush. The situation is dire in Gaza. NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, has been sending me daily, almost hourly, updates over the last week on how people there cannot find food to buy, even if they have the money to pay for skyrocketing prices. He himself has been surviving on sometimes less than one meal a day.
And he's saying that parents there have begun giving their children salt water because they simply do not have anything else to give. The U.N. says about 100,000 women and children in Gaza face severe malnutrition, that they need medical treatment immediately. And this mass hunger has led to the more than 2 million people in Gaza facing severe risks and led to growing global condemnation of Israel for its controls on letting in food to Gaza.
Aid organizations say they have trucks with food at Gaza's borders, but they cannot get permission from Israel's military to enter.
MARTIN: So, Emily, Israel is saying that aid is going in, and Israeli officials have blamed Hamas for hampering aid efforts. So what can you tell us about the situation?
FENG: Israel says it's allowing aid to get in mostly through this U.S. and Israeli-designed distribution system. And Israel claims it's the U.N. that's not been capable of getting their trucks into Gaza to distribute food. So we reached out to the U.N. office, which coordinates aid in Gaza, and they pushed back. They said Israel decides who and what gets into Gaza and when. They say there are routinely delays, and they need the Israeli military to stop bombing Gaza to let their drivers in. They're asking that Israeli troops stay away from their aid routes as well because Israeli troops have shot dozens of people needing food who have approached the U.N. trucks just this week alone.
And this week, I spoke to Amjad Al-Shawa who runs the Palestinian aid organization on the ground in Gaza. He says he's been able to get some flour and medical supplies, but he has not been able to get any fuel in, so they have no way to use the flour, and he is hoping and praying for a ceasefire just so he and his family can eat.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Emily Feng. She's in Tel Aviv. Emily, thank you.
FENG: Thanks, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
