SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
We're going to hear about Gaza now, where hunger is rampant and images of emaciated children have brought forth a groundswell of international pressure on Israel to allow in more aid. Israel is, at least for now, letting countries continue to airdrop aid into the territory as well as allowing in more trucks. We're joined now by NPR's international correspondent Aya Batrawy, who's been tracking the situation in Gaza. Aya, thanks for being with us.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.
SIMON: What do we know about the situation on the ground a week after more aid was allowed in?
BATRAWY: Well, there's still a very desperate search for food. Markets are bare. The prices are really, really high for whatever is available, and everyone is basically relying on aid for survival. But you know, Scott, this aid isn't coming in at scale yet. Aid groups say those airdrops you mentioned, they can only bring in about a fraction of what trucks can. And they're not necessary because there's so much food sitting right outside Gaza just waiting for Israeli permission to enter. The U.N. World Food Programme says Israel's only permitting half the number of trucks that they're requesting to enter. And U.N.-backed experts who do track hunger worldwide said this week there's now mounting evidence of famine unfolding in Gaza. Hospital records in Gaza show 90 deaths from malnutrition in July. Many of these are babies with mothers who were too malnourished to breastfeed them and who can't find formula.
SIMON: Is any of the aid that's been entering Gaza this past week actually reaching people?
BATRAWY: So, the short answer, Scott, is that the aid that's entered isn't reaching warehouses, and it's being looted either by armed gangs or really hungry crowds, and people are risking their lives to get these bags of flour off aid trucks because you can't even find bread anymore. But many are being shot dead by Israeli forces near the border as the trucks roll in, according to survivors and our own reporting. Israel says their troops have only fired warning shots at the crowds, but I want you to have a listen to this video filmed from inside a U.N. car on a relief mission in Gaza this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Check your door's locked. Check your door's locked.
BATRAWY: So as the convoy rolls into southern Gaza, they're met by thousands of desperate, starving people, including many women and children. They're waiting for the aid that's supposed to enter. Then you see what looks like gunshots fired into the sand just feet away from the crowd that is crouching on the ground. And then you can hear a U.N. aid worker say this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED AID WORKER: Stay away. Stay away. It's kids. It's children. Children. Stay there.
BATRAWY: So then the crowd starts getting up and moving and appears to use these U.N. cars for cover to keep getting to those aid trucks. So not only is the U.N. unable to deliver food, people are forced to choose between starving or risking their lives like this to get food. And this past week alone, at least 260 people were try - were killed trying to get food aid in Gaza.
SIMON: We just mentioned with Don Gonyea, the rift, the difference of opinion between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. What are we seeing in the separation between the two?
BATRAWY: Well, you know, you did mention that there's this growing pressure and global outrage over the hunger in Gaza. Israel's Western allies are saying it's facing growing isolation. And so President Trump did send his Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Israel, and he went into Gaza yesterday with the Israeli military. He visited a food distribution site that's run by a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF. This group has received millions of dollars from the U.S. It is overseen by Israel and its distribution system has been deadly for Palestinians. And so while there's no indication that Trump is breaking with Netanyahu or even pushing him to strike a deal with Hamas to end the war and free hostages, he did shift his tone yesterday about GHF. He said it was a, quote, "shame" that it wasn't more effective.
SIMON: NPR's international correspondent Aya Batrawy. Thank you so much for your reporting.
BATRAWY: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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