ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
The Israeli military and Hamas fighters traded extensive fire today in several parts of the Gaza Strip. More than 30 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed according to authorities. This marks the most serious threat yet to an already shaky ceasefire agreement that is just nine days old. For the latest, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myre in Tel Aviv. Hi, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Andrew.
LIMBONG: All right, Greg, what do we know about the fighting in Gaza?
MYRE: So according to the Israeli military, Hamas militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and directed sniper fire at Israeli troops in southern Gaza, near the town on the border, Rafah. Now, this is where Israel says its troops were killed. The Israelis say they also came under fire in northern Gaza. Here's Israel's military spokesman, Nadav Shoshani, speaking to NPR.
NADAV SHOSHANI: Today was a very severe violation, maybe the most severe violation by Hamas since the beginning of the ceasefire.
MYRE: So for its part, Hamas said it's not aware of any attacks on Israeli troops, but Israel still carried out these airstrikes in several parts of Gaza, causing the Palestinian casualties. But Gaza health officials didn't say whether their dead were militants or civilians.
LIMBONG: Does this put the ceasefire at risk of falling apart?
MYRE: Well, for now, Israel and Hamas both say they're committed to the truce, which took effect on October 10. But it's been starting to fade in recent days, and today was the worst day yet. And this evening, we've been hearing these conflicting reports about whether Israel plans to continue or suspend aid going into Gaza. A person briefed on the matter told NPR that aid to Gaza would be halted because of the Hamas violations, but there are also numerous media reports that aid deliveries will continue.
LIMBONG: Now, Hamas also accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire, right?
MYRE: That's correct. Now, the group put out a lengthy statement today. It says about 50 Palestinians have been killed in the past nine days. This includes nine members of a single family. They were shot, and it included several children as they were traveling in a vehicle on Friday. They apparently drove too close to the Israeli troops, and Israel said they did not heed warning shots. Now, Hamas says that Israel also has not allowed increased aid to flow into Gaza as stipulated in the truce. And again, that seems to be very much up in the air in the coming days. Hamas also says Israel's supposed to allow materials to rebuild hospitals, roads, water and electricity systems, and the group says that is not happening either.
LIMBONG: What are the prospects for getting the ceasefire back on track?
MYRE: So we're going to see a lot of U.S. officials this week. Vice President JD Vance, Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are all expected in Israel on Monday or Tuesday. Now, they hoped they would be coming to nudge the ceasefire along into the next phase, Phase 2. Phase 1 was going reasonably well for a few days with little or no shooting. Israel and Hamas traded hostages and prisoners. But now we're seeing these exchanges of fires, and Hamas is - still has to return 16 of the 28 dead hostages. Israel says Hamas must do more to find the bodies. Hamas says they're buried under the rubble and not accessible from all the Israeli airstrikes. So unless these issues are settled, it's going to be very hard to move into the second phase.
LIMBONG: That's NPR's Greg Myre. Greg, thank you so much.
MYRE: Sure thing, Andrew. 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.
