LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Israel's war with Iran is now its top priority, but that's overshadowed the past week in Gaza. It was among the deadliest in the Palestinian territory since Israel broke a ceasefire and resumed war there three months ago, and hunger is driving people to risk their lives. Hundreds have been killed trying to get food aid. We're joined now by NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy in Dubai to explain more. Good morning.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: Why has this past week been so deadly in Gaza?
BATRAWY: Well, look, the Gaza Health Ministry says more than 500 people were killed in the past week, and a third of those were people killed trying to get food. Now, many of these deaths were around a new food distribution system that is run by American contractors. They distribute food in only four areas of Gaza. They are fenced-off zones, and they have had very erratic operating times. Some days, they're not even open at all. But they draw huge crowds of hungry people every day, desperate to get their hands on a box of food. And these sites are in areas that Israel has declared off limits to Palestinians outside of operating hours and where troops are. And so every day that they operate, people are being killed by Israeli forces while trying to get to these sites.
FADEL: And what is Israel's military saying about these killings around food distribution in Gaza?
BATRAWY: In some instances, they've said that their troops have fired warning shots at crowds approaching soldiers in areas where they are and that they call this a learning process. The U.N. Human Rights Office says they've seen nothing to indicate people fired on had posed a threat to troops.
Have a listen to Dr. Adil Husain. He's an American physician from Dallas who's volunteering in Gaza right now. He says every time they hear of another aid distribution happening, they get prepared for an influx of casualties.
ADIL HUSAIN: The situation we're seeing here is, quite simply put, apocalyptic. Some would say it's hell on Earth, mainly because the injuries that we have seen here have surpassed our entire career within matter of days.
BATRAWY: Another American physician in that hospital in Gaza, Dr. Syed Rahman from Wisconsin, says the attacks are overwhelming the hospital.
SYED RAHMAN: The floors are riddled with human beings to the point that you have to know where you are stepping. The space between the human beings are full with blood to the point that your shoes will leave an imprint of blood from the bodies.
BATRAWY: And, Leila, some of those killed are women, mothers trying to get food for their children and even kids themselves. Gaza's health ministry says there have been around 450 people killed and more than 3,000 wounded since these sites opened about three weeks ago.
FADEL: Wow, I mean, that's really hard to listen to those descriptions there. And people are still going to those sites, despite the risk. I mean, what else can you say about hunger in Gaza right now?
BATRAWY: Yeah, I mean, hunger is driving people to risk their lives. There's been hunger in Gaza for more than a year now, but extreme hunger and even starvation really started to set in about three months ago - in the last three months - that's according to the U.N., research conducted by dozens of experts on hunger and our own reporting. Now, this began after Israel blocked all aid into Gaza in March, saying this was to pressure Hamas and keep that aid from reaching the group's fighters. But the U.N. aid warehouses started to empty out. Soup kitchens ran out of food, and aid groups began warning of an impending famine.
Now, Israel started then to allow in a trickle of aid about a month ago, but the World Food Program says it's only been able to bring in 400 trucks worth of food over the past month. That's compared to 400 trucks a day during the ceasefire, and almost all of that has been taken right off trucks by hungry crowds. And people there, too, have been killed by Israeli forces just trying to get their hands on a bag of flour.
FADEL: NPR's Aya Batrawy. Thank you, Aya, for your reporting.
BATRAWY: Thank you, Leila.
(SOUNDBITE OF FARAQUET'S "THE MISSING PIECE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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