On the Ground in Gaza as Israel Launches a New Offensive
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Today on State of the World, on the ground in Gaza as Israel launches a new offensive.

You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Monday, May 19th. I'm Greg Dixon.

Israel has launched a new ground offensive in Gaza, and Palestinians there are fleeing the fierce bombardment. Here's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv with what we know about this operation. Israel had been threatening to expand the war if a deal with Hamas was not reached by the time President Trump left the region late last week. And now that officially has begun. The operation is called Gideon's Chariots. It began Sunday.

Just in the last few days, more than 100 people have been killed on average every day, according to Gaza health officials. NPR's Anas Baba is in Gaza City. He's been watching Palestinians flee this heavy bombardment from northern Gaza. They're fleeing by donkey cart and by foot. The people here, they look desperate. Some of them, they cannot even walk. You can see the children in front of me at the meantime. They are carrying pots and empty cans and roaming the streets.

Anas spoke with one man who was fleeing, Wael al-Kilani. And that man described intense bombing and shelling. He said he was fleeing planes who were striking, artillery fire, tanks, Israeli military dropping flyers, ordering evacuations from the area. The Israeli military spokesman says that unlike earlier in the war where troops were going in and out of areas in Gaza...

He says that any territory captured by Israel this time is going to remain under its control. Israel is threatening to gradually expand this new offensive until they reach a deal with Hamas to release hostages. It's NPR's Daniel Estrin. Even as Israel is undertaking this increased military activity in Gaza, it is holding peace talks with Hamas to release those hostages. The U.S. says it is actively engaged in those talks.

And Israel says it will start allowing food and medicine into Gaza. That aid was blocked for nearly three months as a way for Israel to pressure Hamas. To understand what life has been like for residents of Gaza and how Gazans view the conflict, we're going to hear from one now. NPR's Steve Inskeep spoke to Yusri Al Ghul on a scratchy phone line late last week.

He lives in North Gaza with his wife and four children. Yosri, it's Steve Inskeep. Yeah, yeah. Hi, Steve. How are you? Hi, doing okay. Thank you for taking the time to talk today. I really appreciate it. I'm just closing the windows of my tent. So just to be available to talk to you. Did you say closing the windows of your tent? Yes, I did.

He says he's a writer. Years ago, he worked for the Gaza Ministry of Culture. He says he doesn't support Hamas today and favors releasing hostages while also repeatedly accusing Israel of genocide, a charge Israelis deny. We asked him to describe daily life, and as you will hear, the conversation took a turn. Yeah, I'm in the north of Gaza. I didn't leave it. I have two houses. They were severely demolished, so I put my tent in the rubble of my house.

So you're on the location of your former home, surrounded by rubble. Yes. How are you feeding yourself and your family at this time?

My friend, we are in a famine. We just have some bread and that's it. And even the bread. I'm always telling my children, please don't eat all of this bread. This is for the morning and that is for the evening. And that's it. We don't find water. We don't find electricity. We don't find internet. They're saying that they want to evacuate us. Please come and take us out of Gaza. We want to leave it.

We want to leave Gaza because you destroyed everything. Did you just say if you had an offer to go live somewhere else, you would take it? Sure. Not only me. 90% of the Palestinians. We don't have anything here in the Gaza Strip to stay. We don't have water. We don't have food. We just have bloodshed. Then you ask me, will you stay here? No, I want to leave it.

What is your feeling right now about Hamas? Listen to me, my friend. If you ask me about what happened on the 7th of October and blah, blah, blah, blah, what happened before the 6th of October? What happened in the West Bank, which is Hamas, not a part of the government in the West Bank?

The Israelis always killing the Palestinians, even in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. I want to assure you that I've covered that region for years, that I've been to the West Bank and Gaza. I understand the argument that you're making, your side of the story about the history. I'm just interested now in this moment what your attitude is toward Hamas, which would seem to be the strongest Palestinian force in Gaza. There was no Hamas here, my friend. Just to let you know, the Israelis killed all of them.

They destroyed the whole buildings of Hamas. They destroyed even the buildings of the civilians. So my viewpoint about Hamas is like my viewpoint about the radical government, Israeli government. They both are terrorists. I do believe that we need to integrate in a diverse world. We need to be in touch. We need to build a two-state solution, which is refused by the Israeli government. You mentioned that the only thing you've had to eat lately is bread.

Where do you get it? Where does it come from? In the time of truth, before two months, the

They opened the borders for just 50 days, I think. When they brought the food and the aid in this time, I tried to bring it and to buy and to hide it because I believe the Israeli also will come again and to make this a salvation and to fight us in Assam in the Gaza Strip. You know that we have a dream. I'm always...

And because you said you would be willing to leave Gaza if someone would just let you leave...

You, I presume, have heard that President Trump talked about removing the Gaza population and rebuilding Gaza as a seaside resort and finding someplace else for Palestinians to live. What do you think about that idea?

Listen to me, my friend. I think I'm sorry to say that. I know that I'm talking to American people, but this is a lunatic idea. I'm not going to talk about the man. I'm talking about I do respect the power of Mr. Trump. I don't mind to leave Gaza, but not

If you could come to the United States, you would give up Gaza. Is that what you're saying? Yusrael Ghul, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. And that was NPR's Steve Inskeep.

And that's the state of the world from NPR. Thanks for listening. This is Ira Glass, the host of This American Life. So much is changing so rapidly right now with President Trump in office. It feels good to pause for a moment sometimes and look around at what's what. To try and do that, we've been finding these incredible stories about right now that are funny and have feeling and you get to see people everywhere making sense of this new America that we find ourselves in.

This is American Life, wherever you get your podcasts.

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