LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Israel has ordered all residents of Gaza's most populous city to leave in more mass displacement as Israel expands its ground operation there.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Israeli defense minister said anybody remaining in Gaza City will be considered, quote, "militants and supporters of terror." At the same time, the Israeli military says it has intercepted almost all of the vessels that are part of a convoy that had been trying to sail to Gaza and deliver food.
FADEL: With us is NPR's Emily Feng in Tel Aviv, who has been following all of this. Good morning, Emily.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: OK. Let's start with Gaza. What is the Israeli military saying about what it's doing around Gaza City?
FENG: They say they've encircled Gaza City this week. They now control movement north and south into the city. And by their own estimation, there are still hundreds of thousands of civilians who remain there. Some of them are the elderly or they're in hospitals. And so it's unclear if these people, if they stay - if they would be considered militants. We reached out to the Defense Ministry, but we haven't heard back during the Yom Kippur holidays.
And our producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, says a lot of people have chosen to remain in Gaza City because there's nowhere safer to go. Much of the strip is destroyed or it's already occupied by the Israeli military. And the shelling in Gaza City has gotten so intense that this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders both said that they're shutting down their operations there to protect their staff. And the United Nations agency director says, on average, about 100 Palestinians are still being killed by Israeli operations every day.
FADEL: All this is happening while a 20-point peace proposal from President Trump is still on the table. What is the latest on that?
FENG: Parties are waiting for a response from Hamas. And just to summarize, this proposal would first end the war, return all hostages held by Hamas, and then it would hand control of Gaza initially to a board of international experts headed by President Trump. But this proposal is running into challenges already. There are far-right ministers in Israel who are furious that this plan would let Palestinians stay in Gaza and not forcibly displace them, which is what they're calling for. And these ministers could topple Netanyahu's government if they want to.
And then Qatar, the country, is helping mediate all these ceasefire negotiations with Hamas. And Qatar's prime minister said on Al Jazeera this week that it still needed clarification on certain points and more, quote, "discussion and negotiation." He is likely referring to more details - you know, a specific timetable on exactly when Israeli forces would retreat from Gaza under this American plan and, for example, what the U.S. means by decommissioning Hamas' weapons. There is basically no trust between the parties here, especially after Israel tried to kill Hamas negotiators in Qatar in September, which Netanyahu apologized for this week.
FADEL: Now, before I let you go, Emily, tell us what is happening with the flotilla of boats that have aid and were headed to Gaza. Are they still sailing?
FENG: Israel's navy and these convoy organizers say Israel's boarded and detained about 40 boats so far. This is a fast-evolving situation. I am tracking it minute by minute. The flotilla organizers - their trackers showed there was still one remaining French-flagged vessel that's still sailing on to famine-stricken Gaza as we speak. The organizers say it is just kilometers away from shore. Israel says they're going to deport all the activists it detains. They've repeatedly said they consider this flotilla a Hamas-linked provocation, but this is still a PR fiasco for Israel. These activists have livestreamed their journey throughout September, and it's become this viral David and Goliath drama that anyone with a smartphone can follow.
FADEL: That's NPR's Emily Feng in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Emily.
FENG: Thanks, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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