STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Israel's military has begun extensive ground operations throughout Gaza. At the same time, Israelis say they will allow in some food, just as a United Nations-backed group raised the odds of famine. The many perspectives we're hearing include Yousri Alghoul. We called him late last week and reached him on a scratchy phone line. He was in north Gaza, where he lives with his wife and four children.
Yousri, it's Steve Inskeep. Can you...
YOUSRI ALGHOUL: Yeah, yeah. Hi, Steve. How are you?
INSKEEP: Hi, doing OK. Thank you for taking the time to talk today. I really appreciate it.
ALGHOUL: I'm just closing the windows of my tent, so just to be available to talk to you.
INSKEEP: Did you say closing the windows of your tent?
ALGHOUL: Yes, I did.
INSKEEP: 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.
ALGHOUL: 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.
INSKEEP: So you are on the location of your former home, surrounded by rubble?
ALGHOUL: Yes.
INSKEEP: How are you feeding yourself and your family at this time?
ALGHOUL: My friend, we are in a famine. We just have some bread, and that's it. And even the bread, I'm always felling 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.
INSKEEP: Did you just say if you had an offer to go live somewhere else, you would take it?
ALGHOUL: Sure. Not only me, 90 percentage of the recipients. 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, would you stay here? No, I want to leave it.
INSKEEP: What is your feeling right now about Hamas?
ALGHOUL: Just listen to me, my friend. If you ask me about what happened of the 7 October and blah, blah, blah, blah, what happened before 6 of October? What happened in the West Bank, which is the 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.
INSKEEP: 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.
ALGHOUL: There were no Hamas here, my friend. Just to let you know, the Israeli 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.
INSKEEP: You mentioned that the only thing you've had to eat lately is bread. Where do you get it? Where does it come from?
ALGHOUL: In the time of truce before two months, 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 starvation and to fight us in a famine in the Gaza Strip. You know that I - we have a dream. I'm always telling my wife that I wish I could have a plate of salad. I wish I could see tomato with cucumber and with other kind. And even the melon, we don't have it. Just imagine you can cut these things.
INSKEEP: 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?
ALGHOUL: Listen to me, my friend. I think - I'm sorry to 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 to Egypt or to Jordan. I wish I could have the opportunity to go to Canada and to go to the United States. We are just 2 million. We are not the very crowded number of Palestinians.
INSKEEP: If you could come to the United States, you would give up Gaza? -Is that what you're saying?
ALGHOUL: Yeah. I wish I could come to United States with my family. I wish I could have.
INSKEEP: Yousri Alghoul, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.
ALGHOUL: Thank you.
INSKEEP: He spoke last week in Gaza before Israeli forces escalated operations. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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