AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Israel says it's stopping the entry of all goods into Gaza. This comes after Phase 1 of a fragile ceasefire deal ended yesterday. Israel says Hamas refuses to accept a proposal to extend it. Hamas says Israel is trying to blackmail the group into agreeing. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi joins us now from Tel Aviv. Good morning.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: One of the conditions of the first phase of the ceasefire was that Israel would allow much more aid into Gaza than it had before. Now that's going to be reduced to nothing?
AL-SHALCHI: Right, so Israel says that it has decided to block all entry of goods and supplies into Gaza. Now, you have to go back to January 19, when the ceasefire started. Israel says that almost 21,000 trucks of aid entered Gaza. That's a huge amount compared to what was allowed pre-ceasefire. At that time, aid groups were saying that Gaza was seeing famine-like conditions because such little food was going in during the war. So now people in Gaza are starting to find fresher vegetables, spices, fruits in the markets, even some frozen meats, which are a luxury. Granted, the prices are higher, and people need much, much more. But NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, talked to Ibrahim Abujazar (ph) in the north of Gaza.
IBRAHIM ABUJAZAR: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: He says, "we would eat one meal every two or three days. Now we can at least have a meal a day. But even that feels like it's in jeopardy."
RASCOE: This was already a ceasefire that felt really unsteady, but it's not technically broken, right?
AL-SHALCHI: I mean, technically, no. There is still a ceasefire, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released a statement saying that Israel wants to extend this Phase 1 of the ceasefire temporarily over the month of Ramadan, which began yesterday. It'll also cover Passover, which takes us into mid-April. Israel said that the proposal was made by U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. He helped broker the first phase.
And then we also know that the second phase is supposed to see a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a commitment to end the war. Hamas is insistent on negotiating the second phase, but as far as we know, Phase 2 negotiations haven't gone anywhere yet.
RASCOE: And talk to me more about this proposed extension of the first phase.
AL-SHALCHI: Right. So the idea is that on the first day of the extension, Israel wants Hamas to release half the living hostages and half of the bodies of those who were killed. And then by the end of the extension, if an agreement to end the war permanently is reached, then they want the remaining live and dead hostages to be released.
Now, since the beginning of this ceasefire, Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages, including eight bodies. In exchange, Israel released almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails. We know that the Israeli authorities say about 59 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza. But it's also unclear how many Palestinian prisoners Israel is willing to release this time if there is an extension. And also we should note that Israel reiterated that it has the right to go back to war if Phase 2 negotiations are ineffective.
RASCOE: And what have we heard from Hamas?
AL-SHALCHI: Well, Hamas also issued a statement today. The militant group rebuffed Israel's extension proposal. It said that Israel's trying to sabotage, evade the ceasefire agreement. Hamas also described Netanyahu's decision to stop humanitarian aid as, quote, "cheap blackmail and a war crime." But while Hamas sounded defiant, the group stopped short of outright rejecting an extension. So there is more to keep an eye out on.
RASCOE: You mentioned that yesterday was the first day of Ramadan. It's normally a time of celebration with families gathering. What's this Ramadan looking like in Gaza?
AL-SHALCHI: Right. So you should know that at the beginning of the ceasefire in January, thousands of displaced Palestinians started to go back to their homes. Many found nothing - rubble, destruction after a year of Israeli bombardment.
But yesterday, you know, videos posted online showed people breaking the fast together, you know, in their destroyed buildings, on the streets. There were some Ramadan decorations, lights strung between the demolished homes. Khalid Abu Sultan (ph) lives in a destroyed building in Jabalia refugee camp. He says that some Ramadan traditions are lost now, though.
KHALID ABU SULTAN: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: So he says that almost all the prayers, people would gather together in mosques, but now mosques don't even exist anymore, Sultan says. So Palestinians were hopeful that a ceasefire would give them a longer respite, but we'll have to see.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Hadeel, thank you so much.
AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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