SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
President Trump said he expected this week's talks with Israel's prime minister to result in a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. But after four days in Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu is returning home with no deal, and President Trump seems to have revised his time frame for a truce.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think we have a chance this week or next week.
DETROW: Those delays come at a high price for Palestinians in Gaza. This morning, an Israeli missile attack that Israel says was targeting a Hamas militant killed 10 children outside a clinic, according to the American aid group that runs the site. NPR's Ruth Sherlock and Abu Bakr Bashir heard from a witness of the strike via telephone and have this report. And a warning - their story contains graphic descriptions of the aftermath of a missile strike.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Every day without a ceasefire deal in Gaza means more tragedy.
NASER KHADER: (Speaking Arabic).
SHERLOCK: Naser Khader in Deir al Balah in Gaza says after 7 a.m., he was walking down the steps outside his home when just across the street, a missile struck. It hit two men passing a crowd of people waiting for an aid clinic to open.
KHADER: (Speaking Arabic).
SHERLOCK: "The explosion was very big and horrifying," Khader says. "There were so many victims, women and children. I saw them ripped to pieces."
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Arabic).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Arabic).
SHERLOCK: Video filmed of the aftermath shows an ordinary-looking street, where the small, still bodies of lifeless children lie. An injured woman sits under a tree in shock, the corpses of two young boys beside her. They look about 7 years old. The other dead children in the video look even younger. In all, 16 people were killed, including 10 children, according to Project HOPE, the American aid group operating the clinic.
The Israeli military told NPR it had struck a, quote, "terrorist," who it said had infiltrated Israel during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that ignited the Gaza war. The military said it was aware of reports of injured people and that it, quote, "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals." The Israeli military said it operates to minimize harm as much as possible. But Naser Khader, who witnessed the attack, has questions.
KHADER: (Speaking Arabic).
SHERLOCK: "Why? They could have let the wanted man walk for 2 meters and then hit them but not hit them right among the group of women and children. Why?" In a final indignity, with fuel supplies to Gaza heavily restricted, the dead from this missile strike were piled onto a donkey cart to be taken away.
MITHQAL ABUTAHA: You will find that most of people are now using donkey carts just to transfer injured people. And this is - itself, is a disaster.
SHERLOCK: Dr. Mithqal Abutaha is in Gaza and oversees the medical team for Project HOPE. People had been waiting for their clinic to open when the missile hit.
ABUTAHA: The situation was horrific.
SHERLOCK: Strict Israeli controls on food entering Gaza have driven widespread hunger. So Project HOPE now distributes food supplements to the malnourished. Despite the carnage all around, one father was so desperate to find nutrition for his family that even as he held his son, who was injured in the strike, he asked if the clinic was still going to open.
ABUTAHA: Can you imagine that even after people died, and after the bombing, that father has asked our colleague that, are you going to open? Am I going to receive those nutrition supplement?
SHERLOCK: In all this misery, talk of a ceasefire that then doesn't come can feel unbearable.
ABUTAHA: This is the false hope that can weaken us, to be honest.
SHERLOCK: Abutaha says people initially rejoiced at the news of the talks.
ABUTAHA: There were people, like, just when they heard just one news, OK, there will be a ceasefire. OK. Oh, my God, I'm going to visit my sister. I'm going to do this. I'm going to have this party cake. I'm going to bring things.
SHERLOCK: But then he says the bombings continue. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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