Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy 20240703

Nears 5800, tension is escalating on the israellebanon border. Tens of thousands of residents have evacuated their homes as israel and Hezbollah Exchange fire on a daily basis. We will get the latest and look at how israels endgame in gaza is to push palestinians into egypt. And we will look at how u. S. Policy toward latin america has fueled historic numbers of asylum seekers. Over the weekend, mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador met with other latin american leaders calling for the u. S. To end its blockade of cuba. One of the agreements of yesterdays meeting was to promote Bilateral Dialogue between the United States and cuba, to resolve issues, especially those related to the blockade of cuba which greatly affect the population. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Health officials in gaza state israels unrelenting bombardment of the besieged palestinian territory has killed another 700 people over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll over the past 18 days to about 5800. More than 2000 children are among the dead. 1. 4 million gazans, or more than half the territorys population, have been displaced. The u. N. Reports at least 42 of gazas Housing Units are damaged or destroyed. In northern gaza, the indonesian hospital ran out of fuel monday and suffered a power outage that brought lifesaving medical equipment offline before officials restored power. Gazas Health Ministry says it will run out of fuel for electric generators at other hospitals within the next 48 hours. It reports 32 of the Health Centers are out of service. Elsewhere, officials at a hospital in gaza city say the buildings entrance and surrounding areas were targeted today in an israeli airstrike. A convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid remains stalled on the egyptian side of the rafah Border Crossing into gaza. So far israel has allowed fewer than 100 trucks into gaza, which a groups call a drop in the ocean of what is needed to provide for the 2. 3 Million People. A spokesperson for the World Food Program says a critical shortage of fuel is preventing bakeries in gaza from producing bread. Do not have enough power to get the machines working. Unfortunately, some were also hit. With the collapse of essential infrastructure, the lack of fuel to make sure the machines are running, it is really making a situation that is already catastrophic worse. Amy hamas has released two israeli civilians held hostage in gaza. On monday, a hamas spokesperson said 79yearold nurit cooper and 85yearold Yocheved Lifshitz had been let go for humanitarian reasons and poor health grounds. Hamas shared video showing armed fighters releasing the elderly hostages to red cross officials. Just before the video ends, lifshitz reaches back to shake the hand of one of her captors, saying shalom the hebrew word for peace. Earlier today, lifshitz spoke to reporters in tel aviv, describing a harrowing scene as she was kidnapped and driven off to gaza on a motorbike with two hamas fighters, then forced to walk for miles through a network of underground tunnels. Once in gaza, lifshitz says her treatment improved. She says she was seen by a doctor, fed well, and had the opportunity to wash. Her daughter sharon translated her remarks to reporters. My mom is speaking about the time there. She is telling us about sharing food with the people. When she first arrived, they told him they are muslims and are not going to hurt them and that they ate the same food that hamas was eating. Amy israel believes about 220 other hostages remain in gaza, including the husband of both women. Hamas has released a total of four women. The United Nations warns nearly 20,000 people across southern lebanon have fled their homes amid escalating violence on the lebaneseisraeli border. On monday, the Biden Administration said its readying plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of u. S. Citizens across the broader middle east in case israels assault on gaza provokes a wider war, including 600,000 americans in israel and another 86,000 in lebanon. French president Emmanuel Macron has arrived in israel for meetings with top israeli officials. In jerusalem, macron told israeli president isaac herzog he stood shoulder to shoulder with israel and pledged frances full support for israels bombardment of the gaza strip. Macron urged israel to avoid what he called a dangerous escalation in the region. Herzog said he also wanted to avoid a wider war but said israel stood ready to attack lebanon if hezbollah continues crossborder attacks. I want to make clear, we are not looking for confrontation on the border with anyone else. We are focused on destroying hamas infrastructure and bringing our citizens back home. But if hezbollah will drug us into war, it should be clear lebanon will pay the price. Amy french media report macron will head next to lebanon and egypt next. His visit to israel comes a day after some European Union Foreign Ministers endorsed a humanitarian pause of israels attacks in gaza. In washington, d. C. , President Biden on monday ruled out u. S. Support for a humanitarian ceasefire in gaza while hamas continues to hold hostages. His remarks came as the pentagon dispatched military advisers and hightech air Defense Systems to israel ahead of israels expected ground assault on gaza. In canada, a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly has been censured and removed from her caucus after making remarks in solidarity with palestinians. Sarah jama, who is black and a Disability Justice advocate, addressed her colleagues monday. I restate my call for an immediate ceasefire by Israeli Forces and for the immediate restoration of rude, water, youll come and electricity in gaza. And i applaud the many who have joined this recent days and i hope even more will be speaking out. Amy her censure would only be lifted if she issues a formal apology for her remarks. In india, several students were detained in new delhi monday as they led a protest near the Israeli Embassy demanding a ceasefire in gaza. Our government, most of the countries in the world are ignoring the fact nothing is happening. Children are dying, hospitals are being bombed. I dont have anything new to say other than to say we should not be denied the basics. Amy here in the United States, pressure is mounting on more congressmembers to join calls for a ceasefire. On monday, protesters in albuquerque, new mexico, held a nonviolent sitin at the offices of senators Martin Heinrich and ben ray lujan, led by jewish peace activist. Nine people were arrested. The protests came as hundreds congressional staffers issued an open letter urging them to support a peaceful resolution to the attacks on gaza, the return of israeli hostages, and to grant access to humanitarian aid to the palestinian territory. Only 18 u. S. Lawmakers have signed the ceasefire resolution so far, including congressmembers greg casar, pramila jayapal, and ilhan omar. In ukraine, the governor of kherson says two people were killed and 14 others injured earlier today by Russian Artillery fire. This follows a Russian Missile strike in khariv sunday that created a massive hole in the roof of a postal distribution center, killing six people and injuring 14 others. There was a missile attack. We were working. There was an explosion and everyone started running away. I did what i could. I provided the necessary first aid as much as i could. Some were stable. Some were light, some were more critical condition. Aim took them away. Amy in eastern ukraine, officials in the russiancontrolled city of donetsk say ukrainian artillery fire killed one civilian and wounded another. Elsewhere, russias navy says it repelled attacks by uncrewed boats launched by ukraine at russias black sea fleet. Ukraine says it shot down 14 russian attack drones and a cruise missile. Back in the United States in texas, Lubbock County officials have approved an ordinance banning pregnant people from traveling through the region to seek an abortion in another state. Lubbock is the largest texas county to join such efforts. At least three other Rural Counties have also passed similar measures. Lubbock resident shelley kemp denounced the move as she addressed county commissioners monday. Youre going to create a culture of fear and distrust where you set neighbor against neighbor. It is going to have a chilling effect. Just for example, the language used. Abortion tourism and trafficking. That immediately creates fear and distrust. Amy the United Auto Workers has expanded its strike against the big three u. S. Auto makers. On monday, 6800 autoworkers walked out of the Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly plant near detroit, michigan. The uaw notes stellantis made 18 billion in profits last year as stellantis Ceo Carlos Tavares earned total compensation of nearly 25 million, earning as much per day as an average stellantis employee takes home in a year. Uaw president shawn fain joined workers on the picket line monday. They have made a quarter of a trillion dollars in the last decade. Stellantis alone, 12 billion dollars in the First Six Months of this year. They can afford this. They can make it happen. Our workers deserve their share. While they say they can afford this, the next day they announced more dividends per shareholder. Amy and here in new york, the Prestigious Community and Cultural Center 92ny, formerly known as the 92nd street y, has temporarily postponed its literary reading series as it faces growing backlash for canceling an event with pulitzer prizewinning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen over his criticism of israeli violence on palestinians and calls for a ceasefire in gaza. In response, a number of writers scheduled to participate in the monthslong series pulled out, while several 92ny staff resigned from their jobs. Writer and critic andrea long chu, who is among those who pulled out of the series, referred to 92ny as a prowar nonprofit. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now s Juan Gonzalez in chicago. Hi, juan. Juan hi, amy. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Amy as the death toll from israels 18 day bombardment of gaza nears 5800, tensions escalating on the israellebanon border. Tens of thousands of residents have evacuated their homes as israel and Hezbollah Exchange fire on a daily basis. We will get the latest and look at how israels endgame in gaza is to push palestinians into egypt. Stay with us. [music break] amy at the border by marcel khalife. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Authorities in gaza say israels massive environment has killed another 700 palestinians over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll the past 18 days to about 5800 palestinians. More than half of gazas population has been displaced. Israel is continuing to ignore calls for a ceasefire or pause. The World Health Organization is pleading for more aid into gaza were 12 hospitals and 32 Health Centers have been forced to close. The ministry of health and gaza issued a statement announcing we declare the complete collapse of the Health System and hospitals in the gaza strip. The announcement came hours after the indonesian hospital in Northern Gaza Strip went dark overnight as it ran out of fuel but power has been restored. Two women who have been held hostage were released. They were seized october 7 in the hamas attack that left about 1400 people dead inside israel. As the two women were being released, one shook hands with her captive and could be heard saying shalom. About 220 other hostages remain in gaza, including the husbands of both women. As is what continues to threaten to launch a Ground Invasion of gaza, tensions escalating on israellebanon border where troops and hezbollah are exchanging fire on a daily basis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to devastate lebanon if a new front in the fighting emerges. I cant tell you know if hezbollah decides to fully into the war come if hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will long for the second lebanon war. They will be making the biggest mistake of their lives and we will hit them with an unimaginable force. It will mean devastation for them and the state of lebanon. Amy in washington, d. C. , Matthew Miller warned hezbollah against escalating attacks on israel. And so we continue to make very clear from our message to anyone who is hostile to israel, if there considering attacks, they should reconsider and that is why the president ordered the deployment of two Carrier Strike groups. We are joined by rami khouri, palestinianamerican journalist and columnist with 50 Years Experience in the middle east. Hes a senior Public Policy fellow at the American University of beirut. Former executive editor of the daily star in london lebanon. He is joining us from boston. Thank you so much for being with us. If you can stock start off by talking what is happening on israels northern border with lebanon . What is happening is something that is happened many times before in the last 30 years or so but slightly different this time. Hezbollah has become a very powerful force with huge capabilities and technology, missiles, intelligence, secrecy, etc. Every aspect of warfare. Theyre also much bigger force now than they were in the 2006 war because of the mobilization of troops from syria to defend the syrian regime. They have a lot of experience and technology, and more importantly, they are linked to a regional what they call an axis of resistance which is iran, syria, hezbollah, hamas and the houthis in yemen and smaller groups in syria and iran. Theres a constellation of forces that are various degrees of capability, and they call themselves the axis of resistance. The Northern Front of israel and lebanon now is far more dangerous to israel if a war breaks out than it was before because of this regional capability. Hezbollahs strategy has evolved. I would stress i believe firmly neither israel nor hezbollah want to initiate a war. They have done it before. They have both suffered huge disruption and destruction. They know a full war now would be way more destructive and civilians, infrastructure, would suffer. Hezbollah has planned for this in its strategy, key strategic industrial transport, energy which you can reach with its rockets, precision rockets. They are very good at moving into israel surreptitiously. They have done it. They have said a drone over a Nuclear Facility a few years ago. The tension at the northern border with israel, southern border of lebanon, is designed to send messages back and forth between israel and hezbollah that they are prepared to fight if they need to but they would rather not. Tit for tat maneuvers. Theres an element of testing hezbollah is good at this. They are very serious strategic people, whatever you may think of them. They are not just buying weapons and trying to use them, they test things out and see how israel reacts, do a little attack here or there, said a few trips over the border, send a drone, missiles. They see how israel reacts. Israel has evacuated villages. This is part of hezbollahs strategy. They want to keep challenging israel, taunting it. They want to disrupt israels basic social and economic functioning. The key aim of this in the long run is to knock down israels exaggerated sense of power and dominance. Netanyahu is the prime example of this. Kind of like a saturday morning cartoon character in the United States, a tough guy and strong and if challenged he will beat the hell out of anybody. He said yesterday if this were in lebanon, they will destroy lebanon and they are already destroying gaza. The hezbollah strategy is to use the regional connections it has along with its own capabilities along with strategic ambiguity to not allow israel or the u. S. Or anyone to really know what it is going to do and kind of destabilize the confidence of israel. But also to hit society sense of security. What happened in gaza when hamas attacked a poker october 7, it was an incredible blow to the confidence of the israeli people and its forces. There is all kinds of different dimensions to the northern border. So for two like diplomacy that comes out of most of the mainstream American Media and government says theres a danger of a war between hezbollah and israel on the northern border, far more complex than the ones than that. But there is a serious threat that israel faces which is it might have to fight five different people at the same time if it came got to regional war, which i think it is still not likely. But it could happen. This is one of the new factors and explains a little more how hamas has achieved what it has achieved come is the coordination among these different groups of resistance fighters across the arab world, they coordinate very closely in training and equipment and strategy, communications, all kinds of things. It is a holy situation in the north a whole new situation in the north. I think israel and the u. S. Are making the mistake of analyzing every situation based on what happened in 2006. Juan i wanted to ask you, in terms of israels strategy. If israel does want to prevent a regional war, why, for instance, what is your assessment of its repeated bombings at airports in syria and what the impact that could be on spreading the war . Israel has been doing that for many years, bombing iraq and syria and lebanon. They are probably mostly bombing units that are close to iran or linked to the transport of equipment or people from iran to these different outposts where it has allies across the arab world. That is the assumption most people have. These attacks are designed to disrupt this linkage between iran and allies in syria and other countries. It does not work very well. The israelis are quite sophisticated but they are also quite simplistic and stupid when it comes to not learning the lessons of their own repeated strategy that doesnt work. They say now they want to wipe out hamas and take away the threat and they say if hezbollah gets involved, theyre going to wipe out lebanon. They said that four or five times. They occupied gaza, south lebanon. I lived in lebanon for 20 years and i was there in the 2006 war. They have caused great misery to lebanon and gaza. Where are the two strongest forces now to challenge israel in a way it has never been challenged before . They are in lebanon and gaza because israel and its tough guy cartoon approach to diplomacy and warfare and relations across the region relies simply on its ability to beat the hell out of anybody and destroy countries. You see in gaza today, it is unbelievable what theyre doing. Physically destroying societies basic infrastructure and human needs. But it does not work. They dont realize all this does is generate greater resistance a year or two down the road with greater secrecy, Higher Technology levels, more coordination, and a stronger sense of defiance. Hezbollah and hamas, hamas is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance movement. Resistance is the key operative phrase in hamas. Hezbollah calls itself informally the resistance. Resistance is a key, maybe the key driver, of what these groups and others in the region are doing. The israelis dont seem to understand this because they are the ones being resisted. With the resistance, there also defiance. When the u. S. Sent the ford Naval Task Force a couple weeks ago and it warned iran and its allies not to do anything, the next day there were three or four small little attacks against american targets or american ally targets in iraq, yemen, other places. Defiance and resistance are two dynamics that are so significant in the mind of people who are standing up to both israel and the United States and others, and this has to be appreciated much more seriously for anybody who is trying to analyze the region and certainly for anybody who is trying to act politically or militarily or diplomatically, including the israelis, americans, europeans, and others. Juan and all the attention in recent days has been on what the Biden Administration and the u. S. Is doing to support israel, but there appears to be an increasing division in europe on what is happening. We are seeing the European Union and difference states within europe calling for a humanitarian cause, in essence, a ceasefire. Very different from what United States is saying. I am wondering your assessment of that . I think the europeans are waking up to the fact they are human beings and they have to react like human beings, not killing machines which they have done recently following the u. S. And israeli lead. The suffering that has been caused in gaza is unbelievable. The deliberate cruel tightening of, not just the pressures, it is the total squeezing of gaza to try to starving to death or make a die of thirst or let the hospital stop running because they dont have electricity, this is a level of barbarism and cruelty that probably has not been seen since medieval days. The europeans went along with the americans in the beginning and said, oh, israel can defend itself. This is one of the factors that really social psychiatrists need to analyze and political psychiatrists have to analyze, why is europe and u. S. And canada so totally support this draconian measure by israel to kill on an industrial scale that has never been seen before in this region . They killed 400 people two days ago and 700 people yesterday. The world is just sitting there analyzing what is going to happen here or there. There is a kind of lack of humanity, lack of people using their minds and their hearts to analyze what is going on. It is very simple in my analysis. 55 years reporting in the middle east and doing analysis and traveling around and come and go to the u. S. All the time, i am there now. I think it has become very clear since may 2021, two years ago, when we had the uprising in jerusalem and you had the fighting in gaza, it has become clear that this now is seen by arabs in almost all of the people across the global south as the last anticolonial struggle. Israel is the last remnant of 19thcentury european white settler racist colonialism. They came, they pushed out the palestinians about 93 of the population and created an israeli state. They succeeded because they had straight they had determined a support from the white racist colonial british and now the americans. It is still going on. They are still in the west bank, gangs of settlers going around burning palestinian villages. They expelled 500 people from their villages in the last month or two. They are still doing settler colonial expansion and driving out indigenous people. This is now the driving force for the resistance against israel and against the United States and europeans who joined them. This is the last anticolonial struggle in the world, and that is why you see huge demonstrations all over the world when things like this happen. There is basically four Global Forces now that attract significant human Political Support across the entire world. They are climate change, metoo, black lives matter, and palestine. Palestine is a global issue and the americans and the israelis and most of europeans and the canadians to most extent are too blinded to see this reality. We can be tough on tv and it will work, but it doesnt work. It is time for a reassessment. The americans learn this in vietnam and afghanistan and iraq, but they have not learned it. The israelis have not learned from their experiences come either. Resistance and defiance keep driving people in the arab countries and elsewhere to push back against what the israelis are doing. Were not saying get rid of all of the israelis, your site lets have a negotiated peace with the palestinians date palestinian state. We have our sovereign state and we live in peace. We have made this offer. The arabs have made this offer repeatedly. But it is not interested in that because zionism is a strategy, is an archaeology that was to create a jewish state in a land that was 93 arab. It does not want peace with the palestinians. It once all of the Palestinian Land and they wanted exclusively for the jewish people. The world supported the creation of the israeli state and after the holocaust, that was understandable and not just the holocaust, a century or more of white european north american racism and antisemitism against jews. The jews were terribly mistreated. They came to the middle east because they knew they had always lived there, they were accepted in society as an integrated part of society, and the early settlers who came in the late 19th century and early 20th century up until around 1920, the jews were very accepted in the region. There was no problem until it became clear around 1930 that they wanted to create a state, they wanted to take over and drive out palestinian arabs and have a jewish state. This coincided with the rise of the nazis in europe which significantly increase the migration of the jews. And the United States and britain refused to take them, refused to let the jews come in. You have multiple dimensions of historical responsibility but we are at a stage now where the wii and the world increasingly clearly see this as an anticolonial struggle aiming for a just peace, equal rights for an israeli state in the palestinian state and the other arab countries whose lands have been ravaged or annexed or occupied by israel. Israelisrael theis are not interested, the americans are not interested. This is a real dilemma stop with the world needs to study more than hezbollahs motives, what is the nature of north american white racist colonialism because it is still going on. Amy i want to go to something that just happened before the broadcast and that is one of the hostages who was released speaking. Hamas has released two israeli civilians held hostage in gaza. On monday, a hamas spokesperson said 79yearold nurit cooper and 85yearold Yocheved Lifshitz had been let go for humanitarian reasons and poor health grounds. Hamas shared video showing armed fighters releasing the elderly hostages to red cross officials. Just before the video ends, lifshitz reaches back to shake the hand of one of her captors, saying shalom the hebrew word for peace. Earlier today, lifshitz spoke to reporters in tel aviv, describing the scenes where she was kidnapped. She was very critical of the Israeli Government saying hamas had released fire balloons as she described it, that the fields were burning for weeks before. She was taken on a motorbike with two hamas fighters, then walked for miles what she called a spider web of underground tunnels. Once in gaza, lifshitz says her treatment improved. Her daughter sharon, who flew in from london, translated her remarks. My mom is talking about coming there. When they arrived, they arrived into a large hall in which about 25 hostages were gathered. After two or three hours, those hostages, five have them, she among them, were taken into separate rooms. My mom is saying they were very friendly towards them and took care of them, that they were given medical they were given medicine and they were treated. One of the men weighed them. Have been badly injured from a motorbike accident on the way. The paramedic was looking after his wounds. He was given medicine and antibiotics. So the people were friendly, they kept the place very clean. We were very hurt with the scapegoats. Warned us three weeks prior with people who came for the road and burned fields, incendiary balloons to burn our fields. They did not address this seriously. Saturday morning when everything was quiet, there was a heavy bombardment of the communities. And with that, the masses infiltrated, blew up the expensive fence, open the gates and entered. It was extremely difficult. I keep having those images in my mind. Asking why did you shake the hand of the hamas terrorist. They were gentle of us. Our needs were supplied. My mom is saying they treat them kindly and provided for them. Amy that was 85yearold Yocheved Lifshitz had been let and her husband is still a hostage. Last week i mayor hosp talked about cash amira spoke onhass democracy now ive no idea about the hostages. I know one of them who is 85 years old and a very brave journalist who i just realized it. He is 85. He was in the 1970s he exposed the expulsion of bedouins in the northern of sinai. He exposed this in a series of articles. I know some people that are relatives friends of mine. Amy amira hass talking aboutmr. Lifshitz. Aaron burnett said clearly she is voicing hamas talking points. And when she said the doctors came every two or three days and gave them medicine and if they did not have the proper medicine they would get kind of replacement medicine, she said that that hamas is hoarding medicine because the palestinians dont have it. Your response to yocheved . My response to her but also to you is dont watch cnn in the morning if you want is about the middle east. That is best for your health, for your mind, and bad bad for your health, bad for your mind, bad for serious and accurate news. There many better options. My reaction to yocheved, she represents two things to me and i spent my whole life in the u. S. And around the world interacting with very Close Friends who have known all my life and people in the arab world and europe and everywhere. My reaction is, she represents probably the essence i think of what makes judaism such a special religion. It is based on ethics, based on love, based on truth, based on respect for god, and it is based on the quest god told moses to tell the jews, based on c justice and only justice, moses said. That echoes in what she says. She was honest, friendly, said the truth. I dont think she was orchestrated for taught to say any of these things. The fight hamas has that we all have is not with jewish people, it is with the Zionist Movement that has become the state of israel which is widely recognized around the world as an apartheid system. The second thing i recognize about her comments is how the Israeli Defense system in the south completely collapsed, totally incompetent. Those settlements are mostly located on the ruins of palestinian villages that were destroyed in 1940 71948. There are about 500 palestinian villages the jewish fighters before the declaration of the state of israel from late 1947 to may 1948, you had militant jewish groups carrying out terrorism, pogroms, acts of great violence to get the palestinians out and they succeeded. About 750,000 palestinians were driven out of palestine before the declaration of statehood in 1948, israeli statehood. There were 500 villages and they were destroyed and people left. Many of them are where the kibbutz in the south. That is another factor that we have to take into consideration. It raises the question of, where do you make a distinction between ordinary israelis, people in the reserve forces, people in the active military . The problem is our battle is with the Zionist Movement and israel, which has done what it has done to us and we are resisting and fighting back. It even in the heat of battle, you get human decency shown by both sides. Because we are both humans and we are decent, but we are also in a state of active violent warfare that has been going on for almost a century. The fighting in palestine between jews and palestinians started in the late 1920s. 1929 was the first big clashes in palestine. It has been almost a century this war has been going on. You cant analyze any of the stuff in isolation. You have to look at the deeper context. At the same time, dont lose sight of the community at the jewish people and the palestinian people. Amy rami khouri, thank you for being with us, palestinianamerican journalist and columnist with 50 Years Experience in the middle east. Senior Public Policy fellow at the American University of beirut. We will link to your article in al jazeera believe it or not, justice will prevail in palestine. Next up, look at israels endgame. Is it to push palestinians into egypt . Back in 20 seconds. [music break] amy this is democracy now im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Health officials and gaza say israels unrelenting bombardment of the besieged palestinian territory has killed another 700 people over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll over the past eight days to more than 58 hundred palestinians. Among them, 2000 children are dead. 1. 4 million gazans, more than half the territorys population, has been displaced. Many say there is no safe place to be in gaza right now. The World Health Organization is putting for far more aid to be allowed into gaza through the rafah Border Crossing with egypt. We are going to look now at egypts response to israels bombardment of gaza and the negotiations over aid coming through rafah. Were joined by sharif abdel kouddous, who won the george polk award for his documentary the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. His latest piece for the guardian is israels endgame is to push palestinians into egypt and the west is cheering it on. Welcome back to democracy now can you talk about all that is taking place right now around the rafah Border Crossing and explain who it is controlled by and explain what israel is calling on egypt to do. Thank you, amy. First of all, egypt is the only country other than israel to share a Border Crossing with gaza. What we have seen since october 7 is a lot of negotiations around what is going to happen at this Border Crossing. As it stands right now, egypt has insisted on allowing humanitarian aid into gaza and has allowed multiple countries to deliver aid to northern sinai , countries like jordan, turkey, the uae have delivered thousands of tons of humanitarian aid that are kind of in these trucks at the border. So far since saturday, Something Like 75 or 80 trucks have been allowed in about 20 trucks a day after a lot of negotiation are allowed in by israel into gaza. This is nowhere near enough. According to humanitarian organizations, they have called it a drop in the ocean. Just to give you a sense of 20 trucks a day im out to about 4 of an average days import before october 7. Before 1. 4 Million People were displaced, before 15,000 people were injured, before close to 6000 people were killed. The u. N. Is saying hundreds of trucks a day are needed. On top of that, israel has placed heavy restrictions on even that minuscule aid coming in firstly, israel has bombed the gaza side of the rafah Border Crossing four times since october 7. Even one time slamming into egyptian territory at the border. But the aid when it comes in, it travels to a Border Crossing with israel where it is first inspected by israeli authorities , and then it eventually gets into the Border Crossing and goes into gaza. This is a process that takes many hours. I think we have to understand there are two issues that really stand out on the restrictions. First of all, all deliveries of aid to northern gaza are prohibited. So none of this minuscule aid is getting to northern gaza. Hundreds of thousands have evacuated from northern gaza. Israel or in people to leave but there are still hundreds of thousands that remained. To give you a sense, the biggest hospital and gaza is in gaza city, ship a hospital, a hospital that in normal times has the capacity of about 700 patients, it currently is overwhelmed with 5000 patients. You have like 45,000 displaced people gathered in and around the hospital grounds seeking shelter. That is according to the u. N. None of the aid coming in is getting to them. Secondly, importantly, the aid coming in, none of it includes fuel. Fuel is not been allowed to enter. Fuel is crucial for so many things, perhaps most importantly, to rent generators. Without fuel, lifesaving medical equipment like incubators, ventilators wont work. This is a death sentence for babies. One official has called this the aid coming in is more a diplomatic symbol than actual meeting any humanitarian needs. We have to see where this is going. Juan i wanted to ask you, first of all, on the water situation, is all water still cut off by the israelis . Secondly, isnt the whole issue of israel urging people to leave gaza through egypt a clear sample of ethnic cleansing . After all, israel has many entrances on its side of the gaza strip where it could allow women and children to come out of the northern gaza but possibly even bus them into the west bank. But theyre clearly trying to get rid of the palestinians, as many as possible, from the occupied territories. Yeah, first of all, this is an issue of water people have talked about theres a real risk of dehydration and death. People are drinking dirty water. The aid coming in is not enough. The first day, provided water for about 22,000 people for a few hours. Were talking about a place which has two point 3 Million People. No water has been allowed in since october 7. No aid at all has been allowed in except for these small convoys. There has been a Water Pipeline that was is supposedly working but it is not nearly providing enough. Yes, this idea first of all, this water comes down from israel first of all, netanyahu took to the airwaves october 7 announcing a war against hamas in telling people in gaza to leave now, saying not saying where theyre supposed to go. But there was this order to evacuate to the south. 1. 1 believe people are supposed to evacuate in 24 hours. He sees this kind of pushed were the egyptian border. From what we understand reporting, egyptian sources have told us in those days in the beginning at least there was a lot of pressure and continuing for egypt to open the rafah Border Crossing, humanitarian quarter, to allow for the forcible displacement of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of palestinians from gaza into northern sinai. And instead of the United States and other western countries pressuring israel for a ceasefire, pressuring israel to create allow in the necessary amount of aid, they instead have been pressuring egypt to open the border and allow for the displacement and habit offering economic incentives to egypt to do so. We have to remember egypt is undergoing a very severe economic crisis with masses amount of debt and record high inflation. There has been talk of debt relief, financial compensation in order to allow for this kind of displacement. Egypts response has been kind of very staunch on this, actually. The president elsisi has publicly rejected this idea of having a form of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement and exile into sinai. He has cited egypts sovereignty in this, site the palestinian cause in all of this. He has even is drumming up and is writing a wave of public support for this because palestine come as we heard earlier, is a touchstone issue for so many across the world for 70 across the global south. And this idea of what they call a second nakba, second mass displacement, is firmly rejected. Even elsisi call for people to take to the streets and people did. Although some people carried on those protests into tahrir and some were chanting revolutionary chants. Egyptian authorities have arrested over 100 people because of that. I think many see sisi as laudable of rejecting what is essentially an endorsement of a second nakba, but we have to remember him citing the palestinian cause really rings hollow and we have to remember egypt its concerns are National Security concerns, not wanting to have a mess population of palestinians who could launch attacks against israel from northern sinai and having to deal with the refugee crisis. Egypt has helped enforce the siege on gaza for many years. He destroyed the tunnels that provided a lifeline to gaza. It has allied with israel in many different ways, security coronation, allow israel to convert aerial Bombing Campaign in sinai. It also treats palestinians coming in and out of gaza notoriously with and dignity. But so far, this idea of rejecting this kind of mass exodus, i think a lot of people are supportive of that policy and instead trying to pressure israel to allow humanitarian aid in. Amy ultimately, is it israel, is it hamas, is it egypt who is preventing that aid . As you said, we are seeing dozens of trucks now after weeks of not having anything when in fact theyre talking about the need Something Like 400 to 500 trucks a day. And also when it comes to what happened this week in cairo come the socalled peace summit of arab leaders, what did they come up with . The peace summit did not ask to come up with anything. There was a joint statement that was signed. Elsisi and King Abdullah and others repeated combination of israels bombing, of the siege on gaza and sisi rejected the idea of hamas displacement to sinai. We also have to understand this idea of resettling palestinians in gaza to sinai is not a new one. It is an old colonial there have been numerous plans by israel and others of this idea of resettling the palestinians in gaza who 80 of which are refugees, by the way, refugees from 1948, of resettling them again into egypt. In the mid1950s, the u. N. Divided this plan and was met with popular outrage in gaza. Amy 15 seconds. These kinds of plans are longstanding and there is a real fear they will be realized. For now, we have to see egypt is rejecting it but israel is creating a situation where life is becoming unlivable in gaza. Amy shree from dell could ooze, working with the news outlet not a masr, produce the awardwinning documentary the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and we will link to your piece in the welcome to nhk newsline. I am Catherine Kobayashi in new york. United nations secretary general Antonio Guterres says tensions in the middle east are threatening to boil over. He told Security Council members that israelis must achieve their needs for security and palestinians their aspirations for an independent state