Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC 20240703 : comparemela.com

Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC 20240703

To the Charity World Central Kitchen, was struck in central gaza late on monday night, survivors running between the remaining vehicles before being hit again and then again. The army said its forces had mistaken the bag one passenger was carrying for a gun after Spotting Gunmen at the warehouse earlier. It was a visual confirmation of a gunman, first of all, on one of the trucks that then conducted shooting from one of the trucks. And when they, indeed, reached the hangars, there were more gunmen identified on the location and it led, basically, to the entire miscalculation, misidentification and the failure of what shouldve happened. Israels army said the aid was picked up by lorry at 10pm. The armed figure was then Spotted Firing from one of the trucks before the convoy moved on with other vehicles to an inland warehouse, where Drone Footage showed more gunmen getting out of one car. That vehicle later moved north to another warehouse while the three cars from world Central Kitchen turned back to the coast, where they were hit in separate air strikes minutes apart. The army has fired two Senior Officers who approved the strikes, but world Central Kitchen has called for an independent inquiry, saying the idf Cannot Credibly investigate its own failure and that systemic change was needed. Other aid agencies say this was not a one off mistake. This is notjust an incident. This is a series, a pattern of incidents that have been going on for months and months now. Were now up to the stage of having 200 humanitarian workers killed. We are operating in an environment of complete impunity. It is a deliberate choice to allow these attacks to continue to happen. One former Major General pointed out that Israeli Forces have also killed their own compatriots in gaza. It was a huge mistake. Unfortunately, many, many other mistakes were made for instance, israel killed three israeli hostages that managed to release themselves and, nevertheless, they were killed by Israeli Soldiers and, of course, no one believed that we killed them deliberately. The difficulties of getting aid to gaza was already deepening rifts with israels allies. The killing of british and american nationals has shifted the debate. The Port Of Ashdod is less than 30 miles from gaza but, for the past six months, its remained closed to aid. Now, this port and the nearby Erez Crossing point have been prised open by a stinging us demand that israel find new routes to get aid safely into Northern Gaza or risk losing american support. Israel says its war is with hamas, not gazas civilians, that its fighting one and feeding the other. But aid workers accuse israel of seeing them as targets and aid as a weapon of war. Lucy williamson, bbc news, ashdod. Here in the us, theres growing pressure on President Joe Biden over his handling of the conflict. Some democrats criticise him for his unwavering support of israel. Others on the left say he isnt doing enough to address the humanitarian crisis in gaza. Most republicans, meanwhile, are more favourable toward sending military aid to israel. In a call thursday, President Biden told the israeli Prime Minister he needed to do more to protect civilians or could face a shift in us policy. Meanwhile, in the uk, pressure is growing on the government to stop Weapons Sales to israel, including from scotlands First Minister humza yousaf. Members of his wifes family live in gaza and at the beginning of the war, her parents were stuck there for several weeks. He spoke to the bbc� s hardtalk. I think the uk government has to israel. I think the uk government has to stop arms sales to israel. Why . Well, letsjust look at the events of the last couple of days. Aid workers killed by an israeli strike. If the uk continues to provide arms to a government that has killed women and children, has killed aid workers, has bombed schools, bombed Refugee Camps bombed Un Facilities then, in my eyes, that makes the uk government complicit. You can watch the full interview on Hardtalk Monday and tuesday on bbc news. Earlier, i spoke to tal heinrich, a spokesperson for israels Prime Minister. We thank you for taking the time to join us. President joe biden in the us has warned that the country could change its support for israel if changes are not made to limit humanitarian suffering in gaza. There has been International Calls now, including from the un, to suspend weapon sales to israel. The Scottish First minister told the bbc directly that he thinks the uk should stop arms sales to israel. Whats the Prime Ministers response to that, and how concerned is mr netanyahu about losing support from israels allies . Thank you for having me on, carl, today. Washington and jerusalem, we do see eye to eye in the big game of things. We want to eliminate the Terror Organisation hamas. This Terrorist Group can be no more. Israelis do not deserve to live next door to this terrorist enclave. We want to make sure that gaza will never pose a Terrorist Threat to us and we want to make sure that are still in people, the hostages will come back home. While we are working on achieving these objectives as we define them, both of us, both sides, we want to see the minimal civilian suffering, minimal Collateral Damage and civilian casualties, which is what hamas is trying to maximise. Thats what their entire strategy is based upon. It does sound like there is some severe disagreement, stopping weapon sales to israel and biden with a very forceful warning to netanyahu does that change the game at all, change relationships between israel and its allies . Not at all. Israel and United States, we are best allies, these are our best friends in washington, we take advice and share concerns. We dont have to agree on every small detail but, in the big scheme of things, we do because we share the same values at the end of the day. Its important to mention here that we all want the same things and following that phone call between the president and Prime Minister, Ourwar Cabinet convened last night and a few decisions in regards to humanitarian aid were made. We decided to open another Border Crossing for the insertion of aid, thats the Erez Crossing in the northern part of the gaza strip. The maritime Port Of Ashdod, which is something we have not done before, will also facilitate the entry of aid and humanitarian aid from there will be transferred for further inspection, and jordanian from the kerem shalom Border Crossings will be increased. When it comes to those crossings, in speaking with Aid Organisations that because concern is the number of trucks allowed through those routes. Can you confirm how many trucks may be allowed through the new crossings . We are talking about a couple of hundreds every day. I think the number was, over the past 2a hours, about 240. There was 266 also, i think, the day before. So, were talking about a couple of hundred per day. Carl, more food trucks and its important to mention are going into gaza daily than before october seven. I know that some outlets reported a wrong number because when you consider food trucks, the number that entered before the war started, there were food trucks with cement, with certain materials that went right into building these Terror Tunnels and terror infrastructure. So, when we talk about food alone, double the amount of food trucks that entered gaza before october seven. I have to mention the un and several other Aid Organisations, the numbers now say 1. 1 Million People, half the population, in fact, of gaza are at risk of starvation. So, that is important to mention. I want to turn to the idf internal investigation into the incident where seven aid workers were killed by strikes by the israeli military. Two Senior Officers have been dismissed. Will there be any broader changes to the way israels military operates so something that will not happen like this again . Before i address your question, just the starvation active action, there is no immediate starvation in gaza. This is what aid agencies are telling us time and time again and we speak with several organisations and members of the un, they tell us that starvation is imminent. Unicef. Children have already died from starvation. I can tell you that there are 3000 calories per day per person entering gaza daily. Even if hamas kills half of that. We acknowledge that there is a challenge with distribution of aid. For which israel is not responsible. Nevertheless, we want to make it a smoother mechanism. But addressing your other question because i know we are short on time. There is an investigation i believe maybe you saw the preliminary findings but there is an investigation of this very tragic incident under way. We should make sure that this will never reoccur. For that reason, we also set up a Situation Room to better the Co Ordination between the aid groups and idf. Again, its a tragedy that should not have happened and was a mistake following misidentification of these three vehicles. I want to ask you about Domestic Support within israel. Weve seen growing protest against the Prime Minister, calling to bring the hostages home. They are now calls for new elections. Does Prime Minister netanyahu have the domestic mandate right now to continue to lead israel . We are a democracy, there are protests but if you see the images they are minimal. Also it is not something, because most most people are not engaged in politics right now. We put the notion of a united front against the brutal enemy called hamas way before politics. They will be time for an election and to discuss politics but right now, the overwhelming majority of israelis are united behind the War Objectives as we have defined them following the october seven massacre and we have a unity government in place. Our soldiers are not dealing with politics right now as they fight. Some of them paid the ultimate price to defend us so that i will be able to sit here and talk with you right now. And we owe this to them because they are not talking about politics. They want us to be united against this brutal enemy so this is what were doing, most of us. Tal heinrich, spokesperson for the israeli Prime Ministers office, thank you so much. Thank you. That attack earlier this week on aid workers has further complicated the humanitarian situation in gaza. According to the united nations, at least 180 aid workers have died since the war began in october and since the strike that killed members of the world Central Kitchen, the group has paused its operations in gaza. The us Charity Anera also suspended work there. Collectively, the two were serving two million meals per week in the territory. The attack on aid workers has further complicated the humanitarian situation in gaza. Earlier, i spoke with adam ramadan, Deputy Director of Rebuilding Alliances, a non profit that operates severalFood Kitchens in gaza. Thank you for being here. I want to ask you we heard in that interview from the spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said theres no immediate starvation in gaza. What is your reaction to that . Its very devastating to hear. We hearfirst hand from our partners on the ground that due to the halt of operations from the world Central Kitchen and anera, we have seen an increase of almost 20 of more families searching forfood. Theyre desperate to feed their children. The situation has not gotten better. 200 trucks entering into gaza is not enough. We need to push for more land borders to open and aid to come into gaza. Simply, 200 trucks a day is not enough. Yeah, we really need more. And just to be clear the word � starvation, what have you seen on the ground . What have your group seen . Are people starving there . We are seeing reports in the north that people children, specifically are dying of malnutrition and starvation. Our partners in the north find it very difficult to find any Food Commodities or even trying to purchase anything in the market is hard to come across, especially in the north. In the south, with our partners with the World Food Programme, we are getting Food Commodities and are able to source our kitchens and provide hot meals daily but we need to push for more food convoys to enter the north. The situation in the north is very dire and we are seeing reports of children dying of starvation. One of those newly opened Aid Routes Into Gaza is in the north. Will these new routes make a difference . What kind of impact do you think that would have . It will have a huge impact. We will be able to ramp up and open new kitchens in the north. Our partners are more than ever dedicated to providing meals to the families of gaza. You know, to give back to the community no one wants to see their own people suffer of starvation. Despite the huge security risks, we are continuing our operations, we are doing whatever we can to continue cooking on a daily basis. So, the fact we are able to bring more Food Commodities to the north and open more kitchens, we can definitely reduce the risk of starvation in the north. Your group actually operates across gaza but i believe that one of your kitchens is very close to where this strike on seven aid workers took place. I want to ask you how does Rebuilding Alliance Co Ordinate with the idf and how do you ensure the safety of the workers on the ground . Yeah, first, Rebuilding Alliances wants to express our deepest condolences for the tragic loss of the team members that lost their lives from the world Central Kitchen. Its such an unfortunate event that after taking the Safety Precautions and closely collaborating with the idf that they was still targeted and its such an unfortunate event that happened attack, actually i dont want to call it an event. Luckily, our partners at the World Food Programme bring commodities to our warehouses so that we are not directly in contact with the idf. We ensure our partners safety that are on the ground, cooking and operating in kitchens. We work closely. We monitor their Safety Concerns daily. We are doing whatever we can and securing our warehouses and securing their locations and any possible move or invasion of rafah, we have a plan to move them out safely. President biden taking a much harsher tone with Prime Minister netanyahu, speaking by phone and pressuring israel to do something about the humanitarian situation in gaza. What did you make of the tougher tone from the white house . Yeah, the government of israel must respect International Humanitarian law at the end of the day. It prohibits the targeting of humanitarian personnel. The role of aid workers is to alleviate the suffering of the people in crisis and, along with the safety of the aid workers, the safety of civilians they are feeding. That is huge. Israel must comply with International Law there is no doubt behind that. Adam ramadan, Deputy Director with Rebuilding Alliances, operating a couple of dozen Food Kitchens in gaza, along with the World Food Programme, thank you forjoining us. Thank you. As weve discussed, israels military is under scrutiny. For a military perspective, i spoke to Brigadier General mark kimmitt. Hes a former us Assistant Secretary Of State for Political Military Affai

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