00:00Reports in the US media say President Trump's administration is seeking approval from lawmakers in Congress to sell Israel around $6 billion worth of military equipment.
00:11The planned package is reported to include 30 Apache attack helicopters at the cost of $3.6 billion, nearly doubling Israel's current stocks.
00:21The sale also includes 3,200 assault vehicles for the Israeli Defense Forces, with a price tag of $1.9 billion.
00:30The reported deal comes ahead of the annual United Nations General Assembly next week, where the situation in Gaza is high on the agenda.
00:39The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, called on the international community to end the fighting.
00:45What we are witnessing in Gaza is horrendous.
00:48It is the worst level of death and destruction that I've seen in my time as Secretary-General, probably in my life.
00:58Meanwhile, Israel says it will operate with what it called unprecedented force in its continuing assault on Gaza City.
01:06The Israeli military has urged the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still believed to be in the area to move further south, saying around 480,000 Gazans had moved in that direction since late August.
01:20Palestinian media reports said the Israeli military blew up a number of explosive-laden vehicles in one neighbourhood of Gaza City, as it continues to demolish homes and buildings.
01:31Meanwhile, residents who have moved south to what Israel calls a humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in the city of Ha-Yunis, say they are struggling to find food and shelter.
01:43These people described what they've experienced.
01:46We escaped the bombardment.
01:52You see how death is everywhere.
01:54Our lives have become extremely difficult.
01:57There's no tents, no water and no food.
02:01We are living on the street.
02:03We don't know where to go anymore.
02:05There's water, water, fish.
02:07What we went through was daunting.
02:12The hunger, the lack of food, of money and work.
02:16Death follows us everywhere.
02:18Bombing wherever we turn.
02:20When we went back north, we stayed for a month.
02:23And then they bombed us, so we escaped.
02:25We're extremely burned out and tired of displacement.
02:33Four whole days on the road.
02:35We went all over Gaza.
02:37We don't have the money to rent or money to eat.
02:40Hunger is killing us.
02:41We have nothing.
02:44Well, let's talk to Stephen Souness,
02:46who is Professor of Politics and Director of Middle East Studies at the University of San Francisco.
02:51Thank you very much for joining us on BBC News.
02:54Can I ask you, first of all, what you make of these reports
02:57that the Trump administration is seeking Congress to approve the sale to Israel
03:02of around $6 billion worth of military equipment?
03:07Well, it's something that the Trump administration has done before
03:10and the Biden administration before that,
03:12asking for additional arms transfers on top of the $3.3 billion annual military aid
03:21and the $17 billion of supplemental military aid that has gone to Israel
03:26since the start of the war nearly two years ago.
03:30It's certainly controversial with the American people.
03:32Close to two-thirds of Americans, according to public opinion polls,
03:35oppose additional military aid to Israel.
03:38But, you know, the leadership of both the Republicans and the Democrats in Congress
03:43seem to be supporting it.
03:46And there will be some left-wing Democrats who will probably be voting against it.
03:51It looks very unlikely that Congress will exercise its authority to block the sale.
03:56And, of course, this comes as the Israelis are carrying out that massive operation in Gaza City.
04:03On that, do you think that operation will have any impact on Hamas to free the hostages,
04:11which is what Israel says is the reason they are doing that operation?
04:15Hamas agreed to free the hostages back in January
04:19as part of the second phase of the cease-fire agreement,
04:24that in return for Israel releasing some Palestinian prisoners
04:28and withdrawing its forces and agreeing to a permanent cease-fire,
04:34that Hamas would indeed release all the hostages.
04:37And the fact that Israel broke that deal and has rejoined the war
04:42is why you're seeing so many Israelis on the streets protesting right now
04:46because they recognize the hostages' lives are being put into jeopardy
04:49by this new military operation.
04:53So there's serious doubts within Israel and elsewhere
04:56whether this offensive on Gaza City is really about freeing the hostages at all.
05:03If we look ahead, the UN General Assembly is coming up.
05:07And, of course, Gaza is going to be high on the agenda.
05:10A lot of European nations, some of them say,
05:13they may recognize a palestinian state as part of the UN General Assembly.
05:18Do you think that diplomatic pressure is going to have any impact at all?
05:23Well, as long as the United States continues to provide
05:26the military, diplomatic, and financial support for Israel's war effort,
05:31it's very unlikely that these diplomatic initiatives will go very far.
05:37Just yesterday, the United States, for the sixth time,
05:39vetoed an otherwise unanimous UN Security Council resolution
05:44addressing the conflict in Gaza.
05:47But at the same time, when you do have a growing consensus
05:51in the international community, including from countries like Britain,
05:55like France, like other European countries
05:58who've traditionally been supportive of Israel,
06:01that it does, you know, overall,
06:03that it does send a message that Israel has gone too far
06:06in terms of its violation of international humanitarian law
06:10and that we are talking about humanitarian crises of enormous proportions
06:15that Israel is largely responsible for.
06:18And I think because of that, we're going to see increasing efforts
06:22by global civil society, by other governments to pressure Israel.
06:28But again, it may not be enough if they know they have the,
06:32essentially an umbrella protecting them.
06:34Israel has this unconditional support from Washington,
06:39the most influential country in the world still.
06:42Stephen Zunis, thank you very much for your time here on BBC News.
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