00:00I just want to start with asking, why is Israel revoking permits from humanitarian groups in Gaza?
00:07Well, many thanks, Lian, for having me. It's always a pleasure to be with you.
00:12It seems to me that the Israeli justification for suspending the licenses of 37 international non-governmental organizations
00:22isn't really what Israel is saying, that they are not abiding by the rules of the Israeli registrations.
00:31I think Israel is determined to make the daily life of the more than 2 million Palestinians as tough as,
00:39even much worse than it is right now.
00:42We all know that those 37 international organizations are delivering food relief aid,
00:50and they are also providing medical services to the more than 2 million Palestinians
00:56who have lived through the worst catastrophe in the 21st century.
01:01And I think Israel is just basically trying to make it much worse for the Palestinians to leave.
01:07And I think it's not a coincidence when the U.S. President Donald Trump said two days ago
01:14when he met with Prime Minister Netanyahu that, according to Israeli public opinion polls,
01:20probably more than half of the Palestinians would leave if they were given the chance to leave the Gaza Strip.
01:27And that's what Israel, I think, is trying to do, to make it much harder, much tougher for the Palestinians to stay in Gaza
01:35and basically push them to leave the territory voluntarily, as Israel is basically saying.
01:42And at the end of the day, the daily life conditions now are as bad as it is.
01:49And by suspending the work of those 37 international non-governmental organizations,
01:55I'm very much sure that it's going to make it much worse, especially for the needy, for women, children,
02:02handicapped Palestinians, poor families.
02:05We all know that 90% of the 2 million Palestinians are living in tents in those inhumane winter conditions right now.
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