Well, just in the last hour, Israel's
prime minister has claimed the country
is at the stage of decisive victory. In
a brief message from the IDF's Gaza
Division, Benjamin Netanyahu said he had
now approved plans to take control of
Gaza City. As that operation began to
take effect, there were heavy
bombardments on Gaza City overnight and
on other areas of the strip by Israel's
military before that meeting between Mr.
Netanyahu and his top ministers took
place. Israeli troops are already
operating in Zetun and the Jabalia
refugee camp to prepare the groundwork
for the expanded operation which could
begin within days. Israeli forces have
also increased shelling of the Sabra and
Tufa neighborhoods. Thousands of
Palestinians have left their homes, some
for shelters along the coast, while
others have moved to central and
southern parts of the strip.
Across Gaza, one thing is clear.
Israel's military operation is
relentless. Now, as Gaza City's 1
million people brace for a new ground
offensive, those who have already fled
in search of safety fear even greater
catastrophe may be imminent.
Witnesses said the IDF struck the
Al-Munasera camp in Dear Albala three
times today.
Some 70 families already living in
makeshift homes now forced to flee once
again.
>> This is the area they said was safe.
South of Gaza. This is the safe area.
I've been displaced from one place to
another. From the north to the center of
the Gaza Strip and then here. We're
tired. We're tired.
With the fires still burning, survivors
scour the remains of their devastated
lives.
More than 70% of Gaza has now been
destroyed.
>> Sad Alin Abu Zanada fled the fight in
Inunis 3 months ago. He doesn't know if
his home is still standing. Now his
family's tent is gone, too.
I managed to rescue some mattresses and
blankets, and I'm searching for the
rest. Some are buried under the rubble
along with our clothes. This is all I
was able to salvage. They forced us to
leave. No one remained there. We only
took some clothes for the children to
dress them, but we couldn't take
anything for ourselves.
Earlier this week, Hamas agreed to a
60-day ceasefire in return for freeing
10 living hostages brokered by
negotiators from Qatar and Egypt. But
there's been no formal response from
Israel, despite these being terms it
previously agreed to.
>> Every day they say there is a truce, but
they're all liars. There is no truth.
They're playing with our nerves. We
don't believe a single word anymore. and
we don't even follow the news because I
know they are all liars.
>> The Israeli army has called up 60,000
reserveists in preparation for the new
offensive.
20,000 more will have their active duty
extended. Despite a weariness inside
Israel and growing dissent within the
military, the Israeli prime minister is
pressing on with his stated aim of
eliminating Hamas and taking complete
control of Gaza.
And with the offensive looming today,
desperation turned to defiance.
Dozens marched through Gaza City this
morning to demand an end to the war.
The people of Gaza are voicing a
rightful demand. The chance to live in
safety and peace. The actions of the
Israeli occupation forces, demolishing
infrastructure and homes, killing
thousands of civilians, starving the
population. It must come to an end.
Others have simply chosen to leave.
Lives are piled onto anything with
wheels as families seek shelter amid the
impending doom.
All night long there was continuous
shelling and artillery fire. Everyone
with me as a child. So we fled. We had
previously been displaced to Rafa, then
to Kanunus, then to Nusarat, and then to
Gaza City. Now we are leaving Gaza City,
waiting for God's mercy to come.
>> Hopes of a new ceasefire are fading. And
amid Gaza's ruins, everyone is now
asking the same question. Where else can
we go?
>> Well, earlier I spoke to retired
Brigadier General Amir Avivi. I asked
him how Israel plans to evacuate such
large numbers of people from Gaza City.
>> Anybody who wants to leave Gaza City
will be allowed to be to go to the south
to the humanitarian zone whether they
are militants or civilians. So, we want
to clear as possible. stop you right
there because you say they can move
south to the humanitarian zone. You're
referring to Alawasi and the IDF has
already bombed Al-Mawasi. People have
died in the humanitarian zone that you
are now telling people in Gaza City they
should move to.
>> Israel is not operating on the ground in
this humanitarian zone, but it's
pinpointing
very very accurate attacks on
specifically on terrorists in these
areas. But overall it's not operating
there and it's making sure that endless
amount of humanitarian aid goes into
this area.
>> Forgive me firstly because children died
on those Israeli attacks on what you
call the humanitarian zone in Alawasi
and also you say you flood the area with
humanitarian aid. I mean the evidence on
the ground is that there is famine and
starvation in Gaza. That does not look
like an area that has been flooded with
Israeli aid.
>> All these pictures all of them turned
out to be fake.
>> General
a whole a whole campaign revolving
around something that doesn't exist.
>> Hunger in Gaza.
>> It doesn't exist.
>> Doesn't exist at all.
>> The UN ex several extremely reputable
humanitarian organizations
>> which are all full of
>> This is baby or day general. This is a
baby. Please look at this baby. This was
a baby featured in our program on
channel 4 news. This is not fake. This
is baby Muhammad. General,
>> what do you see? I see a child in
carehouse.
>> You see a child who is who who is
starving, suffering malnutrition.
>> Frankly,
>> this is what's happening in Gaza.
>> This is like this kind of psychological
games. Okay, let let's put things as
they are. Israel is fighting for its
existence.
>> You're telling the people of Gaza to
move. Move or what? What if they don't
want to move? What if they stay? What
are you going to do to them? Look, if
they stay in a in an area that is in an
intense war zone, of course they're
endangering themselves. So the minimum
right we can say to them, listen guys,
we are going into Gaza city. In a normal
reality, an army wouldn't say to the
enemy, you know, this is what's going to
do. Britain never ever told some people
to get out of war zones where they
fought. We do. We give before that an
announcement that we're going to fight
in this area. We give them a chance to
get out to a zone where we are providing
food. No army ever in the world provided
food to its enemies.
>> Well, the people are starving. But if a
civilian refuses an evacuation order, if
the people of Gaza refuse that order,
that does not make them combatants.
>> Yeah, but you know, at the end of the
day, if an Israeli soldier will see a
civilian, he won't shoot them. Okay?
Israelis don't shoot civilians. But if
you are in that is not the evidence of
the war so far in an area of fighting,
of course you are you are you will be in
danger.
>> Or you could do none of this because 600
former Mossad chiefs, former IDF chiefs,
former Shinbet chiefs, 600 of the most
distinguished people in Israel have said
that Hamas poses no strategic threat.
Israel should stop the fighting now. And
Benjamin Netanyahu is ignoring. So with
all due respect to all these former
generals, I represent an organization of
60,000, not 600, 60,000 Israeli
commanders, generals, operatives, okay,
a much bigger organization. And we all
think, all of us, that Israel must
achieve its goals of war. It must
eradicate Hamas completely.
>> You talk about bringing the hostages
home. There is a deal on the table that
the prime minister of this country could
accept today that would bring 10 of
those hostages home and nobody need be
harmed. There could be a 60-day
ceasefire right now. Why wouldn't he
accept that deal instead of putting
their lives in danger?
>> No. This Israel really sought that after
defeating Iran and after after taking
over like 75% of the Gaza Strip, the
terms for a ceasefire of 60 days will be
created. And he didn't. I mean, we
offered the deal. The deal was agreed by
Qatar and Egypt. The deal was agreed by
the US and by Israel and Hamas rejected
it. And now,
>> but it's like we've gone into the upside
down here because Hamas have agreed to
the deal. A deal that Israel was
prepared to agree to just a few weeks
ago. So, in theory, the two sides should
be able to meet those hostages, should
be able to come home.
So remember that if you do a partial
deal, not only Israel has to give up all
the achievements it had until now and
retreat.
>> Israel agreed to this deal a month ago.
>> And also remember that it's half of the
hostages. What about the other half?
When will we see the remaining hostages?
We can actually defeat Kamas and bring
all the hostages back. Not
>> do you not think that? Do you not think
that going into Gaza with this level of
force endangers the lives of those
hostages? So in in Gaza City
specifically where we are going to
operate, there are very few hostages. We
know where they are. We know not to go
into the areas where they are. So I
don't see why they would be endangered.
>> Well, they have before, haven't they?
Because they've been killed in Israeli
air strikes before, hostages.
>> We are in a complex situation. We have
to balance between the different goals
of war. Everybody wants to bring back
the hostages, but we also need to defeat
Hamas. General Brigadier Amir Vivv,
thank you very much for your time.
>> My pleasure.
>> Now, more than 80% of those killed by
Israeli forces in Gaza are civilians,
according to an investigation by The
Guardian and the Israeli Palestinian
publication plus 972. They said the
information came from a classified
Israeli military database which has
named just 8,900 militant fighters among
the dead. Israel dismissed the figures
as not correct, while the IDF's latest
estimate claims 22,000 terror operatives
have been killed. In other developments,
the UK has called on the Israeli
ambassador to protest against Israel's
approval of a major settlement in the
occupied West Bank, which would
effectively cut the Palestinian
territory in two. In a joint statement
with 20 other countries, the UK said the
move would fuel further violence and
instability.
At the same time as the military
advances, a ceasefire deal which Hamas
officials say they have accepted is yet
to receive a formal response from the
Israelis. Mediators from Qatar and Egypt
are trying to secure a deal with that
begins with a 60-day truce and would see
the release of nearly half the remaining
hostages held in Gaza in exchange for
Palestinian prisoners. Just going to
hand over to Kathy now in London. Well,
I'm joined now by the official
spokesperson for Egypt's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Tamine Khalaf. Uh,
Ambassador, the Brigadier General that
you just heard from there with with
Kieran said that images of starvation,
starving children are fake. I just
wanted to get your response to that.
>> Well, I think it's a textbook definition
of living in a state of denial. The
entire international community is seeing
one thing, but Israelis are seeing
something else. international
organizations including the United
Nations, the World Food Program, the
Office of Coordination for Humanitarian
Affairs, Acha, the World Health
Organization, all of the international
organizations of the world have put
Israel on the spotlight that there is a
complete famine in in in Gaza. Uh
children are indeed starving. And
incidentally, I was uh 48 hours ago, I
was actually on the border in Rafa,
accompanying the Egyptian foreign
minister and the prime minister of
Palestine in a visit and there were
thousands of trucks that were outside of
the border waiting full of humanitarian
supplies and medical aid that the
Israelis would not allow in the Rafa was
open, but the Israelis have ceased the
other side of the terminal. They occupy
the Rafa crossing and we can't get these
essentials inside for the children of
And and when you think about the
takeover of Gaza City that is now
underway, what are your fears for the
implications of that, the number of
civilian casualties? Really,
>> this is a very, very serious escalation
and it is one that will aggravate and
exacerbate the already untenable
situation in Gaza. This is the Israel's
occupation. It will entrench Israel's
occupation in Gaza. It will deepen the
humanitarian crisis. uh and it will
complicate the already existing
negotiations for a ceasefire deal. And
quite frankly, we question the utility
and usefulness uh of these military
incursions. The Israelis know better.
They've been in Gaza before in 2005 and
they were bogged down in a war of
attrition. So, we don't understand what
exactly the Israelis are doing. And
therefore, we are categorically what the
Israelis are doing. This is an abhorentt
attempt to try to uh subject subdue the
Palestinian people in Gaza who have
already endured an unspeakable
humanitarian tragedy over the course of
the past 2 years.
>> So, let's talk about those ceasefire
negotiations that you and Kata have
negotiated. Hamas has said that it's
accepted the deal that you've put
forward. Israel earlier today says that
it will begin Gaza ceasefire
negotiations. What does that give you
any hope?
Look, um we have not received so far any
official uh confirmation that Israel is
uh is engaged in the ceasefire proposal.
Egypt and Qatar as the mediators have
indeed offered a proposal. It is a good
proposal. It is a practical one and one
that can lead to the deescalation and
end of the hostilities. It proposes a
60-day uh ceasefire
uh between Hamas and Israel. And during
these 60 days, we can negotiate in order
to uh have a more durable and
sustainable ceasefire at the end of the
ceasefire. Uh it will also release the
proposal is to release 10 hostages,
Israeli hostages and 18 bodies of those
that have been deceased. And it will
also provide the necessary humanitarian
dire humanitarian relief to the
Palestinians in Gaza. We believe it's a
practical proposal. It is a reasonable
proposal and this is the moment of truth
for Israel. It has to while the
international community is rallying for
the state of Israel to support and to
accept this proposal. We see on the on
the contrary to the collective will of
the international community, we're
seeing incursions in Gaza and an
entrenchment of Israel's occupation
inside Gaza.
>> And you talked about what you observed
on the Rafa crossing. What do you say to
those who call on Egypt as Gaza's
neighbor to do more to put pressure on
Israel to allow more aid in and also to
give sanctuary to some of the
Palestinians who do want to leave? I
mean, many don't. Many don't want to be
displaced. But what do you say to those
critics of Egypt?
>> Kathy, I don't know of a country that
has supported the Palestinian people
more than my very own country and my own
very government. We have stayed
shoulderto-shoulder with the Palestinian
people since 1948 through wars and
actually through peace and we continue
to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the
Palestinian people. 70% of the
humanitarian assistance that went inside
Gaza came from Egyptian people. The
remaining 30% was from the international
community. And when I went to Rafa and I
went to actually the warehouse where all
of the medical facilities and
humanitarian uh relief uh stockpiles
that were there, uh it was shocking to
see that Israelis were preventing
wheelchairs from entering into Gaza.
They were preventing ICU beds, intensive
care unit beds for children in Gaza.
It's quite a disgraceful and an abhorent
thing to see. And quite frankly, we will
continue to try to support the
Palestinians as much as we can. We were
able to uh uh uh provide 1,200
trucks through the Karam Shalom
crossing, but that's not enough. The
dire humanitarian situation is is is
very serious in Gaza and we will
continue to support the Palestinian
people shoulderto-shoulder until they
get through this.
>> Ambassador Tam Khalaf, thank you very
much for joining us. Now back to our
main story and the trickle of aid
entering Gaza has been far from enough
to tackle the overwhelming need. Dr.
Victoria Rose is a consultant plastic
surgeon who's volunteered repeatedly in
Gazan hospitals and spoken graphically
about what she's called a man-made
famine there. Now she's returned from
her latest visit. She and other medics
have teamed up with lawyers including KC
Kirsty Brillo to gather evidence of
potential war crimes by Israel. Dr.
Victoria Rose first. What are colleagues
in Gaza telling you now about the
situation?
>> So the main thing that we're hearing
about obviously is the starvation and
the number of people dying from
malnutrition. What's recently come
through is the increase in the numbers
of people that we're seeing suffering
from a a flaccid paralysis which is
thought to be the result of an entra
virus. Now obviously most of the people
in Gaza we said before have been
displaced multiple times and sanitation
and water are now very scarce. Fresh
water is very scarce and an entra virus
would be diarrhea vit. So it's being
spread very wildly in that sort of
environment. But what's been happening
is it primes the immune system and then
you produce antibodies to attack your
own nerves basically which starts really
with tingling and numbness but
progresses to sceal muscle paralysis.
Now we do see this in the UK in very
small numbers. It's known as gon barry
syndrome and in Gaza it has been seen
before the war but probably one or two
cases per year. My colleagues at NASA
are saying that they've seen a hundred
cases in the last three months.
>> Right. So that's really significant.
That's NASA hospital in Yeah.
>> And the WH have just reported that
there's been 37 cases in children under
15 since the end of July. So Kirsty
Brimlo, what can you do with that kind
of evidence that you're hearing from how
can you what what's the idea behind this
sort of legal attempt to hold Israel to
account?
>> Well, one of the difficulties is that
evidence that is put forward in for
example media interviews seems to be
dismissed as propaganda or fake and
we've seen an example of that earlier.
And so um myself and a team of lawyers
we are taking statements uh from the
doctors who have been in and out of
Gaza. They are the witnesses as to what
is happening and uh they have that
professional and independent overview uh
as to what happens to the statements and
the storage of the videos that they have
taken. I think there's there's probably
um immediate crisis term which is what
we're focusing on now which is the
starvation and what can be done and some
of those decisions have to be taken at a
political level but what is coming
through is we h are having we we there's
very definite evidence of children who
are dying because of mal malnutrition
children who are dying because of
starvation children who are not healing
from uh shooting uh blast injuries
because of their starvation, because of
of of what is going on that they cannot
recover from those injuries.
>> And you think you can use this evidence
to do what exactly?
>> Well, first of all, it can be presented
uh once we've got the statements, it can
be presented in a in an open forum where
Israel uh has a an international uh
legal obligation to ensure that aid it
goes to the civilians in Gaza. It is a
war crime to use starvation as a weapon
of warfare and that is set out under the
Rome statute. It's also set out under
customary international law. The
importance of that is because there's
always replies um from Israel that it's
complying with international law. But
what does that mean? Because if there's
evidence of starvation, then it needs to
show that that starvation is not
intentional. And it's best way to do
that is to open up and allow all the aid
to go in so that there are no more dead
children and dead people from uh from
from lack of supplies.
>> So Victoria Rose, when you hear you know
the brigadier general on our program
saying that the starvation was fake or
Ben Netanyahu saying that there is no
star starvation, there is no policy of
starvation. How do you respond to that
from what you and colleagues have seen?
Well, I think it's clear that the people
that have been into Gaza and seen what
is happening are the people that should
be believed. And my colleagues and I
have all been into Gaza and we are all
coming out saying the same thing. And so
it's it's evident that there is an issue
with starvation. And I think anybody
that disputes that is not telling you
the truth. And so when you hear from
Victoria Rose and other medics the
evidence that you've got in front of
you, is it persuasive? Do you feel that
as a lawyer you are able to potentially
prove that war crimes are taking place?
Of course, it's persuasive because they
they are approaching this from an
independent um perspective that there's
nothing for a a surgeon to gain in
making up the uh the symptoms or the or
the cause of death or of the people that
they operating upon because they they
remember each one uh very vividly and
are compiling the cases.
>> So, it's important to put it put it down
in that form. But another aspect really
that's coming out of this is is of
course there has to be accountability
and there are two open investigations.
There's one before the international
court of justice and one before the
international criminal court. However,
it takes time and meanwhile whilst there
are debates about uh genocide and
definitions of genocide,
there are people daily um civilians
daily who who are needlessly dying. And
and the important thing here is that
these are preventable deaths. And this
is the information that we are getting
from the medics.
>> Briefly, do you hope to return to Gaza?
>> Yeah, we would like to return to Gaza,
but obviously you know entry's been
heavily restricted and we just found out
yesterday that Kogat, who are the
coordination for activities in the
occupied Palestine territories, have
deregula deregulated
three of the main charities that send
international doctors in. So it's it's
increasingly difficult to get in. Dr.