Speaker 1: I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to seven am. The
Speaker 1: UN Commission of Inquiry has delivered its starkest assessment yet,
Speaker 1: finding that Israel has been and is committing genocide in Gaza.
Speaker 1: Israel has rejected the report, saying it's acting in self
Speaker 1: defense and takes steps to protect civilians. At the same time,
Speaker 1: Israel has begun a major ground defensive in Gaza City
Speaker 1: after weeks of bombardment and abroad, Israel's strike in the
Speaker 1: Qatari capital of Doha has rattled Katar's mediator role and
Speaker 1: put hopes of a ceasefire further in doubt. Today, senior
Speaker 1: diplomatic correspondent for Half Post Akbasha hit Ahmed on the
Speaker 1: next stage of Israel's war. It's Thursday, September eighteen. So well,
Speaker 1: let's begin with this finding from the UN Commission of Inquiry.
Speaker 1: Tell me exactly what it's haunt.
Speaker 2: So this is a remarkable finding, coming now almost two
Speaker 2: years into this war. It's from some of the most
Speaker 2: respected jurists internationally and certainly in the UN system. It's
Speaker 2: led by Navi Pile, a South Ascan jurists who's deeply respected.
Speaker 3: And known for her work.
Speaker 2: And what the report says is that Israel has been
Speaker 2: and is committing genocide.
Speaker 4: The goal of the Israeli government is abundantly clear as
Speaker 4: we continue to witness the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.
Speaker 4: The Commission finds it is genocide.
Speaker 2: Now, this is a huge statement, obviously, and there's a
Speaker 2: lot of backup that they have in their report.
Speaker 3: They know it's going to be contended.
Speaker 2: Israel, of course rejects charges of genocide, says, look where
Speaker 2: acting in self defense from US attacked US viciously on
Speaker 2: October southerns and continues to hold these really hostages.
Speaker 3: The UN sides all of that is true.
Speaker 2: But according to their analysis, they're saying on four of
Speaker 2: the five criteria by which you can charge genocide, they
Speaker 2: have absolute confirmation that Israel is conducting it.
Speaker 4: On the specific intent of genocide, the Commission concludes that
Speaker 4: statements made by Israeli authorities are direct evidence of genocidal intent.
Speaker 4: The Commission also concludes that the pattern of conduct is
Speaker 4: circumstantial evidence for genocidal intent, and the genocidal intent was
Speaker 4: the only reasonable inference that could be drawn from a
Speaker 4: totality of the evidence.
Speaker 2: The one that's really hard to prove always is intent.
Speaker 2: But they say, based on segnals from Israeli officials and
Speaker 2: the pattern of behavior bout Israelis, it looks like we
Speaker 2: can tell the intent, even if of course you can't
Speaker 2: seen someone's heart onlind Okay.
Speaker 1: And so tell me more about Israel's reaction to report.
Speaker 2: So the Israeli response has understandly been quite serially.
Speaker 5: Israel has already responded to the report. A Foreign Ministry
Speaker 5: spokesperson called it a fake report, say it relies entirely
Speaker 5: on her mass falsehoods laundered and repeated by others.
Speaker 2: These Raelis have been upset with you and on a
Speaker 2: number of factors around the glass of war. But what
Speaker 2: you'll hear from Israel and from its supporters, particularly here
Speaker 2: in the US, is that Israel teaks precautions to shield civilians. Right,
Speaker 2: so they will say, look, we have what they call
Speaker 2: a safe zone, and they say, if we wanted to
Speaker 2: meet on a side, you know, we could have been
Speaker 2: much more vicious.
Speaker 3: But in fact we've been judicious. That's why it's.
Speaker 2: Taken us now coming up on two years to conduct
Speaker 2: this war. We have been slower than we otherwise would
Speaker 2: have been. So how dare you accuse us of this?
Speaker 6: What we're doing is we're telling the population because we're
Speaker 6: going to take over and destroy the ham Strongholder, one
Speaker 6: of the last two strongholds and the most important one
Speaker 6: that Hamas has left in the Gaza strip. We ask
Speaker 6: you to leave.
Speaker 2: Something important to remember with the Israeli response is while
Speaker 2: they have largely criticized the UN's approach from its legal
Speaker 2: analysis to its aid delivery, these Reelis has collaborated with
Speaker 2: and participated in the UN. So they have admitted even
Speaker 2: from there end that the UN legal expertise is really.
Speaker 3: Valuable in this instance.
Speaker 2: And I point out particularly claims around the actual attacks
Speaker 2: of October seventh and what Hamas did. These Raelis were
Speaker 2: adminant that they're the international confirmation that Havas, among its
Speaker 2: various other acts of violence, also committed sexual assault against
Speaker 2: women on that day, and that was a very contested claim.
Speaker 2: The Israelis brought in UN experts, and UN experts said,
Speaker 2: you know what, yes, this claim is true. Hamas has
Speaker 2: permitted sexual assaults. So when it's convenient for these Raelis,
Speaker 2: you've certainly seen them embrace UAN findings. But these juris
Speaker 2: and these experts in the UN broadly are trying to say,
Speaker 2: we warned Israel right before we reached this finding. The
Speaker 2: International Court of Justice U and to top court ordered
Speaker 2: Israel three times in twenty twenty four to avoid China side.
Speaker 2: So that's what these experts already saying is don't let
Speaker 2: this happen. We don't want to accuse you of China side.
Speaker 2: We don't want you to commit the jenocide. And this
Speaker 2: is also coming in the context of a broader question
Speaker 2: mark around the international legal apparatus and the International Criminal
Speaker 2: Court a large. These experts are saying, if we can't
Speaker 2: be taken seriously as holding Israel and the West spartners accountable,
Speaker 2: how will they be taking seriously on China and Shinjiang,
Speaker 2: on Russia and Ukraine, you know. So it's that broader
Speaker 2: global picture two of justice.
Speaker 5: Well, the UN report comes as Israel heavily bombed Gaza
Speaker 5: City overnight, with Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz saying Gaza
Speaker 5: is burning. We're getting on confirmed reports from the US
Speaker 5: news side Axios and the Jerusalem Post that the military
Speaker 5: has now launched its ground defensive to occupy the entire city.
Speaker 1: And just as this report was published, is Rael launched
Speaker 1: a ground offensive in Gaza City. So tell me what
Speaker 1: we're seeing play up there at this moment.
Speaker 2: It's hard to say that anything is shocking this far
Speaker 2: into the wall. And you know, I've done some reporting
Speaker 2: from Plazas City and just imagine the way it's been
Speaker 2: level than the way people are been living there now.
Speaker 3: It's hard to imaginating.
Speaker 2: Its shocking, but this movie is still it's a different
Speaker 2: level of fighting.
Speaker 7: A military official confirmed the idea is moving towards the
Speaker 7: center of Gaza City. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Cats release
Speaker 7: this statement Monday night. The idea for striking with an
Speaker 7: iron fist at the terror infrastructure.
Speaker 2: Really it's a brown vision that is coming amid and
Speaker 2: after heavy, heavy, heavy bombing. It's going to be kind
Speaker 2: of street the street, house to house. There's tons of
Speaker 2: pleasants people, so there Palestinians who are terrified, many of
Speaker 2: them women and children. And this is you know, this
Speaker 2: is expected to be probably the bloodiest battle of the war.
Speaker 2: It's something that Israel's own security apparatus has been quite adamant.
Speaker 2: They don't want to do and they've said, look, we
Speaker 2: think strategically this might be a mistake, It might be
Speaker 2: hard to win.
Speaker 3: It might feel backlash.
Speaker 2: From the Palestinians that helps sum Us. It might heel
Speaker 2: international coordination. So from the Israeli security operatists, they are
Speaker 2: saying still that they're trying to slow roll.
Speaker 3: This is fault on Plaza City.
Speaker 2: But it is a major offensive and again will probably
Speaker 2: be the biggest offensive intercrowded city throughout this entire war.
Speaker 2: There's still just hundreds of thousands of people still in
Speaker 2: the city as the fighting begains.
Speaker 1: Okay, and all of this comes as the US Secretary
Speaker 1: of State Marco Rubio has been in the region. He
Speaker 1: met with Benjamin Netnyahu at the beginning of the week.
Speaker 1: So tell me about the reason for his trip.
Speaker 8: Well, haamask can surrender tonight if they want, lay down
Speaker 8: their way weapons. The problem is a terrorist group, barbaric
Speaker 8: group whose stated mission is the destruction of the Jewish state.
Speaker 8: So we're not counting on that from happening.
Speaker 2: Secretary Rubio, who important remember is also President Trump's National
Speaker 2: Security advisor.
Speaker 3: Secretary Rubio is.
Speaker 2: Representing the Trump administration on the ground in the Middle East.
Speaker 2: After Israel's truck, a major US ally got there in
Speaker 2: the middle of last week where it targeted something US
Speaker 2: leaders unsuccessfully. So he's in the regent's private say we
Speaker 2: don't want to see this explode. But it's also shows
Speaker 2: solidarity both with Israel and with Patter.
Speaker 8: As much as we may wish that there'd be a
Speaker 8: sort of a peaceful diplomatic way to end it and
Speaker 8: will continue to explore and be dedicated to it, we
Speaker 8: also have to be prepared for the possibility that that's
Speaker 8: not going to happen.
Speaker 2: While it remains basically all one player side, it is
Speaker 2: the enabler, the backer, the diplomatic and military supporter of it.
Speaker 2: Sale they want to say, look, we're trying to prevent
Speaker 2: conflict from spiring.
Speaker 3: Other control.
Speaker 1: Coming up, how Israel's attack on Doha has left Arab
Speaker 1: leaders questioning if they can still rely on the United States.
Speaker 9: So we've got breaking news from the Middle East, and
Speaker 9: this is significant. Moments ago, the Israeli military saying that
Speaker 9: it conducted a strike against senior Hamas leadership not in Gaza,
Speaker 9: but in the capital city of Doha and Qatar Akbar.
Speaker 1: As you mentioned, just over a week ago, Israel launched
Speaker 1: an attack on a residential neighborhood in the Qatari capital Doha.
Speaker 1: Tell me a bit more about what happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is a targeted attack on the leadership of Hamas
Speaker 2: in the center of the Katrie capital of Doha, in
Speaker 2: a commercial district surrounded by luxury skysc does embassy's fancy supermarkets,
Speaker 2: in the middle of a weekday afternoon.
Speaker 6: At noon today, I convened the heads of Israel security
Speaker 6: organizations and authorized a surgical precision strike under terrorist chiefs
Speaker 6: of Ramas.
Speaker 2: These really said they were talking specifically two figures Hamas leaders,
Speaker 2: Khalil al Haya and Khalige Mitchell, among others. Those are
Speaker 2: two of the most senior Hammas leaders. Neither was actually killed.
Speaker 2: But it really raised this question of why these Radis
Speaker 2: would do that while As simultaneously pursuing negotiations with Hamas
Speaker 2: broke out by the US, in which these Hamas leaders
Speaker 2: are kind of top decision makers for any possible deal.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, was the goal here to disrupt states by negotiations.
Speaker 2: Suddenly there's been a lot of suspicion on the American side,
Speaker 2: on the Israelis side, particularly you know from hostage families
Speaker 2: is really hostages, twenty of them still alive, are still
Speaker 2: in Gaza, and a lot of them are saying why
Speaker 2: have we not ended this war and cut a deal
Speaker 2: to bring out people home.
Speaker 10: You must to understand every second in captivity is dangerous.
Speaker 10: I didn't think that I could make able alive.
Speaker 2: One of the most kind of chilling messages about the
Speaker 2: Gaza City offensive came from Noah ar the Money, one
Speaker 2: of the Freedom's really hostages, where she said I knew
Speaker 2: what it felt like to be in this really hostage
Speaker 2: in Gaza as we were ramping up fighting.
Speaker 3: Why are I be cutting a deal instead?
Speaker 10: Today I come before you to say, do not let
Speaker 10: the darkness take over work for to get everyone home now.
Speaker 2: Prime Minister at Niaghu has said two things at once.
Speaker 2: He said, I will only accept the deal that is
Speaker 2: really really tilted towards Israel while it's so prioritize the hostages,
Speaker 2: but also his saying I'm going to target and eliminate
Speaker 2: her master's leadership everywhere. So even after this striking cucker,
Speaker 2: they didn't say from the Israeli side that that was it.
Speaker 2: They said, where going to keep going off for hermass leaders?
Speaker 2: Was it intentional to disrupt the talks? I think you'd
Speaker 2: be hard pressed to find this really official who would
Speaker 2: concede that on the record, given that they are a
Speaker 2: US partner. At President Trump has said he wants to deal.
Speaker 2: They're not going to say anything that will anger him.
Speaker 2: But certainly there's cluster marks about why this was coming.
Speaker 2: I'd also note again this is coming amid the Gaza
Speaker 2: City offensive, amid the UN session, where there's going to
Speaker 2: be a lot of talk of Balastinian stated it's also
Speaker 2: way for Israel to flex its muscles at a really
Speaker 2: strategic point and distract from some other matters.
Speaker 3: That that happening.
Speaker 1: And in response to that attack in Doha, dozens of
Speaker 1: Arab and Islamic leaders they met in Qatar on Monday,
Speaker 1: So tell me a bit about who was there and
Speaker 1: what was discussed.
Speaker 2: So this was a meeting that brought together kind of
Speaker 2: the shocked countries across the region, many of the US
Speaker 2: partners that did not think the US would commit Israel
Speaker 2: to go ahead with an attack like this.
Speaker 11: We gathered today on a very somber and sorrowful occasion
Speaker 11: when the brotherly Islamic state of Cuta was treacherously targeted
Speaker 11: by an aggressor who why did international law without fear
Speaker 11: of any consequence.
Speaker 2: So you had countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt,
Speaker 2: your countries are close to the US.
Speaker 3: You also had Iran.
Speaker 2: The idea was Cutter really felt its sovereignty, its role
Speaker 2: in the region was questioning nob It never has been before.
Speaker 2: Cutter has been climbing this neutral ground. I mean it's
Speaker 2: hosted from US because the US asked it to. So
Speaker 2: they're really wondering. We thought that role would shield us.
Speaker 12: Now they're sending a negotiating team on one head, and
Speaker 12: they're trying to eviscerate the negotiation on the other. This
Speaker 12: has been the practice of the Israelis to this day.
Speaker 12: If bringing the war to a halt will be met
Speaker 12: with the release of their captives, it is not what
Speaker 12: they want. They aim to turn Gaza into a wasteland
Speaker 12: uninhabitable by the Palestinians.
Speaker 2: The summit did bring kind of fiery speeches from a
Speaker 2: lot of these leaders, it didn't bring significant action, and
Speaker 2: it seems that for now some of these leaders in
Speaker 2: the Ireland majority world are still hoping that full size
Speaker 2: to President Trump can overwhelm his preference and his support
Speaker 2: for Israel, so kind of inspire him to rein in
Speaker 2: Prime Ministern and Yahoo. And we have some grounds to
Speaker 2: believe that, right compared to say President Biden a year ago.
Speaker 2: President Trump has a very deep financial interests in a
Speaker 2: lot of these countries and does not want to see
Speaker 2: risks of their economies full of business and be He
Speaker 2: has actually a willingness to push that Yahoo in the
Speaker 2: way that Bid the administration did not. He pushed him
Speaker 2: into cease fire at the beginning of this year. He's
Speaker 2: pushed him to kind of respect syria sovereignty a little more.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of the hope. So they're holding a fire,
Speaker 2: but I wouldn't be surprised to see them become more
Speaker 2: certain in the future.
Speaker 1: And Katar is obviously a key US ally in the region.
Speaker 1: There's the largest US military facility in the Middle East,
Speaker 1: and it's long played this role in trying to mediate
Speaker 1: diplomacy in the area. So to what extent is all
Speaker 1: of that at risk now?
Speaker 2: So I even few fund the Hamas leadership and fatter Right,
Speaker 2: the Fatteries manage their presence, their safety, their security, They
Speaker 2: ticket extremely seriously. It's not that these Hamas leaders are
Speaker 2: kind of running around the Pefrey capital it scot Free.
Speaker 2: It's very much seen as this is a process, this
Speaker 2: is a special role that we will play, and of
Speaker 2: course in that capacity, they've also had really close links
Speaker 2: and discussions with Israel over many years. I mean Israel
Speaker 2: prior to October seventh work very closely with the Gutterries
Speaker 2: to kind of shore up the hamas.
Speaker 3: Ruan government in Gaza.
Speaker 2: I think Cutter is facing a bit of a bit
Speaker 2: of an identity crisis. It's certainly looking to see if
Speaker 2: there are others in its neighborhood who could shore that more,
Speaker 2: and that could mean Iran, with which it's always kind
Speaker 2: of had an open dialogue. I don't think it's likely
Speaker 2: to move out of the US military umbrella. But you know,
Speaker 2: moments like this really make these countries that are wealthy
Speaker 2: nations that spend billions part billions in the US from
Speaker 2: private investments, that link their entire military system to the US.
Speaker 2: It makes some questions should we keep doing that is
Speaker 2: not actually a security guarantee. So you could see a
Speaker 2: little more of kind of the potential flirting with US competitors,
Speaker 2: you know, Russia, China, which we've seen other countries in
Speaker 2: the DALs Do, notably the United our Emirates.
Speaker 1: Well Appa, thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Also in the news today, US President Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: confirmed he plans to meet Prime Minister Anthony Alberzi for
Speaker 1: the first time soon. Albenzi is due to visit the
Speaker 1: United States next week for the Meeting of View and
Speaker 1: General Assembly in New York. President Trump has not given
Speaker 1: an exact date for a meeting, but mentioned that the
Speaker 1: two leaders would be meeting soon as he criticized ABC
Speaker 1: journalist John Lyons for asking a question about his business
Speaker 1: dealings and Tyler James Robinson, the suspect in right wing
Speaker 1: activist Charlie Kirk's assassination, has made a court appearance via
Speaker 1: video feed from jail. The twenty two year old is
Speaker 1: being held without bail as he faces seven charges, including
Speaker 1: aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. I'm Ruby Jones.
Speaker 1: This is seven am. See tomorrow you
Speaker 3: And