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Speaker 1: Now Israel has sent troops into Al Shifa Hospital, the

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Speaker 1: complex in Gaza that it accuses her massive using as

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Speaker 1: a command center. Joining us now for more is Alon Levy,

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Speaker 1: who is Israeli government spokesman. Alon, good morning, Thank you

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Speaker 1: for being with us. Good morning, good morning. Can you

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Speaker 1: please updatus on the military situation inside the medical complex

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Speaker 1: at Schiffer. How long will that operation go on for?

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Speaker 2: Well? As Roelli forces have gone into that hospital above

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Speaker 2: the Schiffer terror compound. This is, of course, the hospital

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Speaker 2: in whose basement Hamas has built its main headquarters. By

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Speaker 2: the way, this isn't something we're claiming. The European Union

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Speaker 2: put out a very firm condemnation two days ago of

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Speaker 2: Hamas's use of hospitals as human shields, and the United

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Speaker 2: States has also said it has seen evidence that Hamas

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Speaker 2: operates from the basement of that hospital. So we've gone

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Speaker 2: in this morning. We delivered baby food, incubators and other

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Speaker 2: humanitarian aid to the patients. You'll remember a few days

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Speaker 2: to go, Israel delivered three hundred liters of fuel to

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Speaker 2: the hospital for use in its generators, and Hamas stopped

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Speaker 2: the doctors from accessing it. So now we've actually since

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Speaker 2: specially trained Israeli medical teams and Arabic speaking soldiers inside

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Speaker 2: the hospital with that aid to make sure that the

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Speaker 2: civilians receive it. And of course we continue to reaffirm

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Speaker 2: our call for people to evacuate the hospital and move south.

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Speaker 2: We know that it's dangerous, we know that it's difficult,

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Speaker 2: but we want to get civilians out of harms way.

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Speaker 2: We don't want them to be caught in a war

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Speaker 2: zone and we don't want Hamas to try to use

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Speaker 2: them as human shields to shield its terror targets in

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Speaker 2: the basement.

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Speaker 3: What are the patients in that hospital accepting that treatment

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Speaker 3: that's being offered by your soldiers as you described.

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Speaker 2: This is an update from just the last few minutes

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Speaker 2: that we're going into the hospital and we're delivering that aid.

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Speaker 1: In terms of the idea that it is being that

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Speaker 1: this particular hospital complex is currently being used as a base,

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Speaker 1: what have you found. Have you found any weapons to

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Speaker 1: support the claim that Hamas is operating there?

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Speaker 2: Well, First of all, as soon as the soldiers arrived,

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Speaker 2: they came under attack and ambushed by Hamas forces. We

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Speaker 2: know that they're located inside the hospital, just as they're

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Speaker 2: located in other hospitals. We entered the basement of the

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Speaker 2: Rantisi Hospital Children's hospital and found one of the motorbikes

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Speaker 2: that appears to have been used in the October seventh massacre,

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Speaker 2: as well as other weapons. Just yesterday, Israeli forces were

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Speaker 2: fired at by terrorists at the Alkodz hospital. They were

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Speaker 2: embedded amongst civilians at the entrance to the hospital. They

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Speaker 2: shot at our soldiers and then they retreated back inside

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Speaker 2: the hospital. This isn't something new that Hamas has a

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Speaker 2: long and documented history of using hospitals as human shields.

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Speaker 2: As I said, the European Union has condemned that very firmly,

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Speaker 2: and we have been calling on Hamas to surrender and

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Speaker 2: come out with a white flag. We don't want anyone

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Speaker 2: to be heard. Hospitals must be protected. They must never

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Speaker 2: be used by terrorist organizations or any armed forces as basically.

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Speaker 3: Realistic for the people who are in that complex now,

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Speaker 3: can they safely actually exit that complex given the fighting

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Speaker 3: and the troops that are in that area at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Israel has been supporting evacuation efforts and we will continue

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Speaker 2: to do that.

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Speaker 3: We want to see how many people have been evacuated

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Speaker 3: from that hospital complex, as you've been supporting those efforts.

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Speaker 2: The hospital specifically, I can't say. What I can tell

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Speaker 2: you is that since Israel completed the encirclement of Gaza City,

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Speaker 2: we've been operating a daily humanitarian corridor for people to

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Speaker 2: move south. Over a quarter of a million people have

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Speaker 2: taken advantage of that humanitarian corridor, and Israeli soldiers have

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Speaker 2: actually been attacked by Hamas's forces with RPGs as they

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Speaker 2: stand there securing the safe passage for people to get

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Speaker 2: out of the areas where Hamas has embedded itself under

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Speaker 2: those schools, under those homes, under those hospitals, and under

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Speaker 2: those mosques.

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Speaker 1: Can you update us then, aside from what's happening in

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Speaker 1: the hospital, with the situation on hostage negotiations currently this

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Speaker 1: it is a moving situation that changes daily. What is

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Speaker 1: the latest on negotiations over Hamas held hostages.

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Speaker 2: Israeli societies, of course, worried sick for the fate of

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Speaker 2: the two hundred and forty hostages, have been in Gaza

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Speaker 2: for forty days now since the October seventh massacre. There

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Speaker 2: are children in there, there are babies, babies. They haven't

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Speaker 2: been given access to the Red Cross. I'm afraid I

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Speaker 2: can't comment on negotiations for their release. You'll understand these

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Speaker 2: are sensitive issues. Human lives are at stake, and when

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Speaker 2: we have information we will of course update.

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Speaker 1: If the l shift for hospital complex is a main

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Speaker 1: one of the main Hamas bases in northern Gaza, once

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Speaker 1: that operation is over, does that mean that the military,

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Speaker 1: the Israeli military has accomplished its main aim in Gaza

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Speaker 1: on in your view.

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Speaker 2: Our main aim in Gaza is to destroy the totality

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Speaker 2: of Hamas's terrorists and governing infrastructure.

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Speaker 1: How significant would it be, though, if the base that

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Speaker 1: you claim is under the hospital at the hospital in

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Speaker 1: the hospital, how significant would it be if that were

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Speaker 1: something that was dealt with, How how significant would it

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Speaker 1: be in terms of the operation.

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Speaker 2: The Chifa terror compound is of course a very important target.

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Speaker 2: It would be a very serious blow to Hamas. But

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Speaker 2: we should be under no illusions that if that is overrun,

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Speaker 2: and of course we show all that evidence to the

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Speaker 2: international media that the operation will be over because we

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Speaker 2: cannot allow Hamas to regroup, rebuild and remetastasize across the

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Speaker 2: Gaza strip in order to pose a threat to our people.

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Speaker 2: The objective of this war in response to the October

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Speaker 2: seventh massacre when Hamas declared war on us, is to

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Speaker 2: destroy Hamas completely so that it can never again pose

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Speaker 2: a threat to our people. Chifa terror compound is, of

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Speaker 2: course very important, but it's not the end, and we

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Speaker 2: know that the days ahead are going to be long

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Speaker 2: and they're going to be difficult.

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Speaker 3: Are you concerned about support from the United States for

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Speaker 3: the military operation fading. We've been reporting about disquiet within

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Speaker 3: the Biden administration with how Israel is conducting this military operation.

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Speaker 2: Not in the least. Israel and the United States are

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Speaker 2: completely in lockstep on the goals of this operation, which

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Speaker 2: is that Hamas must be defeated. President Biden has been

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Speaker 2: very clear from day one. We have been very grateful

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Speaker 2: to him for his moral, material and diplomatic leadership in

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Speaker 2: saying that Israel has every right and every duty to

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Speaker 2: go after Hamas and destroy that terror group and eliminate

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Speaker 2: that threat. That is the only way we can make

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Speaker 2: sure another October seventh massacre doesn't happen by eliminating the

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Speaker 2: terror group that is threatening to do it again. The

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Speaker 2: United States knows that not only the United States, so

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Speaker 2: do other Arab governments that the United States has been

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Speaker 2: speaking with. We understand they have their own domestic pressures

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Speaker 2: that mean they can't speak openly on the issue, but

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Speaker 2: they understand that the Iranian proxy terrorist group in the

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Speaker 2: Gaza Strip must not be allowed to maintain its territorial control.

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Speaker 2: Just as the world banded together nearly a decade ago

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Speaker 2: and defeated and destroyed ISIS so it could no longer

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Speaker 2: control territory from which to launch a tax on the West.

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Speaker 1: Aylon Levy, thank you for your time this morning. Israeli

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Speaker 1: government spokesman Alon Levy