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Speaker 1: Jonathan Curzley, Channel nine US correspondent in la is joining

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Speaker 1: US now for an update on the situation in Garza.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Jonathan, Good morning, and good morning to you

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Speaker 1: and your listeners. So, Jonathan, there had been some talk

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Speaker 1: of a cease fire of sorts, but that seems to

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Speaker 1: be off the table.

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Speaker 2: Israel's promise to Benjaminettino, who says that that simply is

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Speaker 2: not going to happen. He says that that would be

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Speaker 2: caving two Hamas, and right now, he says, he is

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Speaker 2: in a country that he's at war. And so what

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Speaker 2: we have right now is a situation where the Israeli

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Speaker 2: tanks are inside Gaza and you have that persistent rocket

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Speaker 2: fire collington both sides, and there are lives being lost.

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Speaker 2: Israel's Prime Minister was actually pressed on this issue today

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Speaker 2: about how far he is willing to go and is

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Speaker 2: he sticking to the rules of international law when it

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Speaker 2: comes to wars, about the need to predicta innocent civilians.

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Speaker 2: But this was certainly a very defiant Benjamin Etna, who

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Speaker 2: he was happy on one hand because they Israel did

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Speaker 2: manage to get one of the hostages out, an Israeli

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Speaker 2: female soldier. She was released, so a little bit of

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Speaker 2: positive news there. But both Benjamin and Yo and his

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Speaker 2: Defense minister have said this is a war that's going

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Speaker 2: to drag it for a very long period of time.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be done from the Israelis other things.

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Speaker 2: They're going to do it in phases. But as I said,

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Speaker 2: this is a very defiant Israeli prime minister who knows

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Speaker 2: a little bit that his back is against the wall

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Speaker 2: at home politically. He is under a lot of pressure

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Speaker 2: domestically inside his own country over changes he's trying to

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Speaker 2: make to the judicial system, over the security handling of

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Speaker 2: issues leading up to the October seven attack by Hamma.

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Speaker 2: So he has a lot riding on this and he

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Speaker 2: needs to get this right. So he's obviously been trying

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Speaker 2: to get the planning process into this war effort right,

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Speaker 2: despite Erica trying to perhaps say to Israel, don't go

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Speaker 2: full steam ahead, let's look at this slowly, carefully, make

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Speaker 2: sure that he protect Thevilian lives. But this is award

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Speaker 2: is an awful, tragic and messy situation on the ground war.

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Speaker 1: On that note that Amnesty International is saying that next

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Speaker 1: level war crimes are being committed and Palestinian rights groups

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Speaker 1: want the ICC, the International Criminal Court, to start issuing

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Speaker 1: arrest warrants for Israeli authorities. Do you feel that it

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Speaker 1: is a kind of next level situation. I might I

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Speaker 1: tend to think of war crimes as war crimes, but

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Speaker 1: are we dealing with something unprecedented?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think you're dealing with this situation that right

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Speaker 2: now is war. There are questions already being asked, and

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Speaker 2: there are questions that are going to need to be

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Speaker 2: answered when at some point this is concluded. Now, this

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Speaker 2: is not perhaps as clear cut as Russia and Ukraine,

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Speaker 2: where there was obvious allegations and obvious evidence of war

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Speaker 2: crimes that would be committed by Russians inside Ukraine. But

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Speaker 2: there is certainly a growing level of concern about the

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Speaker 2: actions that both Hama took initially rearly that is a

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Speaker 2: crime in itself. The October seven attack was terrible and

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Speaker 2: disgusting and awful, But there is a lot of questions

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Speaker 2: being asked now about what is Israel doing inside Gazara.

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Speaker 2: This is a very delicate situation that the international community

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Speaker 2: is going to have to try and tread through and

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Speaker 2: tread passed because our reblations clearly are going to be

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Speaker 2: anti Israel, They're going to be aligned with the Palestinian people,

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Speaker 2: and there are huge amounts of Palestinian members for citizens

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Speaker 2: right around the world, including an Australia we'll send the

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Speaker 2: march in large numbers, which sent pro Palestinian supporters out

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Speaker 2: on the streets. There are very clear questions that Israel

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Speaker 2: has to answer now, whether there's evidence of war crimes

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Speaker 2: or that's something that's going to need to be looked

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Speaker 2: at over the course of time, but it is going

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Speaker 2: to be concerning, and it is concerning right now for

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Speaker 2: governments around the world about the innocent lives that could

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Speaker 2: be lost inside Gaza, that are being lost inside Gaza.

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Speaker 2: And the question clearly has been put to Benjamin Metnya

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Speaker 2: who by Joe Biden, to say, are you sticking to

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Speaker 2: the rules? Are you putting civilians at risk? If you are,

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Speaker 2: then essentially this is going to become an even more

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Speaker 2: dangerous and delicate situation for the US to stand by.

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Speaker 2: If there's evidence of war crimes. Joe Biden is going

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Speaker 2: to have to look at this situation very free directly.

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Speaker 3: Jonathan, what's your take in the release of hostages? Of course,

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Speaker 3: we'd love there have to be more that it's been

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Speaker 3: dribs and drabs. Are you seeing it as a lot

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Speaker 3: of work, the result of a lot of work behind

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Speaker 3: the scenes, or at times there hasn't been as much

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Speaker 3: of that and it's been more like a statement by

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Speaker 3: those who are holding them captive.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think the release of the hostages initially is

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Speaker 2: obviously a very good sign because it means that it

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Speaker 2: can be done. So the work then has to go

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Speaker 2: into Okay, well, now, how then do you go about

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Speaker 2: getting more? Now, clearly Harmas's geographical base for its leaders

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Speaker 2: has been cut up, which is why Cutter has been

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Speaker 2: heavily involved in the negotiations. They have been used by

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Speaker 2: the United States to try and get some of their

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Speaker 2: citizens free. What we saw overnight Australian time, at Perth

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Speaker 2: time was actually a move by Israeli special forces to

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Speaker 2: go into a location to extract a soldier. Now that

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Speaker 2: is a much more high risk maneuver that they were

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Speaker 2: prepared to take to get one of their own back.

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Speaker 2: But now there is clearly another two hundred and twenty

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Speaker 2: six or so people who are being held hostage by

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Speaker 2: Hamas and they have to go through this process of

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Speaker 2: trying to work out a where they are. That's the

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Speaker 2: hardest part because Hamas has had a strategy in the

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Speaker 2: past of moving people around from tunnels that in various

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Speaker 2: parts of Gaza and using that network to the best

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Speaker 2: of their abilities. So the governments have to try and

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Speaker 2: work out first of all, where are these hostages and

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Speaker 2: then secondly, how do we get them out? What are

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Speaker 2: they going to want in exchange, because most of this time,

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Speaker 2: the hostage program, the hostage release is some sort of exchange.

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Speaker 2: You are giving something to get something back. So har

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Speaker 2: Master has made it pretty clear that it wants release

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Speaker 2: of civilians from inside Israeli prisons. Now that is something

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Speaker 2: that Israel is going to have to consider, and they

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Speaker 2: have been very reluctant to even go down that path yet.

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Speaker 2: So as this situation drags on, though, given the fighting

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Speaker 2: is now moved inside Gaza, there's a lot of concern

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Speaker 2: about the risk to the hostages that could be inside there.

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Speaker 2: Where are they if this war as it steps up,

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Speaker 2: could all of those lives be taken? These are calculations

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Speaker 2: that have to be made by negotiators and by governments

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Speaker 2: around the world in order to try and get their people.

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Speaker 1: Back, Jonathan. For a lot of years, Israel has adopted

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Speaker 1: a military strategy and Gaza are often referred to as

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Speaker 1: mowing the grass, which is treating her mass and its

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Speaker 1: weapons as a weed that occasionally needs to be hacked back.

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Speaker 1: But this latest development has really changed things up to

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Speaker 1: another level, and they're now saying the aim of this

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Speaker 1: war is to eliminate her mass once and for all

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Speaker 1: before cutting ties with the enclave forever. Do you see

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Speaker 1: that this as being the most pivotal moment in what

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Speaker 1: has always been a real troubled spot.

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Speaker 2: This has been a troubled spot in the Middle East,

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Speaker 2: has been a trouble spot for century, never mind just decades.

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Speaker 2: Has been a troubles put into the violence for a

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Speaker 2: very long period of time. But Israel in Gaza has

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Speaker 2: been a very very fault political and warfestile situation because

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Speaker 2: as you say, there have been most accusations of Israel

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Speaker 2: and mowing the grass so to speak, every time it

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Speaker 2: went into Gards and now it did take itself out.

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Speaker 2: And now the questions that lie ahead though, is if

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Speaker 2: this incursion goes ahead into its full scale, what is

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Speaker 2: its endgame other than trying to eliminate a mass. What

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Speaker 2: you have done is move people from the north into

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Speaker 2: the south of Gas. So they are sitting there right now.

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Speaker 2: There are warnings from the United Nations and various other organizations,

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Speaker 2: but that right now is a bubbling pit of concern

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Speaker 2: that essentially there could be civil anarchy going on in

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Speaker 2: the south of Gaza because there's no way for those

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Speaker 2: people to get out. So what you've done is you've

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Speaker 2: crammed half of the Gaza Strip into the other half.

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Speaker 2: This is on Olave that it's only forty kilometers long

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Speaker 2: by ten on twelve killometers wide. It's not very big

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Speaker 2: at all. And you've got this situation where Israel is

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Speaker 2: going to go in they going to do after that,

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Speaker 2: They're just going to leave it Vacan. If they leave it,

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Speaker 2: bake it again. Well, then those that are still in Hamas,

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Speaker 2: if they are in Capa or are there another Middle

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Speaker 2: Eastern countries and make their way in. They could do

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Speaker 2: that quite easily. So what it Israel do then reoccupy

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Speaker 2: the Gaza Strip. This is a very delicate and dangerous situation.

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Speaker 2: And right now, if your Israel, you have to be

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Speaker 2: thinking about what is the end game? And if you

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Speaker 2: are the Palestinian authority or the Palestinian civilians. You have

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Speaker 2: to be thinking what on earth is going to come next.

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Speaker 3: And there are the issues that come up, you know,

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Speaker 3: the supply, much needed supplies which is slow to start,

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Speaker 3: and the people. There's a lot of people there that

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Speaker 3: could be cut off too.

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Speaker 2: I mean Benjamin and yos in the last half an

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Speaker 2: hour or so that they will cut off those supplies

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Speaker 2: if there's if there's sign that that aid is going

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Speaker 2: to the Hamas or Harmas is feeding it. So again

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Speaker 2: there is this control situation that is going on even

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Speaker 2: in the most basic situations of humanitarian assistance.

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Speaker 1: Jonathan, thank you again. We're going to be talking about

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Speaker 1: this for a while, I think Channel nine US correspondent,

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Curzly, thank you. Jonathan.

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Speaker 3: Thanks made all the best