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00:00 To discuss this further our guest on this story is Christopher Morris, teaching fellow at the University of Portsmouth.
00:07 Thank you so much for agreeing to speak with us on France 24 today.
00:12 Thank you for having me.
00:14 Loud and clear, thank you.
00:16 All right, excellent.
00:17 So tell us, you know, we're talking about these possible humanitarian pauses, even though we haven't really heard about
00:24 when it's going to take place, this first one, this Friday, and we're well past noon in Israel.
00:31 So this and the language behind the calling for these pauses,
00:37 I mean, who is calling the shots in this war? Who is the one
00:42 deciding what's happening, why it's happening, what the end goal is?
00:48 A big question, I know, but specifically let's start with these humanitarian pauses. What is the role, for example,
00:54 of Washington?
00:56 Washington is certainly playing a significant role behind these humanitarian pauses.
01:02 Now, Israel remains resolute in its core mission of destroying Hamas, and it's understandably reluctant to
01:09 effectively make any concessions on the basis of humanitarian need or
01:14 anything that I suppose could be leveraged by Hamas in terms of a ceasefire.
01:19 Now, it's undoubtedly the case that Washington is bringing some moderate pressure to bear on Israel, and this is hugely significant.
01:27 Not only is it going to help salvage both the U.S.'s and Israel's reputation in the long term,
01:32 but also it's going to have a humanitarian effect on hopefully allowing some civilians to
01:36 evacuate the areas.
01:39 I mean, you're talking about the immediate term, right, when you're talking about the civilians, you're talking about the humanitarian.
01:47 I guess I'm also asking about the bigger picture, the longer term.
01:52 You know, the United States has been a very big partner of the region, especially I'm talking about Israel-Palestine
02:01 hosting summits, you know, the Oslo Accords, Camp David.
02:04 I mean, these are all kind of initiatives of the United States over the decades, really.
02:10 Does the United States still have that clout in this conflict?
02:16 Hmm. Yeah. Well, it's difficult to say at this current juncture.
02:19 Of course, the U.S.'s major interest in the region is going to be regional stability.
02:23 It does, however, have this, I suppose, longstanding and deep relationship with the Israeli state.
02:29 Now, in the minds of many, particularly across the region, that somewhat compromises their role as a regional power and a regional peacemaker.
02:37 Now, as to whether or not the U.S. still has the clout it needs in the region, of course, that is increasingly doubtful.
02:44 It is facing increasing competition from the likes of Russia and China within the region.
02:49 And this idea, this era of U.S. stability, again, it's being increasingly called into question.
02:55 I mean, very recently we've seen in the wake of the Hamas-Israel conflict, we've seen strikes against U.S. forces in the region.
03:03 Now, of course, one of their major interests is going to be securing their own force protection and maintaining the persistence,
03:10 maintaining the viability of their long-term presence in the region.
03:14 But does the U.S., do the U.S. on Israel, do they have the same objectives when it comes to the Near East?
03:22 Doubtful at this juncture.
03:25 Now, whilst, again, both of them have been persistent in terms of, you know, we want a stable region within this area of the world,
03:33 I would say that the Hamas-Israel war at the moment, we are seeing a divergence somewhat emerge.
03:41 Now, many people are framing Israel's efforts as kind of a retribution at the moment.
03:46 And it's going to be very interesting to see how that plays out when we juxtapose it with the wider U.S. goal of stability.
03:52 Now, we could see some divergence there.
03:55 Now, in the short to medium term, we're definitely going to see the tacit support of the U.S. for Israel play out in this conflict.
04:02 We're talking about the continued provision of arms, continued support of the U.N.
04:07 These are certainly going to be important factors.
04:09 Now, it remains undoubtable that the U.S. and Israel are going to remain staunch allies.
04:14 I will, however, stress that increasingly what we're probably going to see is the U.S. trying to exert its incredible influence over Israel in the interest of wider stability.
04:25 And we're seeing that kind of bear fruit in these latest humanitarian pauses.
04:29 What that looks like into the long term, I'm at this juncture unsure, but hopefully someone is going to be holding the leash.
04:37 Humanitarian pauses that have been announced, but that we still haven't seen this Friday, at least not so far.
04:46 Thank you so much for joining us on France 24 and answering our questions.
04:50 Christopher Morris, teaching fellow at the University of Portsmouth.
04:53 Thank you so much for joining us.
04:55 Now, ballistic missiles that were fired at Eliat on the Red Sea on Thursday were claimed by Yemen's Houthi forces.
05:07 Houthi rebels. It was one of the at least five aerial attacks the group has launched against southern Israel since October 7th.
05:15 Jean-Emile Jamin reports.
05:17 As the war in Gaza nears a sixth week, Israel is facing attacks across several fronts.
05:24 Militants battling from the enclave and to the north, Hezbollah.
05:29 From the south, Houthi rebels have persistently launched missile and drone attacks since October 7th.
05:36 But they've all either fallen short or been shot down by Israeli forces.
05:40 The Yemeni-based group declared another assault on Thursday, aimed at a resort town on Israel's southern border.
05:46 Our military forces have fired a batch of ballistic missiles at different sensitive Israeli targets
05:54 south of the occupied lands, including military targets in Umm al-Arashrash, Eilat.
06:00 And with God's help, the operation achieved its objective successfully
06:04 and led to direct casualties despite the enemy's discretion about it.
06:08 Earlier in the day, people were seen scrambling across Eilat as air sirens blared throughout the Red Sea port city.
06:17 Today, an unmanned aerial vehicle hit a residential building in the city of Eilat.
06:24 There are no casualties. We are investigating that incident.
06:28 Another air alert was activated as one of our aero-missiles intercepted a threat outside our airspace,
06:33 far from Eilat, coming towards Israel.
06:35 We intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched in our direction.
06:40 Despite the opaque information, the Houthis have recently taken on a more active role
06:48 in the broader regional conflict.
06:49 On Wednesday, the United States confirmed one of its drones was shot down off the coast of Yemen.
06:55 An act the Houthi rebels claimed as their own in a video release.
06:59 The Iran-backed group, which control Yemen's capital Sana'a,
07:03 have vowed to continue their military operations in support of Palestinians,
07:07 doing so until Israel's bombardment stops against Hamas.