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00:00 For more, I'm joined on set by our international affairs editor, Ketavan Gordostani.
00:04 Ketavan, is it fair to say that Israel is stepping up its attacks on Iranian proxies?
00:09 Absolutely. And yes, they have been doing that for a while. But these latest strikes are really
00:14 the most intense that we've seen since October 7th. And you mentioned it, there were two
00:20 different aspects to these strikes. There were the strikes in northern Syria against
00:25 members of Hezbollah as well as the Revolutionary Guards of Iran. There hasn't been a reaction
00:32 from Syria, only a reaction from the Iranians, from the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign
00:38 Ministry, who called it a blatant and desperate attempt to expand the war to Syria. And then there
00:45 were the strikes, as you said, in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army says that they have killed
00:52 a top commander for Hezbollah. Now, the reason that we're seeing this is that this has been an
00:59 ongoing plan for the Israelis. Yes, the focus right now is, of course, on Gaza, but there is
01:05 this talk of the other fronts. There's, of course, what is happening in the West Bank,
01:10 but also what is happening in Lebanon or at the border between Israel and Lebanon,
01:16 and increasingly what is happening in Syria. And the idea for the Israeli forces is that
01:22 Hamas cannot be separated from these other groups, meaning Hezbollah as well as Iran,
01:29 especially with the Revolutionary Guards, but also with all the other proxies that are involved in
01:35 the region. And what they're doing there is trying to contain the development and the spread of these
01:42 groups that are aligned with Iran to try to show that even though their focus is right now on Gaza,
01:49 they're not forgetting about what is happening at the border with Lebanon, and they're not forgetting
01:54 about Syria, where the Iranians have really deployed all of these paramilitary groups,
02:01 as well as the Revolutionary Guards. So there's an aspect of this that is trying to display force
02:08 from the Israeli army, saying just because we're focused somewhere else doesn't mean
02:13 that we're giving up on these other fronts, a sort of message to not try to develop these fronts
02:20 further more than they already are. But again, this has been a long-simmering problem, whether
02:27 it's Lebanon or Syria. This is just the latest example and the strongest example that we've seen
02:33 since the October 7th attacks. And meanwhile, in Gaza, after nearly six months of war, famine
02:38 is already setting in. The International Court of Justice issued that warning as they ordered
02:43 Israel to ensure the unhindered provision of basic services, including food, fuel, and medical
02:49 supplies. Now, those are the latest so-called provisional measures issued by the ICJ as part
02:54 of South Africa's ongoing case accusing Israel of genocide. Kitavan, you were talking about those
03:00 other fronts outside of Gaza, but let's zoom in on Gaza now. What is the latest we know about the
03:05 situation there and the potential for a ceasefire? Well, the situation is, of course, dire in Gaza,
03:11 especially for the civilians. And this ruling by the International Court of Justice, as you
03:17 mentioned, is binding, but there's little way of actually enforcing it. And really, the Israelis
03:23 are fighting back what the International Court has just said, saying that they're not the ones
03:29 hindering humanitarian aid. They're putting the blame on the Palestinian side, saying that
03:34 they're letting the aid through, and it's just that the Palestinians within Gaza are not able to
03:39 dispatch that aid. That's something that has been completely dismissed by organizations that are on
03:44 the ground, that are saying that the Israelis are making it extremely difficult for aid to actually
03:50 get into Gaza, that they're holding it up before it enters Gaza, and that they are the ones to
03:55 blame. But of course, when you're talking about delivering aid, as long as the fighting continues,
04:00 delivering aid is going to be complicated no matter what. And the situation on the ground
04:05 is that the bombings are continuing. There's the operation around a Shifa Hospital, which has been
04:10 going on for almost two weeks now. There's, of course, the question of Rafa. Will there be,
04:17 will there be that ground operation that Benjamin Netanyahu has been saying? He just said that the
04:23 Israelis are getting ready for that ground operation, despite all the warnings and concerns
04:28 from the international community, starting with the Americans, who, of course, have said that
04:33 this ground operation would be a big mistake. They're trying to get the Israelis to back off
04:38 from that idea. There was a supposed meeting between Israeli officials and American officials
04:44 in Washington that was set for this week that was cancelled after the United States abstained at the
04:52 UN Security Council on a resolution which angered the Israelis. So that was cancelled. But it seems
04:58 that it's back on track. They haven't really decided on the date yet, but it should be
05:02 happening probably in the first days of next week. So that seems to be going on. The question is,
05:09 how much leeway or how much advice will the Israelis heed from the Americans? The Americans
05:15 say they want to see what the Israelis have planned and they want to give them viable
05:20 alternatives to a major ground operation in Rafa. This is the situation as we stand,
05:27 whether the Israelis are going to take that advice, that's a whole other question. And
05:32 meanwhile, there's also the talks for the ceasefire. Benjamin Netanyahu giving the
05:38 green light for a new round of talks, but we've seen multiple of those and no result yet.
05:42 I'm sorry, we'll have to hope that it'll be different the next time around somehow. Ketavan,
05:46 thank you so much for that roundup of everything coming out of Gaza. That's our international
05:50 affairs editor there.