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00:00What is the Israeli perspective on aid getting in?
00:03Well, the Israeli perspective is a little different, although I have to say that the
00:07latest statements are not really denying the suffering of Gazans, but they do dispute the
00:14claim of starvation.
00:17So the Israeli army said in the last hour in a statement that 125 humanitarian trucks
00:24entered Gaza today from two previously opened border crossings.
00:29So that's not counting the new border crossing that was opened today, where I think they
00:35said another 39 trucks came in.
00:38And the Israeli army also says that of all of those trucks, only the UN and other agencies
00:43only came to pick up 26 of them.
00:47They say that 900, the contents of 900 trucks are stockpiled on the Gazan side of the border.
00:56There's no explanation as to why this might be, but the army does seem to be blaming the
01:01international agencies for not properly distributing all of this aid.
01:06Well, Noga, that's the situation then in Gaza or our best understanding of what's happening
01:12in Gaza.
01:13Let's talk then about what's happening in the West Bank, where the Israeli minister
01:18of finance has spoken about annexing Israeli settlements in what is the occupied territory
01:25there.
01:26Let's just take a listen to what it is that he had to say yesterday.
01:30The only way to remove the threat of a terrorist Palestinian state from the agenda is to implement
01:35Israeli sovereignty over all of the Judea and Samaria settlements.
01:40Well, those are the words of Bezalel Smotrich, hardline right wing cabinet minister, as I
01:46say, he's the finance minister, Noga.
01:49Has Netanyahu's office confirmed or indeed denied what he just said there, that annexation
01:57is indeed their plan?
01:59Netanyahu's office remarkably has simply not reacted at all.
02:05Bezalel Smotrich is an important minister.
02:08Not just finance minister, but he's a key to keeping Netanyahu's coalition together.
02:14And so what we're seeing is Netanyahu trying somehow to have it internationally both ways.
02:20Not saying anything in Israel so as to keep his political allies on side, and yet telling
02:26the Americans openly that Israel has no plans to annex either Gaza, as Mr. Smotrich also
02:34wishes, or the West Bank.
02:37Inside Israel, Smotrich has been the subject of quite a bit of mockery today, because the
02:43government he represents has failed to implement Israeli sovereignty on the south, which was
02:49attacked last year by Hamas and remains largely a wasteland, and on the north, which is facing
02:56daily attacks, constant attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
02:59And so, you know, the response among regular Israelis has been, look at him talking about
03:05annexing new lands when they cannot even exert Israeli sovereignty over the state itself.
03:11And Noga, at the same time, let's talk about what's happening in Lebanon, or at least an
03:15Israeli report which has just come out, which is suggesting that Israel isn't interested
03:22in a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon until at least when Donald Trump takes office next
03:29year.
03:30Right.
03:32I would say that Prime Minister Netanyahu isn't interested.
03:36That's what we're beginning to hear.
03:38So just as the minister of finance's comments related explicitly, he explicitly said that
03:44President Trump's reelection offers an opportunity for annexation of the West Bank to Israel,
03:50what we're beginning to hear is that Netanyahu himself is going to try to put off signing
03:56on any ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon until Trump takes over.
04:03And the implication of that is pretty harsh, because that would mean that we're looking
04:08at a certain two and a half months of war ahead.
04:12Now, of course, this is just a report, and this seems to reflect these kind of statements
04:19that are being made by many of Netanyahu's ministers.
04:22But it does give us a sense of at least trial balloons that the Israeli government is putting
04:27out there in public.
04:28Noga Tanepolsky talking to us there live from Jerusalem.
04:31Thanks very much indeed.