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Transcript/ScriptIsrael Gaza Humanitarian Aid
HEADLINE: Israel Expands Inspection of Humanitarian Aid Trucks to Gaza
TEASER:
PUBLISHED AT: 11/09/2023 at 5:59 pm
BYLINE: Natasha Mozgovaya
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Nitzana crossing
VIDEOGRAPHER: Mary Cieslak
VIDEO EDITOR: Mary Cieslak
ASSIGNING EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath, DJones, OK for bal
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Reuters, Israeli Ministry if Defense file (Erez crossing attack)
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV __x RADIO _x_
TRT:
VID APPROVED BY: mia
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES: ((Editors—))
((INTRO))
[[Aid convoys have been making their way into Gaza daily since October 21, when Israel began allowing relief to be delivered to Palestinians displaced by the Hamas-Israel war. The trucks must take a serious detour, however, because Israel insists on inspecting the loads before they reach the besieged enclave. VOA's Natasha Mozgovaya reports from the Nitzana border crossing between Israel and Egypt. ]]
((Reporter on camera or narration))
((Natasha Mozgovaya, VOA News))
700 trucks from Egypt loaded with water, food, medical supplies, humanitarian supplies for shelters have entered Gaza since the beginning of the hostilities between Hamas and Israel. About 100 of them are passing through this crossing point at Nitzana in Israel.
Here they are scanned for anything that could be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
((House version))
((NARRATOR))
700 trucks from Egypt loaded with water, food, medical supplies, humanitarian supplies for shelters have entered Gaza since the beginning of the hostilities between Hamas and Israel. About 100 of them are passing through this crossing point at Nitzana in Israel.
Here they are scanned for anything that could be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
((NARRATOR))
The trucks with Egyptian license plates start arriving at Nitzana at 8 a.m. Each truck with its loaded pallets [PAL-luts] is inspected separately, with dogs sniffing for explosives.
Two to three hours later, a convoy of 20 to 30 trucks makes its way along the Egyptian side of the border to the Rafah crossing into Gaza, monitored along the way by the Israel Defense Forces.
((NARRATOR))
The IDF's Colonel Moshe Tetro, head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza, calls the displaced Palestinians' condition in Gaza a "humanitarian challenge" rather than a "crisis."
((Col. Moshe Tetro, Israel Defense Forces (male, speaks English))) ))) ((Credit for broll of Gaza: Reuters))
[00:06:12] We know that the civilians' situation in the Gaza Strip is not an easy one. We know that there are a lot of challenges. We know that there are a lot of difficulties. What I can say that there is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. We are in war. We didn't pick up this war. Hamas chose to open this war. [00:06:34][22.5]
+[00:09:03]
((NARRATOR))
Tetro says to accommodate the number of trucks, Israel has had to “more than double the security inspection capabilities” at the Nitzana crossing.
((Col. Moshe Tetro, Israel Defense Forces (male, speaks English)))
[00:08:30] “We are coordinating medical supplies to hospitals together with the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and other international organizations. We are coordinating the evacuation of wounded to Egypt. Basically, every day. The only day that there is no such kind of coordination is when Hamas stops it, not because of the Israeli side.” [00:08:59][28.8]
((NARRATOR))
Tetro says the humanitarian aid will continue as long as it is not diverted for military purposes. He also rejected criticism of Israel’s refusal to allow any fuel into Gaza, saying there is plenty there if Hamas would let it be used to help the public instead of its fighters.
((Col. Moshe Tetro, IDF (male, speaks English)))
“We know how much fuel entered Gaza before before the war. And when someone says that there is not enough fuel, I think that the most important question that we should ask him: 'So why you are taking this fuel to the terror tunnels underneath the Gaza City, you know, so that terrorists will have light’”' [00:09:47][44.0]
((NARRATOR))
In Rafah, the U.N. refugee agency serving Palestinians, known as UNWRA, has taken over humanitarian aid distribution, moving the loads to different vehicles. Before the war, many trucks went directly from Israel to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
These days, both Kerem Shalom and the pedestrian Erez crossing are closed.
((Credit video of inside the Erez crossing destruction: Israeli Ministry of Defense))
Tetro says that he lost three of his soldiers in a Hamas attack against Erez, and that he does not know of many countries that would do what Israel is doing ((end credit)) — providing safe passage for humanitarian aid to the adversary’s civilian population during wartime.
((Natasha Mozgovaya, VOA News, Nitzana Crossing, Israel))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Nitzana Crossing, Israel
Embargo DateNovember 9, 2023 18:21 EST
Byline
Natasha Mozgovaya, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
