MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Israeli Cabinet approved a plan this week that would confine Gaza's population - about 2.3 million people - to a narrow strip of land near the Egyptian border. Food and supplies would be provided by U.S. security contractors and distributed by as-yet-undetermined humanitarian aid organizations. The Israeli government says this is the only way it will allow aid back into Gaza, where most supplies have been blocked for the last two months. Meanwhile, a far-right member of the government - the finance minister - said the Gaza Strip will be totally destroyed under the plan. Joining us now for more on this is Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon. Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us once again.
DANNY DANON: Good morning. Thank you for having me, Michel.
MARTIN: So the government has said that U.S. contractors will directly oversee distribution of aid in what it calls sterile zones under Israeli military control. Have any contractors agreed to this? If so, who are they?
DANON: Well, we're still developing this program. And I was shocked to see the response coming from the United Nations. Even before we presented the plan, we heard the secretary general and his team saying that they will not cooperate with any initiative coming from Israel. That's weird. For a humanitarian organization that's supposed to think about solutions, they decide to become political. But we are determined. We are determined to bring back the hostages. Unfortunately, we don't see the negotiations moving forward. And we stated very clear we will not end the war with 59 people left behind. We will do whatever is needed to bring all the hostages back home. As we speak, there are 59 hostages in captivity for more than 18 months. So we will do whatever it takes.
MARTIN: As you just mentioned, the United Nations and aid groups have already rejected this new approach, saying that this is going to mean that large numbers of people won't be able to get basic supplies. They say it doesn't adhere to global humanitarian principles and that the government is using humanitarian relief as a military strategy. How do you respond to that?
DANON: Well, I think it's political. I would expect them to engage - to meet with me, to have a dialogue, to raise their concerns. By the way, in the last 18 months, that's what happened. We had a mechanism that we had dialogue about many, many issues. We solved many problems together, and we have the same goal. You know, we want to ease the suffering of those who are not involved in terror activities in Gaza. But at the same time, I believe we have to do whatever is needed to win this war and to eradicate Hamas. So hearing this approach of not negotiating or not engaging, I think they're feeling a different planet, maybe thinking that we will end the war, forget about the hostages and move on. We are not going to move on, Michel, with the hostages behind.
MARTIN: Yesterday, I spoke with Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council. That's one of the groups that's already distributing aid in Gaza - or has been, as their supplies are dwindling. This is how she described the government's plan.
SHAINA LOW: We are eager to serve people, but we also know that aid cannot and should not be weaponized in order to move civilian populations or achieve military goals. And that's a red line that we are just unwilling to cross.
MARTIN: So, Ambassador, is that the goal here - to drive people to the south of the Strip so that Israel can occupy the north?
DANON: Well, first, let me clarify. You know, what we have seen in the past - that Hamas took advantage of the aid. And everyone you will speak with in Gaza who is honest will tell you that the aid went to Hamas. We have testimonies of people who came out of captivity that they saw Hamas taking advantage of the trucks, selling them, and they didn't get to the people. So I think what we are trying to do now is to build a mechanism that will allow the people to receive aid, but it will not be through Hamas.
MARTIN: The allegation here is that the goal here is to drive people to this particular Strip. And, in fact, the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, basically said as much. He said that the Gaza Strip will be totally destroyed under the plan. Is that not true?
DANON: No. I think what we will try to do is to minimize civilian casualties, like we did before. So we will encourage the population to move to areas that we will not be fighting there. There will be humanitarian areas, humanitarian zones where they will be able to meet NGOs, receive aid, and they will be safe over there. And the area that they will be evacuated, we will fight. And, you know, when you have a fight area, a war zone, it's not safe. So we will encourage the population to move out from those areas while we are fighting Hamas.
MARTIN: Oh. So, Ambassador, if I could just clarify this for this story - are you saying that it is not true that Israel is engaging this particular aid distribution scheme in order to reoccupy Gaza? Are you saying that that is just not true?
DANON: Absolutely not. It's not the goal of this war. We have no intention to stay in Gaza. Our goals are very clear - to bring the hostages back and to eliminate Hamas. We have no desire to stay in Gaza. We left Gaza in 2005, completely. We don't intend to go back there.
MARTIN: That is Danny Danon. He's Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador, thank you so much.
DANON: Thank you very much, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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