On Sunday Morning's "State of the Union," CNN host Dana Bash was taken aback when Israel's ambassador to the United Nations flatly denied there is a "humanitarian crisis" in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Bash got right into it with Ambassador Gilad Erdan, asking about the recent retaliatory attacks on Gaza that are leading to mass Palestinian casualties, which led to the Israeli official to reply, "There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," before adding, “We allow the number of trucks entering Gaza now with food and medicines to reach almost 100 trucks every day, so we don't see the need for humanitarian pauses right now."
'You've said this before, there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, that's kind of an amazing statement," Bash countered before adding, "Because there were humanitarian problems there before the war, and now, obviously, it has gotten bad. Take their numbers aside — it has gotten to the crisis point."
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"No, I'm not saying that the life in Gaza is great and obviously Hamas is the only one who should be held accountable for any situation in Gaza," he shot back after attempting to interrupt the CNN host. "But there's a standard, due to international humanitarian law, what does it mean, a humanitarian crisis?"
"And I'm saying again, there is no humanitarian crisis based on international humanitarian law in Gaza," he continued while noting some Gazans were filmed using their cell phones and were seen watching a movie.
"All of those things could be true at the same time," Bash pointed out. "So if Israel and the government wants to maintain credibility, is denying that there is a humanitarian crisis inside Gaza the way to do it?"
'I'm not denying the humanitarian situation in Gaza is very bad," Erdan complained. "And it's very sad that for 16 years, Hamas exploited all the money that was transferred to Gaza, instead of investing it to build hospitals or desalination -- water desalination power plants, only to turn Gaza into a war machine. -- it's very sad. But Israel shouldn't be held accountable for this situation."
Watch below or at the link.
CNN 11 05 2023 09 34 14youtu.be
