Dozens of Israelis protest near border crossing against delivering aid into Gaza

(2 Feb 2024) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Nitzana border crossing, Israel - 2 February 2024 1. Wide of protesters demanding an end to humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza, some carrying Israeli flags 2. Protester with megaphone yelling out where people have travelled from UPSOUND (English): “Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and New York“ 3. Wide of protesters next to Nitzana border crossing sign 4. Wide of protesters walking past Israeli soldiers 5. Tracking of protester from the Beit Hagai settlement Ilana Radami, walking past border gate with Israeli flag 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilana Radami, protester from Beit Hagai settlement: “Part of their (Benjamin Netanyahu’s government) promise to fight this war until the end, to not stop until Hamas is completely demolished.” 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilana Radami, protester from Beit Hagai settlement: “Humanitarian aid equals death. Why? Every time there’s a truck load of humanitarian aid, so called, going into Gaza, we are making it harder for our fighters to fight. The aid is making the war take longer. It is strengthening the very enemy that we are fighting against. One hand is fighting against them and trying to destroy them, while the other hand is giving them supplies.” 8. Various of protesters during demonstration 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Debbie Sharon, protester from Yated in southern Israel: “It’s like two people are standing opposite each other, trying to kill each other, and each one of them is holding their babies in the hands. And the only way you can save your own baby is by shooting the man who is holding his baby. It’s a terrible, terrible, cruel situation.” 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Debbie Sharon, protester from Yated in southern Israel: “Lorries will be allowed in for something. We can’t just carry on feeding Hamas and getting nothing. So getting hostages, I just want to underline this, 100%, obviously if we get hostages we’ll allow the lorries to come in. Definitely. No one is going to fight the lorries going in if the hostages are coming out. That is 100%.” 11. Close of Egyptian flag behind barbed wire STORYLINE: Dozens of protesters attempted to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza near the Nitzana border crossing in Israel on Friday. The protesters had gathered in opposition to aid being delivered to desperate people in Gaza while hostages are still being held there. Aid enters Israel from Egypt via Nitzana, where the military confirms its contents before the aid is ultimately trucked back into Egypt and then Gaza. “Humanitarian aid equals death. Why? Every time there’s a truck load of humanitarian aid, so called, going into Gaza, we are making it harder for our fighters to fight,“ said protester from the Beit Hagai settlement Ilana Radami. “One hand is fighting against them and trying to destroy them, while the other hand is giving them supplies,” Radami added. Hamas and other militants in Gaza are holding dozens of hostages, after having abducted about 250 during their deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and sparked Israel’s blistering offensive on the enclave. More than 100 hostages were released during a one-week truce in November, in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in the first days of the war barring the entry of aid. While it relented under U.S. pressure to provide basic supplies and food, the amount of aid has been fraction of what went into the territory before the war. AP Video by Sam McNeil =========================================================== Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: