LEILA FADEL, HOST:
For more on what comes next for Palestinians in Gaza, we're joined by Diana Buttu. She is a human rights lawyer and former Palestinian peace negotiator. Diana, good morning, and welcome back to the program.
DIANA BUTTU: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
FADEL: I want to start with why. Why did the diplomatic effort to get this ceasefire extended or moved to a second phase fail?
BUTTU: Because there was never really any diplomatic efforts to have it - to have a ceasefire in the first place. All that we really saw was that there were demands, but there wasn't really any follow-through. Even though the three phases of the agreement were supposed to be matched by and followed up with by the United States and by Qatar, as well as Egypt, we didn't really see that any of these countries were getting involved, particularly when things were going sideways. In particular, when we saw that Israel was not allowing caravans in - when they had reneged on allowing in humanitarian aid - there wasn't anybody who was standing forth and saying to the Israelis, enough is enough. We have to continue to push ahead with this agreement. So while there was a push to have an agreement, there really wasn't any diplomatic effort to see that this agreement goes to its - plays its course out.
FADEL: Now, the U.S. blames Hamas for this resumption of violence, saying if the group just released the hostages, all of this ends. So will Hamas do that, especially given Israel consulted with the U.S. when they carried out these surprise attacks in the midst of negotiations?
BUTTU: This is exactly the problem is that the agreement calls for three separate phases. And in those three separate phases, you have the exchange of Israelis in exchange for Palestinians who are being held in Israeli prisons being released, as well as a surge of humanitarian supplies, as well as Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. What the Trump administration was seeking to do was to bypass all of that and to just focus on the Israelis and not at all focus on Palestinians - Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian hostages, the humanitarian supplies, as well as Israel's withdrawal. And so obviously, when you just have the United States siding - very powerful party siding with Israel, yet another powerful party, it's not at all surprising that Israel used this opportunity and said now that they have the full backing of President Trump, who's also sent in weapons, that they can go ahead and bomb Gaza over the - overnight, which they have since done. This is the largest bombing that we've seen in over 18 months.
FADEL: Now, what does this mean then overall for the future of Palestinians and their quest for sovereignty, really?
BUTTU: I'm very worried because we're now on day 17 with no humanitarian supplies getting into the Gaza Strip. That means no food, no fuel, no water. And Israel's made it clear that they're going to continue to, as they put it, negotiate under fire. And so the options are very, very limited for Palestinians. This is why I believe that this shouldn't have been a negotiation between Israel and Hamas. It should have been a much broader picture, with the entire world getting involved. The idea that people who are living under occupation have to negotiate with their occupier is repugnant. It doesn't fly in the face of international law, and yet here's what - here's something that has been demanded of Palestinians throughout their entire history. I think we have to change the equation now. It's now time to be putting pressure on Israel to allow Palestinians to live. Otherwise, I'm really worried about what the consequences are going to be for continued genocide.
FADEL: When you say the consequences - and just for context, Israel denies it's a genocide. When you say the consequences, what are the consequences you're worried about?
BUTTU: I'm specifically worried about the - about people dying. We've already seen that the health care system is completely dilapidated. People are not living in homes. They're living in tents. And when you don't see any future, you can see that there's just going to be either ethnic cleansing or a continuation of this genocide.
FADEL: Human rights lawyer Diana Buttu, thank you for your time.
BUTTU: Thank you.
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