José Andrés says Israel should be 'doing more' to get aid to Gaza: 'Nothing goes in without permission of Israel'
José Andrés called for Israel to be “doing more” in getting aid to Gaza, emphasizing that nothing can get through to the territory “without the permission of Israel.”
Andrés and his organization, World Central Kitchen, have been organizing efforts to deliver food and humanitarian aid to embattled Gaza. In a “Meet the Moment” interview from NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the chef reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and called for Israel to be “doing more” to get aid into the region.
“Well, I mean, nothing goes in without permission of Israel,” he told host Kristen Welker.
He said it is “difficult to understand” why Israel is continuing to target Gaza while also trying to release the hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
“Should Israel be doing more? Totally. A ceasefire should be happening immediately. The hostages should be released, totally. What is a little bit difficult to understand is how you are doing a mission to try to liberate your fellow citizens, but you are bombing, at times, building after building that you may have those hostages right in those buildings,” he said.
“So if the true intention of that is releasing the hostages, I would not say this is the most clever way to try to take them out alive. There's some time I will say peace should win the day. I do believe the future of the Middle East and the future of Israel is when the people of Gaza and the people of Palestine thrive, too. If everybody thrives, peace can be achieved much more easily,” he added.
He also acknowledged that sending shipments to Gaza could still be a “failure,” despite his organization’s efforts. On Tuesday, an aid ship loaded with about 200 tons of food gathered by World Central Kitchen set sail from Cyprus for Gaza.
“So we’re trying and I hope that in few days we can say we had a little success and from that success, everybody being comfortable that this is possible, we can build a bigger system to bring huge quantities of food daily into the shores of Gaza,” he said.
The food shipment by sea comes days after President Biden announced the U.S. would build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast to increase aid deliveries. The temporary pier is still expected to take two months to build and could require the help of up to 1,000 troops.