interception took place in Israeli airspace. The ADIF forces said, satellite, that they were completing their preparations for a significant ground operation in the Gaza Strip as the military continued to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. And along another front as well, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted the Aleppo International Airport in Syria Saturday night. This is all coming from Syrian reports, just hours after two rockets were fired from Syria at Israel, and as tensions continue to rise along Israel's northern front. The International Airport in Damascus was also targeted and was put out of service back on Thursday. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to America's President Biden on Saturday for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning a ground campaign against Hamas. The US confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. It's joining the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, currently on its way here. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says, the additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts towards widening the war following Hamas' assault on Israel. This show force is coming. As Iran threatened to directly join the war, with an axiose report on Saturday claiming Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel via the UN, saying that Iran will intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground encouraging into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas political Politburo Chief Ismail Hania according to Iran's state-run media, though no details about that meaning have been released. Now for some news from the Northern Front, we are joined by our correspondent Pia Tastakobov, who is on the Northern border right now. Tell us what we know about the recent strikes on the North border and the action against Hezbollah forces. Well, Ariel, in the early morning, Sirens sounding in the upper Galilee region in the town of De Eliezer, the IDF saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target from the air. Now this comes after yesterday. Sirens were sounding in two areas late evening. Also in the eastern part of the Israeli-Lebanese border, rockets there, two rockets coming from Syria, Israel striking back. Also a strike targeted the Aleppo airport this night for really the second time in the course of a few days, a strike that is attributed to Israel. After yesterday in the afternoon, a major security incident happening with Hezbollah in the Haldov area close to Syria at the eastern part of the Lebanese border. Again, Hezbollah firing 30 mortar shells. Israel retaliating there, one Hezbollah member is said to have been killed. And that also after yesterday morning, there was an apprehended infiltration attempt there. Also in the eastern part of the Lebanese border there, Israel apprehending three Palestinians operating under Hezbollah command there, trying to infiltrate Israel. Now Israel is said to strike Hezbollah post also yesterday throughout the night. There also apprehending a squad trying to infiltrate Israel in an attempt to fire an anti-tank missile. So the tensions with Hezbollah are really spiking these days and they have been also for the course of the past week. Also many false alerts here in this area that really shows you how volatile the situation is and how sensitive Israeli air systems are. Now, Pea, you've been in the north for a couple of days now at least where you've seen the atmosphere on the ground. What's it like there? Well, Ariel, it is very tense. We are here right now in the city of Nahria, which is about 13 kilometers, 10 miles away from the Lebanese border. But also here there are not so many people on the streets. We were being told from the person responsible for the French community here in Nahria, for the foreign community in the Nahria municipality that they're really advising people to prepare their shelters. Now, we have to say that at least 40% of the population in this city does not have private shelters in their homes. So the municipality really prepared the public shelters here with food, with water really preparing the population for any possible scenario here. But they're also advising the people not to be scared. Now, this morning we've been hearing that there have been some disruptions in the navigation systems here in the area. People here are quite tense because this has been going on for a week already that there have been false alarms yesterday. Two people were hospitalized and a suspected rocket impact. That incident is also still under investigation. So is it as a very tense and volatile situation here in the north? Well, thank you, Pia, for that report from the northern border. Now, for a more in-depth look at the considerations being made, we are joined in studio by former Israeli intelligence official Avi Malamud. Thank you very much for being with us. The big question on everyone's mind is at what point does Hezbollah join this conflict? And with Iran threatening to get directly involved, what other capabilities beyond Hezbollah did they bring to the table? Well, Arielle, thank you for having me. Let's put things in wider context. One build around Israel, what we call ring of fire, which is based on three different arenas, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza Strip. Gaza Strip under the rule of Hamas and Islamic jihad is an enormously significant component in the Iranian master plan. Why? Because the Iranian has an interest to further fuel the flames of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That's the reason why we saw this repeating military rounds between Israel and Gaza Strip. The downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip is a massive blow to the Iranian master plan. That's the reason why they are trying to deter, at this moment, Israel from expanding the war. But they and Hezbollah, Iran and Hezbollah, since they, one of these war, are finding themselves in a dilemma. Here is the dilemma. If Iran is going to send Hezbollah to the war, Iran is going to jeopardize not only the risk or downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip, which seems to be almost imminent, but also a massive strike to Hezbollah, which is the most significant proxy of the Iranians. The Iranian dilemma is further boosted given the fact that the United States of America this time sends very clear messages to the Iranian, stay out. This message is backed by an American military operation on the ground, deployment on the ground. Here is something that the Mullah regime in Tehran has to take into consideration. Its presence in Syria, which is the most significant component in this structure that the Mullah regime has built, its military presence in Syria that he has built for the last decade, we are talking about militias, we are talking about anti-aircraft, we are talking about missile deposits and so on and so on. All this infrastructure could be eliminated within hours because today in the region there is enough aerial force to do that. This is the thing that the Mullah regime is now facing, the dilemma. So for the time being, they are trying to deter Israel by conducting double policy, sending threats to all of its proxies, starting in Yemen, going through Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah and others. And the second thing they are trying to do, they are basically initiating a very calculated small-scale, low-intensifying escalation in the Israeli-Northern border. But the dilemma of the Iranians and Hezbollah is there. That dilemma is going to increase as much as the more is expected. The Israeli ground operation in Gaza Strip is going to take place. They don't really have much time to decide. Now Hezbollah's firepower is massive. They have 150,000 advanced missiles pointed at Israeli cities as we speak. And Iran wouldn't have spent the money or the time arming them if they did not intend to use them. When that front does go hot, and it certainly seems inevitable, if not immediate, that it will go hot, how will Israel deal a knockout blow against Hezbollah to ensure they no longer pose a threat to Israel's cities? Well, there are a couple components of this questionnaire. One is, as you said accurately, Hezbollah presents an enormous threat to the state of Israel. If Hezbollah is going to be massively involved in the war, it's going to cause Israel an enormous damage and destruction. That is correct. On the other hand, we have to remember something about the Hezbollah in Iran. From the Iranian perspective, the most significant strategic objective or task of the Hezbollah is to ensure and maintain the Iranian control in Lebanon, because that presents the Iranians with a presence offshore the Mediterranean. The secondary task that could always wait, as far as the Iranian regime is concerned, the secondary task is the whole issue of the elimination of the state of Israel. In the Iranian master plan, they would not, until now, risk Hezbollah in a war with Israel. Their master plan was, and still is, to the best of my understanding, to basically be able to operate all the arenas of this ring of fire, namely Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Syria, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza Strip. According to the Iranian master plan, the most preferable scenario was that one day, when the time comes, all those components together will be simultaneously activated against the state of Israel. The activation of the Gaza Strip on Saturday by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and particularly the disastrous outcome of that, to a large extent, disrupt the Iranian master plan. I was sitting here a week ago, when the whole war started, and I said right there, I said, this is a great strategic opportunity for the state of Israel and its allies in the region to generate a positive change. We can see that happening. Well, Avi, we are going to come back to you in a little bit, so definitely stay with us. But before we do, we are going to go to the southern border, where our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Ossaran, is standing by in the border town of Stiro. We now have some confirmation from the Israeli military that they have taken out the Hamas commander that was responsible for the attacks in several Kibbutzim along the borders and the massacres there. Give us some updates, Ariel. Right, Ariel. So as the IDF continues its continuous airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, aimed at taking out key Hamas officials and also commanders. This is the latest in assassinations of key commanders that took part of the bloody rampage last Saturday. Yesterday it was the commander of the entire raid. Today it was the commander of the raid on two border communities, Nirem and Nirem. And this continues as all the while Israel continues with its shelling and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip. Now, while Israel is continuously striking, IDF spokesperson in Arabic just released a plea for an announcement that allows a safe passage through a corridor down south in the Gaza Strip between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. So starting in just under an hour and will continue for five hours. This is the second day in a row that the IDF is allowing this safe passage, this corridor, for residents in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head south. Many listened to this call yesterday. However, the IDF also shared images of Hamas obstructing these attempts to go down south, loading up roadblocks, causing lots of traffic and making it more difficult for its people to head down south to that calls by Hamas leadership not to listen to Israel's warnings, given that Hamas is interested in keeping as many human shields as they can as they are positioned themselves in tunnels underground while the population above ground really doesn't have anywhere to go. And so in advance ahead of this corridor, Israel in the meantime not only taking out key commanders but also targeting Hamas police station in the Gaza Strip. And so attacks are continuing and will continue, I would imagine, even during this corridor but not in the area where the residents of Gaza are planning to head down south. And that's in accordance with the latest IDF statement. And Ariel, I know that you've been there for a while now and you've described the place as only 30% of its former population due to its evacuation, a bit of a ghost town, but in the light of that with this invasion with the aftermath of the horror that residents have seen over the past week, what is the atmosphere like down there? Well, it's hard to tell what the atmosphere is for average citizens because you don't see them. There are no pedestrians walking out in the street. Everyone that is here is staying close to their protective shelters because in a town like Sderot which is so close to the Gaza Strip, you only have 15 seconds to make it to your shelter and so given that this area as well as the rest of the border communities have been consistently targeted over the past few days, the residents of Sderot that have stayed, we're talking about roughly 30% in a town of between 28 and 30,000 residents. They're hunkering down at home. You don't see a lot of civilian vehicles driving around and the few that do try to make it out as fast as possible because this is, Sderot specifically is not a closed military zone but just a few, less than a mile that way, the whole strip surrounding the Gaza Strip is a closed military zone and that is because this is where the military is preparing its forces for this imminent ground invasion that is expected to take place at least according to Israeli high-ranking officials in the very near future. Thank you, Hario, for that report from the ground and stay safe out there. Back to the studio for one more element here that of course with you and ultimate our senior correspondent, we know the United States sending two carrier strike groups in a firepower to level a nation and a very obvious threat to Israel's regional enemies. What is the political considerations that the United States is going to be looking at of whether or not to activate these strike groups? I think political considerations zero. The considerations are absolutely geopolitical entirely. I really truly imagine that the Biden administration simply isn't thinking about politics, that this is above politics. They see this as part of the US commitment to its allies, statement about US commitment to its allies. At a time when China and Russia are rising powers REL and if the US-Israel bond would be broken, I think American allies around the world wouldn't be able to trust the United States. I mean, obviously Joe Biden feels this personally as does Anthony Blinken. That was very, very clear to all of us last week. But as a hard matter of real politic, this has to matter to the United States. And by the way, I think it has to matter to American policymakers and strategists irregardless of how they feel about the US-Israel relationship itself. Maybe they feel it was a mistake. Maybe they feel the United States is over-invested in Israel. Be that all as it may, the US-Israel alliance is a fact on the ground, going back decades. And if that were to be broken in any way at a moment like this, what would that mean for Ukraine? What would that mean for US allies in East Asia around the world? It could erode the American position everywhere. I think that's one of the reasons why there was such a sense of urgency here. And the need to ensure that no matter what happens, no matter what happens, that Israel wins the war. Whatever the cost, whatever the scenario, to absolutely ensure that Israel wins the war. And I think that Nabi Malamud was getting to that point, right? With the idea that these carries were there to ensure that that would happen. So I think those are the considerations. I think they're fairly decisive. I would imagine that as time goes by, and certainly as the situation in Gaza becomes more complex. I'm sure there'll be political pressure within the United States. But there still is wide support for Israel. The massacre and the scenes that we saw last week will never disappear from the public imagination. But at any rate, this is far beyond politics. This is about something much, much more essential. And we'll continue that with you, Avi. Because the United States has put the gun on the table. It's a clear threat to Iran. It's a clear threat to Hezbollah. Is it enough of a threat? Well, as I said before, for the first time, I would say, for the last decade, the United States of America basically stands in front of Iran and it said enough is enough. Up until now, there has been an ongoing, convoluting, a piercing approach to the Iranian regime. The danger was out there.  We have totally and constantly alarmed about the Iranian master plan and the danger the Iranian regime presents to the region. What we see right now is the manifestation of this danger in a very severe scenario. As I said before, the United States of America right now building its military power in the region, OK? And that, as I said before, the Iranian regime now have to make a decision. If it's going to intervene, he's going to lose strategic cards because he's going to be severely beaten in Syria. He's probably going to be severely beaten in Lebanon if he's going to do a move sending Hamas and Hezbollah into the war. You don't appease evil. You eliminate evil. And I would like to add one more thing about the context of the United States of America. United States of America has lost its image as a superpower in the region basically because it was unable to project power. The most clear signal for power is the ability or the fact that you don't use the power. You only project power, and that should be enough. President Biden say one will point out right now because on the topic of projecting power, we're seeing on screen a live image of some airstrikes going down in the Gaza Strip as Israel prepares the way for ground forces in the imminent invasion they have promised. But before that, we are going to go back to analyzing the situation with the United States and its support of it. So I was saying before, Ariel, that in Biden's amazing speech, the very inspiring and powerful speech that he gave, there were many, many great things that he said. There was one word that captured my attention. The word was don't. It was meant to capture your attention. I have one word. I have one word. With a colon. Don't. There was no belly dancing of rhetoric. There was no convoluting statements. There was no calling for whatever. One word. Don't. This is projection of power. And when it is backed with actions on the ground and with the clear understanding on the other side, that the United States of America will not hesitate to use that power to secure its strategic interests. This is projection of power. This is a pivotal moment in the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a pivotal moment in the story of the Middle East. It is a pivotal moment in the story of the relationship of the United States of America in the region and beyond the region, as you very accurately mentioned. This is the time where the United States of America can and should rehabilitate its declining image. Can and should rehabilitate its power in the region. The United States of America can use this moment as a moment to basically come back big time in the Middle East. You say it can, you say it should. The question is, is Biden bluffing? I don't think that he is bluffing. He can't be bluffing. He made the speech to the entire world. He said there's one word, don't. I don't think he's bluffing. Look, he's sending military power. Right now, as I said before, I have to reiterate it. There is enough aerial power in the neighborhood to eliminate Iran's assets in Syria and basically take out the whole Iranian master plan and basically totally neutralize it. What about the Iranian military itself? The Iranian military, this is something very important to understand about Iran. Iran has a very vicious and sophisticated mindset and code of action. The Iranians are not sacrificing Iranians. The Iranian regime are sacrificing Yemenites, Lebanese, Syrians, Israelis, Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistani Shiites, and so on and so on. The presence of Iran in Syria is mostly based upon those militias that are begged by the Iranians. There is presence of Iranian revolutionary guards. But in the end of the day, one of the most staggering thing when you look at the Iranian master plan and the way they have been entrenching themselves across the Middle East was that they were able to deploy these armies of terror, basically sacrificing everybody in the region other than the Iranians. So one of the most significant components in the Iranian master plan of taking over the Middle East is a concept that is called the land corridor. We are looking at the Iranian attempt to create land corridors stretching from Iran, crossing through Iraq, because Iraq to a large extent is under a major Iranian influence, entering Syria and ending up in Lebanon. The critical component of that land corridor is located in Syria. In the eastern part of Syria, very close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, there is a military compound that the Iranian built. This is a transition point for the Iranian militias moving into Syria. That compound can be taken out by aerial strike in a minute. And all this land corridor could be wiped in a minute, because as I said before, there is a massive aerial force right now gathering in the Middle East that Israel and the United States should deploy, should activate if the Iranians are going to send Hezbollah into the war. Now the Iranian have to face the dilemma and they should understand. If they are stepping in, their whole master plan is going to be collapsed. So what would be the trigger for the United States or Israel to act directly against Iran? Massive involvement of the Hezbollah in the war. But Ariel's question is very specific. To act against, if I understood your question correctly, to act against Iran itself, because if Iran's entire strategy, I think I'm taking your question separately, if Iran's entire strategy is based on the fact that it won't sacrifice Iranians, maybe the strategy has to be to force them to sacrifice Iranians, at least their military targets and assets. Well, that one option, I don't think that's the right option to move in. The Iranians don't really care if they're going to sacrifice. And then it will play to the end of the day. There are enough assets of the Iranians outside of Iran and outside of the direct control of the Iranians. There are enough assets of the Iranians that are very significant for the Iranians. And those assets could be taken out. The United States of America will not attack Iranian-backed assets in Iraq, for example. That would be not wise thing to do. But Syria, that could be right thing to do. There is one more component about Syria that we have to take into consideration. There was a piece of news. The United States deployed another jet in Jordan. Why is it so significant? Because Jordan is also facing the threat of the Iranian militias in the south part of Syria. This could be a golden opportunity for the United States of America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the states that are threatened by the Iranians. This could be a golden opportunity to take down, to dismantle the Iranian strategic structure that was built in Syria. In Syria. And when you do that, you are basically crippling totally the Iranian master plan. What should be the condition for that? The message is there. If Hezbollah is going to join the war, Syria is on the table. The Iranian assets are on the tables. And by the way, notice that. There has been some sporadic, I would even say symbolic attacks from Syria to Israel. Didn't cause anything serious, nothing so dramatic. Did you notice what was the Israeli respond? Attacking the airports of Damascus and Aleppo. The message is very simple. You will open another front. You are going to lose your major assets in Syria. Take it into consideration. And that has to be backed by actions on the ground if circumstances call for that. We have less than a minute left, so I guess if we can answer this very briefly. There's a threat on the table. You said Iran's built this ring of fire. They had in the first 48 hours before direct US involvement the opportunity to activate Hezbollah. Why didn't they? They lost the edge of surprise. Basically, the situation in Lebanon is very, very sensitive. Lebanon is a collapsing state. One of the possible outcome of a massive war between Israel and Hezbollah would be the total disintegration of Lebanon, which will involve maybe a civil war at this scenario. Hezbollah will have to divert attention to what's going on in Lebanon. And there is another significant issue. One, of course, is the American immediate ultimatum or sort of like strong American signal from the early days of the war to the Iranians and the Hezbollah that deterred them. And then there is another thing, the pictures that are coming out from Gaza Strip. Hezbollah looks at the picture, it adds to their dilemma. Thank you very much for helping us understand the why's and the how's. For everyone else, we're out of time.  Over 1,300 casualties and over 3,000 injuries and the toll keeps climbing. We bring you the testimonies from the front line from those who managed to survive in the most graphic, brutal images so the whole world can see what Hamas did. Follow us as Israel battles a terror threat emanating from the south and the north. Join I-24 News for the real story of what's going on. In quest-a-new, 24. I hope that's what Carlos wanted to know. From where are you seeing us? All you have to do is to prepare the phone, to point to the QR's reader, and there opens a brief questionnaire. Very easy to complete. Another option is to enter the link that appears on the screen. Let's wait for your answers. And we are ready, and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unicycle. Hello, babe, and welcome to I-24 News's ongoing coverage of Israel at War. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. We are now entering the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in Israel's south. Just a short while ago, on the north border in the Upper Galilee, sirens sounded after an unidentified interception took place in Israeli airspace. The ADF forces said, satellite, that they were completing their preparations for a significant ground operation in the Gaza Strip as the military continued to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. And along another front as well, alleged Israeli airstrikes, targeted the Aleppo International Airport in Syria Saturday night. This is all coming from Syrian reports, just hours after two rockets were fired from Syria at Israel and as tensions continue to rise along Israel's northern front. The International Airport in Damascus was also targeted and was put out of service back on Thursday. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to America's President Biden on satellite for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning a ground campaign against Hamas. The US confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. It's joining the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group currently on its way here. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts towards widening the war following Hamas' assault on Israel. This show force is coming. As Iran threatened to directly join the war with an axiose report on Saturday claiming Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel via the UN. Saying that Iran will intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground encouraging into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas political Politburo chief Ismail Hania according to Iran's state-run media though no details about that meeting have been released. Now for some news from the northern front we are joined by our correspondent Pia Tastakobov who is on the northern border right now. Tell us what we know about the recent strikes on the north border and the action against Hezbollah forces. Well, Ariel, in the early morning, Sirens sounding in the upper Galilee region in the town of Eliezer, the IDF saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target from the air. Now, this comes after yesterday. Sirens were sounding in two areas late evening. Also in the eastern part of the Israeli-Lebanese border, rockets there, two rockets coming from Syria, Israel striking back. Also a strike targeted the Aleppo airport this night for really the second time in the course of a few days, a strike that is attributed to Israel. After yesterday in the afternoon, a major security incident happening with Hezbollah in the Haldov area close to Syria at the eastern part of the Lebanese border. Again, Hezbollah firing 30 mortar shells. Israel retaliating there, one Hezbollah member is said to have been killed. And that also after yesterday morning, there was an apprehended infiltration attempt there. Also in the eastern part of the Lebanese border there, Israel apprehending three Palestinians operating under Hezbollah command. They're trying to infiltrate Israel. Now, Israel is set to strike Hezbollah posts also yesterday throughout the night. They're also apprehending a squad trying to infiltrate Israel in an attempt to fire an anti-tank missile. So the tensions with Hezbollah are really spiking these days. And they have been also for the course of the past week. Also many false alerts here in this area that really shows you how volatile the situation is and how sensitive Israeli air systems are. Now, Pia, you've been in the north for a couple of days now, at least, where you've seen the atmosphere on the ground. What's it like there? Well, Ariel, it is very tense. We are here right now in the city of Nareha, which is about 13 kilometers, 10 miles away from the Lebanese border. But also here, there are not so many people on the streets. We were being told from the person responsible for the French community here in Nareha, for the foreign community in the Nareha municipality that they're really advising people to prepare their shelters. Now, we have to say that at least 40% of the population in this city does not have private shelters in their homes. So the municipality really prepared the public shelters here with food, with water, really preparing the population for any possible scenario here. But they're also advising the people not to be scared. Now, this morning, we've been hearing that there have been some disruptions in the navigation systems here in the area. People here are quite tense because this has been going on for a week already that there have been false alarms yesterday. Two people were hospitalized and a suspected rocket impact. That incident is also still under investigation. So is it as a very tense and volatile situation here in the North? Well, thank you, Pia, for that report from the Northern border. Now, for a more in-depth look at the considerations being made, we are joined in studio by former Israeli intelligence official Avi Malamud. Thank you very much for being with us. The big question on everyone's mind is at what point does Hezbollah join this conflict? And with Iran threatening to get directly involved, what other capabilities beyond Hezbollah did they bring to the table? Well, Ariel, thank you for having me. Let's put things in wider context. Iran built around Israel what we call ring of fire, which is based on three different arenas, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza Strip. Gaza Strip under the rule of Hamas and Islamic jihad is enormously significant component in the Iranian master plan. Why? Because the Iranian has an interest to further fuel the flames of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That's the reason why we saw this repeating military rounds between Israel and Gaza Strip. The downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip is a massive blow to the Iranian master plan. That's the reason why they are trying to deter at this moment Israel from expanding the war. But they and Hezbollah, Iran and Hezbollah, since they, one of these war, are finding themselves in a dilemma. Here is the dilemma. If Iran is going to send Hezbollah to the war, Iran is going to jeopardize not only the risk or downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip, which seems to be like almost imminent, but also a massive strike to Hezbollah, which is the most significant proxy of the Iranians. The Iranian dilemma is further boosted given the fact that the United States of America, this time sends very clear messages to the Iranian, stay out. This message is backed by an American military operation on the ground, deployment on the ground. Here is something that the Mullah regime in Tehran has to take into consideration. It's presence in Syria, which is the most significant component in this structure that the Mullah regime has built. It's military presence in Syria that he has built for the last decade. We are talking about militias. We are talking about anti-aircraft. We are talking about missile deposits and so on and so on. All this infrastructure could be eliminated within hours because today in the region, there is enough aerial force to do that. This is the thing that the Mullah regime is now facing, the dilemma. So for the time being, they are trying to deter Israel by conducting double policy, sending threats through all of its proxies, starting in Yemen, going through Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah and others. And the second thing they are trying to do, they are basically initiating a very calculated, small-scale, low-intensifying escalation in the Israeli North and border. But the dilemma of the Iranians and Hezbollah is there. That dilemma is going to increase as much as expected. The Israeli ground operation in Gaza Strip is going to take place. They don't really have much time to decide. Now, Hezbollah's firepower is massive. They have 150,000 advanced missiles pointed at Israeli cities as we speak. And Iran wouldn't have spent the money or the time arming them if they did not intend to use them. When that front does go hot, and it certainly seems inevitable, if not immediate, that it will go hot, how will Israel deal a knockout blow against Hezbollah to ensure they no longer pose a threat to Israel's cities? Well, there are a couple components of this question, Ariel. One is, as you said accurately, Hezbollah presents an enormous threat to the state of Israel. If Hezbollah is going to be massively involved in the war, it's going to cause Israel an enormous damage and destruction. That is correct. On the other hand, we have to remember something about the Hezbollah in Iran. From the Iranian perspective, the most significant strategic objective or task of the Hezbollah is to ensure and maintain the Iranian control in Lebanon, because that presents the Iranians with a presence offshore the Mediterranean. The secondary task that could always wait as far as the Iranian regime is concerned, the secondary task is the whole issue of the elimination of the state of Israel. In the Iranian master plan, they would not, until now, risk Hezbollah in a war with Israel. Their master plan was, and still is, to the best of my understanding, to basically be able to operate all the arenas of this ring of fire, namely Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Syria, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza Strip. According to the Iranian master plan, the most preferable scenario was that one day, when the time comes, all those components together will be simultaneously activated against the state of Israel. The activation of the Gaza Strip on Saturday by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and particularly the disastrous outcome of that, to a large extent, disrupt the Iranian master plan. I was sitting here a week ago, when the whole war started, and I said right there, I said, this is a great strategic opportunity for the state of Israel and its allies in the region to generate a positive change. We can see that happening. Well, Avi, we are going to come back to you in a little bit, so definitely stay with us. But before we do, we are going to go to the southern border where our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Osaran, is standing by in the border town of Stero. We now have some confirmation from the Israeli military that they have taken out the Hamas commander that was responsible for the attacks in several Kibbutzim along the borders and the massacres there. Give us some updates, Ariel. Right, Ariel, so as the IDF continues its continuous airstrikes across the Gaza Strip aimed at taking out key Hamas officials and also commanders. This is the latest in assassinations of key commanders that took part of the bloody rampage last Saturday. Yesterday, it was the commander of the entire raid. Today, it was the commander of the raid on two border communities, Nireem and Niraam. And this continues as all the while Israel continues with its shelling and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip. Now, while Israel is continuously striking, IDF spokesperson in Arabic just released a plea for an announcement that allows a safe passage through a corridor down south in the Gaza Strip between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., so starting in just under an hour and will continue for five hours. This is the second day in a row that the IDF is allowing this safe passage, this corridor for residents in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head south. Many listened to this call yesterday. However, the IDF also shared images of Hamas obstructing these attempts to go down south, putting up roadblocks, causing lots of traffic and making it more difficult for its people to head down south to that calls by Hamas leadership not to listen to Israel's warnings, given that Hamas is interested in keeping as many human shields as they can as they are positioned themselves in tunnels underground while the population above ground really doesn't have anywhere to go. And so in advance ahead of this corridor Israel, in the meantime, not only taking out key commanders, but also targeting Hamas police station in the Gaza Strip and so attacks are continuing and will continue, I would imagine, even during this corridor, but not in the area where the residents of Gaza are planning to head down south, and that's in accordance with the latest IDF statement. And Ariel, I know that you've been there for a while now and you've described the place as only 30% of its former population due to its evacuation, a bit of a ghost town, but in the light of that, with this invasion with the aftermath of the horror that residents have seen over the past week, what is the atmosphere like down there? Well, it's hard to tell what the atmosphere is for average citizens because you don't see them. Really, there are no pedestrians walking out in the street. Everyone that is here is staying close to their protective shelters because in a town like Sderot, which is so close to the Gaza Strip, you only have 15 seconds to make it to your shelter. And so given that this area, and as well as the rest of the border communities have been consistently targeted over the past few days, the residents of Sderot that have stayed, we're talking about roughly 30% in a town of between 28 and 30,000 residents. They're hunkering down at home. You don't see a lot of civilian vehicles driving around. And the few that do try to make it out as fast as possible because this is, Sderot specifically is not a closed military zone, but just a few, less than a mile that way, the whole strip surrounding the Gaza Strip is a closed military zone. And that is because this is where the military is preparing its forces for this imminent ground invasion that is expected to take place at least according to Israeli high-ranking officials in the very near future. Thank you, Ari, for that report from the ground and stay safe out there. Come back to the studio for one more element here.  We know the United States sending two carrier strike groups and a firepower to level a nation and a very obvious threat to Israel's regional enemies. What is the political considerations that the United States is going to be looking at of whether or not to activate these strike groups? I think political considerations zero. The considerations are absolutely geopolitical entirely. I really truly imagine that the Biden administration simply isn't thinking about politics, that this is above politics. They see this as part of the US commitment to its allies, a statement about US commitment to its allies. At a time when China and Russia are rising powers, Arielle. And if the US-Israel bond would be broken, I think American allies around the world wouldn't be able to trust the United States. I mean, obviously Joe Biden feels this personally, as does Anthony Blinken. That was very, very clear to all of us last week. But as a hard matter of real politic, this has to matter to the United States. And by the way, I think it has to matter to American policymakers and strategists, irregardless of how they feel about the US-Israel relationship itself. Maybe they feel it was a mistake. Maybe they feel the United States has over-invested in Israel. Be that all as it may, the US-Israel alliance is a fact on the ground going back decades. And if that were to be broken in any way in a moment like this, what would that mean for Ukraine? What would that mean for US allies in East Asia around the world? It could erode the American position everywhere. I think that's one of the reasons why there was such a sense of urgency here. And the need to ensure that no matter what happens, no matter what happens, that Israel wins the war, whatever the cost, whatever the scenario, to absolutely ensure that Israel wins the war. And I think that Nabi Malamud was getting to that point. With the idea that these carries were there to ensure that that would happen. So I think those are the considerations, I think they're fairly decisive. I would imagine that as time goes by, and certainly as the situation in Gaza becomes more complex. I'm sure there'll be political pressure within the United States. But there still is wide support for Israel. The massacre and the scenes that we saw last week will never disappear from the public imagination. But at any rate, this is far beyond politics. This is about something much, much more essential. I'm gonna continue that with you, Avi. Because the United States has put the gun on the table. It's a clear threat to Iran. It's a clear threat to Hezbollah. Is it enough of a threat? Well, as I said before, for the first time I would say, for the last decade, the United States of America basically stands in front of Iran and it said, enough is enough. Up until now, there has been an ongoing, convoluting, appeasing approach to the Iranian regime. The danger was out there.  We have totally and constantly alarmed about the Iranian master plan and the danger the Iranian regime presents to the region. What we see right now is the manifestation of this danger in a very severe scenario. As I said before, the United States of America right now building its military power in the region, okay? And that, as I said before, the Iranian regime now have to make a decision. If it's going to intervene, he's going to lose strategic cards because he's going to be severely beaten in Syria. He's probably going to be severely beaten in Lebanon if he's going to do a move sending Hamas and Hezbollah into the war. You don't appease evil. You eliminate evil. And I would like to add one more thing about the context of the United States of America. United States of America has lost its image as a superpower in the region basically because it was unable to project power. The most clear signal for a power is the ability or the fact that you don't use the power. You only project power and that should be enough. President Biden say one word. Can I point out right now, because on the topic of projecting power, we're seeing on screen a live image of some airstrikes going down in the Gaza Strip as Israel prepares the way for ground forces in the imminent invasion they have promised. But before that, we are going to go back to analyzing the situation with the United States and its support of it. So I was saying before, Arielle, that in Biden's amazing speech, the very inspiring and powerful speech that he gave, there were many, many great things that he said. There was one word that captured my attention. The word was don't. It was meant to capture your attention. He said, I have one word. I have one word. With a colon. Don't. There was no belly dancing of rhetoric. There was no convoluting statements. There was no calling for whatever. One word. Don't. This is projection of power. And when it is backed with actions on the ground and with the clear understanding on the other side, that the United States of America will not hesitate to use that power to secure its strategic interests. This is projection of power. This is a pivotal moment. In the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a pivotal moment in the story of the Middle East. It is a pivotal moment in the story of the relationship of the United States of America in the region and beyond the region, as you very accurately mentioned. This is the time where the United States of America can and should rehabilitate its declining image. Can and should rehabilitate its power in the region. The United States of America can use this moment as a moment to basically come back big time in the Middle East. You say it can, you say it should. The question is, is Biden bluffing? I don't think that he's bluffing. He can't be bluffing. He made the speech to the entire world. He said, there's one word, don't. I don't think he's bluffing. Look, he's sending military power. Right now, as I said before, I have to reiterate it. There is enough aerial power in the neighborhood to eliminate Iran's assets in Syria and basically take out the whole Iranian master plan and basically totally neutralize it. What about the Iranian military itself? The Iranian military, this is something very important to understand about Iran. Iran has a very vicious and sophisticated mindset and code of action. The Iranians are not sacrificing Iranians. The Iranian regime are sacrificing Yemenites, Lebanese, Syrians, Israelis, Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Shiites, and so on and so on. The presence of Iran in Syria is mostly based upon those militias that are begged by the Iranians. There is presence of Iranian revolutionary guards, but in the end of the day, one of the most staggering thing when you look at the Iranian master plan and the way they have been entrenching themselves across the Middle East was that they were able to deploy these armies of terror, basically sacrificing everybody in the region other than the Iranians. So one of the most significant component in the Iranian master plan of taking over the Middle East is a concept that is called the land corridor. We are looking at the Iranian attempt to create land corridor stretching from Iran, crossing through Iraq, because Iraq to a large extent is under a major Iranian influence, entering Syria and ending up in Lebanon. The critical component of that land corridor is located in Syria. In the eastern part of Syria, very close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, there is a military compound that the Iranian build. This is a transition point for the Iranian militias moving into Syria. That compound can be taken out by aerial strike in a minutes. And all this land corridor could be wiped in a minutes because as I said before, there is a massive aerial force right now gathering in the Middle East that Israel and the United States should deploy, should activate if the Iranians are going to send the Hezbollah into the war. Now the Iranian have to face the dilemma and they should understand if they are stepping in, their whole master plan is going to be collapsed. So what would be the trigger for the United States or Israel to act directly against Iran? Massive involvement of the Hezbollah in the war. But Ariel's question is very specific, to act against, I understood your question correctly, to act against Iran itself, because if Iran's entire strategy, I think I'm taking your question separately, if Iran's entire strategy is based on the fact that it won't sacrifice Iranians, maybe the strategy has to be to force them to sacrifice Iranians, at least their military targets and assets. Well, that one option, I don't think that's the right option to move in. The Iranians don't really care if they're going to sacrifice and then it will play to the end of the day. There are enough assets of the Iranians outside of Iran and outside of the direct control of the Iranians. There are enough assets of the Iranians that are very significant for the Iranians and those assets could be taken out. The United States of America will not attack Iranian-backed assets in Iraq, for example. That would be not wise thing to do. But Syria, that could be right thing to do. There is one more component about Syria that we have to take into consideration. There was a piece of news. The United States deployed another jets in Jordan. Why is it so significant? Because Jordan is also facing the threat of the Iranian militias in the south part of Syria. This could be a golden opportunity for the United States of America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the states that are threatened by the Iranians. This could be a golden opportunity to take down, to dismantle the Iranian strategic structure that was built in Syria. In Syria. And when you do that, you are basically crippling totally the Iranian master plan. What should be the condition for that? The message is there. If Hezbollah is going to join the war, Syria is on the table. The Iranian assets are on the tables. And by the way, notice that. There has been some sporadic, I would even say symbolic attacks from Syria to Israel. Didn't cause anything serious, nothing so dramatic. Did you notice what was the Israeli response? Attacking the airports of Damascus and Aleppo. The message is very simple. You will open another front. You are going to lose your major assets in Syria. Take it into consideration. And that has to be backed by actions on the ground if circumstances call for that. We have less than a minute left. So I guess if we can answer this very briefly. There's a threat on the table. You said Iran's built this ring of fire. They had in the first 48 hours before direct U.S. involvement the opportunity to activate Hezbollah. Why didn't they? They lost the edge of supplies. Basically the situation in Lebanon is very, very sensitive. Lebanon is a collapsing state. One of the possible outcome of a massive war between Israel and Hezbollah would be the total disintegration of Lebanon which will involve maybe a civil war at this scenario. Hezbollah will have to divert attention to what's going on in Lebanon. And there is another significant issue. One of course is the American immediate. A ultimatum or sort of like strong American signal from the early days of the war to the Iranians and the Hezbollah that deterred them. And then there is another thing, the pictures that are coming out from Gaza sleep. Hezbollah looks at the picture, it adds to their dilemma. Thank you very much for helping us understand the why's and the how's. For everyone else, we're out of time.  Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us, we don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Good morning from Tel Aviv and welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at War. I'm Ariel Levin-Waldman. We are now entering the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the South. Now in the North, the military reports preliminary intelligence of a direct hit on the village of Shdulla, with Saudi media reporting that a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were fired into Israel. Local media is reporting at least one severe injury. The IDF has also just announced that humanitarian corridor is open from 10 o'clock that's right now until one o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. Now the military will not strike along this route for the next three hours. The Israeli Defense Forces said they are completing their preparations for significant ground operations in the Gaza Strip as they continue to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nyanyou spoke to Biden on Saturday for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning that ground campaign against Hamas. The US has confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. There it will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group currently on route to Israel. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says this additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to widen this war following Hamas' attack. That show of forces coming because Iran has threatened to directly join the war. An Axios report Saturday claimed that Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel through the UN saying Iran will intervene directly if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas' Politburo chief Ismail Hanea according to Iran's state media. No details about that meeting have been released yet. But before we discuss anything else, we are going to be joined on the phone by our reporter, P.S. Stechelbach, who is on Israel's northern border. What do we know about this recent strike in Shatula? Right, Ariel. Just a few minutes ago, really shot for fire at the village of Shatula, which is located in the upper Galilee, really, really close to the Lebanese border, and we are hearing that one resident is in serious condition. There are different reports about the number of injured, at least three. Is that what we're seeing are injured? Now, we're hearing from a report that mortar shells and anti-armor missiles were fired from Lebanon towards Shula. And according to an IDF statement, the IDF is trying to strike back towards the origin of the fire in Lebanon. And that really, again, shows you how volatile and sensitive the situation there in the north is right now. There are no clear instructions from the Hong Kong command to leave areas within specific proximity to the border with Lebanon. However, we do know that smaller towns that are only a few kilometers away from the border that residents in that were recommended to evacuate. For example, yesterday, when Shnomi in another village very, very close to the border, there was almost a void of residents were actually surprised that we were able to enter as the army had to stop that village for several days throughout this week. Now, we're in Arria, which is about 10 miles away from the border with Lebanon. Here, we were just told by the municipality that they have prepared for any possible situation, that they are preparing the public shelters that has about 40% of the residents here in Arria do not have a private shelter in their homes. They're saying that they're filling the shelters with food and water to prepare for any kind of scenarios. Arria, we were talking about different scenarios of threat here in the north, not only rockets, that we've been seeing, for example, mostly yesterday night, rockets being fired from here right here into the north. This morning, there was an alert also in the Genelie area, the idea of saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target coming from the air. But residents here are also concerned for possible infiltration attempt from the ground. This is also what we've been seeing here. The Israeli army apprehending an attempt yesterday morning and also in the evening, coming from southern Lebanon, apparently, also spread by his valla. So the north is quite tense now for this recent incident in Shula. Again, thoughts were fired against towards this community. They are very, very close to the Lebanese border in the Genelie region, the upper Genelie, one in Syria's condition, and the few people also reportedly injured there in Shula, Israel. And we've been seeing for almost a week now these provocations from Hezbollah. Can you give us a quick overview of what we've seen so far? Well, premises definitely have increased and are still increasing between Israel and Hezbollah. As I said, this morning, there was an alert in the Genelie as well. Yesterday, there was a major incident where Hezbollah fired 30 mortar shells toward an Israeli army post in the area of Ardol, that it is a disputed area in the eastern area of the Israeli Lebanese border. Family close to Syria that met Israel to strike back at Shula. Later said that one of its members had been killed. Israel saying that they apprehended an infiltration attempt by a squad trying to fire an entire tank. Miss Al-Den earlier yesterday morning, another attempt by three Palestinians apparently operating under Nizmallah's command to infiltrate in the northern area of the Israeli Lebanese border close to the town of Mahmoud Ali of there, also apprehended. And really, sandwiches have increased now also against the fact of that, we see that more and more, we're asking more and more the question, what terms Iran is involved also in the ambush of last week. Now, also leading happening between the Iranian foreign minister and Hezbollah only two days ago. The area here is quite sensitive. We've seen that Hezbollah time and time again, especially in recent months, has called upon, has a certain Israel to attack Israel, has expressed solidarity for, they have poor Hamas as well. They have now saying this is also in line with what the Iran foreign minister has been saying, that they're very closely monitoring the events, monitoring Israel's looming ground, offensive in Gaza, and will respond in accordance. And we really see that the skirmishes here are increasing, especially attempts, infiltration attempts, coming from the Lebanon, which are attributed to Hezbollah. So we will be continuing to do later in the day as the situation develops. Thank you for those updates from the front. We're going to move slightly away from direct combat operations because we have to discuss the fate of between 150 to 200 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and to Gaza. The relatives of those hostages spoke out at the United Nations over the weekend to plead for the return of their loved ones that were kidnapped during that savage assault on Israeli civilian population centers. They were joined by US ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfeld, who told relatives, the United States is working to secure the release of these children who will never be the same again. Let's take a quick listen to some of these pleas at the UN. On Saturday, October 7th, Sharon and her husband David and their three-year-old twins, Emma and Julie, along with Danielle and her five-year-old daughter, Emilia, were brutally kidnapped from Kibbutz near Oz. The Kibbutz was ravaged by terrorists as they hid in their bomb shelter for hours until it filled with smoke and they could not hide any longer, at which point Sharon sent a voice note to my aunt. We're not going to make it, we love you. A video began floating around on social media of hostages in a truck, Yoni's family, and we spotted them. I can see David crouched down holding one of their baby girls, and I see Sharon and her hair from the back as she holds on to what looks like Emilia so tightly. This horrific scene will not stop replaying in my mind. Hersh is in dire need of medical care. Hersh sent two texts to his mom on that Saturday morning. The first three words, I love you. The second two words, I'm sorry. That is the last that any of us have heard from Hersh, Goldberg, Poland. We urge all civilized people to work to free Hersh and all the other hostages as soon as possible. And similar calls in Israel as the mother of hostages, mothers of hostages claim that the horror of this event eclipses much of the disunity in Israel and said this is a time for all of Israel to unite, to get their children back. Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters. Our children are at home. I can't hear, I can't hear anything like this. We are here together. We are under, under the two of us who are already living. We are under, my father is not going to die. He is going to die three times in one fight and two. Die, die, just kill it. And now joining us on the line, someone who is part of the wider efforts to return these hostages. Professor Hagai Levine, head of the medical team at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Dr. I understand you have been working with the International Red Cross to ascertain the conditions of the kidnapped. What do we know right now? We know that at least 150 Israelis and people of other nationalities are kept as hostage civilians, innocent people that are kept hostage by the Hamas. We know that many of them have critical need for medical care, for medications. Some of them were wounded, where their arm amputated or lost a lot of blood and they need urgent medical care, not only to prevent complications and deaths, but also to prevent the torture and the suffering from their illnesses. You can see here is Ariel, a false old, and his brother, who is nine months old, who need to do a baby formula are kept. We have elderly people with Parkinson's, with dementia, who are just imagining the suffering from being hostage and not getting medical treatment. We demand from the Red Cross and from all leaders of the countries in the world to now to allow humanitarian corridor to bring medical care and medical attention to those suffering people. I must tell you, it's also against the Islam. In the Islam to torture hostages is haram. It's something that is not done and denying them for medical treatment now is haram. Doctor, we have seen nothing but videos of Hamas brutality in humanity and savagery over the past week now. Is there any indication that they have anything there to show even basic humanity in this case and let any medical intervention in? The Hamas, I hope that they will at least do the very least of being human, which of course, as you said, they didn't show. But the Hamas have collaborators and allies and people and countries and organizations that are in contact with, for example, the leaders of the Hamas are now in Qatar. So I'm sure that the leaders of Qatar can put pressure on the Hamas for the very least. Of course, we pray and hope and work for the immediate release of all these innocent civilians, but at least to get the medical care. So the leaders of Qatar and Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I speak with healthcare professionals from these countries and all healthcare professionals around the world are united in this basic thing.  Every moment, every hour, it's unimaginable, suffering and risk. It's ticking ball with someone with diabetes who does not get his insulin right now. Just imagine how horrific it is. And I can give you, we provided the red course with a list that we got from the families with specific needs. It's unbelievable. I'm going to interrupt here just to bring up another urgent breaking news updates. There are rocket alert sirens sounding in southern Israel as we speak right now. The South is once again under bombardment from rocket attack. We're going to have more on that as more information comes out. But this is breaking right as we speak. We're going to return now to Dr. Hagai as we figure out what's going on. When we met on Friday, I escorted the families for the meeting with the Red Cross. During the meeting, there was an alarm for missile attack on Tel Aviv. But I'm saying regardless of anything else, this is a humanitarian issue. We need now humanitarian corridor to allow them to get medical treatment now for the wounded and for the people within us. And as you said, this is unbelievable from nine months years old to 87 years old. It's just something we cannot accept in the world. It's a crime against humanity what they did and what they're doing now to deny medical treatment. Has your organization actually managed to make any inroads with these third party governments that might be able to pressure Hamas more effectively?  And we got a lot of support from countries and organizations, for example, from medical and health organizations around the world. So there is a lot of activity internationally, diplomacy, the media and people that show their support. And I'm saying for the very least because people say, yes, I want to support. Put a pressure on the country leaders to demand from the Hamas and from the Red Cross, this humanitarian corridor. That is what the very least that is needed right now. And you know, it's warming the hearts that you get so much support around the world, but it's not enough. We should act. Thank you very much, Professor Levin. And best of luck with your efforts. Let's hope they bear some fruit. We're going to return now to our studio where we have a discussion panel or in front of us. This is Rafael Urshami, former senior intelligence officer at the IDF and Daniel Shek, former Israeli ambassador. Thank you for being with us as we discuss all possible aspects of the war that's been launched on us. And now that Israel is forced to respond to Daniel. We're hearing about these international efforts to free the hostage. And we're also seeing the United States has brought two carrier strike groups to intervene if this conflict goes wider. Ultimately, what do we know about how much, what situation is the United States really in here? Are they committed to this course of action or is this a threat and a bluff? No, no, I don't think there is anything of a bluff here. I don't know the contours or the outline of what they plan. But I think that in the world of diplomacy and geopolitics, moving such a significant military force into a certain area is most of all a statement, a statement of concern and of commitment. And it is certainly to a large degree in order to show solidarity and concern about the fate of Israel and Israelis, but it's not the only motivation. The United States certainly does not want this area to erupt into some kind of regional crisis that will necessitate international attention and take it away from the war in Ukraine, for example, give ideas to certain countries in East Asia. They are certainly not content with the situation that exists today, but if they can contain it to a war in the South between Israel and Hamas, I think that is the main objective currently. Now, the issue of the abducted people, that is on a different level. That's a humanitarian thing. And Professor Levine described a little bit the action that we're seeing here. The United States certainly will try and play a role. And again, not only because of its personal involvement with the number of American citizens being held in Gaza, but also because in general, the United States is an advocate of human rights and humanitarian issues. And the order of magnitude of this situation this time that we are confronting, not one or two or three abducted people, but over 100, and as Professor Levine said, from nine months to 87 years old, that is completely uncharted territory. And I really hope that both the international community, and yes, even Hamas and the people who have leverage on them will understand that this is a completely unacceptable situation. And staying with the international arena, we've seen calls all over Europe, all over the rest of the Middle East, demanding ceasefire, demanding de-escalation. Obviously, this is not something Israel can do at this time. What sort of pressure are they gonna put on us? Certainly not, but everyone in this scenario plays a role. And the international community's role is not to encourage a war to go on. Even if the French and the Germans and even the UN, they're not more naive than anyone else, and they probably understand that this is not something realistic that Israel or Hamas, for that matter, will respond to. But that is their role. Their role is to try and bring about a ceasefire, to stop fighting, to stop killing, et cetera. And they will continue to demand it. The question is, at what point, it will not just be calls for it, but escalating pressure on the sides to ceasefire. I don't think that is around the corner. Okay, we're gonna move now to you, Rafael, because I wanna look at the tactical situation on the ground ahead of this ground operation in Gaza. Ultimately, what does the Air Force need to finish accomplishing before the ground troops move in? Well, right now it is busy destroying infrastructure to disrupt the chain of command between the commanders and the warriors of the Hamas and the Islamic jihad, which forces, as we've seen, some of them to come out of their hiding places because we're also disrupting the chains of communication, command and communication, in which forces commanders to come out, to speak to their troops, to direct operations. They can't stay indefinitely hiding in the bunker, and that's when we can hit them. The Air Force also has a long, long list of targets. It's far from having hit them all. It could go on for a while, but at some point we have also to concern ourselves with entering Gaza, Gaza City. So right now they are also trying to destroy, as much as they can, also with drones, all the obstacles and traps that Hamas has been preparing for months in view of this terrestrial entry. So the Air Force is trying to destroy. For instance, there are anti-tank obstacles that have been put in certain areas that the Air Force is trying. Anything that could look like a surveillance system or a spying system on the roof, or it should be destroyed, explode mines, whatever we can do to avoid, as much as possible, all the dangers and threats that are prepared for our soldiers on the ground. And before we do anything else, we are going to move to our Middle East correspondent, Ariel O'Sarron, who is on the border of Gaza. He's in Stero. That's one of the cities on the border where you've been monitoring the situation. Give us the latest what's going on there and these preparations for ground operations. Right, Ariel, so after over 12 hours of no rockets or sirens here in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip, siren blaring in the border community of Nakhaloz, so far we have no indication of any injuries. And generally, we shouldn't expect at least any civilian casualties given that all these border communities have been evacuated as far as the town of Sderot. It's not been completely evacuated. Still about 30% of locals remain here. Now, as for the Gaza Strip, I made calls by the Israeli military for residents of the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head their way south. The corridor that Israel had opened is currently in effect. It started about 20 minutes ago and will be open for the next five hours until 1 p.m. local time. During that time, Gazans living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip are gonna be allowed to make it down south safely as Israel has opened. This is the second day that Israel's opening this humanitarian corridor to allow a safe passage of Gazans from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as it has indicated that that is where it's gonna be concentrating most of the fighting once it enters with its ground incursion, something that is expected to happen very soon. Thank you, Ariel. Stay safe out there. We're gonna come back to you over the course of the day for updates on this. Now, for other updates, we did just hear from the north border residents have been advised by the military to evacuate within four kilometers. It's about two and a half miles from the border and Hezbollah just took credit for the shelling of Israeli positions along the northern border. I'm gonna turn it back to Raphael in our studio to understand, well, Hezbollah hasn't formally commit the bulk of their forces to this. They're launching these sort of probing attacks at Israel to test the waters, test the response. What's their go at the probing attacks or when do they actually commit? Well, they're actually on the wait for two things. Orders from Tehran, which Nassan Hezbollah might obey or might not obey because he has a certain context inside Lebanon and also a certain calculation as to what he's risking by entering this conflict that even though he would get the order from Tehran, might not necessarily obey it because this is a huge, huge stake. And given the determination these Israelis right now, it doesn't seem very advisable to start with annoying us. Still, he has a dilemma. On the one hand, he has lost the effect of surprise and the IDF is already must its troops and equipment on the border, the present is there, we're waiting for him, we're ready for him. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that the response of the IDF is this dosage is not good, it's not the right signal. And yet again, we're missing the deterrence point. Yet again, like we did in the South, we should strike disproportionately.  No, we have to strike much harder to deter and to show that we're not afraid. We're not afraid to start with the Hezbollah, we're not afraid to lead a war of two fronts. So then Hassan Asrallah knows that. But on the other hand, he has an opportunity, he might not have again for a long, long, long time, is that half at least of the IDF is busy in the South. And having all that, all these battalions and all these divisions busy in the South and some of them busy with the West Bank, that's one time opportunity to attack the North. But for that, you would need, and that's what the Iranians are doing, you would need some more support, which is now getting indirectly by Iran who's threatening us with apocalypse as usual. But concretely, with Shi'i militias, pro-Iranian, of course, coming from Iraq into Syria, and the Iranians kind of opening or enlarging the northern front from south Lebanon, 2000 Syria, giving more scope leeway for an attack. So all now, if I would speak into intelligence terms, we need a profiler that could go into our psychiatrist, that could go into Razan Nasrallah's brain and see what he's thinking and what he's calculating. And he's a very, very calculating person, a very complex mind who will weigh the pawns and counts before he makes any move. Well, thank you very much for the analysis, and I guess that's the question hanging over everybody's head here in Israel. What happens next? We're hearing reports from that shelling on the North. There is one dead inside Israel from the attack. Hezbollah has taken credit for. We're going to give you updates on that over the course of the day. We're out of time for now. For everyone here in Israel, stay strong, stay safe. We'll be back soon. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene, and we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us. We don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children, and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant, and we are ready, and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. This particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year. This is where they come to claim for the rain. In fact, at this moment, global warming is affecting Bolivia, not only Bolivia, but all over the world. And we need rain for the embryos. The Vakita Reserve, we have the right ingredients, and we have to do the job. And then if we have the right ingredients and we do the job, the Vakita can be protected. Welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at war. I'm Arielle Levin-Waldman. We are now entering the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the South. Now in the North, the military reports preliminary intelligence of a direct hit on the village of Stulla, with Saudi media reporting that a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were fired into Israel. Local media is reporting at least one severe injury. The IDF has also just announced the humanitarian corridor is open from 10 o'clock, that's right now, until one o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. Now the military will not strike along this route for the next three hours. The Israeli Defense Forces said they are completing their preparations for significant ground operations in the Gaza Strip as they continue to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Yanio spoke to Biden on Saturday for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning that ground campaign against Hamas. The US has confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. There it will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group currently on route to Israel. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says this additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to widen this war following Hamas' attack. That show of forces coming because Iran has threatened to directly join the war. An Axios report Saturday claimed that Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel through the UN saying Iran will intervene directly if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas' Politburo chief Ismail Hanea according to Iran's state media. No details about that meeting have been released yet. But before we discuss anything else we are going to be joined on the phone by our reporter P.S. Stechelbach who is on Israel's northern border. What do we know about this recent strike in Shatullah? Right Ariel, just a few minutes ago really shot for fire at the village of Shatullah which is located in the upper Galilee really really close to the Lebanese border and we are hearing that one resident is in serious condition. There are different reports about the number of injured at least three is that what we are seeing are injured. Now we are hearing from a report that mortar shells and anti-armor missiles were fired from Lebanon towards Shatullah. And according to an IDF statement the IDF is currently striking back towards the origin of the fire in Lebanon. And that really again shows you how volatile and sensitive the situation during the north is right now. There are no clear instructions from the home front command to leave areas within specific proximity to the border with Lebanon. However, we do know that smaller towns that are only few kilometers away from the border that residents that were recommended to evacuate. For example, yesterday when Shnomi in another village very very close to the border that was almost void of residents were actually surprised that we were able to enter as the army had closed off that village for several days throughout this week. Now we are in Aliyah which is about 10 miles away from the border with Lebanon. Here we were just told by the municipality that they have prepared for any possible situation that they're preparing the public shelters as about 40% of the residents here in Aliyah do not have a private shelter in their homes. They're saying that they're filling the shelters with food and water to prepare for any kind of scenarios. Are we're talking about different scenarios of threat here in the north, not only rockets that we've been seeing, for example, hopefully yesterday night two rockets being fired from here right here into the north this morning. There was an alert also in the Galilee area, the idea of saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target coming from the air. But residents here are also concerned for possible infiltration attempt from the ground. This is also what we've been seeing here. The Israeli army apprehending an attempt yesterday morning and also in the evening coming from Southern Lebanon apparently operated by Hizballah. So the north is quite tense now for this recent incident in Shula. Again, shots were fired against towards this community. They're very, very close to the Lebanese border in the Genedi region, the Upper Genedi. One in serious condition and a few people also reportedly injured there in Shula, Israel. And we've been seeing for almost a week now these provocations from Hizballah. Can you give us a quick overview of what we've seen so far? Well, services definitely have increased and are still increasing between Israel and Hizballah. As I said this morning, there was an alert in the Genedi as well. Yesterday there was a major incident where Hizballah fired 13 motor shells toward an Israeli army post in the area of Ardol. But it is in the disputed area in the eastern area of the Israeli Lebanese border. Fandicoats, Syria, that met Israel to strike back. Hizballah later said that one of its members had been killed. Israel's saying that they apprehended an infiltration attempt by a squad trying to fire an anti-tank missile then earlier yesterday morning. Another attempt by three Palestinians apparently operating under Hizballah's command to infiltrate in the northern area of the Israeli Lebanese border close to the town of Mahdali of there. Also apprehended. Every new sandwiches have increased. Now also against the fact of that, we see that more and more we're asking more and more the question, what turns Iran is involved also in the ambush of last week. Now, also leading happening between the Iranian foreign minister and the Hefa Nasrallah only two days ago. The area here is quite sensitive. We've seen that Hizballah time and time again, especially in recent months, has called upon, has a certain Israel to attack Israel, has expressed solidarity for, I'll say some, you have Tor Hamas as well. There is now saying this is also in line with what the Iran foreign minister has been saying, that they're very closely monitoring the events, monitoring Israel's looming ground offensive in Gaza and will respond in accordance. And we really see that the skirmishes here are increasing, especially attempts, infiltration attempts coming from the Alemanon, which are attributed to Iran. So we will be continuing to do later in the day as the situation develops. Thank you for those updates from the front. We're going to move slightly away from direct combat operations because we have to discuss the fate of between 150 to 200 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and to Gaza. The relatives of those hostages spoke out at the United Nations over the weekend to plead for the return of their loved ones that were kidnapped during that savage assault on Israeli civilian population centers. They were joined by US Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfeld who told relatives the United States is working to secure the release of these children who will never be the same again. Let's take a quick listen to some of these pleas at the UN. On Saturday, October 7th, Sharon and her husband David and their three-year-old twins, Emma and Julie, along with Danielle and her five-year-old daughter Amelia were brutally kidnapped from Kibbutz near Oz. The Kibbutz was ravaged by terrorists as they hid in their bomb shelter for hours until it filled with smoke and they could not hide any longer, at which point Sharon sent a voice note to my aunt. We're not going to make it, we love you. A video began floating around on social media of hostages in a truck, Yoni's family, and we spotted them. I can see David crouched down holding one of their baby girls, and I see Sharon and her hair from the back as she holds onto what looks like Amelia so tightly. This horrific scene will not stop replaying in my mind. Hersh is in dire need of medical care. Hersh sent two texts to his mom on that Saturday morning. The first three words, I love you. The second two words, I'm sorry. That is the last that any of us have heard from Hersh Goldberg, Poland. We urge all civilized people to work to free Hersh and all the other hostages as soon as possible. And similar calls in Israel as the mothers of hostages claim that the horror of this event eclipses much of the disunity in Israel and said, this is a time for all of Israel to unite to get their children back. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My brothers and sisters, our kids, I can't hear the sound of the door opening. I can't hear anything like that. Don't come here, eat. Don't come here, don't come here. Don't come here, don't come here. Don't come here, don't come here. Don't come here, don't come here. My father didn't write a letter, he wrote three letters in one letter. Die, die, they smell it. And now joining us on the line, someone who is part of the wider efforts to return at these hostages. Professor Hagai Levine, head of the medical team at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Dr. I understand you have been working with the International Red Cross to ascertain the conditions of the kidnapped. What do we know right now? We know that at least 150 Israelis and people of other nationalities are kept as hostage civilians, innocent people that are kept hostage by the Hamas. We know that many of them have critical need for medical care, for medications. Some of them were wounded, their arm amputated or lost a lot of blood and they need urgent medical care not only to prevent complications and deaths, but also to prevent the torture and the suffering from their illnesses. You can see here is Ariel, a false old, and his brother who is nine months old who need to do a baby formula are kept. We have elderly people with Parkinson's, with dementia, who are just imagining the suffering from being hostage and not getting medical treatment. We demand from the Red Cross and from all leaders of the countries in the world to now to allow humanitarian corridor to bring medical care and medical attention to those suffering people. I must tell you, it's also against the Islam. In the Islam to torture hostages is haram. It's something that is not done and denies them for medical treatment now is the haram. Doctor, we have seen nothing but videos of Hamas brutality in humanity and savagery over the past week now. Is there any indication that they have anything there to show even basic humanity in this case and let any medical interest session in? The Hamas, I hope that they will at least do the very least of being human, which of course, as you said, they didn't show, but the Hamas have collaborators and allies and people and countries and organizations that are in contact with, for example, the leaders of the Hamas are now in Qatar. So I'm sure that the leaders of Qatar can put pressure on the Hamas for the very least. Of course, we pray and hope and work for the immediate release of all these innocent civilians, but at least to get the medical care. So the leaders of Qatar and Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I speak with healthcare professionals from these countries and all healthcare professionals around the world are united in this basic thing. If people need immediate medical care, give them the care they need, the clock is ticking. Every moment, every hour, it's unimaginable suffering and risk. It's ticking about someone with diabetes who does not get his insulin right now. Just imagine how horrific it is. And I can give you, we provided the red cross with a list that we got from the families with specific needs. I'm going to interrupt here just to bring up another urgent breaking news updates. There are rocket alert sirens sounding in southern Israel as we speak right now. The south is once again under bombardment from rocket attack. When we have more on that, as more information comes out, but this is breaking right as we speak. We're going to return now to Dr. Hagai as we figure out what's going on. When we met on Friday, I escorted the families for the meeting with the red cross. During the meeting, there was an alarm for missile attack on Tel Aviv. But I'm saying, regardless of anything else, this is a humanitarian issue. We need now humanitarian corridor to allow them to get medical treatment now for the wounded and for the people within us. And as you said, this is unbelievable. From nine months years old to 87 years old, it's just something we cannot accept in the world. It's a crime against humanity what they did and what they are doing now to deny medical treatment. Has your organization actually managed to make any inroads with these third-party governments that might be able to pressure Hamas more effectively? We have, you know, and I'm here at the headquarters and also, you know, the Israeli government is doing what they are doing and we got a lot of support from countries and organizations, for example, from medical and health organizations around the world. So there is a lot of activity internationally, diplomacy, the media and people that show the support. And I'm saying for the very least, because people say, yes, I want to support, put a pressure on the country leaders to demand from the Hamas and from the red cross, this humanitarian corridor. That is what the very least that is needed right now.  We should act. Thank you very much, Professor Levin, and best of luck with your efforts. Let's hope they bear some fruit. We're going to return now to our studio where we have a discussion panel or in front of us. This is Rafael Yershalmi, former senior intelligence officer at the IDF and Daniel Shek, former Israeli ambassador. Thank you for being with us as we discuss all possible aspects of the war that's been launched on us. And now that Israel is forced to respond to Daniel, we're hearing about these international efforts to free the hostage. And we're also seeing the United States has brought two carrier strike groups to intervene if this conflict goes wider. Ultimately, what do we know about how much, what situation is the United States really in here? Are they committed to this course of action? Or is this a threat and a bluff? No, no, I don't think there is anything of a bluff here. I don't know the contours or the outline of what they plan, but I think that in, you know, in the world of diplomacy and geopolitics, moving such a significant military force into a certain area is most of all a statement, a statement of concern and of commitment. And it is certainly to a large degree in order to show solidarity and concern about the fate of Israel and Israelis, but it's not the only motivation. The United States certainly does not want this area to erupt into some kind of regional crisis that will that will necessitate international attention and take it away from the war in Ukraine, for example, give ideas to certain countries in East Asia. They are certainly not content with the situation that exists today, but if they can contain it to a war in the south between Israel and Hamas, I think that is the main objective currently. Now, the issue of the abducted people, that is on a different level. That's a humanitarian thing. And Professor Levine described a little bit the action that we're seeing here. The United States certainly will try and play a role. And again, not only because of its personal involvement with the number of American citizens being held in Gaza, but also because in general, the United States is an advocate of human rights and humanitarian issues. And the order of magnitude of this situation this time that we are confronting not one or two or three abducted people, but over a hundred. And as Professor Levine said, from nine months to 87 years old, that is completely uncharted territory. And I really hope that both the international community and yes, even Hamas and the people who have leverage on them will understand that this is a completely unacceptable situation. And staying with the international arena, we've seen calls all over Europe, all over the rest of the Middle East demanding ceasefire, demanding de-escalation. Obviously, this is not something Israel can do at this time. What sort of pressure are they going to put on us? Certainly not. But you know, everyone in this scenario plays a role. And the international community's role is not to encourage a war to go on. Even if the French and the Germans and even the UN, they're not more naive than anyone else. And they probably understand that this is not something realistic that Israel or Hamas, for that matter, will respond to. But that is their role. Their role is to try and bring about a ceasefire, to stop fighting, to stop killing, et cetera. And they will continue to demand it. The question is, at what point it will not just be calls for it, but escalating pressure on the sides to ceasefire. I don't think that is around the corner. We're going to move now to you, Rafael, because I want to look at the tactical situation on the ground ahead of this ground operation in Gaza. Ultimately, what does the Air Force need to finish accomplishing before the ground troops move in? Right now, it is busy destroying infrastructure to disrupt the chain of command between commanders and the warriors of the Hamas and the Islamic jihad, which forces, as we've seen, some of them to come out of their hiding places because we're also disrupting the chains of communication, command and communication, in which forces commanders to come out to speak to their troops, to direct operations. They can't stay indefinitely hiding in the bunker. And that's when we can hit them. The Air Force also has a long, long list of targets. It's far from having hit them all. It could go on for a while. But at some point, we have also to concern ourselves with entering Gaza, Gaza City. So right now, they are also trying to destroy as much as they can, also with drones. All the obstacles and traps that Hamas has been being preparing for months in view of this terrestrial entry. So the Air Force is trying to destroy, for instance, there are anti-tank obstacles that have been put in certain areas that the Air Force is drawing. Anything that could look like a surveillance system or a spying system on the roofs or it should be destroyed, explode mines, whatever we can do to avoid, as much as possible, all the dangers and threats that are prepared for our soldiers on the ground. And before we do anything else, we are going to move to our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Oceran, who is on the border of Gaza. He's in Stero. He's one of the, that's one of the cities on the border where you've been monitoring the situation. Give us the latest what's going on there and these preparations for ground operations. Right, Ariel. So after over 12 hours of no rockets or sirens here in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip, siren blaring in the border community of Nakhaloz, so far we have no indication of any injuries. And generally, we shouldn't expect at least any civilian casualties given that all these border communities have been evacuated as far as the town of Sderot. It's not been completely evacuated. Still about 30% of locals remain here. Now as for the Gaza Strip, amid calls for these by the Israeli military for residents of the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head their way south, the corridor that Israel had opened is currently in effect. It started about 20 minutes ago and will be open for the next five hours until one p.m. local time. During that time, Gazans living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip are going to be allowed to make it down south safely as Israel as open. This is the second day that Israel is opening this humanitarian corridor to allow the safe passage of Gazans from the northern part of the Gaza Strip as it has indicated that that is where it's going to be concentrating most of the fighting once it enters with its ground incursion, something that is expected to happen very soon. Thank you, Arielle. Stay safe out there. We're going to come back to you over the course of the day for updates on this. Now for other updates, we did just hear from the north border residents have been advised by the military to evacuate within four kilometers. It's about two and a half miles from the border and Hezbollah just took credit for the shelling of Israeli positions along the northern border. I'm going to turn it back to Rafael in our studio to understand, well, Hezbollah hasn't formally commit the bulk of their forces to this. They're launching these sort of probing attacks at Israel to test the waters, test the response. What's their go at the probing attacks or when do they actually commit? Well, they're actually on the wait for two things, orders from Tehran, which Nassan Hezbollah might obey or might not obey because he has a certain context inside Lebanon and also a certain calculation as to what he's risking by entering this conflict that even though he would get the order from Tehran, he might not necessarily obey it because this is a huge, huge stake. And given the determination he's right now, it doesn't seem very advisable to start with annoying us. Still, he has a dilemma. On the one hand, he has lost the effect of surprise and the IDF has already masked its troops and equipment on the border. The President is there. We are waiting for him. We're ready for him. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that the response of the IDF is this dosage is not good. It's not the right signal. Yet again, we're missing the deterrence point. Yet again, like we did in the South, we should strike disproportionately.  We are now shooting back with mortar fire. No, we have to strike much harder to deter and to show that we're not afraid. We're not afraid to start with the Hezbollah. We're not afraid to lead a war of two fronts. So then Hassan Asrallah knows that. But on the other hand, he has an opportunity he might not have again for a long, long, long time is that half at least of the IDF is busy in the South. And having all that, all these battalions and all these divisions busy in the South and some of them busy with the West Bank, that's one time opportunity to attack the North. But for that, you would need, and that's what the Iranians are doing, you would need some more support, which is now getting indirectly by Iran is threatening us with apocalypse as usual. But concretely, with Shi'i militias, pro-Iranian, of course, coming from Iraq into Syria and the Iranians kind of opening or enlarging the northern front from south Lebanon, 2000 Syria, giving more scope leeway for an attack. So all now, if I would speak into intelligence terms, we need a profiler that could go into our psychiatrist, that could go into Hassan Asrallah's brain and see what he's thinking and what he's calculating. And he's a very, very calculating person, a very complex mind, who will weigh the pawns and cons before he makes any move. Well, thank you very much for the analysis, and I guess that's the question hanging over everybody's head here in Israel. What happens next? We're hearing reports from that shelling on the north. There is one dead inside Israel from the attack. Hezbollah has taken credit for. We're going to give you updates on that over the course of the day. We're out of time for now. For everyone here in Israel, stay strong, stay safe. We'll be back soon. Over 1,300 casualties and over 3,000 injuries, and the toll keeps climbing. We bring you the testimonies from the front line from those who managed to survive in the most graphic, brutal images so the whole world can see what Hamas did. Follow us as Israel battles a terror threat emanating from the south and the north. Join I-24 News for the real story of what's going on. It's of war. This is a very active scene, and we need to get in the car as we're talking. Within 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly, were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant, and we are ready, and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Good morning from Tel Aviv, and welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at war. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. We have now entered the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the south. In the north, a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were just fired into the Israeli village of Shdulla. Again, David Adam, first responders, are reporting. At least one is dead, three are injured. The Hezbollah terror organization has taken responsibility for the attack, and the military has ordered a total evacuation of the border area for about four kilometers or 2.5 miles, telling everybody to get out of the area. In the south, the IDF has announced the humanitarian corridor is open. That started an hour ago at 10, and will continue until 1 o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. The military said they will not strike this route for the next two hours. IDF also said they are completing their preparations for a significant ground operation in Gaza as it continues to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the Gaza Strip. Military leadership vows to destroy Hamas with a joint coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. The United States has confirmed that it's sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. We're joined by the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which is currently on its way. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, saying this additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to widen the war following the Hamas attack. The show of force coming as Iran threatens to directly join the war with an Axios report satellite claiming their foreign minister threatened Israel through the UN, saying Iran will directly intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza. And before anything else, we are actually going to take an address by the Israeli military live, which will be paraphrased in English by our own alternate. I am not a professional translator. This translation is highly unlikely to be accurate. I take no responsibility for errors. Notice the channel. This is not my profession, but I will do my best after that essential set of caveats. Let's go to Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesperson. The evacuation is continuing. Hundreds of thousands have already evacuated. Hamas is investing energy to stop the process entirely. The detestifies to the possibility of the organization to, we have testimonies that we're publishing that Hamas is trying to prevent actively the civilian population moving southward in Gaza.  Hamas is trying to stop your evacuation. Leave Gaza City, go south. Leave Gaza City, go south. Go south to Gaza. There are conditions down there that will help you survive. I repeat. In that area, there are conditions that will enable you to survive. I want to speak here to the reports international media that Hamas argued that the IDF attacked a convoy that was going south. This is a false report. This is a cynical use of civilians as human shields by Hamas. Hamas is in distress and upset. Its legitimacy in the world is undermined. It's compared to ISIS. It's trying to prevent its citizens from moving south under international criticism. And it's using manipulations around the world. It's continuing and it's, we are trying to continue our public diplomacy. I think that in the coming hours, we'll see more examples. In parallel, these events, we're looking always around to the entire Middle East. We're willing to act in every area in the Middle East to defend the State of Israel. We're in high readiness in all the fronts. The Central Command, our forces are all throughout Judea and Samaria. We're in constant dialogue with settlements to protect them. We ask residents to follow orders, the Home Front Command's orders for another 24 hours online. We sent updated instructions talking about a return to studies. And from here, I want to go back and distress the importance of following instructions to try for your safety to help us to have a safe standard of life. Last night, the Chief of Staff spoke again with the head of SENDCA and spoke with other Chiefs of Staff around the world in around European countries. All support us and our intelligence efforts to help the IDF and its success in the war. We mentioned the support of the United States, which is sending an additional Air Force carrier and other craft have come and will continue to come. This is a continued strengthening, showing the important friendship between the United States and Israel and sends a message to all of our enemies in the Middle East. There is strength, that is, we have a common purpose, common fate in our preparedness in the war. We announced already to 286 families of dead IDF soldiers with Lordhead, also to families of the disappeared and taken hostage. Families that receive the harsh news and we continue to support them as much as possible and will continue to do so to the families of the disappeared and hostages. I want to promise you again, we are doing a process that is a high priority in order to get information that will help you to identify, locate your loved ones. We look to it as a high priority and we're in coordination with Ghal Hirsh who's in charge of this file and other besides the lies that Hamas is disseminating, the correct picture, we are committed to doing this. We are continuing to advance our readiness for the next coming days of the war in the last few hours. A number of civilians were experienced disruptions in their phone and GPS. That was not a cyber attack. We will continue to have strong defenses against cyber attacks against citizens of Israel. The public is requested to follow the orders of the Home Front Command and to give you quality of life during the course of the war, during the course of the fighting. Questions please. Okay, we're going to, and we are going to go back to our studio where we have Danny Aylone, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. as well as our senior correspondent Owen Ultraman with us. I want to start with you Danny because we just heard in the last few minutes right before this started with the press conference on the idea, the United States is now making plans to evacuate U.S. citizens from Israel via the port in Haifa to Cyprus. This is something I don't remember the last time this happened but is a major escalation. Are they expecting the war with Hezbollah North to go hot? Well, it means a real only one thing that they are not certain that they deterrence messages to Iran, whether by very, very sharp declarations of President Biden, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State corroborated also by a gunboat diplomacy, you know, when we have now the strike two, we're going to have two strike groups in the Mediterranean that they are not sure that the Iranians have really understood the severity and also the determination of the United States to stop the Iranians from intervention. And if they do, they will take, you know, the full responsibility for it under the, you know, the brunt of American forces here. And this is why they take it as a precaution to actually evacuate or ask their American citizens here in Israel to leave, maybe bracing the possibility of Iranians or more, I would say, logical is the Hezbollah missiles that can just rain here on Israel. Myself, I am not sure this is the case. I think that the Hezbollah and, of course, everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. You know, we know that it's very hard to decipher the, I would say the craziness and the illogical of our enemies here, the jihadists, whether it's Hezbollah or Hamas. But I think what they're doing is only as a safe face after Iran, as was the one that encouraged Hamas, the Iranians are willing to fight till the last dead body of the Palestinians, till the last dead Lebanese, till the last dead Yemenites and everywhere else in the region. So they have to show some kind of support and that they are in coordination with Hezbollah. Hence, the Iranian foreign minister is in Beirut, was in Beirut, shuttling between Beirut and Damascus to show they care, they're planning, they're doing something, they're trying to deter Israel, Iran. And this is how the context that the Iranian threat that was just given a few hours ago, that if Israel does not stop the operation in Gaza, you know, they will join. I don't think they will. But this is a way to message to their proxies here. Now, Danny, we're going to come right back to you in a moment. But first, because you've just put that in context, we're going to go to our reporter, P. Shtaklabah, who is on the north border right now, where that evacuation order is in place. Anyone within 2.5 miles, four kilometers to the border, is told to get out. Tell us what's going on there. Well, Ariel, it is a bit more than an hour ago that Hezbollah, which immediately claimed responsibility, fired mortar shells and an anti-armor missile to the northern village of Stula. We are hearing that one person was killed from that. Three others were now hospitalized, evacuated to the city of Vanaria. Apparently, this is the first civilian casualty, and I really want to emphasize this on the Israeli side here, close to the northern border. We are hearing that the IDF is closing off the area in a proximity to four kilometers close to the Lebanese border. Residents are called to be extremely vigilant. As you said, two kilometers close to the Lebanese border, people are really called to evacuate or to stay in their shelters right now. But the area that is located that close to the Lebanese border is already quite deserted. We've been in Shlomi yesterday. One of the villages, one of the towns that is about two kilometers away from the Lebanese border that is now affected by these new restrictions. The town is a ghost town, and so do many of these areas here so close to the border. Residents have evacuated days ago. Now, we are seeing an increase of the skirmishes between specifically Israel and Isballah. Yesterday, 30 motor shells were fired toward an IDF post in the area of Haldov, in the eastern area of the Lebanese border. Israel retaliating. By the way, Israel retaliating also now as we speak. When we drove here, we are about seven to eight kilometers away from the Lebanese border right now. We could hear the Israeli artillery striking back. In fact, Isballah having said that they still haven't retaliated. The journalist that was killed two days ago in an exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon and really the area here in the north is very much ready for a looming escalation here on the northern border. Whether that will happen, whether a large-scale escalation will happen, is the question that everybody is asking here and has been asking here for the course of the week. Isballah, time and time again threatening, emphasizing their support for the Palestinian movements here, the Iranian foreign minister. Just having visited Hassan Asrallah, the Isballah leader two days ago here in the north, people are very much ready. We've just spoken to the Naariya municipality city that is about 13 kilometers away from the border. Also there are preparing their public shelters as many people here in the area and the bigger cities don't have private shelters in their homes. So the public shelters are prepared now with food, mattresses, and water here. Now the new restrictions in place. I want to repeat people within the proximity of four kilometers from the Lebanese border are called to be extremely, extremely vigilant. Also stay close to their shelters. But again, this area has deserted, has been deserted before. One, what seems to be civilian casualty here on the Israeli side, from Hisballah fire about an hour ago to the very, very northern town of Stullah village of a bit more than 300 residents and I assume that many of them had left the area before. But as you can see here, the idea of forces behind us are already, they're extremely vigilant and so are they saying the civilians should be. Thank you very much, Pia, for that report from the front state. Stay safe out there and we'll come back to you over the course of the day as the situation develops. Now before we return to our discussion of the tactical and the strategy, there is another unfortunate angle and that is that there are elements of this war that have gone international. Ever since the Hamas massacre a week ago, we have seen rallies supporting Hamas in major cities all around the world and college campuses all around the world and a massive spike in anti-Semitic hate incidents. Discuss more of this at length. We are joined by Carol Noriel, the director of the Israeli brand, Israeli wing of the Anti-Defamation League. Tell us a little bit about what we've seen and how much of a threat this is. Thank you very much. So first of all, let me just begin by saying that as a representative of a Jewish American organization, an organization that works with Jewish communities all over the world, I do want to convey, first of all, an unequivocal message from the Asperjury that is standing with Israel and seeing as the most important issue, the issue of those who were kidnapped and are being held by Hamas in Gaza. That's the first. Second, in terms of what we're seeing with anti-Semitism worldwide, so not only pro-Palestinian protests but really anti-Semitic incidents were seeing a spike globally. We just learned that the French Interior Minister announced that only last week there were 189 anti-Semitic incidents recorded that are related to the latest massacre we're seeing in the UK. We saw a large protest yesterday. We saw 29 protests in the US pro-Palestinian protests and so on. And we have to understand that what we are seeing in those protests are not only support for Hamas but also an attempt to change the narrative, to delegitimize the status of Israel as a whole, delegitimize the existence of the state of Israel from 1948. So really an attempt to shift the conversation to undermine Israel's legitimacy and right to self-defense. And again, all of this is happening in areas, in countries, in capitals where Jewish communities have large presence. And as we know from previous conflicts in 2014 with Protective Edge in 2021 with Guardians of the Wall, this has real implications on Jewish security, on Jewish communities. We see that in the street, in Jewish institutions, synagogue, community center schools and so on. And also we see that on campuses. So it's really something that one cannot ignore and governments have to take care of what they're seeing happening in their own country. And I want to underscore here, and before we get into that, just pointing out there are more rockets hitting the south as we speak. I want to underscore that these are not simply pro-Palestinian protests. We see them even before Israel began its military counterattack, praising Hamas for the massacres itself. We saw them chanting in European capitals, gas the Jews. We saw them waving swastikas at these rallies. And in so many European capitals where they've imported in mass Middle Eastern populations that are hostile to their Jewish communities, is there a significant physical threat to the lives of Jews in these capitals, in these countries? Well, we believe that words lead to deeds. That should be very clear. And when we hear those words, and there's a reason why such demonstrations, by the way, were banned in Germany and in France, because there's an understanding that, first of all, they can lead to anti-Semitic, anti-Semitism, to anti-Semitic incidents. That's one. This is clear support for terrorism and incitement. These demonstrations were banned in major cities. And I think that this really attached to how severe the situation is for Jewish communities. And I also want to say that now I think that all the words see that when there's dehumanization, demonization, the legitimization of Israel's right to exist, and Israelis and Jews, then those ideas lead to such a massacre. Well, thank you, Carol, for helping us understand the situation around the world. We're going to return now to our panel in studio. And I think, Danny, that's actually a good place to pick up. Because while we've seen this massive outflowing of support for Hamas in the middle of Western capitals across the Western world, we've also seen the governments of these nations take a rather strong stand against Hamas, some more so than others. Absolutely. This is the only response you can have. If you're decent, if you are human, this is the only response to such barbarism. And unfortunately, we have some organizations and some individuals which are just engaged in morally reprehensible activities. They're brainwashed. They're filled with hatred.  But unfortunately, they're also those who are useful fools in a way that maybe with a grain of anti-Semitism, they do not, and here they do not hide their sentiment towards Israel and the Jewish people. I think this is something that has to be taken seriously by governments all the way to legislation, if you need to, specific legislation with enforcement against this manifestation of anti-Semitism. Now, simultaneously, while many European governments have said they support Israel, they've also issued calls for de-escalation, for ceasefires. And in doing so, is that almost a tacit endorsement of allowing Hamas to continue its existence? Well, in a way, yes. I mean, well, I'm sure they don't mean it, but this is the real meaning of it. Because if you stop halfway, you did nothing. Then all those victims were just for nothing. And if you do not take out Hamas and neutralize it totally from its not just current military and fighting capabilities, but also future, they have to be outlawed just like the Nazis were outlawed with unconditional surrender. This is the way you deal with such Nazi-like beasts. This is how the Nazis were treated World War II. This is how the Japanese did in World War II. And the Hamas should not be any different than that. So ultimately, what are the immediate steps ahead for how Israel is going to accomplish that goal? And to ensure that the international arena supports Israel in seeing this goal to its ultimate conclusion? Well, I hope that we will get support, but we cannot count on that. But the support now from the international community is only secondary to our survival and to our security here. So we will have to focus on the United States. All we need is to be with the United States. And if the United States is with us, all the rest is secondary. They have shown this great support, which is not only an emotional support, but also it's very, I would say, very important from a strategic point of view, because the Americans, the administration, Biden himself, who is seasoned enough, he still saw the end of World War II, maybe as a young kid, as a baby, but still he is of that generation that remembers what evil is and what devastation they can do if they are not met right away. So the United States is our best friend and ally. And they are the ones that we need to keep abreast with the situation here, to work together with them. And with them, I think the European countries are also joining us. And I think, again, Biden here has shown Churchillian-like leadership also by calling on a special conference call with the major leaders of NATO and Europe, Britain, France, and Germany. And all of them are together with us. Biden understands that what at stake is not just Israel and what's happening in Gaza, although the battle right now is in Gaza. But the war is a global war where you have on the one side, you have the Western civilization. And on the other side, you have the Jihadist countries which are backed by Russia, by China, but mostly it's Iran and its proxies, North Korea. This is the real divide now. And now it's do or die for them. There is no room for any compromise. For them, it's do or die. So we want to make sure that we are not the ones that die, but they do. But that does lead to a question. Israel versus Hamas takes out a powerful Iranian proxy. If Hezbollah does not join the war, it doesn't exactly provide an opportunity to take out other Iranian proxies. In which case, has Israel and the United States actually accomplished much? Well, I would say that this would be something to be discussed very, very seriously. Right now, Israel has no interest to involve Hezbollah because we want to focus on Hamas. And once we got just route out Hamas, and that would involve some really unimaginable sacrifices also for the civil population in Gaza, which really, really feel for them, but they are not our responsibility. Hamas is the one who is perpetrating it. But I believe there are ways to do it. And again, we're not inventing anything new here. With refugees, you deal in the most effective way by moving them out of harm's way, out of the line of fire. And you build for them, let's say 10 cities, and you give them the shelter and the food and water and anything that they need. Only a few years ago, with the butchery of Assad against his own population, four million Syrian refugees fled out of Syria, two million of them stayed in Turkey in 10 cities. This is what should be done here now with the Palestinians. And before we end, thank you very much, Danny. We are going to go to our middle east correspondent, Ariel Osiron, who is on the border with Gaza in the town of Sterot, one of the border cities there. Ariel, give us the latest updates and what we know about the developing situation. Right, Ariel. So just a few minutes ago, there was a barrage of rockets aimed here at the border town of Sterot. This included interceptions overhead, according to emergency services. There are some direct impacts, and they are sending teams to the sites.  I don't know if you can hear the alarm blaring, but those are the indications that there's been a direct hit here. Now, we're here in Sterot, the heart of Sterot, right by the site of the police station that was overrun by Hamas terrorists on Saturday. And after three, only after three days was it purged from those terrorists. And we're here accompanying a tour of foreign diplomats that, as they were getting an explanation by Sterot authorities, there was the alarm blaring and they all had to run. And so we're talking about ambassadors from many different countries. I'm not going to name exactly at this point who they are because we're still here out in the field, but this just shows an example that ambassadors, that foreign diplomats, are witnessing on their own flesh the reality that thousands, tens of thousands of residents in Sterot and in other border communities have been living for years and more than two decades, in fact. Well, it's going to be a very important lesson that's going to be almost impossible to forget. Thank you very much, Ariel. For everyone else, we are just about out of time now. Thank you for joining us.  We'll see you again very soon. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking. Within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us. We don't want to do it. We just don't know anything. Entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. I work at I-24 News since 2013 since a channel was established and I'm the defense correspondent in English since 2018. As the defense correspondent and also in my previous roles I was hundreds of times in Sderot and the Gaza border communities when Red Alert siren sounded, meaning that rockets are incoming and we all have to run to the shelters. Most of the times the rockets were intercepted, there were no casualties, no damages, and that was my report. But there was one time in the city of Sderot which made me realize we're all wrong. My colleagues and I ran to the shelter again but with us ran a group of children and their mothers. The children were crying. The mothers were supposed to help them but they were also crying. That is when I realized that what is work for me is life for them. That's where I understood that there is damage even if no building was damaged and no one was physically hurt. They're Israelis just like us in Tel Aviv and they deserve to feel the same safety and security that we feel here. Since that morning in Sderot my whole reporting has changed. No longer, no casualties, no damage, rockets intercepted and that's it. The damage is ongoing. The damage is mental for those people, for those kids who have now grown into this reality. I think they deserve much more than that from the state of Israel and I keep saying this in every report I file about rockets being fired to Sderot even if officially there are no damages and no one was injured. Welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at war. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. We have now entered the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the south. In the north a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were just fired into the Israeli village of Shdulla. Again David Adam, first responders are reporting. At least one is dead, three are injured. Hezbollah terror organization has taken responsibility for the attack and the military has ordered a total evacuation of the border area for about four kilometers or 2.5 miles telling everybody to get out of the area. In the south the IDF has announced the humanitarian corridor is open. That started an hour ago at 10 and will continue until one o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. The military said they will not strike this route for the next two hours. IDF also said they are completing their preparations for a significan