Made For Me, a unique concept in Israel. Custom made men's fashion to your measurements. Made For Me, designer of all your events. Schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il. Made For Me, official dresser of I-24 News. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. You're watching I-24 News. We're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 27 of Israel's war with Hamas and Hamas has claimed responsibility for 12 rockets that were fired at Central and Northern Israel earlier this evening. There was a direct hit on the high street in the northern town of Kiryat Shmona, a town that has been largely evacuated of its residents. Two people were moderately wounded. Rockets also fired at Central Israel. A house took a direct hit. No reported casualties there. And the IDF has confirmed that 20 Israeli soldiers have now lost their lives in the fighting since October 7th. Well, the IDF Chief of Staff, Hatzi Halevi, says Israel is making good progress in Gaza with many dozens of Hamas operatives killed. And the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also commented on that earlier. Take a listen. I'm here with soldiers that were the first ones on scene in the immediate hours after the attack on October 7th that fought bravely, saved lives, lost their friends and blocked the enemy. We are in the midst of the campaign. We have significant achievements. We are advancing inside Gaza. We also have losses, painful losses. Every soldier killed is a whole universe and our hearts are with the families. But let me make this clear. Like one of the soldiers here said, nothing will stop us. We will continue to work with all our lives to achieve this. And Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaking earlier, let me introduce my studio guest for you, Oren Orbitun is a former IDF commander. Good evening to you. And Ambassador Alon Lial is the former head of the Israeli diplomatic mission to Turkey. Welcome to you as well. We'll be talking to our guests in just a moment first, though let's head to southern Israel and our correspondent, Jonathan Regive. Jonathan, 20 IDF soldiers now confirmed killed in the war with Hamas. Yes, it's a difficult war. No one thought that this will not happen. It's a difficult war. Just to understand the losses on the other side, we understand that only in the past few hours, we're speaking of roughly 130 terrorists killed. That's only in the past few hours. So the losses on the other side are far, far bigger. But that doesn't mean that the IDF will not go through difficulties. It's a difficult war. Apart from those 20 killed, let's speak about the objectives of the IDF, mainly to cut the Gaza Strip into two parts, north and south. We heard for about 10 days or so that the civilian population in the northern Gaza Strip was urged to head south. And now we understand that the IDF is basically cutting the Gaza Strip into two, entering a little bit to the south of Gaza City. We have to understand the Gaza Strip is a narrow place, meaning the distance, once you enter Gaza and until you reach the Mediterranean coast and cut it to two, the distance is not a long distance. But there are many challenges along the way. The IDF is going through that route south of the city of Gaza and cutting the Gaza Strip into two with other forces coming into Gaza from the north and basically encircling Gaza City itself. That seems to be the main objective of the Israeli army right now. Right. And Jonathan, we just heard from Minister Benny Gantz. He says that this war is the most complicated for Israel ever. Yes, of course, because we have to understand that it takes part in civilian areas. But those civilians are the human shields protecting the terrorists.  All right, Jonathan. Thank you very much. Jonathan Ricker, there in southern Israel. All right, well, let's talk to our guest here in the studio. We've got Alan Liel, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, jetting into Israel tomorrow. This amid reports that he will be asking Israel to commit to a humanitarian pause, not a ceasefire of humanitarian pause for the hostages, but also for humanitarian aid to Gaza. What do you make of that? First, I'm not a military guy. But I understand the request. But I'm not sure with these kind of circumstances, very complicated. As you just said, you can have a pause. In order to have a pause, you need a minimal amount of trust. And obviously, trust has been lost before the 7th of October. But definitely after. And I doubt it if such a pause is possible. What I think could be done, parallel, if you take the issue of the hostages and you isolate it and deal with it politically, diplomatically, parallel. It's very important even to the military. If we can solve this issue in the next few days, the attack will look different. So I think maybe we can channel this by the request to the issue of the hostages and deal with the hostages, with the people who are kept there, separately, parallel to the wall. Alina, I'll be telling you, you are a former military man. Given what you've seen, what's going on in Gaza now, Benny Gantz says it's a very complex, very difficult battle. 20 soldiers already lost. Do you think Israel would commit to a pause in fighting? Or should it just ignore those calls from the United States? So far, what the Israeli military is doing is, my point of view is very good. They walk slowly, slowly, not that far as in Sokeitan. In Sokeitan, they go in very fast. And we lost in 2014, exactly. So we have a fight face-to-face against the terrorism, the Hamas people. Every day, we kill many of them. And unfortunately, we also lose our soldiers. We need to attack very deeply and very hard the Hamas. The Hamas is an organization of terror, which we need to destroy very, very, very strongly. And from my point of view, we're not asking to go to fight in Gaza. But it's happened to us. And we need to do this because we have the civilians in about 242 civilians, babies, ladies, under the tunnels of the Hamas. We need to bring them home back. Well, I want to ask you about the tunnels. We know that's where the Hamas fighters are hiding. To what extent can they be destroyed by bombing from the air? And how much has to be that the soldiers have to go in there physically? To fight in the area where the civilians is really, really difficult, especially with the tunnels of the Hamas, build more than 500 kilometers tunnels under Gaza. So they can build a nice building, a nice neighborhood, but they choose to build a tunnel, terrorism tunnels. And our soldiers need to fight and very carefully because otherwise it's going to be very worse for us, too. OK, let's take a brief pause. We're going to head to the north of Israel, where, as I say, there was a barrage of rockets fired earlier, rockets that have been claimed by Hamas. And one was a direct hit on the high streets of the town of Kiryat Shmona, RPS Deckelbach's in the north with the latest pier. Indeed, Laura Hamas in Southern Lebanon claiming responsibility for that barrage of rockets, saying that they fired 12 rockets towards that area as retaliation for the massacre of Israel that Israel is conducting in Gaza. There we are speaking about four rockets that fell down, three into open territory, one falling inside the city of Kiryat Shmona, sparking a massive fire there. Injuring 224-year-old man has been brought to hospital and is now undergoing a surgery. He sustained wounds from shrapnels. Another about 41-year-old man sustained wounds from a burns here is in serious condition there as well. They're in the hospital in Safed, in Safat right now. A city that also had rocket alert earlier today, earlier this evening, a city that is more than 20 kilometers away from the Lebanese border. And that is also just part of that border picture that has been evolving today. Throughout the last hours, we have seen three times rocket alerts triggered in different communities alongside the border. The first barrage of mortars and also anti-tank missiles was fired towards Israeli army posts alongside the border in different regions there. Then the second barrage of rockets was fired towards the area of Safed. And then the third barrage, the latest one, onto the city of Kiryat Shmona. There is a city that has been widely evacuated also throughout the last week and also earlier this week another rocket directly impacted a house there, setting it on fire. No casualties there earlier this week. But Laura, this really shows you that these preemptive measures that the Israeli home front command are taking show their effects as these cities are targeted by forces there in southern Lebanon. And we've been seeing an uptick in these skirmishes between Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies there in the region. Hamas also being part of that in recent days there. That coming amid the announced speech that Hezbollah is scheduled to hold tomorrow.  Yeah, because the feeling is here, isn't it, is that Hezbollah has not unleashed its full potential as it were on Israel. They do have thousands of missiles, thousands of fighters. For some reason they have been holding back. They did threaten to launch an offensive on Israel if Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza which it has done now. So his words tomorrow, and Hezbollah's words tomorrow will be key, won't they? Right, Laura. All eyes on what he's going to say tomorrow. You're right that these skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have been relatively contained in terms of what we've seen within the last three weeks. They haven't tensified. Also in terms of the use of force, there are also rockets coming as far as 20 kilometers to northern Israel. But these skirmishes have been contained. And you're right, the northern front has not become a full-scale front in this war yet. As Hezbollah, of course, is also working together with other local proxies there in southern Lebanon, Hamas, also other Iranian proxies there. And we can assume that the shots are being called from Iran there. There's constant communication between Hezbollah and the Iranian regime. And Hezbollah has really throughout the year all the time emphasized their solidarity with the Palestinian cause and them reacting to what the Palestinians are fighting for, especially also in this war. The Gaza ground offensive has been mentioned as a red line here, though we have not seen the northern front developing in a full-scale front there. That might change anytime though. You see how volatile the situation is, how tense the situation is, and how also we see an uptick of force, of operational force, of offensive force that is being used there, not only by Hezbollah, but also by Hamas there in southern Lebanon. Pia, thank you very much. Pia Stackle back there. And I should say the IDF has said that it holds Hezbollah responsible for any strike that comes out of Lebanon. Hezbollah does control southern Lebanon. Well, earlier today, I-24 News spoke to the former Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett. He fought in the last war against Hezbollah in 2006. Here's what he told our Nicole Zedek. Take a listen. I think Hezbollah should take into account that the degree of destruction that they will bring upon Lebanon, if they start up with us, it will be immense. And Nasrallah previously said about the Second Lebanon War, which I participated in, that had he known of the Israeli reaction, he would not have initiated it. So I suggest he recall his own statement. Well, I think a lot depends on seeing the process actually in the south all the way through. The government has set an objective of eradicating Hamas. We need to do that. We need the government and Israel to deliver on that very solid promise. I think that will reflect not only to the communities around Gaza and in the Negev, but also to the communities here. And in fact, it'll resonate and it's being watched by all of the region. Israel's former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, speaking to I-24 News earlier today. Well, with us now, David Dowd is a Hezbollah and Lebanon Research Analyst at United Against a Nuclear Iran. He's also a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council. Great to have you with us, David. Hezbollah hasn't fully entered the war yet. Has it? Who is holding back, do you think? Is it Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, or is it Iran? Thank you for having me. I think it's a bit of both in that Iran, in its relationship with its proxies, there is a hierarchical relationship where Iran does order its proxies to act as it needs to. I mean, I don't think Hezbollah wanted to enter the war in Syria willingly, but it had to because the Iranian regime was necessary for them. They viewed it as an existential battle. At the same time, the Iranian regime takes into account the domestic considerations of its proxies in terms of Hezbollah, you have Lebanon's economic collapse that if were to be compounded with the miseries of a destructive war with Israel, where there will probably and most likely not be economic recovery aid coming from the Gulf states or the Western states, kind of like we saw after 2006 or in contrast rather than what we saw in 2006. You'll have Lebanese ire growing against Hezbollah, including potentially from within its support base. And that's something for Hezbollah to consider before it fires any shots. And it's something that Iran, not wanting to lose its star proxy or damage its star proxy, necessarily, may take into consideration as it's formulating what orders to give Hezbollah. And what do you think is the feeling inside Lebanon then? We saw the caretaker, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, didn't we earlier in the week saying he'd credited Hezbollah with being smart so far and not getting too involved. I mean, they must be pretty terrified inside Lebanon given that their country is already on the precipice. I would say that's entirely accurate. And this isn't the first statement that's been issued by a Lebanese official, including Mikati himself. They caught the, I think, two weeks ago now, which feels like a lifetime ago, had said that he was in conversation with Hezbollah and they had promised not to intervene. Abdullah Abu Habib, the foreign minister, said something similar that Hezbollah would continue basically these low-level activities. But unless Lebanon harass, or Israel harasses Lebanon, then Hezbollah would enter. So it seems like the messaging from the Lebanese government, from Lebanese officialdom to Hezbollah has keep us out of this. But again, at the end of the day, as much as Hezbollah's domestic Lebanese considerations weigh on it, its loyalty and its duties to the resistance axis, to the Islamic regime in Iran are more important, that trumps everything. So what, David, should we be listening out for when Nasrallah speaks tomorrow? It's hard to predict, to be honest. I could see the speech going one of three ways and kind of in degree of likelihood. We could see Nasrallah, kind of classical Nasrallah, threatening Israel, not to provoke, not to preempt any, or engage any preemptive action in Lebanon, and to then continue this border harassment that Israel's been experiencing either directly through Hezbollah or like today with Kiryat Shmona through Hamas, which claimed the attack. And this could increase as Israel becomes more committed to Gaza, and therefore less able to kind of devote resources to the northern border. And that way, Hezbollah has its cake and eats it too. Less likely, but kind of in a middle tier, is that Hezbollah times the speech and Nasrallah's speech with theatrical action, a military action kind of similar to the INS-Khanid strike in 2006 where Nasrallah gives a play-by-play. But this action could lead to unintended consequences and that's something that should be weighing on Nasrallah's mind. There's also been American calls for restraint on the Israelis. This could be kind of something that encourages Nasrallah to maybe engage in a little bit more brinkmanship. The least likely, but third option is that Nasrallah declares war tomorrow. But I think that's least likely only because they've been telegraphing this speech for so long. And Hezbollah would prefer, given their previous behavior, to engage in a surprise action rather than kind of build all this anticipation, build readiness on the Israeli side, and then open war. But again, the ultimate say is with Iran, we know that Ismail Ghani is back in Lebanon consulting with Hezbollah. And I have no doubt that they are discussing what the next step should be. We'll certainly be fascinating to see what he has to say tomorrow, won't it? I wonder if you have any information because there's a report in the Wall Street Journal, David, I don't know if you've seen it. The US has intelligence, the Russian paramilitary Wagner group could be providing Hezbollah with an advanced air defense system. I mean, what is the relationship between Hezbollah and Wagner? Well, the relationship between Hezbollah and Russia goes way back. I mean, Hezbollah, sorry, Russia does not consider Hezbollah or Hamas, for that matter, a terrorist group. Russia and Iran, Hezbollah's parent, essentially, are in an alliance in Ukraine. They fought together side by side in Syria. They have similar interests. Hezbollah and Russian special forces fought next to each other in Syria. They share an interest in weakening US power projection in the region. And if you damage the United States' most critical, most powerful ally in the region, then you end up damaging US influence and US power projection in the region. So there is a shared interest between kind of the Russian worldview and the resistance-access worldview led by Iran, of which Hezbollah is a part. So I would say it's totally in line with their interest to be supplying weapons to Hezbollah. David, thank you very much indeed. We appreciate it. David Dabbe, Hezbollah expert at United Against the Nuclear Iran. Well, Germany has announced that it's banning the activities of Hamas, as well as the pro-Palestinian group Sami Duhn. Hamas is already designated as a terrorist organization in Germany. The Interior Ministry says both groups are spreading both anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda. Sami Duhn is an international network that spreads anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda under the guise of a so-called solidarity organization for prisoners in various countries. Sami Duhn also supports and glorifies various foreign terrorist organizations, especially Hamas. Holding spontaneous celebrations here in Germany in response to the terrible terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel as we are witnessing in Berlin is unbearable. This shows Sami Duhn's anti-Semitic inhumane worldview in a disgusting way. Well, let's go to Berlin. We're joined now by correspondent James Jackson. So, James, what is new from the Interior Ministry? Because Hamas was already designated as a terrorist organization in Germany, wasn't it? Yes, and of course, it was designated as a terrorist organization across the whole EU. So I don't actually think that this ban of Hamas, although it is now official, it actually says that much. However, maybe more important is the ban of Sami Duhn, which is seen by some as a front organization for the PFLP. There are about 450 Hamas supporters in Germany, which is a significant number, but compared to how many Palestinians there are in Germany, which might go up to 30,000 or above, I think it's quite low. Sami Duhn have previously been allowed to organize openly. And so I think this will impact them. They infamously and sadly gave out Baklava to celebrate the 7th of October terrorist attack against Israel. And so this ban is a reaction against that. I think what we're seeing within the German government, you have to remember, this is coalition government, and there's almost a competition between different coalition partners to see who can be more on the side of Israel. The climate and energy minister and vice chancellor, Robert Harback, gave a very well-received speech yesterday when he asked Muslims in Germany to distance themselves from anti-Semitism and explained that Israel's security is part of Germany's Staatshassan, which means it's reason to exist. It's reason of state. So we're seeing different coalition partners playing the role. So Harback was from the Greens. He gave that speech yesterday, and this announcement today came from Nancy Faeser, who's the interior minister, who's part of Chancellor Schultz's SPD. So I think we're seeing it from all the government. And there is something of a consensus on this in German society, or at least in German politics, which I don't think you can say about in many other countries in Europe. And we have seen, James, haven't we, alarming spikes in anti-Semitism across Europe? What is the situation in Germany, and are the authorities getting on top of it? It's mixed news in Germany, really. There's definitely been a sharp rise in Austria, where it's been 300 times this amount last year. In terms of Berlin, there was this Samy Dune celebration of the terror attack, but that was only about 40 people who went to that, which compared in one of the most Palestinian parts of Europe, the Zonali. So quite a small turnout there. There have been cases of stars of David sprayed on, allegedly sprayed on people's houses who are Jewish there. But I have to say that the Berlin's police president did also say that in terms of numbers, there haven't been any more attacks against Jews in Germany than there would be normally. Sadly, there is obviously too much anti-Semitism at any point in Europe. So I think it's a mixed picture. There have been cases of Jewish restaurants, a one in West Berlin for Baba, which have asked the police for protection and have got nothing because they're not a synagogue. Now, of course, a restaurant for many Jews is as much of a place for meeting their community, members of the community as a synagogue is. Synagogues get 24-hour protection in Germany from the police, whereas some people are questioning, why don't other elements of Jewish life today in Berlin receive the same amount of protection and across Germany? Well, there's quite a large Israeli community in Berlin as well, isn't there? Absolutely. I'm in East Berlin, and on my street, there are three or four Israeli restaurants. So many Israelis, most of them secular, many of them on the left, and some of whom have even come to avoid their IDF service. So it's a very interesting city to see how this conflict is represented with a very large Palestinian population, a large Israeli population, many of them on the Israeli left, of course, not all of them. And then we have the German politicians who are more pro-Israel and more supportive of Israel's actions or Israel's government than many of the Israelis in Berlin. All right, James, thank you very much, James Jackson there over in Berlin. And Alon Lial, it's very worrying to see this rise in anti-Semitism around the world, isn't it? If I look at the diplomatic scene, I think what matters now, especially what is critical is the region, the Middle East, not Europe. And the situation with the United States is obviously well-known. Egypt and Jordan, these are the two critical players diplomatically at the moment. Israel cannot afford losing both of them. In a way, we lost Turkey, but it's not a big damage because the relations with Turkey recovered only about a year and a half ago and there was no much substance. I'm not speaking economically, but no military relations. With Egypt and Jordan, we have an alliance with a military alliance with both of them. If we lose one of them, or God forbid, both of them, we will be having a huge problem with the rest of the war and after the war. So, and this will, of course, affect the Emirates and it might affect what was built so far with the Saudi Arabia. So, the critical diplomatic circle is the Middle East. Hold on to that thought for one moment. We have to take a short break. We'll pick up on that after the break. Stay with us. We're going to break. We'll be back in a few minutes. 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. 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. Welcome back and we continue our coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. This is day 27 of the war. The IDF Chief of Staff says that Israel is making good progress inside Gaza with dozens of terrorists killed. Well, today Israel revised upwards the number of hostages who are being held in Gaza. The number now at least 242. Our batch of the Vintal is at a gathering tonight of the families of hostages taken from Kfar Azar. That's one of the communities worst hit by Hamas terrorists on October 7th. The batch is with us now. Bacha, what's happening? Right, Laura, so those families have some aren't dispersed in the last couple of hours, but you're correct. They were here that it seemed to be sort of a home base for a lot of the families and the relatives and even the friends of some of the hostages that are taken, as you mentioned, that number now rising to over 240 and again continues to rise as more of the missing turnouts to be kidnapped into the Gaza Strip by Hamas. I'm gonna move out the way just while I'm talking so you can see the table. But basically the group that was here today, as you mentioned from Kibbutz Kfar Azar, this is a Kibbutz that is just off the eastern side of the Gaza Strip and is one of the hardest hit in terms of those that were murdered as well as kidnapped. So they were a fortune of the families here today gathering to demand that they want their family, they want their friends, they want their relatives returned home, not tomorrow, not when this war ends immediately, saying that civilians should not be part of a casualty in terms of war and should not be involved in the war to begin with and also pleading to the international community to bring them home. And the visuals that you're seeing now are all over the world of this giant Shabbat table that has been set up with the hostages, with pictures of the hostages of over 240 of them as an indication that many of these families that are now displaced from both the South as well as communities in the North are having their Shabbat tables on the weekends without certain family members. So this really serving as a stark reminder that for the time being they do have family members in the Gaza Strip being held by Hamas, they are being called collateral damage because they worried that the IDF, as you also mentioned now operating in the Gaza Strip because many of the hostages are being kept in the tunnels above the ground as well as in civilian homes, it's relatively difficult to keep an eye on exactly where these hostages are. And of course that puts the families here in a very difficult position knowing that there needs to be the military eradication of Hamas as a terror organization, but fearing what that means for their families, their relatives, their friends, currently being held in the Gaza Strip as well, Laura. Yeah, an agonizing challenge for the Israeli army, isn't it? Bachel, thank you very much indeed. Bachel Avint out there. Well, let me remind you of our studio guest this hour, Oren Orbitun is a former IDF commander in a counter-terrorism unit and Ambassador Alon Liel is the former head of Israel's diplomatic mission to Turkey. We were speaking a bit about diplomacy and Israel's relationships in the region before the break. You were in Turkey for many years. Where do you see that relationship now? We know the two countries have a broad trade relationship, but following President Erdogan's comments this week, how can that relationship continue? You know, there is one guy running the Israeli desk in Turkey and his name is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. From the day he took over, he put Israel on his private desk and he's running it's affairs. Now Erdogan, for us, has two heads. He is two different people. He is the religious leader of Turkey and he's the political leader of Turkey. And as he plays these two roles and sometimes it can work simultaneously, now it cannot. Two, in the last two years, he worked with the head of running a country of 85 million people and he reached a conclusion that it's good for Turkey to have relations with Israel, diplomatic relations, economic relations, and he was running after us and we hesitated. But we finalized the diplomatic accord. We exchanged ambassador, even met our leaders, including Netanyahu last month. We enjoyed to come to Israel, wasn't it? Yes, yes. And on the 7th of October, I would say a week after when the attacks in Gaza started massively, he changed to his religious head and he became the leader of the Islamic Brotherhood of Turkey and completely dropped us. He dropped us last week in his speech in the parliament and then when he organized on Saturday a huge anti-Israeli demonstration and he spoke there and his wife spoke there. So... But do you think the relationship can be repaired or do you think that's it? I don't think they can repair it from the point of view of any normal political exchange coordination. Our diplomats are here already for almost 10 days. Their ambassador is somehow still here in Tel Aviv but I don't see the relations recovering for a long period of time. The question is more on the economic context because the economic relations survived the previous crisis with Turkey. They might go on, but I see a long crisis in the relations with Turkey from now on. OK, all right, thank you, Alon. Oren, let's talk a bit about security and the situation in the West Bank because this was Iran's three-point plan, wasn't it? Attack Israel from the south via Hamas, the north via Hezbollah and also Hamas' support in the West Bank. Do you think Israel has managed to keep a lid on the unrest there? Definitely, we need to open the eyes in the West Bank. I joined in the West Bank as a young soldier in the undercover unit in the First Intifada.  The same, I saw videos, I see videos of the Palestinian Authority forces that they train as the same Hamas trained from the October 7th. So we cannot... Ah, in the West Bank? In the West Bank. They were also training to do something. The same things, the same things they do, they train the same things. Even today, they kill one of the civilians in the West Bank. They try every day to kill civilians and also the military's security from IDF. The Shin Bet gave the information for the Israeli forces and we attack in the West Bank every day. But still, it's not enough because in the West Bank, it can burn for the Third Intifada immediately. So Iran played with the two disorganization, two disorganization, Hamas and Hezbollah. And Hezbollah in the north also won to start a war with Israel, okay? But the Lebanese people, the Lebanese civilians don't really want it's happened because they saw what's happening in Gaza and how Israeli disrupt Gaza. So it's not good for the Lebanese civilians. Well, I want to talk about Gaza and the West Bank because, of course, Israeli forces have been over the past two years, would you say, carrying out consistent raids to confiscate weapons that these groups, such as the Lions, Den and Hamas affiliated groups, have managed to build up. Obviously, there was nothing of the sort in Gaza because Israel doesn't have any security control there. But looking forward, the geography is much more complicated in the West Bank, isn't it? Because you've got the communities all mingled together. You've got the Jewish communities and you've got the Palestinian communities. I mean, looking long term, how do you see Israel having any kind of security in the West Bank? The Israeli have definitely much more control in the West Bank than in Gaza. The Israeli have many intelligence information. We know nearly each person, each civilian in West Bank. We know his family. We know what he's doing. Because we have also a contact with Abu Mazen, basically, and the muhabarat of them. So it's a time to time. That's their security service. Exactly, security service. But it's time to time. It depends. For today, I understood that Israel doesn't want to give them the money. So definitely, we have to open the ice because... That's a row between the prime minister and the finance minister, Smotridge, about whether to give the Palestinians the tax. What is your thought on that? My point of view is not to give any money, not to give any aid, not to give any humanitarian aid for the Gaza until we get any information for the civilian of us in Gaza. Because it's unhuman to keep babies, ladies, and we don't know nothing about them. But in terms of giving the tax money to the Palestinian Authority, that Israel is holding, do you think that Israel should do that? Again, I think, first of all, Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza, for me, it's the same things. Oh, right, okay. We need some information about our civilians. We can talk about it more. Okay, Aloniel, your thoughts on that. And do you think that the Palestinian Authority, as it is now, will be playing a major role in the post-Khamas Gaza because they will have to have some kind of leadership, won't they? Look, there is no doubt the military challenges are big, maybe huge, but this war cannot end on a military note. All the previous five rounds ended on a military note, with a military victory. On a military victory, we won the war, and we went back to business.  We will have to create after the military side of it, after we remove Hamas from power, we'll have to go to the diplomatic, to the political issues. Otherwise, we start from scratch, and so the most natural thing would be... Because just to interrupt, there's been no talks of any kind between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, official peace talks since 2014. Yes, 10 years without any talks. 10 years of no talks at all. I think this was part of our problem because the anger was building up and erupted now. But I think there is no possibility to think on an Egyptian solution. We will never, we will not allow to host them in the negative, so we will have to come back to a Palestinian solution in Gaza. And I don't know if it will be Abu Mazen or somebody else, but the Americans will have to be involved. The Europeans will have to be involved. The whole international community will be involved in the reconstruction of Gaza. This war will have to end politically, politically, hopefully with an agreement. And then, in a way, if we remove Hamas from power, we may be able to reunite the Palestinians under one leadership and talk with the Palestinian leadership that can really deliver so far it was impossible. So I think this is the big change. Do you foresee a situation where Israel would ever concede land in the West Bank today in Samaria? Physically, it technically, it might happen. I think it will be wrong to do so. We have 2.5 million Palestinians that we control in the West Bank. We have over 2 million Palestinians inside Israel. And we don't need to control another two or two-plus million Palestinians under Israeli control. It will have to be controlled all by an international force that will control Gaza temporarily. I don't see this happening. Nobody in the world is volunteering. We never wanted anyone outside Israel to control our security and so on. So it will have to be given to Palestinians, to a leadership of Palestinians to run the place in. And hopefully, this could be a new base to a political solution. I hope to state solution. But this is the big difference from the situation we have now. When the forces will remove Hamas, the big challenges are still in front of us, not behind us. And it has to be, we have to start thinking about it now, although it's very difficult because we don't have the military ending yet. And we don't know how it will look exactly. But we have to remember one thing. We will have to stay in this region after the war too. And if the result of the war will be such that we cannot maintain the relations with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the Emirate, what will we do? So we have to think on staying here, coexisting here with our neighbors after this war too. Oren, Israel has the strongest military in the region, the best intelligence in the region and still this happened to Israel. Do you agree that there has to be a political situation going forward? Unfortunately, the world, everywhere, you know, even the USA, even the Russian, the surprise when the terrorists attacks them, for example, in the 9-11 or in Russia, between the Afghanistan. So also, we are all surprised in the October 7th. But I agree, the world, we need to finish by the political way, but we cannot do any politics with a terror organization. When you have a terror organization like the Hamas, we need to kill them first. We need to clear this area and then to negotiate with the political sides.  Those organizations, we need to kill them. Believe me, Egypt, Jordan, and all the rest of the country won't really, they don't want to Hamas anymore. They fail up with the Hamas. Israel is doing the dirty work. So, Israeli need to do the dirty things and we will do this. We will do this and we believe our prime minister, we trust the army, we trust the IDF, the Shin Bet and we are strong enough and we will win. We certainly trust the army, don't we? All right, Oren, all right, thank you. Well, on October 7th, there were many victims, but there were also many stories of heroism. And the small town of Okafi of Akim was home to one. The town came under attack by terrorists. One woman was in charge of fighting back staff officer of the Israeli police. Maureen Teji, here's more in her report now. The October 7th massacre could have been a greater tragedy, if not for the men as well as the women who put their lives on the line. One of them is Maureen, a mother of two, from the small town of Okafi, 15 miles from the Gaza Strip. On Saturday morning, we were awakened by a missile alert. We understood that this is a serious situation. In my district, people are getting hurt. A mother and her son were killed. I turned on the police radio and heard things I hadn't heard in over 20 years. Maureen, a staff officer in the Israeli police, was hearing her coworkers battling the terrorists that entered Israel, many of them targeting the Nova Festival being held just by the Gaza border. She rushed to the closest battle location. It was all of 250 yards from her home. Police were already there, but she took command. I ran inside. I see cops here and there. What we know at this point is that we were dealing with four terrorists. Later, we caught five. They barricaded themselves into a house with hostages. This house of another hero, Rachel and her husband, David, were held hostage for 20 hours. While the police and the terrorists were battling outside, Rachel kept feeding the terrorists cookies and drinks, trying to steal time until the police could burst in. Under fire, Maureen tried to find shelter while moving forward to the battle area. We were under heavy fire. They were shooting at us from the direction of the house. A hand grenade is thrown at us, but thank God it didn't explode. We hid behind the garbage, which gave us some kind of a shelter. And we started shooting at them. Two policemen were wounded and we extracted them under fire. We understood that we needed to call the special units. At this point, the district commander arrived. Maureen updated him on the situation. They decided to stabilize the situation until additional forces would arrive to negotiate with the terrorists. But Maureen's job was not over yet. A civilian reached me and told me that in the next street, there are more terrorists. At this point, I smiled. I said, OK, show me some pictures. I couldn't believe there were more terrorists. Another family's house is taken by terrorists. Luckily, the terrorists were on the balcony. But inside the home, a mother, father, and their two children were hiding in a locked room with a kitchen knife. The district commander ordered Maureen to go over there and take charge. From what we know, there are three terrorists at the balcony of a second house. We hid here and slowly we made our way, looking for the right house. My co-worker, Roi, signaled me. As you can see, the fence is high, and we had to think how to enter. We also don't know exactly where they are. While the force led by Maureen entered the house's balcony, the terrorists hid at the back inside a small structure. As she realizes the gravity of the situation, she makes a phone call. I stopped the phone call. I stopped to make a phone call to my kids. I told them to take care of themselves, that I love them, and that God is great. I just had that need. Policemen started to surround the house, positioning themselves on the roofs of the neighboring homes. The point was to flash out the terrorist location, since it was still quiet. I instructed one of the cops to shoot. Before giving the order to shoot, they got the family out. Now the terrorists fired back and Maureen was wounded, but she kept fighting. My position was always here. I stood here with other officers. We were aiming our guns at the back room. After a long battle, an officer climbed the roof. Where was he located? He climbed here, and he was able to talk in Arabic with the last terrorist that was still alive. He finally surrendered. Like Maureen, many other women showed their bravery on October 7th. Inbal Lieberman saved her entire village, Niraam, when she understood the situation early on and gave as many guns as possible to the members of the Kibbutz. Orban Yehuda, an officer in the IDF, gunned down 15 terrorists protecting and saving the people of Kibbutz-Yatid. But all of them prefer not to think of themselves as heroes. I find it hard to take the credit. There are other cops, heroes, who left their homes and came to fight with no fear. I don't like the term hero. I find it awkward, the media and all that. But the reason I agreed to give an interview is to convey the next message. The Israeli police were at the front line, policemen who came from their homes who gave their lives were killed or wounded. If it weren't for the police, we would have the same massacre we saw in the villages closer to the border. We have a strong police that is constantly underscrewed in me. Ariyela, the owner of the house, asked not to be on camera. But she stops us to talk with Moran, sharing the memories of that day. She tells Moran her older child lives in the room at the back of the house. Later, he found a note in Arabic saying, 945, and the address of a synagogue close by. Moran and her team saved many other Israelis since the terrorist plan was to shoot up the neighborhood synagogue that was packed with people praying since it was the Sabbath and the holiday as well. They may not like to be called heroes, but Moran, Imbal, Orr and even Rachel are only few of the women who gave their all to save as many people as possible. While the world of sport has been criticized for its handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, specifically the football world after a week of silence following the October 7th massacre, some organizations, including the Premier League, released statements condemning civilian casualties on both sides, but more players have been speaking up. A Leicester City player Hamza Choudry was forced to apologize for a tweet which he said from the river to the sea as the FA warns players steer clear of this slogan, which does suggest that all of the Jews in Israel should be driven out of Israel. Well, Uri Levy is the founder of Babogar and Sports Journalists. He's here with us now. Uri, we normally talk in the happier times, don't we? But sport does play a role in all of this. Football has been doing a bit of an all lives matter on the issue, haven't it? Yes, absolutely. Specifically English football, I would say. You know, after the October 7th massacre, many Jewish people and Israelis were big fans of Premier League football, of English football, expected for some kind of, you know, sure of identification, maybe, from the league. Exactly like everywhere in the world, the world and the locations with the earthquake in Morocco, with Ukraine, for example. But it didn't arrive, as you mentioned. It was more of a both sides, you know, talk. But now we've seen with the story of Hamza Choudry and his tweet that the Premier League, the English FA is taking a very clear stance that this phrase that maybe before October 7th, it was, it has a very interesting meaning, yes. Now it's very clear. We are speaking about the annihilation of the state of Israel and the Jewish presence on this land, which means basically anti-Semitic message. It's another Holocaust. Exactly. So I think that there is a moment of understanding. This is more than just, you know, Israel, again bombs, Gaza or whatever. There is a clash of civilization, a religious clash. And from October 7th, everything changed. But as you mentioned as well, throughout the world of sports and football, with, you know, a big mass of Muslim supporters and Muslim crowds, and Muslim footballers, such as Mohammed Salaf. I lost my money, isn't it? Exactly. I mean, Saudi Arabia is going to be a good one. We've been talking about this for the past few years. How Qatar and Saudi Arabia are changing the game. And now we're seeing also the impacts, the later impacts of this, unfortunately. You know, I'm a big preacher for, you know, convergence and peace through sports and through football specifically. This is what we're doing in Baba Gold. I think this is what we are doing in this, you know, short segment of sports in Middle East now. But unfortunately, we are seeing very sudden impacts on the game, on the way that Jewish people are precipitated in the minds of the Arab world, the Muslim world, and unfortunately also some places in the West. Yeah, well, I would say it's almost been worse in the West than in Paris. Indeed, indeed. Indeed, we are seeing really unfortunate scenarios from crowds also. You know, Paris and German fans with Palestinian flags, Celtic fans that made a huge gesture with a full study of Palestinian flags, targeting the Jews, you know, exactly with this phrase, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, which again, it's important to say, there is not a certain person that's saying he's against the Palestinian freedom. But this phrase now, you know, the world of sports get the difference. I challenge any Celtic fans to find Israel on a map. I'll leave it there. We're out of time, Uri. I'm really sorry, Uri Levy. Thank you so much. And we'll bring the progress with us. Stay with us. Caleb Vendivid is with you next. 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. We see girls in their pajamas. We see elderly who are brutally, brutally killed. None of the bodies were purely, clearly killed. All of them had severe signs of abuse and severe signs of torture. When private Uri McGiddish returned to her family, we're deeply committed to doing everything in our power to bring those abducted home. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Caleb Vendivid. It is day 27 of Israel's war against Hamas, a day in which IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi declared that Israeli forces have entered another significant stage in the war, surrounding the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City and already even operating within it, fighting in its dense urban areas. Now that effort is taking its toll with Israeli casualties in this battle, now reaching 20, and Palestinian fatalities, both terrorists and civilians in the thousands. The violence also intensifying on other fronts. In the North, two residents of Kiryat Shmoner are injured in a rocket attack as the IDF continues to exchange fire with Hezbollah forces across Israel's border with Lebanon. And in the Northern West Bank, one Israeli heading home from his reserve military duty was killed when his car overturned after he was shot by terrorists. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrives in Israel tomorrow as the Biden administration presses for a humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow more aid in for civilians. But war cabinet member Benigan says Israel will keep fighting until it frees all of the at least 242 hostages being held in Gaza. Even at these moments, we activate all of the means in our position in order to bring them back home. I say this to the people of Gaza themselves, to the civilians who understand the disaster that Hamas has brought on them. Those who will help return the hostages will be rewarded. Those who will hold on to hostages will pay with his life. Israel has paid enormous prices over the years. We continue to live on our sword. And joining us in studio, we have Colonel Olivia Raffowitz, an IDF spokesperson for international media. And I see the security military consultant and the guy, Israel, of course, senior editor here at I-24 News. And Olivia, if I could start with you, what can you tell us about the fighting going on there now in Gaza? Good evening. It's a fierce fight. Very fierce fight. We have, as you know, casualties since we started on Friday. And we continue to fight with armor forces with infantry and with also the air force. We have fought very seriously in the last days and we killed 130 terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, which actually a very, very good achievement. But the mission is not over. We have to continue. And right now, according to what just said, Elsie Alevi, the chief of general staff of the Israeli army, forces are actually in, I would say, strategic places in the Gaza area. Right, right. And give us a sense of, you talked about the intensity of fighting in those urban areas. What a sense of the progress. Of course, we can't give a timetable of that. But how fast, or for some people, it seems to be, well, there is a sense that it's moving faster than some people even thought it would at the beginning. In such a kind of battlefield when the Israeli army is fighting on a terrorist army like Hamas, very well equipped, well trained with Iranian backing, we have to be according to our rhythm. We have to do what we want to do, not according to what the enemy would like us to do, where to move and what to look for, but according to a planning, very serious planning. And it means that sometimes we have to advance very carefully, very meticulously in order to really engage the enemy where we have the intelligence, where we have the fire fire and where we know that we are going to destroy the enemy. For example, if we talk about Jabalia strike two days ago on yesterday, it was strikes, very precise strikes against Hamas battalion leaders in the middle of the Jabalia camp, but not against just houses of facilities, but according to intelligence against a specific place which is the eight quarters of Hamas command and control center where we actually destroy it and we kill the responsible Ibrahim Bari and other Hamas operatives. But just one point. Well, just so I'll come back to you a little bit because I do want to jump to our correspondent, Jonathan Regev in the south in Steroid and Jonathan down there, just not far from you that fierce fighting going on. Just give us a sense of what you're hearing or even maybe seeing. And of course, rockets continue to fly into southern Israel. Rockets continue to fly. That is true, but in far smaller numbers than they did in previous days, there were rockets to the city of Ashdod in the morning and there also were rockets sent to central Israel in the afternoon. But if we look at the picture here in southern Israel for the past two or three days, we see the numbers being much, much smaller. Even when rockets are fired to this area, they're fired that way further to the south, an area which the Israeli army has not entered yet. The area where we are in the city of Steroid, which is facing roughly the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the northern part of Gaza City. There's far less activity of rockets. It still happens, but not as much as in previous weeks. And inside the Gaza Strip, we're hearing, we're constantly hearing the artillery and there is fierce battle inside. The forces inside are assisted by the artillery, which is still here outside the Gaza Strip and Israeli territory. And basically the aim, I think the Israeli aim now is to cut the Gaza Strip into two parts. We're already pretty much seeing it happening. The forces that have entered a little bit to the south of where we are, are going deeper into the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip is quite a narrow place, meaning that five or six miles into the Gaza Strip, that's all you need to cut it into two. And this is one of the main forces of, the main aims of the Israeli forces coming in, just south of Gaza City, cutting Gaza City from the rest of the Gaza Strip, the southern Gaza Strip, along with the other forces that are coming from the northern part, basically encircling the entire city of Gaza. All right, Jonathan, where I gave that in Steroid. Thank you for that. Guy, we got a sort of basic outline of the strategy of the idea for pursuing. Maybe we prepared a map, give us a sense. Maybe you could show us some of the details on a map. So just to get an idea of what we're looking at in terms of the idea of forces, the troops inside the Gaza Strip, we're talking about three main points where the idea of troops are stationed. The first is in the northern eastern part next to the town of Beit Hanun. Another one is in the northwest, just by the coast next to Beit Lahiya, and according to the information that we're getting, those two points have already connected, basically creating a continuity along the northern part of the Gaza Strip as they push south towards the area of Jabalia. That is Kalev, one of the most densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip, a very complicated one for the idea of troops, very heavy presence of Hamas operatives, obviously there. At the same time, idea of troops are also stationed in the center of the Gaza Strip that is next to the Net-Sarim junction, and anyone that remembers all the settlements of Gush-Katif, that is where one of the settlements was, and that is in the center of the Gaza Strip. The idea here is to separate the strip into two parts, the northern part, where much of the fighting is going on, and the southern part, where residents of Gaza have been instructed to seek shelter. So the idea of troops now are completing their mission of crossing this strip halfway and increasing the pressure on Hamas, closing off on Gaza City and circling the city, the main hub of Hamas, and in just outside of Gaza City is the Shifa Hospital. We'll see the next shot right here that is considered the main hub of Hamas in Gaza, just outside of Gaza City, and that is where, according to idea of spokesperson Daniel Hagarin, the main headquarters of Hamas are in, obviously in tunnels, very deep inside the strip, underground, and this is where the idea is looking to apply the pressure to get to the hospital and to clear that area of most of that Hamas activity. All right, I'll leave it at that as I ask you because we see Shifa Hospital are those who haven't been hearing the news know, hospitals are key here because not just in Shifa but in other hospitals, including in Jabalia which you mentioned, the Hamas has built its command centers, the central one in Shifa, we saw some of the H's there, some other hospitals, and that is the challenge for the idea of how to strike at those command centers knowing that Hamas has loaded them up with human shields, with civilians as a kind of protective guard. That is the challenge for the IDF now. First of all, I would like to comment about Jabalia strike again. You know, we have asked for weeks now, the population of the northern part of Gaza to leave from the northern part to the south part. Many of them majority have left, but Hamas continues to block and to prevent people to move from the northern part toward the southern place. Now for us, in spite of the fact that it's very difficult, we are going to continue our mission to strike and to kill the Hamas operatives and to destroy Hamas military capabilities. They will continue to find the way to use their own population as human shield. We're going to find the way to prevent as much as possible, civilians to be involved. But I want just to be clear. When in a war situation, when the enemy is using so-called civilian facilities for war mission, this facility becomes a legitimate target. You cannot expect from the Israeli army to respect places where we are getting fire or attacks from them and say, because it's a civilian by definition, we're not going to strike them. Hamas knows it very well. The international law knows it also very well. We have to be very careful, but even though we will continue and we'll destroy Hamas facilities, Hamas operatives, and also concerning Jabalia, the number of casualties, the number of people who have been killed, most of them were in the tunnel beneath the building where the command officers- Was it indicative that they were likely Hamas operatives? They are showing to the world bodies, and they are crying to the cameras, but we know very well that all of them are Hamas operatives or people connected to Hamas because it's impossible in this situation, in this timing, to be there in this building, in this compound, without being accredited or I would say accepted by Hamas people because if not, they will kill you or will ask you just to leave. So if they are there, they are maybe connected to Hamas in some ways, and when you ask them to move or to leave and they decided to stay, oh, Hamas asked them to stay, that's the war. It is a war again, Kirev imposed on us by Hamas on the 7th of October. We did not look for this war. This war came to us, and now we have to fight, not only to fight, but when you go to war, there is one issue, to win the war. You don't go to war just because you want to go to war. You go to war because you want and you need to win the war and will need and will win this war. All right, though the issue of the civilian casualties will be a challenging, also on the diplomatic front, we have Secretary Blinken coming tomorrow. We'll talk more about that later. But Israel, of course, also paying a steep price for the progress that it's making in Gaza with the deaths of at least 20 soldiers over the past three days. Now, one of those is 19-year-old Leor Simonovic. He's one of eight soldiers from the Gavati-Tzabar battalion who was killed when an anti-tank missile hit their armored personnel carrier. Simonovic was laid to rest today in his hometown of Herzliya. Here's what his mother, Yafit, and his father, Yaron, had to say at the funeral. If only you were not in combat service, you would have been with us now. But that's what you wanted, and that's what's important, and we respected your decision.  You're our hero, the hero of the Israeli people. You were and you will always be our pride. I love you so much. I miss you so much. I simply cannot believe it. I will protect you. I will show them not to mess with us. This is what you've been doing until the battle has ended for you. Thank you, my champion. For 19 years of happiness, you've given us. And as I said, also the northern front heating up today, let's go to a correspondent there, Pia Stakubach and Pia. We have some injuries there, civilian injuries, something that Israel has been trying to avoid. But today in Kiryat Shmona, that became a reality. Right, Kalev Kiryat Shmona is sitting about five kilometers away from the Lebanese border that has been targeted with rockets for the second time this week. Hamas in southern Lebanon, the Qassam Brigades claiming responsibility for their barrage of rockets fired earlier today onto the city. Hamas saying it fired 12 rockets. Four of them fell down, actually came down. One of them in the middle of the city, they're causing a large fire. A 24-year-old man was delivered to hospital. He underwent a surgery. He's in moderate condition. I was injured by shrapnels. And a 41-year-old man is in serious condition after he suffered injuries from the burns he sustained there. But that is only one of the, in total, three times that Red Alert Sirens were triggered here in the north earlier today, starting with border communities very close to the Lebanese border in the west, the middle, and the east side of the Lebanese border communities that are right behind Israeli military posts. And we do know that Hezbollah specifically has been firing anti-tank missiles and mortar shells towards these outposts. But of course they also do majorly endanger these communities laying behind the mountain range that separates Israel from Lebanon and many parts here in the north. These communities have already widely been evacuated there. Then the second time alert was triggered in the Safed region, that Svat region, Kalev, about 20 kilometers away from the border there. And then the third barrage of rockets targeting the area of Kiryat Shmona, the municipality later issuing a message asking civilians there to remain inside their homes close to their shelters, Kiryat Shmona, a city that has been evacuated. But of course, as it is the case with all of those evacuated communities, there are always people who want to remain in their homes. As Kalev, as of now, it is not clear when they will be able to return. And of course, also people, especially those who work in agriculture, say that they cannot leave their work there in their home communities. Of course, these tensions there, that provocation coming a day ahead of that very much anticipated speech that is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon by Hezbollah, the Hezbollah leader. He's supposed to speak tomorrow for the first time since the war began after Hezbollah and also the other Iranian proxies there present in southern Lebanon have continuously repeated, emphasizing their solidarity for the Palestinian cause that the ground invasion, that the ground operation that Israel is currently conducting in Gaza is a red line in case that will be crossed. They would force everyone into action. These are the words that we have heard throughout this war, all over also from Hezbollah and also from the Iranian regimes there. So this speech tomorrow that has been announced already at the beginning of the week, keeping the tensions high in terms of what Hezbollah will have to say is very much expected that tomorrow we will all have to listen to that and see whether Hezbollah will say anything in terms of trying to escalate their front, turning that frontier into a full scale war. As of now we see these countries intensify. However, they do remain to be contained. The idea is of course, as per protocol, always striking back to the origin of that fire there in southern Lebanon, Kalev. Peace. All right, the northern Israel by the Lebanese border. Thank you for that, Colonel Raffwitz. Let's talk about the northern border, Hezbollah. Today, something that Israel had been trying to void in the north, civilian casualties from that fire. We have that speech by Nasserullah. What is going to be the red line for the IDF? I know it wants to try to avoid contain that conflict on the north, not to pull its forces and attention from the south, but there must be a kind of red line where Hezbollah might go too far and will require a stronger response. As you know, the priority for Israel is the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and that's the number one priority. Now, the north is escalating. And the issue is what Lebanese people and what Lebanese government can do in order to stop or to prevent Hezbollah to bring Lebanon in this war, which is actually not his war. We are not in a war with Lebanon. We are in a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And right now, Hezbollah is playing a very dangerous game because, on one way, we see that they are hesitating, actually trying to push or to help Palestinian groups along the border against Israel. Today, they maybe went to further limit. But still, they are not actually crossing, I would say, the extreme red line. And we can assume that it was maybe done because tomorrow, Nasrallah is speaking, and maybe they wanted to reinforce to strengthen what Nasrallah will say tomorrow. Like, he did something, but he is not ready to go further because the risk is very high. Today, the chief of the army, Ertzi Alevi, General Ertzi Alevi, just say that the air force is ready with bomb on the airplanes to go to any target that we need to go. And the illusion was very clear. If Hezbollah is crossing a line that forest is impossible to accept, the price for Lebanon on Hezbollah will be very, very, very high. Right. I just want to say another fact that could have been a visit. Oh, we arrived more Daniel Hagar at the IDF sports person about to speak. Let's take a listen. The hub of terror, Hamas, over the past few hours, armored vehicles together with many fighter jets are targeting terror infrastructure being used by the leadership of Hamas and its terrorists. Engineering forces are locating threats on the ground and dismantling them in order to allow the forces to move freely around the area. We've got to go out of here. They're taking down terrorists. The hand of the IDF is on top. We operate all the time from on the ground, air, and sea. When we need to, we move back and operate and have a fire and continue with our forces. This continues itself from fight to fight. Commanders lead the fights with bravery together with the fighters moving ahead. This is the spirit of the fighting, and this is the way the IDF is operating, with its full force against Hamas. But we must not be mistaken if we need to understand who's involved in the war. We can also see Ismail Nia, one of the heads of Hamas, is going to visit Iran today and welcome that he's getting from the leaders of Iran. That means that Iran is pushing the proxies, the Qutis, and Hezbollah and the others in order to divert us from our focus on Hamas. We are focused on Hamas. We're focused on eliminating Hamas and making a main effort to bring back our hostages. As for Hania, while he's flying in private jets, he will sacrifice Gaza, like Hikhyes in war. This is what they're all about. Sacrificing Gaza for their personal survival. In the north, the IDF has struck with fighter jets. A number of targets of Hezbollah in Lebanon is territory, infrastructures, headquarters, launch sites, and a number of other targets in response to the rocket fire area today on the Lebanese border towards Israeli territory. In the north, the IDF will respond with actions, not with words, with actions and not with words. We are in high readiness in the West Bank. The IDF, together with the Shin Bet, continue to fight Palestinian terror and arresting dozens of terror operatives every night with war terror attacks over the past few weeks. Israeli Air Force jets continue to operate with offense and defense on various arenas simultaneously. Dozens of jets are flying all over the Middle East at any given time. Our enemies are seeing the Israeli Air Force and our abilities to operate with precision. They understand the meaning of that. The Air Force, together with the intelligence, are covering for our troops on the ground as well, in Gaza in the north and also in the West Bank. The aerial defense system with the Navy continue the defense effort on the people of Israel in all the arenas and on all the borders. Today, the chief of staff visited the Air Force base and said the IDF is ready to any development in any arena. The Air Force is operating with less than half of its capacity and is ready to operate at any arena in very short time for anything that is needed. So far, we have given notices to families of 242 kidnapped families and to 335 families of fallen IDF soldiers. Our hearts are with the families. We'll continue to be with them at these very difficult moments. We also will also be with the wounded and we'll wish them recovery together with their families. Those who fell in battle has given an important help to the security of the state of Israel with the spirit of fighting. And in the compass that it gives to all the fighters that are now fighting in Gaza and in the north, what drives them is those who fell in battle. And for them, we will continue to fight until we win. Over the past, over the next several weeks, we will need to show resilience and patience. Questions? Is a ceasefire of several hours is possible. The term of ceasefire is not on the table. The IDF is engaged in war to dismantle Hamas. Are we expecting an escalation during Nasrallah's speech? We will react with actions and not with words. We're on high readiness for any challenge. We'll operate with actions. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagar, the IDF spokesperson, they're giving his daily briefing. What struck me especially was the emphasis on the northern front. The warning, I would say clear warning to Hezbollah following this rocket attack on Kirchmone, in which two Israeli civilians were injured and maybe anticipating ahead of this Nasrallah speech tomorrow, making clear to Hezbollah that if they should escalate, their involvement in this fighting in the north, they will pay a heavy price for it. Certainly an uptick in the escalation in the north just this evening with a barrage of rockets that have reached many cities including Kirchmone, with Israeli injuries. Before that, we saw strikes on IDF posts. So certainly the threat there, the risk in the north is very evident. He's well aware of that. All eyes are on Nasrallah. And we also need to remind our viewers that at the same time that Nasrallah will take, make his speech, well, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is going to be here in Israel. So that's also something for Nasrallah to think about. That's one thing to think about. And you're right. And of course that sixth fleet is staying there off the coast. That's definitely a factor there that he has to consider. I also, it's clear that Daniel Higari not wanting to give too many details about the fighting in Gaza. Israel, the IDF has noted. The IDF being very vague about what's happening on the ground there. Clearly they want to keep Hamas off guard. We could speculate in the studio here, but of course we don't have the up-to-date information when we say this is where the IDF is. That's based on foreign press sources. I don't know if it's the most up-to-date, but clearly they want to try. The IDF wants to keep the fog of war, keep Hamas off balance. Well, obviously Hamas has a lot of surprises for the IDF and the IDF on its part also wants to surprise Hamas as much as it can with applying that pressure, creating more opportunities for the IDF and also collecting intelligence about over 240,000 people who are in the IDF. That is, we need to remember, at the same time that the IDF is fighting Hamas, it is also looking for opportunities to rescue those Israelis. We saw that one sole Israeli soldier that was rescued, Orymy Giddish, just a few days ago, and what impact that had on the national moral of the IDF is that the IDF is fighting Hamas. The national moral of Israel, obviously that is something that the Israel and the IDF in general would like to see a lot more of, and that is the complexity as well of this fighting as the IDF fights with full force against Hamas while also wanting to ensure the safety of as many of these Israeli hostages at the same time, a very complicated task. Well, when we're speaking of the hostages, of course there were across the country memorials that have been set up, reminders of those hostages, everything from posters to more elaborate exhibitions. One of them was in Tel Aviv, at the Tel Aviv Museum. Let's go to our Batja Leventhal, who's there outside the Tel Aviv Museum. What's really started to be called that plaza in front of the Tel Aviv Museum, now people are calling it the plaza of the hostages Batja. Absolutely, Deke Levin, we've actually just taken a walk down the road that seems to be the area that the hostages' families have set up base camp in terms of having live presses there and having vigils and memorials as you mentioned. Right now, as you can see behind me, there is another demonstration, another exhibition called Empty Beds, and we'll show you that in just a second, but you can see just behind me, there is a giant screen telling the audience exactly how long. 26 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes, and you can see on the end 55, 56, that is the number of seconds. So again, we've been in the war for 27 days. Some of the hostages that have been taken over 240 have not seen their families for 26 days. Now, the exhibition that I want to show you is as follows, so I want to take a look at some of the visuals here. These are empty beds that have been set up, as you can see right now, we're looking at a crib, and the majority of them have been left the way that some of the beds in the south, in particular, have been left or at least seen from the IDF generals that have walked there. Some of the kibbutzim that were ravaged, you can see on this other bed here, they've left glasses and a book. And this is just two, in a line of these beds, you'll see now on the camera, this just goes on and on, and this specific one is at Habema Square, so again, another famous landmark in Tel Aviv that sees so many people coming to have a look at such a demonstration. They are very much putting this up, along with the hostages, with the argument of there are more than 240 hostages, they need to be brought home today, not tomorrow and not when this war ends. Immediately civilians should not be casualties in war. This is not again, we're not talking about military officials or soldiers, we're talking about young children, we're talking about the elderly women, just men that have nothing to do with the military at this point or are past the age of even doing reserves. And so the families have set this up and what's amazing as well about these exhibitions is once they are finished, there was a similar one just yesterday in Jerusalem also in a main square, showcasing at that point 239 hostages today, we know that number is over 240. All the sheets, all the materials that have been used will be donated to those in the south that have had to evacuate and flee toward the centre of the country as the south is still undergoing A renovations and B is still clearing out possible infiltrations and the fighting goes on across the border in Gaza. Alright, Bach 11th I'm very moving to see those empty beds, those cribs especially Bach 11th on Tel Aviv, thank you for that. Now in the wake of the October 7th terror attack and the scope of the atrocities committed there some western nations are finally taking steps long advocated by Israel to rein in and outlaw the activities of Hamas and its supporters within their own borders. We're talking about fundraising in various political activities. Well today Germany announced a series of steps in that direction. Here's that country's interior minister announcing those measures today. As federal minister of the interior I am today banning the activities of Hamas and Semedin in Germany and dissolving Semedin Germany. Semedin is an international network that spreads anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda to the guys of a so called solidarity organization for prisoners in various countries. Semedin also supports and glorifies various foreign terrorist organization especially Hamas. Holding spontaneous celebrations here in Germany in response to the terrible terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel as we are witnessing in Berlin is unbearable. This shows Semedin's anti-Semitic behavior. Well, for more let's go to Berlin and speak with Israel's ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor and Mr. Ambassador thanks you for joining us. Tell us about these measures something as I said before Israel has long advocated different Western states to take and how it came to the point that Germany finally is making these steps. So first and foremost I have to say that Germany decided to move from words to deeds and from the start from the go the German chancellor Olaf Scholz said the only side one can really be on is on Israel's side and they went out to a working plan including banning Semedin and Hamas also controlling the finances and the money that went directly from different institutions and NGOs over to Hamas and the Germans really I think understood one thing that Semedin is basically a trojan horse for the German democracy they're using and abusing it and the scenes on the streets of Berlin with a shouting you know death to Jews death to Israel and that I think woke Germans up and said hey just a second 2023 we have Molotov's cocktail flying over on synagogues we have David Starr's painted on Jewish houses what the hell is going on here and they moved to really say hey if we don't act against these guys now we'll cry tomorrow Right you mentioned that fire bombing of that synagogue in Berlin which really Hawkins back had to say to the 1930s and the interior minister actually did address the issue of anti-Semitism in Germany give us a sense of how what you're seeing there and feeling there in Germany as we're seeing these kind of scenes cemeteries being defaced and of course as you mentioned these rallies even mass rallies where you hear these kind of definitely incitement against Israel and Jews Absolutely and look on the streets of Germany Jews were afraid to run around with Kippas Israelis speak on the phone in English and often Hebrew when they go underground and the fact that Jews fear to run in the streets of Germany because of this violence basically gets the Germans to wake up and by the way last spoke two days ago said that 60% of the Germans are afraid from the new immigration and what they're introducing into Germany with violence so it connects in the fact by saying hey it's not enough that you have a German passport or that you just enter Germany we have not maintained a common denominator these guys are coming to Germany knowing nothing about democracy democratic values or any of the values that we grow up in and if we don't deal with this today this is going to turn Berlin or a place called Neuköll into Gaza and I think you see the fear of Germany of understanding a on the Jewish you know Jews here in Germany anti-semitism that comes with the immigrants and calling a spade a spade and not trying to look away so don't belittle this Germany with the whole idea of the constitution after the Second World War with privacy laws is coming out big and saying hey you know freedom of special is fine but this is freedom of incitement absolutely not well you have Germany you have in the UK the British government also taking some measures how much do you think this could be serve as a model for some of those other countries in Western Europe or elsewhere in Europe in general where we see Hamas or as you mentioned these cover organizations that also dress themselves as Palestinian charities to actually raise money other governments could be inspired maybe to take similar measures I think Germany is the first to really move on this in a you know actual you know doing something deeds and I just want to remind you all all our viewers that it took Europe you know years to basically put the political arm of Kisbala as a terrorist organization because they made the differentiation between the military arm and the political arm Chasa Nasrallah didn't know that there was a difference but in Europe they still made that if it took them years to basically put everyone on the terrorist list so I think Germany starting today a journey that I think most European countries should follow because at the end of the day you know we're really making a differentiation between you know civilization and barbarism and Hamas and their likes should really be banned anywhere in Europe and it's better that they do it you know today so they don't cry tomorrow all right yeah don't cry tomorrow Ambassador Ron Prosor there in Berlin thank you for joining us on I-24 news thank you and I want to get back to you on the hostages we were just before we went to because that is the key here and we should not forget that for a moment and we just saw that very moving exhibit there at the Habima Square just before we went to the ambassador yes so two interesting developments with regards to the hostages well the psychological warfare of Hamas continues and this evening Hamas sending text messages SMS messages to the families of those poor poor hostages using the phones taken of course from the hostages as well but they also have their intelligence the phone numbers of those families trying to apply pressure on them saying to them that we have offered Israel a prisoner exchange deal asking them to apply pressure on the Israeli government to give into that deal together with a link that obviously they should not click on and just over an hour ago Minister Benny Gantz making a statement to the nation saying that Israel will provide immunity to those Gazans who will provide information about the safety, about the well-being and help release some of the captives he's promising immunity to those Gazans and their families if they assist in releasing the Israeli kidnapped we'll see if it bears any fruit though we might not even know in fact if it does well among the most outspoken of Israeli political figures during the past month on the Israel Hamas war is a former prime minister Naftali Bennett now he himself is a veteran of an elite combat unit Bennett today visited the city of Naharia just south of the Lebanon border and he spoke there with I-24 news about the northern front and of course the battle raging in Gaza here is some of that I don't want to give advice to the government that's regardless of my opinions I don't mind its actions I think Hezbollah should take into account that the degree of destruction that they will bring upon Lebanon if they start up with us will be immense and Nasrallah previously said about the second Lebanon war which I participated in that had he known of the Israeli reaction he would not have initiated it just he recalls his own statement I think a lot depends on seeing the process actually in the south all the way through the government has set an objective of eradicating Hamas we need to do that the government and Israel to deliver on that very solid promise I think that will reflect not only to the communities around Gaza and in the Negev but also to the communities here and in fact it will resonate and it's being watched by all of the region so Israel has to deliver on the very clear promises it's made first and foremost before we talk about who replaces them all Hamasnik terrorists are either dead or expelled to foreign countries because if you still have Hamasniks then you've not eradicated Hamas as for who will come instead as long as we understand the principle guiding us that we're not willing to have an armed Gaza anymore there's several options and all of them are reasonable I think after you clean it up from security problems and from terror you can hold elections there's other options you can effect there I don't think that we should be showing any divisions within Israel certainly not within the government at a time of war that's why I back the government and I back of course the security forces we need to wake up and see that we're in a new environment a new world that we can't ignore harsh realities the harsh reality is that the Palestinian Authority sends every month pay for slay money which is effectively rewarding terrorists who murder Israelis and that in itself is a major incentive I think it's vital that Israel insists that there's no more pay to slay money and only then can continue to question If you've been watching international media over the past few weeks he's been quite effective and outspoken in those interviews we mentioned earlier the 20 IDF soldiers so far killed in the Gaza fighting the most senior among them is Lieutenant Colonel Salman Habaka of the army course 53rd Battalion Habaka from the Jewish community of Yannu Jat in northern Israel was already a hero of this fight because on October 7th he headed directly south to the Gaza border and he drove his tank into Kubut's Bari as part of the rescue effort here. Here's Habaka describing that exploit to channel 12 news prior of course to his falling in battle in Gaza We take out the first tanks to the south of the Gaza envelope I position myself so that I'm deployed from Karim Shalom to Eras and Sterot Crossing the settlement of Bari with my tanks I see a force of infantry who says to me Salman they are slaughtering us and bodies are lying on the street we stand next to your tank and fight with you I had two tanks in the Kisufim area and they actually killed terrorists who tried to infiltrate the Kisufim army post there were three tanks at the Eras crossing that basically took the Eras crossing back from the Hamas terrorists the advantage of the tanks is its lethality and its power to lead to victory the battalion understands that they have no other country Salman Habaka one of the many in the Jewish community who serve in the key combat positions in the Israeli Defense Forces fallen in the line of duty may his memory be a blessing now on October 7th there were other stories to emerge of exceptional courage on the fire and those also must be told when the small town of Ofakim came under attack that day Hamas terrorists seized two houses there and took the families inside of hostages now one woman on the scene was in charge of the battle to free them that was the Israel police there for the Sir Moran Teji reporter Mor Ellen has her remarkable story of courage the October 7th massacre could have been a greater tragedy if not for the men as well as the women who put their lives on the line one of them is Moran a mother of two from the small town of Ofakim 15 miles from the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning we were awakened by a missile alert we understood that this is a serious situation in my district people are getting hurt a mother and her son were killed I turned on the police radio and heard things I hadn't heard in over 20 years Moran a staff officer in the Israeli police was hearing her coworkers battling the terrorists that entered Israel many of them targeting the Nova festival being held just by the Gaza border she rushed to the closest battle location it was all of 250 yards from her home police were already there but she took command I ran inside I see cops here and there what we know at this point they were fighting with four terrorists later we caught five they barricaded themselves into a house with hostages this house of another hero Rachel and her husband David were held hostage for 20 hours while the police and the terrorists were battling outside Rachel kept feeding the terrorists cookies and drinks trying to steal time until the police could burst in under fire Moran tried to find shelter while moving forward to the battle area we were under heavy fire they were shooting at us from the direction of the house a hand grenade is thrown at us but thank God it didn't explode we hid behind the garbage which gave us some kind of a shelter and we start shooting at them two policemen were wounded and we extracted them under fire we understood that we needed to call the special units at this point the district commander arrived Moran updated him on the situation they decided to stabilize the situation until additional forces would arrive to negotiate with the terrorists but Moran's job was not over yet a civilian reached me and told me that in the next street there are more terrorists at this point I smiled I said ok show me some pictures I couldn't believe there were more terrorists another family's house is taken by terrorists luckily the terrorists were on the balcony but inside the home a mother, father and their two children were hiding in a locked room with a kitchen knife the district commander ordered Moran to go over there and take charge from what we know there are three terrorists at the balcony of a second house we hid here and slowly we made our way looking for the right house my co-worker Roi signaled me as you can see the fence is high and we had to think how to enter we also don't know exactly where they are while the force led by Moran entered the house's balcony the terrorists hid at the back inside a small structure as she realizes the gravity of the situation she makes a phone call I stopped to make a phone call to my kids they wanted to take care of themselves that I love them and that God is great I just had that need policemen started to surround the house positioning themselves on the roofs of the neighboring homes the point was to flash out the terrorist location since it was still quiet I instructed one of the cops to shoot before giving the order to shoot the family out now the terrorists fired back and Moran was wounded but she kept fighting my position was always here I stood here with other officers we were aiming our guns at the back room after a long battle an officer climbed the roof where was he located he climbed here and he was able to talk in Arabic with the last terrorist that was still alive he finally surrendered many other women showed their bravery on October 7 Inbal Lieberman saved her entire village Niraam when she understood the situation early on and gave as many guns as possible to the members of the Kibbutz Orban Yehuda, an officer in the IDF gunned down 15 terrorists protecting and saving the people of Kibbutz Yated but all of them prefer not to think of themselves as heroes I find it hard to take the credit there are other cops, heroes who left their homes and came to fight with no fear I don't like the term hero I find it awkward, the media and all that but the reason I agreed to give an interview is to convey the next message the Israeli police were at the front line policemen who came from their homes who gave their lives were killed or wounded if it weren't for the police we would have the same massacre we saw in the villages closer to the border we have a strong police that is constantly under scrutiny the owner of the house asked not to be on camera but she stops us to talk with Moran sharing the memories of that day she tells Moran her older child lives in the room at the back of the house later he found a note in arabic saying 945 and the address of a synagogue close by Moran and her team saved many other Israelis since the terrorist plan to shoot up the neighborhood synagogue that was packed with people praying since it was the Sabbath and the holiday as well they may not like to be called heroes but Moran, Imbal, Or and even Rachel are only few of the women who gave their all to save as many people as possible Moran tells you one of many women who on october 7th distinguished themselves in combat roles there is a bit of an update in Washington relevant to some of the issues we've been discussing John Kirby the spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House was asked about the so called humanitarian pause Kirby said what we are talking about are temporary localized pauses in the fighting to meet a certain goal or goals of course I think we heard from today from the IDF spokesperson IDF response to that I guess he gave the answer even before the question was even asked Daniel Agari saying as we translated right here in studio that the term of ceasefire is not even on the table as the IDF is obviously so engaged in this fighting right now even encircling the city of Gaza as putting up the maximum pressure on Hamas right now this is not something that Israel wants to do at this moment of time also we're hearing from Secretary Blinken is making his way into Israel right now and he's telling reporters that in his meeting with Israeli officials tomorrow he will discuss ways to minimize the number of civilian casualties in Gaza just goes together with what we heard from John Kirby and on the side of all of that the question of fuel to Gaza is particularly to Israeli hospitals with the hospitals in Gaza so earlier today we heard the IDF chief Herzia Levy speaking to reporters and he was asked about the possibility of Israel allowing fuel into Gaza his response was well for many days we're hearing that the hospitals will run out of fuel they haven't so far but if they will deliver fuel to the hospitals but make sure that they do not reach the hands of Hamas that is a very difficult promise to give I don't see a way in which the IDF provides fuel to the hospitals and that doesn't reach Hamas we know very well how Hamas uses the civilian infrastructures including fuel for its own military purposes alright for sure and of course we know also that Hamas itself has these fuel stored fuel to keep maintaining perhaps for months underground facilities estimations up for months guys you'll stay with us we are going out for break but we are going to continue into a second hour on this special broadcast stay with us we'll be back at the top of the hour with lots more of our coverage be right back it's no surprise the transition to parent hoard can be transformative for anyone with a new baby but what kind of mark do you see in the brains of new parents there are dramatic physiological, hormonal and neuronal changes in the body and the brain that accompanies parenthood much like the changes that happen in the brain when picking up any new skill like learning a new language or mastering a new musical instrument the brain also changes when becoming a parent it's what scientists call experience induced brain plasticity and digging into this at the Hebrew universities Edmund and Lilly Safry centre for brain sciences the region of the brain called the amygdala it becomes more sensitive in the mothers when they hear baby sounds in short all these senses get a boost to help a mother interact with her baby smell and sound to very strong stimuli are the areas Professor Mizrahi is focused on in his lab but does fatherhood have the same impact on the families of men levels of testosterone which is the male hormone which is correlated with male-like behaviours like aggressiveness and things of that sort it goes down when the male becomes parents as Professor Mizrahi says each and every one of us has a parent or two parents most of us will become parents one day and as any new parent knows having a baby provides opportunities to bring and stress experiences known to transform the adult brain 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside on what's going on only on I-24 news we're deeply committed to doing everything in our power to bring those abducted home to or back to this special broadcast on I-24 news I'm Khaled bin David it's day 27 of Israel's war against Hamas a day in which the IDF chief of staff Herzl Alevi declared that Israeli forces have entered another significant stage in the war surrounding the Hamas stronghold of Gaza city and already even operating within it beginning to fight in its dense urban areas now that effort takes its toll with Israeli casualties in Gaza now reaching 20 and Palestinian fatalities both terrorists and civilians said by them to be in the thousands the violence also intensifying on other fronts in the north two residents of Kirchman are injured in a rocket attack as the IDF continues to exchange fire with his ball of forces across Israel's border Lebanon and in the northern west bank one Israeli heading home from his military reserve duty was killed when his car overturned after he was shot by terrorists US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is on his way to Israel arise tomorrow as the Biden administration presses for a humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow more aid in for civilians well joining us in the studio we have Ambassador Danny A. Lo in the form of Israeli ambassador to the US and member of parliament and of course of correspondent Guy Azrael and Guy maybe we can call up the map that we've made and we do have sirens I'm just going to just announce we do have sirens going off in the city of Ashdod so another round of rocket fire guy let's take a look in the meanwhile at the map this is the sirens ringing the south of Israel let's take a look at the intense fighting that is going on right now in the Gaza strip starting in the north eastern part of Gaza that's where IDF troops are stationed in Bait Khanoun another group of IDF forces are in the western part next to Bait Lahiya and we know that these troops have already connected created continuity as they push south towards the area of Jabalia now Kalev that is one of the most densely populated areas in the Gaza strip making it very difficult for those IDF troops as they make their way into that area obviously Hamas has many surprises for them including explosives and other means well the Israeli Air Force is also assisting in clearing out that area at the same time we have IDF forces down in the center of the Gaza strip next to the Net-Sarim junction they have basically now closed off towards the coast that is about six miles here also in this case pushing northbound towards Gaza city upping the pressure on those Hamas operatives in the city of Gaza that is really a very important part of that ground offensive and when we speak about Gaza city let's speak about Shifa Hospital that is something that the IDF has its eyes on because IDF spokesman Daniel Hagar revealed just a week ago what sort of infrastructure the Hamas group holds under that hospital thousands of kilometers of tunnels of the Hamas group under that hospital including the main headquarters of Hamas the main areas from which Hamas operates sends its rockets and deliver the orders to its operatives and that will be the next task of the IDF and obviously a very complicated and sensitive one considering the fact that this is a big hospital in Gaza absolutely and that is going to be a very tricky operation for the IDF on many levels now as we said earlier US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is now en route to Israel arriving tomorrow for meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other officials here now Joe president US President Joe Biden's response to the wars for Israel so far has been fairly much a best case scenario with the echoes of President's speeches in those first weeks still reverberating in the Israeli mind but as our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman explains Biden's tone has changed a bit in the past week even if his positions haven't yet for Joe Biden the war has turned more complicated gone are the early days of emotive speeches from the US President connecting with the Israeli experience and here now is a more cautious style for over in the Middle East we're going to continue to affirm that Israel has the right to responsibility to defend its citizens from terror and it needs to do so in a manner that was consistent in international and humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of citizens in principle Biden's positions are consistent from the start he has supported Israel's full on fight against Hamas from the start he has worried about protecting civilians notably he has not wrapped those two together he has wanted to achieve both but Biden must confront the pictures and the politics where his approval rating has dropped 11 percentage points among Democrats presumably because of the war the number of trucks entering Gaza continues to increase significantly but we still have a long way to go the United States are going to continue to drive humanitarian support for people in Gaza who need help and they do need help by November 2024 of course the political impact of the war could diminish many news cycles will have passed the presumed candidacy of Donald Trump will focus minds on the left but Biden for all his Zionist order for all his commitment to building and boosting US allies around the world does need to manage the politics that means changing the tone and for civilians in Gaza what are the results? Well for more let's go to our CDUS correspondent Mike Wagenheim in New York Mike Secretary Blinken on the way here Israel in the US or their government still pretty much on the same page about the end goal here for Israel eliminating Hamas for its hostages but some differences emerging in the journey to that end goal for example this issue of so-called humanitarian pauses we used to call them cease temporary ceasefires clearly Israel is still not on board with that idea Not quite yet and we've seen a gradual change here in the Biden administration from absolutely no stoppage in the fighting let Israel take care of its business too we're exploring the possibility of the benefits of a humanitarian pause to now, hey let's have a humanitarian time out here now National Security Council John Kirby just a little while ago was asked to define exactly what the US means in terms of a humanitarian pause that they're calling for now he said we're talking about temporary localized pauses to meet a certain goal or goals very legally speak there but it just goes to show you that there's really fine tuning and polishing in the message here coming out of the US exactly what they are looking for here so as to not hamstring Israel anymore that it needs to be hamstrung in terms of its carrying out its mission here so the details still being worked out but it's clear there's a change of direction here from the Biden administration as the civilian tolls mountain Gaza in terms of letting more aid in in terms of making sure that civilians can get out especially American civilians we've had as Biden announced earlier today 74 American citizens along with their family members and foreign nationals were able to get out of Gaza so far so definitely a change in direction here and Israel I think is starting to work its way toward Biden on that as well no though not quite as fast as the Biden admin would like right another issue certainly come up Biden administration has been vocal expressing its concerns about activity by some segments of the settler community in the West Bank there saying it the Israeli government has to rein in the more extremist element there a situation that was aggravated certainly today by the terrorist shooting of an Israeli resident of the West Bank and that's certainly going to be another one of the points that are likely to be raised by Secretary Blinken no doubt whatsoever if you recall Khaled you and I a couple months ago we're talking about this on a daily basis of how much the State Department was focusing on that particular issue of violence coming out of the Jewish in Judea and Samaria the West Bank against Palestinians living in those areas this was a daily criticism coming out of the State Department often times in very stark terms we've gotten away from that obviously due to more urgent circumstances that have taken over but it's not as if it's been forgotten here and obviously when you look at Hamas influence there Palestinian territories within the West Bank it can light a fire quickly and Israel will be dealing with conflicts harsh conflicts on both sides of its borders here the United States urging Israel to get at least that border under control right and finally Mike we should note the Secretary Blinken will go on to Jordan after being in Israel maybe other Arab capitals we don't know yet maybe starting trying to push Israel to start that discussion about what we call the day after what happens after Hamas is defeated yeah there's been talk within the State Department here about trying to move Israel forward on a day after plan there have been some suggestions floated so far as to an international peacekeeping force that may or may not involve the Americans possibly the United Nations taking over on a temporary basis which is an absolute non-starter for Israel doesn't matter who's running the government for Israel at that point in time there's also been a kind of a novel suggestion floated out there that other Gulf countries that have an interest there can not just whip out their pocketbooks as they do every now and again and write a check but actually share in some form or fashion temporary governance over Gaza now Tony Blinken testifying in front of Congress the other day said that he would like to eventually as part of a Palestinian state CA revamped and revitalized Palestinian authority take over listen to the state of the Palestinian authority right now by his end either health wise or politically wise there's no telling what the Palestinian authority is going to look like soon but it's certainly not going to be revitalized anytime soon so no real good answers at this point in time but it certainly helps to think about what the day after might look like rather than finding yourself in that position without any any good answers right in fact there's a debate going on even today in the Israeli government about withholding tax funds from the Palestinian authority right on that so certainly that also seems to be a little problematic at least for this current government to move ahead and extending its authority into again into Gaza Mike Wagenheim thank you for that Ambassador Ayalon so a lot of issues that Tony Blinken is going to be bringing up with Prime Minister Netanyahu like I said on the big picture on the same page but on the details differences emerging Yes so if we talk about the context of his coming here it's almost critical with the upcoming very much expected important quote-unquote speech of Nasrallah tomorrow so it's very important I think for the Americans to have here a very high level official here in the region whether he'll be here or in Jordan when Nasrallah makes a speech in case Nasrallah will make some let's say extreme moves including with not just threats but more action on the ground then there is a decision maker here from Washington that can respond very quickly right including let's keep in mind with that set the US 6th Fleet right off the coast of Lebanon absolutely absolutely the 6th Fleet and the coast of Lebanon and the 5th Fleet it's in the Arabia in the Gulf so this is the first thing also we have interestingly not interestingly but he brings with him actually the new American Ambassador Jack Lew and Jack first of all to bring him up to speed of what's happening here and also let him start you know hit the ground running because he won't have any grace period and the administration need to have here a senior ambassador who has the access in Washington who can be also in a decision making position and also who would have the respect of the Israeli government with all the respect I mean she's doing a great affair but but you need somebody with the gravitas and with the authority so I think this is also very important for them to bring Jack Lew as soon as possible and then of course when these here in original tour they have to think about the day after and here I think they are a little bit unfair to the Israeli government which is so much now immersed in winning the Gaza war there are some teams talking about the day after but I think there will be time to discuss it all right stay with us Danny I want to go back to the issue of the hostages on the morning of October 7th Renan Agome was visiting away from her home on Kibbutz near Oz next to the Gaza border once she received the phone call from her house where her two sons 16 year old or and 12 year old Yagil Yakov was sleeping what followed was a mother's worst nightmare and one that now has been depicted in a short film by cooperation between Renan and animator Yoni Goodman who also worked on the acclaimed film What's With Bashir here's that clip explaining what happened next they called me scared to death they said they hear someone breaking into our home over the phone I heard voices speaking in Arabic even though my son was trying hard to hold it closed the door to the safe room was pushed open last I heard was my youngest saying don't take me I'm too young 70 people were kidnapped from their home near Oz I think of them alone in a pit or a dark tunnel with no sense of time I hope that they are together keeping each other strong and that they are with other children who were also kidnapped until I see them again waiting to hug them again soon and joining us now is Renan Agome the mother of Yigal and war thank you for joining us Renan that little short clip very moving it gives us the facts but just give us what went on in your mind and in your heart on that morning when you had that phone call and you started to realize what was happening actually it doesn't just give the facts it gives I think well it was meant to give and I think it did quite a good job in it giving the way I felt and still feel in regard to those horrifying moments as you said it's every mother's parent but certainly mother's nightmare and this nightmare just became my reality and I had this dream the nightmare and it was all in the colors of wars with Basire and I went to look for Yoni because I wanted it out of my head and he did a great job in getting it out and he gave it a good ending and I certainly hope this will be the ending eventually right why did you decide now of course many of I've spoken over the past a few weeks with many of the people who are family members each of them in their own way trying to raise the profile both locally and even internationally of the plight of their loved ones family members I'm just curious why how did it come about that you chose this method as I said I woke up just a few mornings after it all began and I could just I had a nightmare that was all in the in the colors and the animation that was like wars with Basire and I just decided that I'm going to look for Ari Forman and Yoni and I'm going to get it out in the open I thought it was a good way to show the world what happened and and the way you know how I feel the way it made me feel in real time and it's not as graphic as everything else was I wanted it to be something that people can relate to without having to watch the horrors because you know there was so much of it going on it's just you couldn't watch it anymore it's so horrifying and I think this is a way to get to get to the people and to show the horror and to show the fear they were scared to death and so was I and I still am to be honest sure of course it was a good way to show it without being too graphic what kind of reactions you've gotten to it though or have you been out there long enough for you to get reaction this went viral way more than I expected way more than I could ever think of it went throughout the world I get reactions from anywhere and everywhere people said it made them cry people said it made them realize what was really happening people said they could relate to it and finally could understand how it was to be in that situation all sorts of different reactions also you know obviously you've got some negative responses as well but this is part of being viral you don't always get good reactions and I do believe that if we got some bad reactions it means it actually gets to the right ears as well not just to those think alike all of the people I've interviewed I mean I want to ask them you have a forum here whatever you might have to say either of course to the local authorities or government here but as you know we are an international channel played all over the world in the region as well and I wonder in your own voice now what message you might have for those in the international community as well about the situation not only of your own children but also all of the the hostages I would just want the world to enlist to the effort of releasing them as soon as possible mainly children 32 children from the age of 9 months to the age of 17 that were taken from their homes just imagine it was your child taken from your home from their own bedroom in your house taken dragged into the darkness children should not be imprisoned and certainly should not be kidnapped and held hostages for almost a month now and they are not bargain chips in a war game they're not part of this and this is not a war it was a terror attack a horrific terror attack children are shot, murdered burned and what I want the world to do is to enlist to the effort of releasing all of the hostages but certainly 32 children are held somewhere in the Gaza Strip by a terror organization and who knows what conditions they're held in and how they're being taken care of and whether they're even alive Yeah Rana it's hard to anyone to imagine what you're experiencing of course our deepest sympathy and support for you and of course but most of all our wishes for the safe return of your two boys, Gil and Oryakov may they come home safe and sound thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story with us Thank you so much Just heartbreaking to hear hear those stories Absolutely devastating some of these kids are high school friends of my nephews in these Kibbutz in Shar-Negov in these communities it breaks your heart I cannot even start to imagine how it feels like for the parents but even for their friends they do not yet know the full extent of what has transpired these are young kids and even their friends are unable to be given that information about what has happened to their friends and even if they hear just that sentence of a friend of mine from school has been hijacked they have no idea and I don't want them to have an idea of what this reality means like for them it's heartbreaking I hope the world sees and understands I want to ask you about Danny the world sees and understands because as we discussed and we were discussing the show the world sees some of the tide of public opinion that was with Israel is starting to waiver a bit and the answer to that is the question is how much of that is offset by the message still coming out that there are still these hostages these young children, babies elderly people being held in Gaza and this mission at the course of civilian casualties in Gaza are to rescue those people I think it's important to just keep driving this point home to the hearts and minds of these people around the world some of them are brainwashed either by the Muslims or they're afraid of them but it doesn't matter we have to do what we have to do and I think what Israel is also very well advised to do is to really hand down those perpetrators of the program of the massacre of the 7th of October as they did the Nazis nothing less than that I think that would be a very important lesson for history for not only just to keep the records for history but also justice has to be meted to all those guys and I know Israel is actually taking very meticulously all the details of everyone who participated in the massacre from the very lowly guys on the ground all the way to Iche Sinwar and Hania and all all of them are accountable all of them have to meet their justice one way or another An effort that may time we do have to keep in mind some of these people are not even in Gaza Hamas has some of its leadership outside in other countries in the region There was a very important initiative today by two former chiefs of the Supreme Court in Israel Aaron Barak and Irrid Benish who really built the case for the criminal court of international court to bring them all to record everything and what Israel said to those Hamas guys either unconditional surrender or you die and if there's unconditional surrender then there have to be a follow up like the Nirenberg trials to them Alright, Ambassador Dania Yolone, Gari Israel stay with us, we are going out for a brief break just a few minutes but stay with us as we continue our coverage of the Israel Hamas war here on I-24 News, we will be right back good evening ladies and gentlemen 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 want to do we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds a wake-up call in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up, this is the unity come back to this special broadcast on I-24 News the 27 of Israel's war against Hamas but as we said there was also a intensification of the fire across the Lebanon border in the north of Israel between the IDF and his ball of forces two Israeli civilians injured in the town of Kirchmona by fire from Lebanon no one expected the first major speech by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah the head of his Bala since this conflict began now behind his Bala is of course Iran and yesterday the commander of the Tehran regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Qura Quds Force arrived in Lebanon to coordinate with the Shi'ite militia there amid these continued border clashes the big question now is whether the Iranian back terror group will escalate its conflict with Israel the Middle East correspondent Ariel Al-Saran takes a closer look for 27 days now the main focus of the IDF has been to threat from Gaza but Israel's northern frontier against Hezbollah continues to occupy IDF forces with daily exchanges of fire and the attempted downing of an IDF drone early Thursday morning in the north we continue to attack his butter targets along the border and eliminate enemy squads that try launch missiles, rockets and water bombs towards Israeli territory IDF forces also in the last hour attack positions from which rocket launchers were fired in the direction of Mount Dov, Mount Hermon and other directions following the IDF strike Hezbollah announced the death of another fighter among its ranks the 50th since the beginning of the war the real number is likely higher most of Hezbollah's casualties are the result of air strikes anti-tank units which have been attacking IDF outposts along the Israel Lebanon border some of them eliminated before they could fire their missiles although that's not how Hezbollah sees it we have seen over three weeks of Israeli attacks and strikes carried out by the resistance against Israeli military outposts the Israeli enemy hasn't managed to mark a single achievement despite all of its advanced technology attack drones, artillery and daily air strikes on our hills and villages none of this has brought a single achievement ahead of a much anticipated speech on Friday by Hezbollah leader Hassan Asrallah his first since the start of the war Iran's IRGC Quds Force commander Ismail Kani is visiting Lebanon this is Kani's second visit to Lebanon since October 7 to coordinate with Hezbollah concerning the conflict with Israel Asrallah's speech should also shed light whether Hezbollah will raise the threshold of the border clashes to a full-scale war or not now the tensions caused by the Israel Hamas and potentially Israel Hezbollah conflicts go far beyond even the region while the US and Europe continue to support Israel's fight against Hamas within certain limitations which we've discussed Russia has taken the opposite attack in basically leading the international coalition against Israel's campaign is Russia's ambassador to the UN speaking to the General Assembly on that all the US can do is talk about Israel's right to self-defense although as an occupying power it has no such right as confirmed by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in 2004 I hope that this blatant double standard is clear to our colleagues in the global south as for Israel's security the right for which we recognize it can be fully guaranteed only in the event of a fair solution to the Palestinian problem on the basis of a well-known UN Security Council resolution we do not deny Israel the right to fight terrorism but fight terrorism not with civilians otherwise you yourself take the side of evil and act using its own methods Danny the irony your outright hypocrisy of Russia attacking Israel as an occupying power and saying basically that aviates its right to self-defense I mean I don't even it would be comical if it wasn't so serious absolutely and you know we know how Putin and Russia deals with what they call terrorists they flattened a whole city with millions of people in Chechnya about two decades ago their unprovoked attack on the Ukraine and what they do in the Ukraine including all this deportation of kids and families I mean these are real war crimes that are perpetrated by Russia and they have the temerity to call us out I don't think it's serious I don't think anyone takes them serious but unfortunately Russia has put themselves at the head of the axis of evil today with Iran with the axis of Iran like Hezbollah and even countries like North Korea which has supplied weapons that has somehow ended up in Gaza and then from the Wall Street Journal this evening that the Wagner group may supply air defense missiles to Hezbollah that would be a red if they do that I would strongly recommend the Israeli government to start supplying the Ukraine military with a lot of equipment that we have to maybe shift the balance over there and let the Russians understand that it's a two-way street until recently we have been kind of walking on eggshells because we were trying to be differential to them if you will in our operations in Syria And concern over Russian, the Jews of Russia as well and of course concern of the Russian Jews but I would say right now I don't think the Russians have the word with all to really stop us from doing our self-defense actions in Syria and we don't need their permission for that and for the Russian Jews I think that they would be well advised not to even bring this issue into the into the equation because they are Russian citizens and if there is anything done to Russian Jews then it's very serious I don't want to get ahead of ourselves I don't want to get involved that might draw a reigning involvement and that would draw Russian deeper so this has potential for much more serious international consequences but let's just leave it at that for now but let's stay in the international arena in the meantime Erwin Cutler is the former Justice Minister of Canada he's a renowned human rights lawyer and he's also Canada's outgoing special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combating anti-Semitism in front of international advocacy against the demonization of Israel and now of course speaking out against atrocities committed against Israelis on October 7th and for the return of its hostages held by Hamas joining us now is former Canadian Justice Minister former Attorney General of Canada Erwin Cutler Erwin thank you for joining us just seeing you there I recall you had a quite well-known formulation that anti-Semitism of Israel veers into anti-Semitism when Israel is treated as the collective Jew among the nations and I really think you could see what happened internationally in since October 7th as a really profound illustration of that Erwin Cutler one would have thought that given the mass atrocities horrors too terrible to be believed but not too terrible to have happened by a not only a terrorist organization but an anti-Semitic genocidal terrorist organization which is what Hamas is not because I say so but because they have affirmed it since 1988 in their founding charter one would have thought that this would have resulted in a combating of anti-Semitism regrettably it resulted in intensification almost an explosion of anti-Semitism which just lets us know the extent to which this is not only the oldest, longest most lethal and most toxic of hatred but it always singles out the Jew, the Jewish people Israel as the Jew among the nations as the enemy of all that is good and the embodiment of all that is evil at any given moment in time right now of course Erwin you've dealt with the issue of human rights and international law for many many many years the irony is here we have the situation of the hostages being held by Hamas violating all of those pretty much every stature and yet again we have Israel now facing charges or accusations of violations of international rights in its campaign to rescue those hostages Well the things that the question of the unconditional and immediate rescue of those hostages has to be a standalone obligation it is a humanitarian imperative of the First Order we're talking about toddlers, children women, elderly, holocaust survivors being held by this terrorist organization it has to be a moral imperative of the First Order the principle of humanity is a foundational principle of international human rights what we are witnessing is the worst of in humanity it's a legal imperative every day that these hostages are being kept in forced disappearance and detention is a standing crime under international law a standing war crime and crime against humanity and finally it's an international legal obligation this has to be the first priority of states in the international community that is to secure the immediate release of those hostages any other attempt to deflect or deny is not only playing politics but is evading states responsibilities under international law to make this an independent standalone priority as I said a compelling humanitarian, moral, legal international imperative Right and you have said and I've read that Canada should be at the forefront of that and I would say Prime Minister Trudeau has spoken up about it and has given support for his and they are Canadian citizens or those who held it among the hostages but how Canada acts in international forums like the UN is something a little different for example the amendment that sort of one sided amendment which Canada abstained on and was criticized in some quarters I believe also including by your daughter I should mention Michelle who is the Israel's official envoy against combating anti-Semitism what do you have to say about how Canada is dealing with this current situation Well I met two days ago with the Prime Minister and the leaders of all the other parties in parliament and I said what we needed at this point was a multi-lateral coalition the same way that we had a multi-lateral coalition re-ISIS we need a multi-lateral coalition now for the immediate rescue of the hostages that's number one number two at the UN I met yesterday evening with our Canadian Ambassador to the UN at Bob Ray and discussed with him putting in place an ambassadorial partnership in action getting the ambassadors of the various countries whose nationals are now being held hostage bringing them together making this a prio