Welcome, you're watching i24 News coming to you live from Tel Aviv, the top stories this hour. From Tehran, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh welcomes Israel's political isolation after the United States failed to veto a ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council. As Bola fires dozens of rockets at northern Israel as the IDF strikes targets deep inside Lebanon. And why are the wealthy Arab states refusing to make up the shortfall in donations to UNRWA? The group says it has just enough funds to keep going until May. A small team of Israeli negotiators have reportedly stayed on in Qatar amid a last ditch effort to reach a hostage release deal with Hamas. Israeli officials say a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza makes the deal less likely. Qatar, which is hosting the talks, disagrees. Regarding the Security Council resolution, we have said very clearly we welcome such a move because we welcome any international diplomatic initiative, whether it be regional or international, in support of ending this terrible conflict. And that is certainly coming from the Security Council in such language is very helpful and we hope that this momentum would continue and that we can build on this decision to expedite the end of this war. We haven't seen any immediate effect on the talks. They are, as I said, they are ongoing as they were before the decision was taking place. Other statements that came out from the Israeli government are biologically between the US and Israel and they have not affected the talks as we speak right now. While we can go now to Central Tel Aviv, our correspondent, Balia Sladeen, is in Hostages Square with some of the families of the 134 people still being held. And Balia, since the UN Security Council vote yesterday, Hamas has hardened its position somewhat, hasn't it? It is now insisting on a full end to the war, which it was insisting on prior to the latest round of negotiations. Yes, exactly. That's what we've seen from Hamas's official response late at night yesterday. But we are hearing also some reports coming from Lebanon, specifically from a newspaper close to Hezbollah and close to the Palestinian fractions. And the Hamas official, Hussein Badran, is telling that newspaper that this whole thing about coming to an agreement with the Israelis is not about what it's called in Israel, the keys, which is the number of Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for the hostages released by Hamas from Gaza. So it's all about the major issues, as Hussein Badran is saying, about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, about all the issues that relate to the Gaza population. So in terms of what he means by that, he is saying that it's all about the return of the people that evacuated their homes from the north of Gaza to the southern city of Rafah, as well as the end of the war, and also the whole issue about the aid that would be let in Gaza also from the northern borders, that borders Israel as well, and also a source telling Al Mayadeen newspaper from the Palestinian fractions. He is saying that in spite of this whole disagreement with the Israelis, the negotiation is continuing right now. As you mentioned, some of the members of the delegations are still present in Doha while others came back to Israel for consultation with the Israeli officials and the Israeli politicians. He is saying that it's not about the number or the quantity of the Palestinian prisoners and not even about the quality of these Palestinian prisoners. It's all about the other issues. He is saying that Israel agreed that only 60,000 Palestinians come back to their homes in the north of Gaza. It's not even to their homes, as he's saying. It's only for tents in the north of Gaza. That was the American proposal and the Israeli flexibility that we talked about a couple of days ago, as well as the issue about the Israeli evacuation. The Israeli soldiers retreat from the highly populated areas in Gaza. Hamas is demanding that a map would be very precise with the places that the Israeli soldiers will be evacuating. That's Israel's not giving the Hamas delegation, and that, according to the source again, is the reason why there is no agreement this time in Doha. Balear, thank you very much. Balear Sledin, they're down in Central Tel Aviv. Well, with me in the studio this hour, Yossi Melman is an intelligence and defense commentator and the co-author of the book Spies Against Armageddon. Thank you very much for being, Yossi. Good to see you again. So what do you think then, because the Americans have come out quite hard against that claim by the Israeli government. Israel says that vote last night at the UN Security Council has given Hamas additional leverage in the hostage negotiations and has made it tougher for Israel to get those people home. What do you think? I'm not sure that this is the case, because probably Hamas made the decision before the UN Security Council resolution, although it was in the making. So Israel, for example, the Israeli Prime Minister knew already 24 hours before while trying to persuade the Americans to change their position, and Netanyahu knew that that's going to be the resolution. But one has to look at the other side of this resolution. It calls for the release of the hostages, not just the ceasefire. And the ceasefire would be only for two weeks at the end of the Ramadan. That's the time limit which was drafted in the resolution. And therefore, I don't think it's a very bleak, negative decision as far as Israel concerned. Obviously, it's a tough negotiation. I would disagree with the definition that it is the last ditch. We have witnessed for the last five months so many last ditches which have been extended and they're with new ditches and new ditches, so it's very, very crucial now. But on Saturday night, Sunday night, Israel offered to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including murderers, in return for 40 hostages. Hamas never responded to that, and they're now insisting, no, we're going back to the position we originally had. The war has to end. Absolutely. Do you think that they've got the message that the world pressure on Israel is becoming unbearable and Hamas is hoping that Israel will have to stop the war? Yes, this is true. Hamas realized that Israel is becoming isolated in the world. It's not just the Economist magazine front page story, Israel alone. It's a gradual process that Israel has to take into account. Israel is being isolated diplomatically. There is a growing pressure to embargo arms supplies to Israel. Canada is just one example. Holland is another one. Did the Canadian move actually mean anything? Because actually Israel sells more weapons to Canada than it does. It doesn't matter. It's the symbolic gesture. It's the symbolism, right. I mean, and we shouldn't ignore it as Israelis as the government of Israel. Sure, it's a tough negotiation. Hamas is raising its chips, and they want to change the equation. But I don't think this is the end of the line. This is I'm sure there be more pressure on both on Hamas and Israel. And eventually, hopefully there will be a deal. Unfortunately, time is running out for the hostages. Absolutely. To what extent is this becoming a personal problem between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden? Do you think it would be different under a different Israeli leader? I'm sure it would be different. The atmosphere would be different. The air would be clearer. I'm not sure that the interest or the geostrategic posture would change. But the atmosphere in Israel and the attitude to personal attitude to Netanyahu is becoming unbearable for many, many leaders around the world. We have to be clear about it. Netanyahu is now the obstacle, whether he like it or not. As Hamas is the obstacle, if Hamas wants to help the poor Palestinians in Gaza with humanitarian aid, they can easily declare that they are ready for a ceasefire and to lift the misery of their own people. All right. Yossi Mellman, for now. Thank you. Thank you. Well, Hamas, welcome that vote at the UN Security Council on a visit to Tehran today. Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniye, said Israel was experiencing unprecedented political isolation he spoke alongside Iran's foreign minister, Tehran. Israel is now losing its political umbrella and protection, even in the Security Council, as we saw yesterday in the Security Council resolution. Even though this has come late, and even though there are some gaps which need to be filled, the resolution itself shows that the Israeli occupation is living in unprecedented political isolation since Palestine was occupied, and the United States of America is unable to impose its will on the international community. Well, for more on that, we're joined by Ben and Ben Taliblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies. The FDD, thanks for being with us, Ben. And so do you think this is a case of the Iranian singer lifeline for their proxy Hamas? Do you think this is a reason for them to celebrate? Well, pleasure to be with you again. Almost anything that puts gray light or dissonance or evokes a contrast between the U.S. position, particularly post-October 7 and the Israeli position, is a net win for Hamas and is a net win for the major state patriot of Hamas, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Look, the way that you have the translation of that Hamas leader in Iran, the way he is speaking, even per that translation, is proof that he is there on a victory lap and on a coordinating mission with his patron. In essence, these two terror groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hamas, are looking to use military means to affect political ends. And the wins they are notching is that dissonance between Israel and America, is that lackluster security council resolution, is the fact that they are trying to prevent using military means, the ability for Israel to take off the lowest of the low-hanging fruit, Hamas, of Iran's constellation of terror proxies known as the acts of resistance. And again, they're marshalling political and military pressure towards that end. Do you think Iran is confident that Hamas can survive? And what does that mean for Tehran's broader plans? Do you think its other proxies will be emboldened? Hezbollah, for example? I think Iran might understand perhaps better than most the success Israel has actually had, both above ground and underground, moving from the north to the south with the speed that it did, with the limited casualties that it did, being able to clear and hold territory in the manner that it did, but now looking at the situation in Ra'ba. Iran understands that Israel certainly has the capability to remove this piece from the chessboard. What Iran is trying to effectuate is the risk, the cost, the time horizon. And it's in that space that things like the UN Security Council resolution notch up a win for the Iranians and for Hamas, the debate over the numbers of civilian casualties, the politicization of very necessary military aid to Israel. All of those things are things that buy time for Hamas to live, and that's precisely Iran's short to medium-term strategy here. Well, Iran may be pleased with what happened at the UN Security Council. But is it fair to say that it has failed in other arenas? It has failed to inflame Jerusalem or the West Bank so far during Ramadan, for example? I wouldn't say failed.  The Middle East can turn on a dime. You know, Jake Sullivan learned that the hard way with the statement that he issued really just days before 10, 7, you certainly have Quds Day, which is an Iranian-evented holiday. And if there is no drama on the West Bank, even though there are even very recent Israeli reports about intercepted Iranian-armed shipments trying to go into the West Bank, you still have other things that the Iranians will notch as a win, which is the allegedly 80-plus percent approval rating or popularity rating Hamas had in the West Bank or has in the West Bank after 10, 7. And the fact that downtrodden and disaffected populations are populations that are most receptive to the Iranian message. You know, Iran needs a lower bar for victory. The Islamic Republic needs someone who has nothing else to lose to be able to effectuate change in a negative direction. And that's precisely why it is through a series of failed states, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, where the regime is able to appear most strong or most effective. And just because it hasn't affected that yet in the West Bank, doesn't mean it's not going to stop trying. Ben and Ben Tel Aviv, thank you very much. Thank you. Yossi Melman, defence and intelligence expert with me in the studio. There is a strain of thought that if Israel fails to defeat Hamas, if it fails to uproot Hamas from Gaza, its enemies, such as Iran, will be emboldened and will plan further attacks. Do you agree with that? Yes, I do, of course. It's not a zero-sum game between Israel and Tehran. But if Hamas survives this war, not as a military power or force, because as a military force they are suffering major blows, although they are trying to gather and to rally, and occasionally they are sending rockets to show that for them the war is not over, but if they survive as a civic organisation in Gaza, if they control the government of Gaza, then it will be a major boost for Iran. No doubt about it. And this is the Hamas game. They want to survive even barely as a force, as an organisation, as a movement in Gaza, and that would be a victory for them. No doubt about it. And therefore, a solution is needed in order to end the war on one hand with major blows and defeats for the military structure of Hamas, but on the other end to put in place a civic government which would replace Hamas, whether it would be elements of the Palestinian Authority, some sort of international force, or a mix of the two. But that's why it's so important. All right. Yossi, thank you. Yossi Melman there. Well, the U.S. decision to withhold its veto at the UN Security Council marks a new low point in the relationship between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Each are accused of playing to a domestic base at the expense of a strategic ally. Our correspondent, Robert Swift, has more. Opinion seems split on whether the U.S.'s decision not to shield Israel in the UN Security Council on Monday represents a policy shift in Washington. Our vote does not, I repeat, does not represent a shift in our policy. So there's no impact at all on Israel and Israel's ability to continue to go after Hamas. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu viewed things differently, canceling a planned visit to D.C. by two key allies, highlighting an issue on which there is growing consensus, that the relationship between the Biden and Netanyahu administrations, frequently strained in the past, has fallen to an all-time low. Officials in Washington expressed perplexity at the Israeli government's reaction to the vote, with John Kirby suggesting Netanyahu was manufacturing a dispute. Off record, a U.S. official told reporters that the Prime Minister was likely doing so for domestic Israeli political reasons. But while Jerusalem's most important strategic alliance is creaking on the personal level, the U.S.'s efforts to continue arming Israel remain unchanged. With the White House accepting Israeli assurances, that supplied weapons were being used in line with humanitarian law, and that Israel is not blocking humanitarian aid entering Gaza. A decision taken on Monday that could have reduced military aid if it had gone the other way, and putting the U.S. at odds with many other actors on the international stage. A long line of blocked red relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other. That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage. It is time for an ironclad commitment by Israel for total and feathered access for humanitarian goods through Gaza. The direction of travel for Israel's relationship with its U.S. benefactor remains unclear, and may very well hinge on how Jerusalem proceeds with plans for an operation in the densely populated Gazan city of Rafa. Well, Israel's Defense Minister Joav Gallant has been holding talks with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon. We can take a listen now to their remarks. In Gaza today, the number of civilian casualties is far too high, and the amount of humanitarian aid is far too low. Gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe, and the situation is getting even worse. Now, we continue to share the goal of seeing Hamas defeated, so we'll discuss alternative approaches to target Hamas elements, and we must also plan for Israel's security after this conflict ends. That includes working in renewed cooperation with the Palestinian Authority and our regional partners to stabilize Gaza and to move toward a two-state solution. We will discuss developments in Gaza and the means to achieve our goals, the destruction of Hamas organization, and bringing back the Israeli hostages. I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to your personal commitment and to your personal leadership and for your friendship to Israel and personally. All right, that was the Defense Minister Joav Gallant there at the Pentagon with me in the studio, Yossi Melman, Defense and Intelligence Expert. So, you know, we had this kind of theater, this drama, didn't we? Prime Minister Netanyahu cancelled another delegation to Washington, but as we see the Defense Minister already there. And the big question for Israel now is, will it be able to go into Ra'far? There's extraordinary pressure on Israel not to go into Ra'far, the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza. What do you think? Do you think Israel will go ahead anyway? I don't know. My gut feeling is that Israel would not go into Ra'far. Maybe they would continue more extensively, intensely with the kind of warfare which is being now conducted, air raids, special forces moving in and out. And certainly the time is of essence here because even if Israel decides to go to Ra'far, Israel has been committed to evacuate most of the population there to move them from Ra'far to other parts of Gaza. And already there are 1.23 million Gazans in Ra'far. Half of them were moved from the north of Gaza. Therefore, even if Israel decides to launch all-out war in Ra'far, it would take weeks and weeks and weeks until everything is ready. And then Israel has to mobilize its reservists. At the moment the Israeli force is very small. It's on the scale of barely one division, maybe less. Okay, Yossi, thank you. Yossi Melman there. Well, the UN's Palestinian agency, UNRWA, has funds to run its operations until the end of May. That's according to its chief, Philip Lazarini, who's been scrabbling to raise money after major donors scrapped funding in the wake of allegations the group is infiltrated by Hamas. But Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, are reluctant to make up the shortfall left by Western countries from all. Let's go to Dubai and our correspondent, Bastia Mburi. So Bastia, I mean, they're hardly short of money, are they? Why are the Gulf countries so reluctant to hand over the money to UNRWA? Mainly because Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Arab countries fighting the Muslim Brotherhood of which Hamas is enough to shoot are worried that Hamas will go on a cover and infiltrate UNRWA and control it from within, or at least divert its funds. And as a result, back in 2020, for instance, the UAE, and we can also include Bahrain in there, these countries had substantially cut back funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees following their normalization with Israel. Funds dropped from some $50 million a year to just $1 million in 2020. And this was seen, or should I say showcased, as a response to a Palestinian animosity over the Abraham Accords. And at that time, the Palestinian ambassadors to the Emirates and Bahrain were even recalled. And their legitimate grounds for believing that Israel had also asked the UAE to cut funding, which means that, yes, relations with UNRWA are totally subject to political reality. It's remarkable, isn't it, that Saudi Arabia, for example, gives 10 times as much money to Ukraine than it does to UNRWA, despite the numerous pronouncements about solidarity with the Palestinian people.  Are relations between UNRWA and the Gulf countries inherently bad? Let's put the allegations of collusion between UNRWA and Hamas aside for a second. The Gulf states are still giving some kind of funding to UNRWA, because they're backing what they see as the right horse. And even probably the only horse they have in Gaza, as the Emirates, as well as the Saudis, are terrible relations with Hamas. And it wasn't the 2020 Abraham Accords with Israel that were the triggering factor for at least 15, 20 years, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have accused Hamas of being too close to Iran. They regularly arrest Palestinian activists on their soil, accused not only of belonging to Hamas, but also of collecting donations for the group. And as a result, the UAE has no say when it comes to negotiating a ceasefire or a hostage deal, but they still want to play a political role in Gaza once this war is over. So humanitarian diplomacy is pretty much the only thing they can do. And to what extent will they be footing the bill of rebuilding Gaza? Well, in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, there are giant governmental and semi-governmental companies that want to build projects for housing, transportation, tourism, even energy, industry and so on, within the Gaza Strip. And both countries, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are actually competing for regional influence. So they will get involved and will not be an act of charity. Gaza will be an investment, a big economic project with a big return on investment for the Gulf on Israel's doorstep, which would give them leverage over Israel and the Near East. Basia, thank you very much. Basia and Bori, they're over in Dubai. Time for a short break. When we come back, the IDF has been striking deep inside Lebanon today as the Iranian proxy has wallowed fires, dozens of rockets at northern Israel. We'll have the details for you next. Stay with us. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely gone down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. The IDF has been striking multiple targets deep inside Lebanon today in response to a barrage of rockets fired at northern Israel. The IDF says it hits several sites belonging to the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah. For more on that, we can go to the north of Israel and our correspondent, Zach Andrews. And Zach, kind of a mini-escalation once again today, a cycle we are becoming somewhat used to here in Israel. Yeah, it's been a busy day on both sides of the blue line, the border between Israel and Lebanon. We've seen so far 10 attacks Hezbollah's claim responsibility for and a barrage around four o'clock that targeted a IDF facility in the Golan. It was purported by Hezbollah first that they'd fired 50 rockets at this direction at this site. And just recently, the IDF has come out and confirmed that it was 50 projectiles launched at this facility that they were several interceptions and the rest fell in open areas. Does not appear that there has been any reports of significant damage, at least not reported. We're still working to get together some of the images that have been shared of these events. We do know that this morning a winery near the border was struck, started a fire. Looks like there's substantial damage there, but no civilian or military casualties have been reported here today inside Israel in Lebanon. The IDF has been striking positions all throughout the country, including again, one of the farthest points about 100 kilometers north of the border near Balbach. Again, this is a location that the IDF has now targeted five times in real close succession in the last several weeks. And this is an area in particular where we have been told and been able to independently confirm that weapons shipments in the past have flown through Syria through these locations, often loaded on trucks. Again, this is a location very close to the Lebanese-Syrian eastern border, again, about 100 kilometers north of the Israel border. Right, and Zach, some Hezbollah officials speaking to various news outlets have been boasting about the ways they've found to stockpile those weapons more effectively. Tell us more about that. Yeah, it is quite remarkable. Of course, this is, again, given to an Iranian back Hezbollah channel inside Lebanon, so taking everything at face value. But senior Hezbollah officials are claiming that they have replenished some of the supply that has already been fired on Israel that in the six-month period of this conflict, they say they've been bringing in more weapons than in any period before the conflict, in any short period that they've been bringing in rockets and missiles. They won't claim from where, but it is, of course, presumed often through Syria, where it's very difficult to track some of the weapons shipments that have been flowing through this Syrian regime. Of course, one of the other elements, too, to this that often is overlooked is the Russian involvement, the Russian forces inside Syria complicate matters for any Western allies who are attempting to stop the flow of weapons shipments through Syria. But, again, this is a boastful, prideful Hezbollah claim that they have been re-arming themselves and that they have no issues with their supply lines, even though they've been suffering dramatic losses and continued aerial bombardment, daily aerial attacks targeting these weapons facilities and where Israel has been able to locate some of these missiles and rockets that are stored. I've been told that it's incredibly challenging, though, with the size of Southern Lebanon to locate all of these, all of the missile and rocket capacity, but, again, just a remarkable day here in northern Israel. Saq, thank you very much. Saq, Andrew's there. Yossi Melmans with me in the studio.  We're nearly six months in, aren't we, and the war between the IDF and Hezbollah continues. Do you think that Israel has, to some extent, managed to degrade Hezbollah's capacities at all? No, I would say it's a draw. It's tit for tat. That's what we see. Today, as your reporter mentioned, that was the longest air raid carried out by the Israeli Air Force, and that was in response and retaliation for another barrage of rockets which hit one of the Israeli Air Force bases in the north. What is also very interesting is that I think it's for the first time that Israel also hit Lebanese air defenses, radars and ground stations related to air defenses, and that is significant that Israel is sending a signal to Lebanon, to the government of Lebanon, to the army of Lebanon, that they should do something to restrain Hezbollah. They don't have the capacity to do that, of course, do they? Well, they have a very limited influence on Hezbollah, but it's not a clear cut case. I mean, we know that there is a pressure by other ethnical minorities in Lebanon, on Hezbollah. We know that even the Shiites in the south are very unhappy that their houses have been destroyed and they have been evacuated. 100,000 Lebanese have left their homes, and therefore there is a room for putting pressure on Hezbollah in Lebanon itself. Surely Hezbollah is the strongest power in the region and in the area and they are calling the shots, but they are attuned and attentive to some degree to their Lebanese people outcry. Okay, Yossi, for now, thank you. Well, nine pro-Iranian fighters were among 30 people killed in overnight airstrikes in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the victims were in a villa that had been taken over by the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. To talk more about that, we're joined by Omar Abul-Layla, Executive Director at Derazor 24. Good to see you, Omar. Thank you for being with us. What happened exactly? I've been a lot, Laura. Thank you so much for having me. I mean, yesterday were really, it was really very powerful strikes on the IRGC militia, also Hezbollah militia positions in Derazor, not only in one place in Bukamal in Mayadine and in Derazor. And we talk about many numbers, or leaders of the IRGC got killed in these strikes. We talk about one of the top leaders of the IRGC, also Bahrooz Ahmadiyya, I think his name, he got killed also in one of these strikes in Derazor. I think that the bang of the target that before these strikes happened, I think it shows or sends the strong message to the IRGC, to Hezbollah, to other leaders who they're trying to use the borders between Syria and Iraq to transfer or support, send support to Hezbollah militia to escalate against the Israel. It was a strong message from the Israelis or from the Americans. We don't know yet who did these strikes, but we do believe, I mean, if you ask me, since years, I did not see like these powerful strikes against this militia. One of the positions, I mean, two important strikes hit this militia. One in El Bukamal before the strike happened, they knew exactly there wasn't a meeting, and many of those leaders were in this meeting and they targeted the position where those leaders present. And the other position or site also was under these strikes was at Euphrates University. We talked about a secret room or secret network of communication the IRGC built it at a university. So, I'm aging not only in a residential area, also at the university, they're trying to hide themselves that even the Israelis or the Americans cannot catch us or follow us. And yesterday, the message was really direct to these to those leaders and to their movements that you all under our watch, even if you try to hide in anywhere in Syria and Iraq, we could catch you. And Omar, what does this tell us about the extent of the IRGC's operations in Syria, in particular in Eastern Syria? Yeah, as I say, it's very important and strategic region for them because it's on the border with Iraq. And it's like the heart of their military operation between Syria, Iraq to Lebanon. Since 7 October until today, they depend on the border and many secret routes between Syria and Iraq to transfer huge support to Hezbollah, militia and other militia as well. And also, we witnessed many of Iraqi militia moved from Iraq to the border with Israel to escalate also beside Hezbollah against Israel. This is very clear. So they've been strongly and hugely on the northeast area for many reasons, including women's shipment, including sending leaders from Iraq, coordinating between Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. And that's why they still strongly presenting in the region and also like trying to incubate it more than they incubated before. Omar Abu-Layla, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Yossi Malman's with me in the studio and Yossi, you know, some people might have forgotten that prior to October 7, there was a shadow war going on between Israel and the Iranians in the battle ground of Syria, the failed state of Syria, as the Iranians try and get weapons to Hezbollah. We don't know if Israel was behind this latest strike, but that certainly hasn't cooled down, has it? Yeah, the clandestine war between Israel and Iran continues. It's directly and indirectly. And mostly Iran is using its proxies, whether these are the Houthis in Yemen, and the Houthis are not, it seems that they are not impressed by the U.S. attacks. Right, the Houthis have attacked four ships this week alone, including Chinese ships. Yeah, and actually the Americans approached China and told them you are also at the receiving end of the Houthis. But in vain, I don't think that China is seriously putting any pressure on Iran in order to stop the Houthis. The Americans and the British to a certain degree are using military force from time to time to hit Houthis positions in Yemen, but it seems that they are continuing with it. And the same is about Iranian-sponsored militias, Shi'ite militias in Syria. Just as a follow-up to what my colleagues said earlier, there is a very strong presence of elements of pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias, which were sent from Syria to Lebanon along the Israeli border, and they are working together hand-in-hand with Hezbollah. And they are part of the Hezbollah force in the border areas. What do you think of the American response then? Because President Biden said very early on, don't think of taking advantage of the situation he was widely believed to have been speaking to Hezbollah and Iran. We haven't seen the American deterrence working, really. There have been numerous attacks, including on U.S. troops. Do you think this kind of half-hearted response has actually made things worse? Could the Americans have done more? Are they just not interested in getting involved with an election around the corner? I think when President Biden said don't, he meant that Iran would not get directly involved in the war against Israel, I mean directly and militarily. So in that sense, I think Iran, if Iran had any plans to be more aggressive and direct against Israel, in that sense Iran was deterred by President Biden. But on the other hand, Iran continues with its strategic vision to control many parts of the Middle East and to be a ceremonial force in the region. So nothing has changed in that sense. And now they are very much preoccupied with resupplying Hezbollah. Because when we talk about Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Hezbollah, we forget that they are also in shortage of their missiles and rockets and ammunition. And they need to be resupplied. Israel is resupplied by the United States. The Iranians are supplying Hezbollah. The group that claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow at the weekend has come under increasing scrutiny. ISIS-K or ISIS-Khorasan, it's called. What exactly does it want? Dan Byman is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and he had this to say. So ISIS-K is the branch of the Islamic State that is in what it calls Korasan, hence the K. Korasan is Afghanistan, Iran, and that broader region as seen historically by much of the Muslim community. Although it's not really used much outside the Jihadist world today. This group sees itself as loyal to the Islamic State leadership in Iraq and Syria. But since that group has been hit very hard by the US-led military campaign, ISIS-K has become one of the strongest, if not the strongest, part of the Islamic State today. So anytime you go beyond one individual acting alone, you're going to have some coordination. And so there seems to have been multiple individuals involved here. They were using firearms, but also it looks like explosives or at least incendiaries. So they probably had some training. They're attacking a target in a coordinated way. So they probably had to plan this to some degree. So it suggests some degree of sophistication, but I would stress this was an undefended target. It's not that they're attacking a military base. It's not that they're attacking people who could shoot back. So they picked a relatively easy target, but they did so in what seems to be a coordinated way. There is a concern this group is becoming more dangerous and especially towards attacking targets that are not just linked to Afghanistan and Pakistan. ISIS-K has several thousand fighters as the general estimate. And it was largely believed to be more of a guerrilla group that did the occasional terrorist attack, but largely focused on Afghanistan. And there were some attacks in Pakistan. And then we saw a major attack in Iran, which is nearby, but still farther out. However, recently there were also some plots that European intelligence coins were disrupted. So they seem to be shifting from being a regional group to doing more attacks farther afield, whether it's in Moscow or Europe. So this is a group that always claimed to have ambitions beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan, but now we're starting to see at least some attacks. So one thing, a common phrase in the study of terrorism is propaganda by the deed, that by doing the attack by showing you're hitting the enemies hard, by causing casualties, by all the media attention that results, you're able to recruit people. So in the past, the group has used attacks to try to show that it's the most effective group, that it's the one that's active on a day-to-day basis. And I'm sure their propaganda is taking a tremendous advantage of this attack. Well, police in Turkey say they've detained dozens of suspected ISIS terrorists in a coordinated operation across eight provinces that's following news of the attack in Russia, and reports that at least one of the suspects behind the attack in Moscow traveled to Russia from Turkey. The attack, which killed 139 people, was claimed by ISIS. Okay, well, for more on that, we can go to Istanbul. We're joined by journalist Ayla Jean Yaki. Thanks for being with us, Ayla Jean. So why this sudden crackdown by the Turkish authorities? Well, I think like a lot of other countries, we know, for instance, that France has also raised its alerts on terrorism, and that this might be in response to fears that ISIS-K or sympathetic groups might consider targeting Turkey. That's one idea. Turkey has been targeted by Islamic states dozens of times over the past 10 years, really. So this is a country that monitors these groups, monitors extremists here in Turkey, and has suffered the brunt of their attacks in the past. Does this signal a change in attitude by President Erdogan? Because in the past, he refused to condemn ISIS when it was, of course, attacking Europe. He's been accused of not doing enough to crack down on ISIS fighters or would-be ISIS fighters entering Syria from Turkey. Is he becoming more serious about the group now? Well, Turkey does consider Islamic State a terrorist organization and has even launched an operation into northern Syria to push Islamic State away from its borders. Islamic State was making cross-border attacks, I think around 2015-2016. So Turkey has focused its military on Islamic State, but it has also faced some criticism over the years for allowing extremists from Europe, from other parts of the world, to travel through Turkey to get to Syria when there was a much bloodier and more active opposition fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that, again, was 10, 12 years ago. So this is something that Turkey has been struggling with, actually, over the years. It has sealed its border since then and has made an effort to curb activities. The governor, when announcing these operations today, he said that about 3,000 people have been arrested with suspected ties to Islamic State over the last nine months. So this is an ongoing security concern for Turkey. And all of this, Ayla Jean, just a few days ahead of the local elections, what should we be looking out for? Will it be a close race in your city, Istanbul?  This is a close race and it's a race that really matters. You know, like a lot of countries, polling can be deceptive. But until very recently, the race looked too close to call. Some polls that were released today are favoring the incumbent. That's the opposition politician Ekrem Imamoglu that, you know, he's pulling ahead a bit. But, again, we'll have to wait and see on Sunday. Yeah, this is a city that Erdogan launched his own national political career from. He was mayor of Istanbul in the mid-1990s and then, you know, went on to become prime minister and then president. So this is a personal thing for him to recapture control of Istanbul. He said after winning reelection as president last year that his top priority was retaking Istanbul. But it might prove difficult. You know, he, his handpicked candidate faces a popular incumbent in Imamoglu. Imamoglu doesn't have the support of the broader opposition parties that he enjoyed last time when he won in 2019 in an upset. So, again, there's a lot at stake and there's a lot of questions to be answered that we'll have to wait and see on Sunday. Ayla Juniakli, great to talk to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Five Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing in Pakistan this Tuesday. No group has claimed responsibility, but the separatist Baloch Liberation Army or BLA has been blamed for several similar attacks on Pakistani and Chinese interests in the region in the past. We're joining us now. Noaman Ishvah Mughal is a journalist. Thank you very much, Indy, for being with us. First of all, how common are these kinds of attacks on Chinese workers in Pakistan? Thank you very much. These attacks are common against Chinese nationals in Pakistan, especially in hyper-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and Balochistan. For these attacks, yet no group has taken responsibilities, but historically we have seen that Balochistan Revolution Army, BLA, and PTP, Tadikat Taliban Pakistan, they have been against interests of China, against investments of China, against presence of China in these regions. So, most likely one of these groups will take responsibility, but yet no group has taken responsibility of today's suicide bomb attack on Chinese nationals. And tell us a bit about the BLA, because this is the group that was at the center of a recent, very dangerous escalation between Pakistan and Iran. Iran carried out strikes on Pakistani territory. Tell us a bit about how the BLA fits into all of that. Well, Iran didn't carry a strike on this group. This group is fighting for independence separation of Balochistan from Pakistan. Iran did a strike on another group, which was against the interests of Iran as per Iranian government. This group is actually fighting for separation of Balochistan. This group is banned by Pakistan, but frequently this group does this kind of attacks, especially in this year, this group did three attacks. Two days ago, on 24th March, this group did a take on, took responsibility of a take on Gwadar port in Pakistan, and on 26th, they did a take on Nehver base. So, this group is mostly operational in, it does its operations in Balochistan, but it does also other kind of terrorist activities in other parts of Pakistan, especially in Karachi. And of course, the victims of this latest attack were Chinese workers. How important is Chinese investment in the Pakistani economy? Is there any sign that Beijing is concerned that Pakistan can't keep its workers safe? Well, Chinese investment is considered as a backbone for already struggling Pakistani economy. That's why government of Pakistan highly prioritized its relationship with China. Today, after this attack, Prime Minister of Pakistan visited Chinese embassy in Pakistan in Islamabad, Pakistan and offered condolences. And China usually, China doesn't publicly condemn such kind of things in, you can say in a loud tune, but behind the doors, China really shows concerns about such attacks. So, there has been increase in security of Chinese personnel, but publicly China usually doesn't condemn it the way other countries do. And the group also has operations in Afghanistan, is that right? Can you repeat? The BLA also operates in Afghanistan, is that correct? BLA has safe havens in Afghanistan, in Afghanistan, in Balochistan province, Balochistan-Sistan province of Iran. And according to the military establishment of Pakistan, India is also behind sport of BLA. So, BLA has safe havens in Afghanistan and Iran. From there, it operates and carries out a take against Pakistan. Noaman, thank you very much indeed. Noaman Mughal there. Thank you, my player. Well, that brings us to the end of tonight's show. Many thanks for watching and do stay with us on I-24 News. More still to come. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. I'm Natasha Kirchuk, and thanks for joining us on I-24 News. It is day 172, of the Israel Hamas War. This is in just now. 40-year-old released Israeli hostage Amit Susana has revealed in a New York Times article that she was sexually assaulted by Hamas during her captivity in the Gaza Strip. We warn you now that the details I'm about to reveal are graphic. Amit, who was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Azar, says that she was held alone and chained up in a child's room and was forced to perform sexual acts for her Hamas captor, who referred to himself as Muhammad. That video that you're seeing right there was her actually being taken. She says that he also groped her at gunpoint while she was trying to shower. Now, the New York Times confirms that Susana's account is consistent with what the medical professionals and social workers collected from her testimony upon her release. Well, this comes as the UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after the U.S. abstained from the vote. But Israel does not seem to be on board with Israel's foreign minister saying it will quote, not ceasefire. The U.S. abstention is angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, causing him to cancel his advisor's trip to Washington. U.S. and Israeli officials were expected to discuss alternatives to a planned Israeli military ground offensive in Rafah, which is the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip where over a million Gaza civilians are currently displaced. So is this a new crisis in the strategic connection between Israel and the United States or simply a manufactured outrage? Here's more from our correspondent Robert Swift. Opinion seems split on whether the U.S.'s decision not to shield Israel in the UN Security Council on Monday represents a policy shift in Washington. Our vote does not, I repeat, does not represent a shift in our policy. So there's no impact at all on Israel and Israel's ability to continue to go after Hamas. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu viewed things differently, canceling a planned visit to D.C. by two key allies, highlighting an issue on which there is growing consensus that the relationship between the Biden and Netanyahu administrations, frequently strained in the past, has fallen to an all-time low. Officials in Washington expressed perplexity at the Israeli government's reaction to the vote, with John Kirby suggesting Netanyahu was manufacturing a dispute. Off record, a U.S. official told reporters that the Prime Minister was likely doing so for domestic Israeli political reasons. But while Jerusalem's most important strategic alliance is creaking on the personal level, the U.S.'s efforts to continue arming Israel remain unchanged, with the White House accepting Israeli assurances that supplied weapons were being used in line with humanitarian law and that Israel is not blocking humanitarian aid entering Gaza. A decision taken on Monday that could have reduced military aid if it had gone the other way, and putting the U.S. at odds with many other actors on the international stage. A long line of blocked red relief tracks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other. That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage. It is time for an ironclad commitment by Israel for total and feathered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza. The direction of travel for Israel's relationship with its U.S. benefactor remains unclear, and may very well hinge on how Jerusalem proceeds with plans for an operation in the densely populated Gazan city of Rafa. Joining us now is renowned American lawyer and Harvard University professor Alan Dershowitz, who is also a confidant of presidents and prime ministers. He has been here for the last three days on a whirlwind tour, meaning with top Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu himself. Tonight he is speaking at a special event organized by the Tel Aviv International Salon. The proceeds are going to the Center for Mind, Body and Medicine, which helps Israelis suffering from PTSD after October 7th. Alan, why are you here in Israel? Who invited you? I have been invited by the people in the government to hear them and give them advice and talk to them and to tell them the bad news that the situation with the United States is actually much worse than it has been projected on Israeli TV and other TV. For the first time since 1948, Israel is no longer a bipartisan issue. It has become an issue of a partisan nature, where many, many, many leaders within the Democratic Party, starting with the Vice President and going down to the obviously majority leader of the Senate and many, many senators in the squad, have turned the Democrats really against Israel. And indeed, the Democratic actions, including the action not vetoing the Security Council resolution, will end up costing Palestinian lives, costing Israeli lives, and hurting the prospects for the release of hostages. It was a terrible decision. And you might know that why it was terrible by just saying it was welcomed by Hamas. Hamas applauded the American decision and applauded the United Nations Security Council resolution. And if you're Hamas, why make a deal with Israel? You're getting everything you need without giving anything up. So this is much worse, and it reflects in the future. I think from now on, Israel has to assume that if the Democrats win, they lose. And if the Republicans win, they win, particularly hard for a liberal Democrat like me, who would like to vote Democrat, but could never, never pull the lever for anybody, whether it be Biden or Harris, who hurts Israel's chances of winning this war against Hamas and bringing some semblance of peace to the region. Now, I understand you had some very sensitive meetings during your trip here. Can you give us some exclusive information from those meetings? What can you tell us? Well, I heard everything from everybody. I'm not free to disclose, you know, the obviously advice I gave or the information I got. I can just tell you that I learned a great deal, some of which I knew, some of which I didn't know. And it confirmed my view that the United States is making a terrible mistake.  It may very well cost him the election, because he is mortgaging the pro-Israel vote, which is very powerful in the United States. The vast majority of Americans support Israel. He's mortgaging that vote for a small number of Muslims and Arabs and Michigan and for a larger number of younger people, many of whom live in states that are not contested, like New York and California. But if I were his political adviser and I were an immoral political adviser, I would say to him, do not abandon Israel. Forget about the morality. It's immoral to do so, and it will cost lives, as I said. But it's politically dumb. He's getting very bad advice. I've spoken to pollsters in the United States who've worked for both the Democrats and the Republicans, and they all agree with me that abandoning Israel is bad politics. But for some reason, people are whispering in his ear and are getting to him and had him make this just awful decision about not vetoing the Security Council resolution. It's just, it's a resolution that will endanger the lives of hostages, endanger the lives of people in Gaza. If Biden had simply stuck with his original views that he said on October 7th, 8th, and 9th, this war would be over and the hostages would have been returned, because Hamas will know they couldn't win. They couldn't divide America from Israel. But now that Hamas thinks it's winning, and remember it doesn't define winning by how many soldiers, how many terrorists are killed, doesn't care about that.  It only defines winning by weakening Israel. And the United States government has helped it weaken Israel and weaken the connection between Israel and the United States. So Hamas is not going to do anything. There's no accident, no surprise, that Hamas pulled away from the bargaining table and rejected Israel's over-generous offer of temporary ceasefire and exchange for 40 hostages and hundreds and hundreds of Palestinian murderers. Of course Hamas turned it down. If I were Hamas's advisor, I would have turned it down, too. And it's all because of the Biden administration. Yeah. 57% of Israelis in a poll that just came out today think that Netanyahu's performance since October 7th has been subpar. What role do you think that this is really government is playing in what we're seeing as a deterioration of relations between the United States and Israel? Quick answer here. Well, what would anybody do differently? All the protesters protest, because they protest Netanyahu personally. But when it comes to telling Netanyahu what to do differently, I've heard very, very few very good ideas. All right, Alan, I'd like to thank you so much for joining us. Well, I'm sure that we'll have you back soon and here in Israel again for continued meetings with some of Israel's top officials. Thank you. All right, we're turning to the north of Israel, which has been under fire all day long. The Lebanese terror organization, Hezbollah, has gradually upped the intensity of its attacks on Israel over the past few days, once again targeting the IDF strategic aerial control base on Mount Meron on Tuesday. Now, the terror group claimed to have attacked the base with guided missiles in response to an alleged Israeli airstrike targeting a car in Lebanon's Beka Valley the day before. Two rockets have also hit a winery in the northern Israeli town of Avivim, which started a fire. The Hezbollah terror group claims it was targeting nearby buildings used by Israeli forces. Well, in response, the IDF confirms it has struck Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese city of Al-Hermel, which is really marking the northernmost attack in Lebanon since the start of the war. And this has led to another big barrage of rockets into Israel today. Our correspondent, Zach Anders, is joining us from the north of Israel with more on this. So, Zach, how many rockets have actually been fired into Israel today? Hi, Sarah, from some of the earlier attacks that took place this morning and in the early afternoon hours, it's not clear how many different projectiles were fired. We know Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for 10 of the attacks, including one of the barrages that was targeting an Israeli base in the Golan. This Hezbollah claimed was an attack that included 50 rockets. The IDF has confirmed that there were 50 projectiles that were launched. We don't know often in the middle of these events the exact type of projectile, which would be useful information given the Hezbollah's arsenal knowing some of the movement of where these rockets that are being fired upon these Israeli bases, if they're rockets or missiles, that's an important distinction as well. But we just don't know at this point in the night what exactly was targeting this base. We do know that the IDF says no considerable damage, several interceptions. The rest of these rockets fell and it sounds like open areas and fields and no casualties here in northern Israel in today's events. Some of the most pertinent footage that we're getting out of today though has been coming from Lebanon with these strikes that are taking place in multiple locations. Hezbollah has not reported any losses on their end, although viewing some of the imagery and seeing the attacks that have been taking place, the scale of the attacks, it does appear that they have been cutting again deep into Hezbollah's ability to operate, not just close to the border, but we've seen another airstrike that has taken place. The IDF accepted responsibility for this airstrike as well, taking place about 100 kilometers north of the border again near Balboch. This is a location that has been targeted now five times very close to Syria and the eastern border between Lebanon and Syria, often where many of these weapons have flown, flowed by truck through Syria into Lebanon. All right, Zach, I'd like to thank you for that update. We're turning back to the studio. Now, the UN may be calling for immediate ceasefire, but is it even feasible? Well, Israel has reportedly agreed to a U.S. proposal on a deal that would release around 700 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 40 hostages over the course of a temporary six-week break in fighting, but Hamas has rejected it and is refusing to budge from its demands for a permanent ceasefire. Well, as of now, a partial Israeli delegation remains in Qatar to discuss Hamas negotiating positions on ceasefire hostage release. Hamas, for his part, is currently in Tehran today, meeting with top Iranian officials. I'd like to turn now to our guests in the studio. We have Ambassador Dania Yalon, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States and Major General in the Reserves, a former military secretary to three ministers of defense. All right, so first of all, there's just so much to cover right now. Let's talk about that UNSC resolution. Is there a scenario that this vote could lead to a ceasefire? Is it actually legally binding? Well, I doubt it that it will lead to a ceasefire because it's not legally binding, first of all. And secondly, the wording there is also not definitive, and one could read it any way they choose. On the one hand, they call for a ceasefire during the Ramadan. On the other hand, they call for unconditional release of hostages. And this is pretty much mentioned in the same paragraph or even in the same sentence. So I think that in understanding the United States position is, and that's what they have told Israeli officials, that they cannot keep vetoing resolutions. It's not good for American positioning worldwide. They have considerations, they have interest in other places of the world. They say they want to keep and use their veto power very judiciously where it really hurts Israel. And they do not believe this resolution hurts Israel. And it's pretty much in the eye of the beholder. Israel could have, if I may suggest an unorthodox view, Israel could have done just the opposite of what they did. Instead of berating this resolution, accepting it, and at that time it would have not seen as there is a daylight between Israel and the United States. And Hamas, I guarantee you, Natasha, had we said yes for the resolution, they would have attacked it, and we would have been in a much better position diplomatically. I think the main damage, as you said, is the stage of relationship between Israel and the United States. It's not a resolution. The resolution is quite clear from the beginning that it will not be fulfilled, because, as Danny said, it has two sides, the side of ceasefire and the side of releasing the hostages. In my opinion, we should make the coordination with the United States in a different way, even if I myself as a person is a point from what's happening here between Israel and the United States, we have to be smart and not right. We have to bring it to the way that with the United States, we should come in another way, as I agreed with Danny about these circumstances. So if you ask me, the resolution is not the factor or the problem. The problem is the way what happened here and the relations Israel-United States is the more urgent and important thing to correct. And instead of creating now much more gap between Israel and the United States, I should recommend to the prime minister to use these coming days in order to reduce the tense and not to develop a crisis, but to correct it. It's not the time for the situation to correct and to open such a gap. Secondly, if you will see and you mentioned it, that Aniyah came from Doha to Tehran in order to give a report what's going. This is another way of looking at it. Hamas is connected, of course, to Hezbollah and Iran, but the Iranians are playing a double mission. First of all, the Iranians are coming like completely equal to the United States as like observing what's going there. On the other end, they are full active in the terrorism. And as you mentioned before, what Israel's strike in the north showed you about the involvement of Iran. But in my opinion, the way of discussion between Hezbollah, Iran, and Hamas under the backwind they get after this resolution is something that we have to take deeply in a way and trying to see what will be our next mission. It's not the end of the negotiation in order to find the solution for releasing of the hostages, but it's something we should take deeply in our next steps in this case. All right. We're going to turn now to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip AIDS groups are continuing to warn of impending famine in the north of the Gaza Strip amid a dire humanitarian aid crisis. Well, 12 people have drowned today trying to reach aid that was dropped by a plane off of a Gaza beach according to Palestinian health authorities. This comes after Britain's Royal Air Force air dropped more than 10 metric tons of food supplies into Gaza for the first time yesterday on Monday. Aid agencies say that only about a fifth of required supplies are entering Gaza as Israel continues its war against Hamas. But they say deliveries by air or sea directly onto Hamas run Gaza's beaches simply cannot substitute the increased supplies that need to come in by land via Israel or Egypt. Well, Israel says it has not put any limit on the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza, but the problem is that it fails to actually reach civilians within the enclave because of internal distribution issues largely caused by Hamas. Well, joining us now is veteran war correspondent Arwa Damon, and we have our guest in studio who are also going to be joining this conversation. So Arwa, to begin, tell us what happens to this aid once it makes it into the Gaza Strip from what we know. What is preventing it at this point from being distributed to Gaza civilians? Hi, Natasha. Well, before we get into that, let's also just briefly talk about how aid does actually get into the Gaza Strip, whether it's from Rafa or from Kerem Shalom. The aid is being searched by the Israelis. And this is where all aid organizations, including mine, say that the backlog occurs. For example, my own organization, Inata, recently sent in diapers, sanitary pads, and baby powder. It took us three weeks from start to finish just to get those pallets into Gaza. And this is because we were using that are crossing, but the trucks need to cross from Egypt into Israel to be searched in Israel. Then they cross back into Egypt. And only then are they able to cross into Gaza. Now, the access point of Kerem Shalom is obviously a lot faster because from there, they're able to go straight into the into Gaza. But what happens is that this aid is all ending up in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. And moving that aid onwards from the southern part of the Gaza Strip to central or northern Gaza requires a deconfliction process with all warring parties that quite simply is not working. And aid organizations will say that the biggest challenge is that Israel does not approve the vast majority of what are known as movement requests. And as such, there are no secure routes that allow for the aid to be delivered from the south to the northernmost areas. What is worth noting, however, is that in the last few days, Israel did actually give permission for a humanitarian convoy that was part of the World Food Program to use one of the border military routes that runs across the fence. And as such, this particular convoy was able to directly reach the north. And it was a successful movement. All sides acknowledged that. And the aid was distributed in an organized manner. The big question is now that this has been a tried and tested process. Why are we not seeing more of that? Because as you just mentioned there, the only way to scale up aid is to allow more aid in and that control of that control of what crosses the border is fully in Israel's control, but also to allow this land route and potentially open new other land routes as well so that aid can just get in and get to people. I'd like to turn to our guest in the studio, Major General of Reserves, Etan Dengot. What is your take on this? You worked with Kogat very heavily. First of all, and shortly I will respond, the main and the secure way is from the ground to enter convoys of trucks to Gaza. It doesn't matter to the south or to the north. The problem is that Hamas is trying to control this kind of movement by these trucks and take them on the way after they are released from the Israeli side and move towards the points or the area. It's a coordinate. They are trying to take and to get it from two reasons. They need what is on the trucks and on the other end they want to show they are still controlling the civil issues. And this is something that running against the situation in Gaza itself. I think that Israel should do more in order to create opportunities in some direction to enter this kind of convoys, basing on few principles. Short way to move, waiting in the area while there will be civilians or professional people to get it. But as you see the situation in the north part of Gaza, there is hundreds and some few thousands of terrorists that are around and Hamas will not take the opportunity to lose their control. I think it will take time, but this is the main solution. Not from there and till it will come from the seat, it will take time. This is the solution. I agree with convoys. But we need also full cooperation from the organization that are serving besides UNRWA. In my opinion, UNRWA finished its job and I worked with UNRWA enough years to understand who they are and you see what happened during this massacre on the 7th of October. And we need what is UNRWA. It's an arm that belongs to Hamas in some areas. Hamas is still using the infrastructure of schools or hospitals, but the main thing is to find small areas and to move it not one or two places to put it in an area that will feel like eight to 12 to more and it will work. I'd like to turn back to you. Would UNRWA even properly be able to distribute aid at this point? And if not, what organizations could replace them, given the fact that Israel has reportedly banned them? There's a number of challenges on that front when we look at the infrastructure that UNRWA actually does have inside Gaza. It does have the capability to distribute aid because UNRWA has in the past been distributing aid. It is the organization that has the highest number of employees. It has the trucks. It has the warehouses. It has, in theory, the logistics infrastructure that would be needed in place. I would however like to strongly argue against a point that was just made and that is that Hamas somehow controls the aid once it's crossed into Gaza. This is just simply untrue and a very inaccurate portrayal of what actually is happening and who is responsible for distributing the aid. There are a number of international and Gaza-based organizations that have full control over the aid once it crosses in and once it's getting to the warehouses, once it's getting to the people. The issue is not with Hamas when it comes to a distribution inside Gaza. The issue is with deconfliction and the issue is with the fact that permissions are not being sufficiently obtained. Look, UNICEF, I think yesterday or the day before, was trying to run medical supplies up north. They were originally given permission to cross through the checkpoints and then they were allowed for one, turned back from a second one, allowed through another one, turned back from a second one and ultimately were not able to make that delivery and these sort of things happen on a near daily basis. Now, it is very obvious at this stage that Israel does not want to work with UNRWA and that Israel does want to see UNRWA cease to exist. That is going to be something that is going to quite potentially come at the cost of the Gaza population and the other Palestinian populations that UNRWA does serve because, again, it is the organization that has the highest number of staff. Talking about UNRWA's staff members' alleged involvement with October 7th, we're talking about allegations being put forward against 12 to 14 individuals out of a staff of around 30,000 that UNRWA has inside Gaza. In addition, UNRWA consistently has provided the Israeli side with a list of all of its staff members and it says no one's name was flagged but the bottom line is certain realities need to be accepted and perhaps it doesn't need to be accepted that Israel is not going to allow UNRWA to do certain deliveries. We already know that they have completely and totally barred UNRWA from running any missions up to the north and as such, alternatives need to be found as the alternative that I mentioned earlier with the World Food Program that was allowed to use this specific military route to deliver straight to the north. Yes, I would like to respond shortly because I'm not now responsible for the things but I know it for sure. Listen, after what we face on the 7th of October with UNRWA, it's not something that happened on the 7th. It happened years before what we found in UNRWA infrastructure and the UNRWA area under the UNRWA center in Gaza, what was going down. As an Israeli, I will not forgive UNRWA forever. UNRWA, if I would recommend to Mr. Bibi Netanyahu, finished his job in this area or in the Middle East. Enough. Don't make this a theater again and I saw the world organized very quick in Syria and other places to enter other kinds of organizations who get the support and they will get the support from the Israel. So it's not a fact of UNRWA, yes or no. It's a fact to say UNRWA, no. And I hope my government will not allow it anymore. The theater that make the Secretary General of the United Nation coming to Rafa, standing after before three ambulances and make his very dramatic speech in order to defense shows you the scenic way the United Nation is working in this area. But our duty on the other end is to create and to prepare quickly a structure that will be able to supply in different way. We can do it. We can do it under difficulties that will be in order to move Hamas on the side till the civilians are not coming back to the north part of Gaza, the way how we are controlling and making this kind of pilots in the area in the north part. We lead that to the future to allow hundreds of thousands of people to come and to get it. But we should not at the end do it under what happened on the 7th and rescue our civilians on the other side. UNRWA should disappear from this place.  Ambassador Daniela, do you have something that you'd like to add to this? Just a quick response. To put on Israel the UNRWA issues that we did not flag the people that were given to us is just outrageous. We know how Hamas deviously worked on and kept intelligence out of Israel hand. We didn't even see the 7th of October coming. So for us to know exactly which UNRWA member was a terrorist, we didn't know that before the 7th. But once we got into Gaza and looking for all the intelligence on the servers of Hamas down in the deep in the tunnels, we saw everything how UNRWA is so deeply involved with Hamas. And it's not just 10 or 12 individuals. It's hundreds and thousands of individuals and their families. And UNRWA has really representing the UN was not just a collaborating with terror. UNRWA were the terrorists. And this is why they should be out of sight. I want to turn back to you and more specifically to discuss the ongoing military operations in Ashifa Hospital for days now. Israel says that it's captured at least 500 Hamas in Palestine, Islamic jihad terrorists using the facilitary for military purposes, killing 180 people. AIDS groups say hundreds of civilians are trapped inside. I'm interesting to hear from you what role you think Hamas plays in the humanitarian aid crisis that's unfolding right now and how Israel supposed to respond to these terror groups when we see that they are continuously embedding themselves in civilian infrastructure. Well, it's quite tricky given the lack of independent reporting from inside Gaza. Israel has banned all independent media outlets from entering. The only way to get into Gaza right now is if you're embedded with the IDF and that obviously does not give one the the capacity or the ability to actually carry out independent reporting. And so what you end up with is a situation of, he said, she said, the doctors and the medical staff inside Shifa will say that Hamas wasn't using it as an operating base or at the very least not in any sort of significant capacity and that the vast majority of those detained were just members of families that were sheltering there. And I think this really goes to sort of the crux of the matter, which is the media needs to be let inside Gaza. Independent media needs to be let inside Gaza to be able to do their job for us to be able to do our job, which is to report independently and actually be able to provide better answers to these sorts of questions at this stage. It's extraordinarily difficult to try to get information from Gaza, even though there is this horrendous flow of visuals that is coming out. There are also the visuals coming out of Shifa, civilians being injured and wounded, struggling to survive and the lack of medications and so on and so forth. I also think that one of the other, you know, big challenges for lack of a better way to put it when it comes to all of this is we need to move past and by we, I mean, the global we need to move past this whole, well, it's their fault or it's so-and-so's fault or it's whatever's fault. What we can, I hope, at the very least all acknowledge at this stage is that there is a humanitarian crisis and that people inside Gaza are starving to death. And so the conversation needs to be about solutions. We have tried and tested land routes into northern Gaza that need to be amped up. Israel needs to amped that up and to allow those supply routes to be fully opened for unfettered access for humanitarian aid, for whichever aid organization Israel is comfortable working with to go in, not just to deliver convoys, but also to start properly distributing the aid, to set up medical points, to try to rebuild basic infrastructure in areas like the northern Gaza and other areas where Israel deems it to be okay to do so. There is so much of this, well, they did it to us, so it's somehow okay for us to do it to them or they're worse than us. Conversations and rhetoric that is flying around all of this, my big concern is that one loses sight of what is the real nature of the problem. Innocent people died.  And if past history is anything to learn from, and that is that you cannot kill your way outside of this kind of a situation, you cannot kill your way out of a militant group. It's not going to happen. It hasn't happened successfully anywhere else. Alright, Ambassador, quick answer here because we're getting breaking news out of Daniel Hagari's mouth and I'm going to make sure that I'm here. I would say to lodge any accusation against Israel again. It's immoral. It's not right. All accusations should be pointed at Hamas. Hamas has started the situation, continued the situation. If Hamas has not used all their civilians as human shields, if they did not themselves been hiding deep down in tunnels, well-stocked and well-staffed while their people are starving, I think the real issue here is Hamas and their sponsors, which is mainly Iran. Alright, well, I'd like to thank you all for joining us. Arwa, thank you for joining us from New York. We're hearing right now that Israel has officially confirmed that Hamas commander Marwan Issa, who was a principal planner of the October 7th rampage by Hamas against Israel, has been killed by IDF forces. We are hearing that out of the mouth of our Israeli forces right now and hopefully we're going to be having others. Hagari speaking and he just gave this update. Unfortunately, we don't have him in English right now, but we will be continuing to update you with the latest news that he is releasing in this press conference that he is now giving to the public. I'd like to turn to the families of the Israeli hostages who are being held by Hamas. They've once again clashed with the Israeli parliament in the Knesset House Committee today. They've said that they're infuriated that the committee has voted to allow the Knesset to go on recess for six weeks. You heard that right. The Israeli parliament is taking a vacation for more than a month as the Israeli Hamas war rages on and 134 Israeli hostages remain captive in the Gaza Strip. Here's a look at what the family has had to say or yell about this. As you can see, the families of the hostages are extremely upset about what is happening right now within the Israeli parliament. We are going to be hopefully speaking with a family member later on in the show, but I'd like to turn now to our correspondent, Balir Saladin, who's joining us live from Tel Aviv. You've been at Hostage Square all day. Is there any movement forward on this hostage release deal? And you know, my question is what is really the families of these hostages are saying right now in terms of the political performance in making sure their family members are released? Yes, well, we just need to give a quick update that the families of the hostages and their supporters right now are blocking the road that is closed to the building, the Israeli Defense Ministry building, the Korea and the center of Tel Aviv, and they're demanding the release of the hostages and demanding the government to go forward with this deal and continue the negotiations in Doha. Of course, the atmosphere in general in the Hostage Square today was very sad. The disappointment was obvious on the faces of the families of the hostages and their supporters because they wanted actually some progress in these talks in Doha, but Hamas's response came yesterday very negative to their ears, of course. And from what we're hearing is that the sources are telling the Al-Akhbar newspaper in Lebanon sources from the Palestinian fractions, maybe also sources from Hamas. It wasn't specified there that the main issue right now is not the number of the Palestinian prisoners to be swapped or exchanged for the Israeli hostages. It's rather to address the humanitarian crisis, the humanitarian situation in Gaza. So Hamas's priorities, as stated also by Hamas's officials, for example, Hussam Badran today as well, he said that their priorities are the end of the war and the let-in of aid to be entering Gaza, as well as the return of the families from south of Gaza, the families that left their homes in the north, back to their homes in the north of the Strip. These things, of course, are not acceptable by Israel to say the least. The permanent ceasefire is absolutely something that wouldn't be acceptable for the Israeli delegation. That, by the way, some of it is still there in Doha and still the negotiation continue waiting for the official response from Israel. But we can understand from the prime minister's office announcement earlier today that they see that Hamas's response means that Hamas is not interested in the continuation of this negotiations. And the prime minister's office is attributing that to the latest department in the UN Security Council when the U.S. failed to veto the latest resolution. And they're saying that Hamas is welcoming it right now. And they think that they're winning this war only diplomatically because of the lack of the support that Israel is getting from the world in general and even from the U.S., its closest ally. So, of course, the latest developments is very, very disappointing for the families of the hostages. And we might see, of course, escalation in their demonstrations and protests in the coming days for the demanding of a wider mandate for the Israeli delegation in Doha so there can be a deal can be reached ultimately. What are we hearing from the both the Israeli public and also the Palestinian public in terms of what they want to see come next? Well, the Palestinian public, if we, I took to many people from Gaza and they're saying that we don't care how many Palestinian prisoners are swept or are released from the Israeli jails. We only care about the ending of this war. And we can also settle for even a temporary ceasefire because we are in a very bad situation. The situation is very dire and we need to have more aid coming in right now. And this can be done in the current situation. We're talking about war zone and we're talking about places that can be reached. For example, the 300,000 Palestinians that still reside in the north of Gaza can't be reached by any agency, not even the UNRWA and also, of course, not the Israeli army can't reach that specific population. So they want to see that coming. But what we're from hearing from the Hamas senior officials that they want to also reach an agreement and can present some sort of quote unquote achievements for the Palestinian people as they're saying, achievements in terms of how many Palestinian prisoners were released in terms of the as they're saying that the blockade will be revealed from Gaza. So all of these things that the Hamas was aiming for when they conducted the 7th of October attack, they still think, at least the Hamas leaders, that this can be reached at some point. Of course, again, the Palestinian public wants just to go back to the 6th of October. And I mean here, specifically the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, they just want this all to end. They don't want anything else. They're fine with the siege as they're saying it. They just want the war to end. All right. I'd like to thank you for joining us. We're going to turn back to our guests in the studio Ambassador Dania Yalon, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and major general in the reserve's attendant, then got former military secretary to three ministers of defense. Okay. I just want to repeat the breaking news that came out. We saw IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari speak to the public now, essentially confirming that Hamas deputy commander Marwan Issa has been killed by an IDF strike according to Hagari and IDF forces. Netanyahu did claim this about two weeks ago. But the U.S. and the U.S. confirmed it last week as well. But now we really have that official confirmation coming from the Israeli army. Just in background, Issa is the deputy to Mohammed Dayef. I'd like to turn to you, Eitan. You know, what is your take on this announcement? What does this really mean in terms of Israel's war against Hamas? First of all, it's coming after the United States already confirmed that in their estimation, Issa was killed in this strike. In my opinion, it's the main important loss of Hamas leadership, the triangle between Sinwar and Issa. And Issa is the most operative, important guy by his knowledge, professionality, and his activities in the last 10 years. And it's loss or killing. It's a great loss to Sinwar. He lost like one of his hands in order to translate the operations to the future. If you ask me who is the other guy, I would maybe surprise you and tell you that it's Sinwar's brother, Mohammad Sinwar, not because they are the two people who are really controlling their forces in the area. So this is a great achievement of the IDF. It has been done inside the central camps in a very, very specific area in the underground with specific plans that bring these results. I hope and I know there is a lot of activities in order to continue this kind of striking the leadership by this kind of thing. We are bringing Hamas to a very sensitive area because you cannot fulfill the job of Mohammad of Issa in such circumstances that Hamas is right now is facing. So in my opinion, achievement, we have to continue and we have to be patient because it will come. Sinwar, death, and other like the brother of Sinwar will make mistakes during the coming time and not forget. Our presentation in Gaza brings us a lot of a very specific and direct intelligence that's helping us a lot. These are strikes of the—we can put that up on the screen again. Well, you were just seeing the strike that killed Issa just two weeks ago. The question now is what is going to come next in Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip? Obviously, a lot of pressure from the United States and from international parties. Ambassador, I'm interested to hear what you think needs to happen next. Well, first of all, I totally agree with Eitan, General Dankot, who has great experience. I think it was just right on the mark. However, we have seen just in the last 48, 24 hours, more launching of Qasams to our southern towns, which means that it is very difficult to route out all the munitions, all the launchers of Hamas till the last one. And this may take some time, a mop-up operation.  And I think that former Secretary of State Pompeo said it best, you cannot, you know, if you have fire, you do not extinguish just 80 percent of the fire and leave the 20 percent on because then it will consume back everything. So we have to take out the remaining battalions in Rafa. However, what I would do is put the challenge to the international community. You do not want us to conduct a major ground operation in Rafa. Okay. Why don't you put the pressure on Hamas to unconditionally surrender, lay down their arms, and we will guarantee them a free passage out. We have done it before in 1982, in Beirut, when we let Arafat and his other terrorists go out from Beirut and then they found themselves out with a new base in Tunisia. This can be done again here. And if Hamas does not want to do it, then we will have to take them on. All right. We're going to turn now to a different story here, and then we'll come back to our guests in the studio. Last night, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time that last week's terror attack in Moscow was carried out by Islamic militants. But once again, he attempted to pin the blame on his favorite scapegoat, Ukraine. The attack on Moscow's Krogan City Concert Hall is the deadliest attack claimed by the Islamic State on European soil with 137, actually 139 now people confirmed to have been killed. Since Friday, events have moved quickly with four suspects identified as citizens of Tajikistan by a Russian news agency appearing in court on Sunday, pleading guilty to being involved. The question is, why would Islamic State attack Russia? Well, joining us now is Dr. Nasir Alomari, a writer and political commentator in New York. So let's start with that first question. Why would the Islamic State attack Russia? Well, thank you for having me. Well, it's so easy to trigger these terrorists. They really don't need any reason to attack anybody. They have attacked the U.S. They have attacked Russia. They have attacked Israel. They have attacked their fellow Muslims, including a terrorist attack in Iran. They have killed Sunnis and Shiites, Kurds. So they're really, they don't need a lot of reasons to attack anybody. They have an idea, many of these terrorists share. And the ideology is by spreading turmoil and violence all over the place. Somehow you change the political dynamics and you establish Islamic rule. And they have all kinds of grievances against Russia. For example, they believe that the Assad regime was actually supported by Putin. And therefore, it's okay to go and take revenge against civilians who had nothing to do with what Putin is doing. So this is horrifying. And unfortunately, I don't think that's going to be the last time Russia or Europe or any other place in the world will be attacked in this fashion. Interestingly, Hamas is condemning the attack. Some online critics are mocking Hamas for denouncing the violence, really questioning the sincerity of their statement. I mean, what is your take on this? Well, I don't see any difference between what Hamas did on October 7th and what these terrorists did in Russia. And they pretty much engaged in the same horrible crimes against innocent people. And to that effect, I believe Iran also embraces the same ideology, although they don't use the same tactics. But Iran itself was involved in plots to murder and assassinate opposition figures in Europe, in the U.S. They killed their own people. People disappear. So, you know, we're really looking at a spectrum of terrorists here who believe that killing civilians and wreaking havoc somehow put them on top of this game. And unfortunately, all they gain is just killing more and more civilians. And there are no political goals being achieved here. What is the history of Russia dealing with Islamists? You used to have similar attacks from Chechen separatists as well. And what could we see happen next? Well, I think after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, I think these groups have a breathing ground given the situation in Afghanistan. By the way, they also believe Taliban is not extreme enough or Islamic enough. And they have carried out attacks against the Taliban themselves. Unfortunately, the situation now in Afghanistan, given the poverty and lawlessness and lack of opportunity, I think that Afghanistan is again a breathing ground for terrorism. And I have heard warnings by intelligence personnel in the U.S. saying that they are dangerous and it's just a matter of time before they strike in Europe or the U.S. or anywhere else in the world. All right. I'd like to thank you so much for joining us and breaking that down. We're going to turn back to our guests in the studio right now. Obviously, we just discussed what took place in Russia, another really devastating attack. But I'd like to turn back to the north of Israel, which has not been highlighted at all in international headlines. We're seeing near daily rocket fire from Hezbollah into northern Israeli communities, over 80,000 people that have been displaced from their homes, really no clear picture as to when they're going to be able to go back. Was today an escalation? We certainly saw a lot more rocket fire and Israel also striking the northernmost part of Lebanon since the start of this war and the start of that fire on October 8th. I think we face today the same escalation that we are facing in the last three, four weeks. What does it mean? It's going up and down, inside like a battlefield, while you have two tops. Inside Lebanon, on the Baka Valley, you have the infrastructure and building the forces of the UAVs that are sending by Hezbollah to Israel every day, two to three. And these are one of the main, I think, threats that Israel has prepared itself. Secondly, the reaction of striking in this area by Israel, by the Israeli Air Force, caused back by Hezbollah, lanternering something like thousands of rockets, basically to the area of the Golanites, open area. You see that limited number of these rockets are exploring the air by IDF as a threat to the people who are living in this area. Most of them are falling in open area. So it's keeping the same value of escalation that we are now, but we are on the top in this stage. What happened today? There is a little bit increasing or expanding the area of lanternering the rockets to the west side of the east side of the Goliath, of the Galilee Mountains. Besides it, it's more or less the same situation. But coming to this top again in this stage, meaning that the next stage will be probably much more, I think, problematic and bringing us towards what we call a war. But it's still not in the area that we are waiting, but pay your attention to what happened in Syria in the last night. Israel attacked two places, in Deir Ezzur area in the north part of Syria, to prevent any kind of support of arsenal, weapon system to the Shiz militias. On the other end, Israel takes strike also inside Syria, which is really controlled by Iranian people to send ammunition and other kind of things to the West Bank, to the Judea and Samaria in order to create there much more, let's say, escalation in the coming. We are in the Ramadan, don't forget. Next week in Ramadan will be the major sensitive. So meanwhile, we are in the top of the present escalation. It is dangerous to climb up more, but it's still both sides are looking to each other towards diplomatic activities. Ambassador, is there a chance for a diplomatic resolution in terms of what is happening right now between Israel and Hezbollah? Yes, I believe ultimately neither Hezbollah nor Israel are