ng to fire as we speak I-24 news correspondent Pia Stakilbaha thank you very much for this much more from Pia later on the evening back here in studio with the Lieutenant Colonel Duronov-Ital we obviously do not want to engage in assisting Nasrallah's PR leading up to his speech tomorrow and yet what are we expecting to hear and what should we pay extra attention to not necessarily perhaps the what but the how Well it's hard to predict and to anticipate but it's very clear to us I think that the northern border even if things would not erupt now is a question we would have to answer in the near future because I don't think after the events that were in the south people would go back to live in those villages meters from the border and feel secure to go to work to go to their fields or whatever so the issue that Hezbollah sits there with this powerful weaponry with those declaration that he wants to invade and takes hostages or killer or settle out in our settlement so that he uses inventory of missiles this is a real challenge in any way in the near future it will have to be answered one way or another and if not diplomatically then by force of course and we'll have to attend to it so we'll have to hear to what he says as I said and another round of red sirens and the northern cities of Kiryat Shimonar so again numerous red sirens it makes preparation for his speech we will give him that he's a good and creative we need to the silhouette of him walking near the flag of Hezbollah we need to give a fair assessment of our enemies and he knows the job very important it is one thing that we have to learn from the setback never underestimate not the intention but not the capabilities of your enemy indeed no doubt about that one of many lessons we've learned in the past nearly a month unbelievable and this war is being fought on multiple fronts at the same time not just south, north or the west bank the diplomatic one is of course of imperative significance Germany is banning today Pro Hamas activity meaning it's not just Hamas itself as a group that is already illegal in Germany but also support of it is now outlawed so we want to turn now on live to Ambassador Jeremy Sakharov Israeli former Israeli former Vice Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to Germany thank you very much Ambassador Sakharov for joining us we appreciate your time during those busy hectic difficult days thank you a major milestone really in this campaign when we're talking about the decision today in Berlin we cannot underestimate its importance and specifically not just outlawing support in Hamas all together but specifically targeting dissolving rather a specific group that was being maybe that's the best way to put it behind the celebrations of the October 7th massacre absolutely and I think look first of all I think this decision today by Nancy Pfizer the Minister of Interior who is somebody who I met when I was Ambassador and is incredibly friendly towards Israel and has always been very active in terms of excluding extremist views on the right or on the left in Germany she made the decision today in terms of outlawing Hamas and Samidun Samidun is an international organization that professes solidarity with prisoners around the world and it's been very very extreme in its rhetoric against Israel using all the slogans of genocide and as you know there's been in the last few days and last week since this war started I think tremendous outpouring of support from the German government from the President to the Chancellor to Vice Chancellor the Foreign Minister was here a number of visits and I think it's incredibly important in terms of the leadership support of Israel but there have been outbursts of anti-Semitism and incitement against Israel in the German public space which has caused a lot of concern so I think this decision is a very again a strong support in solidarity with Israel but a strong statement by the government against anti-Semitic and anti- tendencies which only exacerbate internal tensions also within Germany against the Jews and inciting anti-Semitism Yes and as we speak about this how of a report in France that the 1930s arrested suspected of marking Jewish homes with the stars of David unfortunately I cannot even believe in them saying that out loud not the first incident of Europe since the beginning of this war and Ambassador Issaqaf we usually use the term a domino effect in a negative context are we to see the German move resonating elsewhere in Europe? First of all as you said correctly so France is not the first instance of this this has been reported already being doped on the doors of Jews in Berlin putting again David on the doors and I can't tell you having served in Germany for almost 5 years the impact of this on America on German public opinion is on the Jewish community is very immense and it's very deep as well and you can see it being copied now in France and I just hope that just as the German government has taken a very strong stand against this outburst and very violent outburst of the in support of the Hamas savagery on October 7th that I would also hope that the French and German governments would also take similar steps like Germany like Nazi Pfizer has taken against Hamas and Samy don't and I'm as it's how before we let you go obviously and rightfully so addressing or focusing on the issue of anti-Semitism in Europe and pro Hamas but is there an understanding or the beginning of such that the West is next what starts with the Jews never ends there I think the brutal and extraordinary savagery of the attack on October 7th against Israel the Germans follow this situation very closely they saw it was not provoked they saw that Israel even took measures immediately prior to this attack to alleviate the situation with Gaza we keep them fully informed of our intentions to try and keep everything stabilized and they saw this this type of attack against Israelis and the savagery and I have to say we took the German ambassador in Israel he was the first ambassador to visit the center for the kidnapped and abducted persons and it was a very a very important meeting first of all a number of German citizens have been killed and a number of them are in captivity in Gaza so I mean Germany has a very direct steak beyond the attitude to how this type of terror starts in the Middle East starts with Israel and in the end ends up in Europe so I think you know given the fact that now Germany has such a strong and numerous Muslim population obviously they're scared of this type of extremist tendencies yes indeed and the battle goes on ambassador Jeremy Sakharov from Israeli ambassador to Germany, former vice director general of the Israeli Foreign Minister thank you very much for your time for your insight we appreciate it thank you back in studio during our conversation with Ambassador Sakharov once again Red Sirens alerts being heard in northern communities I can't even count the amount as a couple of hours an active scene up north as we call it and also reports of a direct hit in central Israel guys so residents in the city of Kiryat Shmona have been asked to remain in shelters until further notice as we're seeing a barrage of rockets throughout the north of the country emanating out of Lebanon at the same time we're seeing a lot of rockets from Gaza from Hamas as well we're seeing one direct hit into a community in the very center of Israel on a home no information yet from the security emergency services rather on any casualties in this case as always extremely important when you hear that rocket alarm siren to run into shelter that saves time here in Israel millions of Israelis at this very hour are running to shelters in the north and in the center of Israel. briefly before we wrap up this broadcast is it fair to assume these heavy barrages of rockets in the north or in response to the idea of chief of staff speak to have heard I'm not sure it works in tandem but perhaps anyway then we're in the midst of a war there's it's very the tension in the north is very high we are prepared and we have to see what's next yes and unfortunately there's a lot of next still long long long weeks ahead thank you very much gentlemen for joining us on this broadcast this is it from us for now but the top of the hour will continue Israel is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we're talking a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity I'm here watching I-24 news we're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 27 of with Hamas a barrage of rockets were fired at Central and Northern Israel in the last hour a rocket fired from Lebanon hits the town of Kyriac Shmona fires seen around cars and stores in the northern town of Kyriac Shmona live pictures coming to us now looks like the fires have all been put out no reports of any injuries also rockets fired from Gaza this evening at one direct hit in Central Israel on the home there no injuries reported as yet either this is the IDF continues to strike Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon and the IDF has confirmed now that 19 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives in the fighting since October 7th the IDF Chief of Staff Halsey Halavi said Israel is making good progress in Gaza with many dozens of Hamas we have advanced another significant stage in the war the forces are in the heart of northern Gaza operating in Gaza City surrounding it and deepening the ground offensive and achievements the forces are fighting in a dense and complex urban area that requires professional combat and courage the troops are operating with accurate intelligence and with the assistance of the Air Force and the Navy this partnership is our secret it increases our achievements and our effectiveness well to talk about all of today's developments I'm joined in the studio by Shiri Fine Grossman the former head of foreign policy at the National Security Council welcome to you Shiri we're also joined in the studio this hour by our senior editor guy Azrael thanks for being with this guy as well all right well let's start with the latest on this day 27 a barrage of rockets and a couple of direct hits in Israel today we're talking both on the northern front and on the southern front Hamas in Lebanon has claimed responsibility for the firing of 12 rockets and Israeli communities and this evening actually started with direct hits on the IDF posts on the border that continued with rocket fire towards Israeli communities including Kiryat Shmona and Zfat several direct hits in those in that rocket fire including two that were wounded in Kiryat Shmona one of them in moderate condition one in light condition in a very central street in Kiryat Shmona basically this is a town of 23,000 people 20,000 people have already left the city but this street the main street was the only one that continued to remain open at the same time rocket fire from Gaza into central Israel you cannot help by thinking that this was a coordinated effort from both north and south in this case also direct hit on a home in central Israel very fortunately the residents of that home to an elderly couple ran to shelter remained in shelter and their lives were saved as they followed the instructions of the home front command thank goodness well we're looking at those pictures now coming to us live from Kiryat Shmona this town of course was hit earlier in the week as well wasn't it Guy the rockets fired from Lebanon do we know if this was Hezbollah or was this Palestinian group Hamas in Lebanon has claimed responsibility for the firing of 12 rockets but we know that there was also Hezbollah who claimed to have struck two IDF posts with drones with attack drones earlier this evening so there's quite a bit of coordination here both between Hezbollah and Hamas and Hamas in the north and that is in Gaza obviously Sherry Fine Grossman all eyes very much on the north Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is due to speak tomorrow do you think we're entering a new phase here yes it seems so I hope I'm wrong and the assessments of some of my what I'm hearing is wrong but it looks like we're entering a new phase and the next couple of days or few days ahead week ahead are going to be crucial what the IDF is going to respond to you have to understand that I mean in the last week we've been trying and the IDF is trying to create this fog of war right around what's going on in Gaza now it's very very much clear how deep we are inside the casualties that Hamas is having and the Iranian proxies are worried and the Iran is worried it's going to lose it's an Iranian proxy in the Gaza and so and we always said as you know as pressure will mount in Gaza the pressure on the proxies to join the war to attack from all fronts from Yemen from Syria from Lebanon and possibly from Iraq as well is going to continue just to update I think two people have been wounded in that latest barrage of rockets attack and Hamas is claiming responsibility for the latest rocket attack from Lebanon because we should remind people that it's not just Hezbollah based in southern Lebanon there are a myriad of Palestinian terrorist groups as well right and having said that Hezbollah is the one in control of southern Lebanon nothing happens in southern Lebanon without the permission or the coordination of Hezbollah in this case and we should mention that these two fronts are not the only ones that we are faced with today and Israeli was murdered in the west bank in a shooting attack when Hikar turned over after he was shot he was actually on his way back from reserve service and therefore he is now the 20th IDF to be killed over the past several days 19 in Gaza since the start of this ground operation a very heavy price that Israel pays for this ground operation but at the same time an understanding both in the IDF and in the general public how important this task is this war against Hamas is having hit Israeli homes at the most where it should be the safest place for Israelis the vast majority of the Israeli public believes that this is what should be done and this is what we're seeing with a very high turnout of reservists from the IDF taking part in this operation in Gaza Sherry let's talk about the operation in Gaza we got a bit of an update from the IDF chief earlier today and he says many dozens of Hamas operatives have already been killed the IDF is not just now surrounding Gaza city it's actually operating inside the city as well that's important isn't it they're making better progress I think than expected we have to remember I don't know how much people know the numbers are about 40 or 50,000 terrorists from Hamas mostly in the underground metro city in hundreds of kilometers there or dozens of kilometers so the task is really to go phase by phase the IDF is going stronghold by stronghold to try to find the terrorists and eliminate Hamas as soon as possible and it's doing it methodically systematically slowly by trying to protect the troops it's possible as we've seen there are already been hits and they're expected to be more and hopefully lessons will be learned along the way but this is going to be I said it again and Netanyahu the prime minister has said it just now in a message he delivered to the Israeli public a short while ago it's going to be a long war I'm not sure community to understand we're fighting against Iran we're fighting against forces of evil who are trying to take us back to the mid ages and we cannot let them win we're here for the western world and to protect us from the terror just cloning itself in other places the terrorist proxies across the region quite a guy I wanted to pick up on something that's been talked about by both the prime minister and by the chief of staff this is about whether or not fuel supplies will be allowed into Gaza an interesting statement from the IDF chief has been asked by reporters whether Israel would allow fuel to go into hospitals into Gaza of course something that Israel has been very strict about not allowing into the strip so far Hamas is very well known for using any humanitarian aid that goes there for its military purposes and definitely even more so when it comes to fuel the response of the IDF chief was that we've been hearing for quite a few days about the hospitals being running out of fuel well once they do eventually run out of fuel we will allow fuel into these hospitals but we will ensure that that fuel will not get into the hands of Hamas hospitals in northern Gaza they did not mention whether it's north or south but the bottom line is that it's impossible to differentiate between what goes to Hamas and what doesn't thank you guys we're going to take a listen to Benny Gantz who's speaking now the member of the unity government let's take a listen I wish to show my solidarity is to strengthen them on behalf of all of us in this incomprehensible situation that are in even at these moments we activate all of the means in our position in order to bring them back home I say this to the people of Gaza themselves to the civilians who understand the disaster that Hamas has brought on them those who will help return the hostages will be rewarded those who will hold on to this will pay with his life Israel has paid enormous prices over the years we continue to live on our sword no one there's not one person who did not shed a tear when he saw the givati fighters who died from the anti-tank missile religious and secular from towns and villages from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem from Yago from the north and from the south all of them together as brothers in arms the images are painful but they are the symbol for what will bring the victory on foot by tanks by air and by sea in the front and near the home front the Israeli society is at the peak of its strength from the wars we came back as brothers once Yoram Teahavlev said this war reminds us how strong we are when we are together it reminds us that we are brothers that we must fight as brothers and remain brothers after the wars together we will triumph together we will win can you say that you will not transfer fuel to the Gaza Strip we haven't decided to transfer fuel there's no such decision which will be examined later on as Gaza is surrounded there is a combined and powerful attack here it will advance as long as needed we will not elaborate on the details how do you see the disagreement between the Defense Minister and Smotrych about delivering the money to the PA to the Imam the issue of transferring the funds is a wide one we need to look at the full picture and all the arenas we will hold a discussion about this tomorrow and we'll receive a decision together I wish to correct the idea of settler violence I must say that the vast majority of the settlers 99.9% are law abiding citizens today we had another terror attacking the West Bank I denounce those so people who give a bad name to the State of Israel and we need to operate against them we should not confuse this with the entire community of the settlers that was Benny Gantz member of the wartime unity government they're just confirming that 20 Israeli soldiers are now confirmed killed following the fighting we have a little bit of information about what happened last night a very fierce gun battle it appears inside guards where the terrorists try to take control of armored vehicles we're not getting all of the information obviously the IDF cannot release that but this is kind of a glimpse into the challenges that the IDF faces inside Gaza yeah and will face nobody thought it's going to be easy I think the longer we wait the situation with the fuel we have to make it clear there has been cut off of electricity from Gaza so everything is operating on generators actually the tunnels and there are stockpiles of fuel for Hamas but they don't let the hospitals use those stockpiles so if we let it run out of fuel there won't be any air in the tunnels so as long as we wait and keep fuel out of it do you agree with the decision to let fuel in for the hospitals or do you we have to prioritize what do we want to achieve do we want to get the hostages of Hamas to the bitter and do we stay in Gaza mainly and not you know and hold off on the north if it's going to escalate and what are we going to do there there needs to be some prioritizing here and that's what the government is supposed to do when it's a decision and a tough dilemma it is and do you see some kind of disagreement between the Prime Minister and the IDF right now they're trying to unify stand all the wartime cabinet decisions are unanimous but the dilemmas are there and I think if like I said earlier if it's going to advance to another a northern front it's going to make the arguments there a little bit louder okay all right hold that thought we're going to now talk a bit about the hostages because Israel has raised the number of hostages being held in Gaza to at least 242 authorities are still working to identify the remains of dozens of victims who were murdered inside Israel well my next guest hid for hours in a safe room while Hamas terrorists went on a murderous rampage through her kibbutz al-Omim she was saved by a civilian guard who took care of the kibbutz residents and without whom the death toll would have been significantly higher Esther Marcus is with us now thank you for joining us Esther what a remarkable story first of all we're very glad that you are alive and well tell us a bit about what happened that terrible day well 6.35 in the morning I remember opening my back door thinking that I was going to sit outside and have a cup of tea and crazy crazy rockets and we're kind of used to rockets but not like this it was obvious straight away that it was very different very very different happening I ran into the safe room where my husband I'm a bit confused my son and his new wife were and ran in together with us the rest of my family that's another my daughter her husband and two babies and then we received texts telling us that we should lock our doors turn off all the lights highly irregular obviously and then we understood that that there are terrorists already infiltrated into our kibbutz and we didn't 100% know what was going on but it was incredibly scary this followed by shooting which was obviously very nearby we've already become so accustomed to the rockets that we know even our children know to differentiate between cannons and bombs from our cells when we attack Gaza or rockets from their side so we understand all of that but this was shooting constant shooting outside our house which meant that we had to stay quiet which with two babies as you can imagine two little babies with you what did you do to keep the babies quiet so we're religious religious kibbutz we're religious people but it was obvious to us that we had to open up the computer and allow the two-year-old to watch films and my daughter held her the babies a month she just kept feeding her and holding her in order that she wouldn't get to a stage that she needed to cry I'm a resilience worker I'm trained to help people and straight away I was receiving I had what's called a hotline so I was getting phone calls from all over the country about what was going on so I had to talk really quietly so at the same time that we're working stressed out we're trying not to cause the babies to feel too much anxiety but I spoke to many families on my kibbutz and many other kibbutzim that they put their children in the cupboard they put them in a drawer left them open the fear it was just horrific and even then I don't think we fully understood then what was going on to what extent although I knew that there was a battle I was receiving phone calls from people all over the country looking for their children who had gotten lost in the massacre they were at the party and people phoned me telling me I'm looking for my son who do I phone, who do I get in touch with chaos was enormous from that I then understood that the terrorists were already out right around us they were everywhere I received phone call from somebody telling me that they were online with their son that he'd locked himself in one of the petrol stations he'd managed to get himself into the bathrooms he was lying next to somebody who was injured could I please send help I tried to phone someone who could get to him and then I was told there's no way I still we can't get to anybody there's just this terrible feeling of helplessness and at the same time we just have to keep praying we're going to get through this we're going to push regarding the babies straight away that holocaust came into my mind with what people went through then with babies and what we had to do just shocking and we know now don't we Esther that the terrorists had no mercy be it children, women, babies I mean it must be hard to stop your mind going to a very dark place you know about what could have happened no absolutely we had 17 workers from Nepal and Thailand workers they were massacred and two were kidnapped so we don't know what's happening with them but we're very much in touch with their families and taking care of them when they came with us to the hotel that we were evacuated to we organised a translator and a historian to write down their story there's one in hospital every day somebody goes from Market Boots and interestingly enough there's even a WhatsApp group and I received a message telling me you'll be amazed Esther the Thailand workers are asking when can they come back they want to help us put our kibbutz back together again which is really phenomenal phenomenal and we lost two of our own children one a soldier who straight away as soon as the attacks began he jumped in his father's car he didn't have to he just that sense of I have to go and help my fellow soldiers he's an officer he jumped in a car and we knew later that he ran into terrorists and another one of our children lives on the kibbutz next door in Khwar Azar he was killed and the older man bullet went straight through him somehow he survived our army as you mentioned before the civilian army they went out to fight we're talking about men aged 30 even 50 they didn't have time to do anything but they got out there they started shooting they protected us three were injured one literally fought for his life thank god it's actually his parents English thank god a million times he's okay another one fought with two bullets in his legs he just kept fighting it was when you're fighting for your home it's a whole different ball game one trained for to fight in the army it's just non-stop oh as I'm watching you this is my kibbutz oh here what you're seeing now this is from a special unit that turned up and they fought together with our what time did they arrive what time did they get there it's not yet clear there was some that came at nine it started already at 7.30 some managed to get through nine ten o'clock some others only turned up at one o'clock two o'clock these guys are from the Shabas from the prison the prisons in Israel they have a special unit and it was really important for us to thank them obviously but at the same time as a therapist and a worker I also have to work to make sure that people aren't going to go through retraumatization what you're seeing now oh my goodness this is actually the first time I'm seeing this we have three older men gentlemen who sat in our safe room and they watched the screens and this is what they were watching so that they could guide our civilian army and tell them exactly where the terrorists were these are the terrorists that came to kill me that came to kill my family that came to kill my kibbutz I'm actually a little bit shocked because I wasn't aware that I was going to be seeing this now but that's okay resilience resilience we push through we have to push through friends who have been killed I have friends whose family have been kidnapped and it's just so important to keep well that's why I wanted to ask you Esther we've had so much evidence Israel is still identifying the bodies of people who lost their lives the world press has been here going around the kibbutz still you see people actively trying to deny what happened or downplay it the Queen of Jordan comes to mind for one but you know there are journalists in the UK no names giving a platform for two hours for someone denying what happened October the 7th I mean how does that make you feel I know as a resilience worker that I have to protect myself and I have to be available to the people that I'm working with and do my job so I actually don't watch television and I don't particularly listen to the news either I figure there are other people that I don't have a job that's too shocking for me one thing is silence even silence you're already a partner of that massacre and denying it the responsibility on you is just humongous I've been watching the scenes in England the Palestinians they're hiding behind freedom of speech they're violent violent people they don't just want my land they want our lives and they always have done and as I explained to a journalist as you mentioned before I was interviewed by someone from Australia and I explained to her that we have always we always worked hand in hand with Palestinians we had workers who came into Al Qibuz and when they weren't allowed to come across anymore a man in Al Qibuz went every week to bring them food to take care of them we have another man in Al Qibuz we have families of children who need medical help he brings them into the country takes them to the hospitals the centre we made a point of raising our children not with hatred with belief and hope that the government would come up with a plan the international people would come up with a plan and she also tried to put words in my mouth of is it eye for an eye tooth for a tooth and I explained to her that's not my language I don't speak in those terms but I think Israeli government cannot take responsibility for what is going on in Palestine anymore the governments around the world the United Nations the Arab world the Arab world has to step up and figure out what they're going to do and put them in Egypt give these people homes we already gave back the land of Gush Qatif as you know we all know did they carry on making it a flourishing they could have done they could have made it beautiful Palestine could be beautiful but they're not interested in that Hamas are just out to destroy we've heard them say they would do it again if they could we heard one of the Hamas official saying he would do it again if he could we're glad you're here to tell your story and thank goodness for those little babies and your family and we look forward to seeing you rebuild your kibbutz bigger and better thank you so much Esther Marcus incredible all right well meanwhile in Gaza foreign nationals are being evacuated via Egypt's Rafa crossing Cairo says it will help to evacuate nearly 7,000 foreign citizens some 400 American citizens plus their family members left yesterday Egypt refuses though to allow Gazans to enter Egypt as refugees even temporarily we're here to talk more about that hi Sam Hassanain is a junk fellow from the FDD thank you very much for being with us hi Sam great to see you again let's start with what's been going on over the last few days because there were some fears some concerns in Cairo weren't there that the border would be stormed from the garden side would you say the evacuations have been proceeding in an orderly manner there is a coordination between Egypt and Israel nowadays on the identities of those making the crossing to avoid Hamas or sneaking into the Sinai among injured civilians so as you mentioned there are foreign nationals already crossing there are also wounded Palestinians hundreds of them as well cross the Rafa border and Cairo described such a move as a temporary measure to help ease the medical burden in Gaza overall this is a significant shift for Egypt which till yesterday only allowed the Rafa crossing to be used to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza and allow strict quota of Palestinians with travel visas so these wounded are being treated at hospitals in Egypt are they yes Egypt has been preparing field hospitals for the past couple of days and they are being treated in these hospitals and we know that a lot of aid has been stacking up on the Egyptian side of the border waiting to go into Gaza how much is getting in would you say on a daily basis well according to statements coming from the US and to our national and humanitarian organization they say the number is not enough to help with the crisis happening on the strip before the war it used to be 500 trucks carrying aid and other goods enter the strip on daily basis according to a statement by the White House National Security spokesperson two days ago he said too far only trucks enter with assistance and they are trying to push the number to make it to 100 a day talk to me a bit about what's happening inside Egypt Haitham we know that there is very strong support for the Palestinian cause and a lot of opposition to Israel fighting Hamas and we've seen attacks in Egypt against branches of McDonald's and other businesses who are perceived to support America and Israel I mean what's going on is there a risk to stability would you say not really because demonstrations happened few weeks ago in the country upon a call from presidency since then we have not seen much happening ever since so it shows the regime still has control over the situation so far as for calling the American businesses or western businesses this is not the first time by the way it happens in the country two decades ago during the second and father similar calls happened and nothing much happened and I would argue even nowadays the situation is more complicated the country is going through tough economic hardships and hundreds if not thousands of people will lose their jobs if western businesses in Egypt are boycotted so I don't think many people in the country will take such calls in a serious manner not to mention it will hurt the tourism sector in the country which the state depends heavily on and so far because of the war it has been suffering a lot all right so I'm going to talk you thank you very much indeed we appreciate it hi Samhasa and I there at the FTD all right just to bring you up to date with what has been happening in the last hour Hamas has claimed responsibility for 12 rockets that were fired at Israel around two hours ago one of them hit Kiryat Shmona that's a town in the north that has been largely evacuated of its residents but there was a fire some cars and stores were set on fire this as the IDF continues to strike Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon and the head of the Iranian backed terrorist group Hasan Nasranla is due to speak tomorrow the commander of Iran's IRGC Quds Force has been visiting the country today our Middle East correspondent Aril Osaran has the story for 27 days now the main focus of the IDF has been the threat from Gaza but Israel's northern frontier against Hezbollah continues to occupy IDF forces with daily exchanges of fire and the attempted downing of an IDF drone early Thursday morning in the north we continue to attack its battle targets along the border and eliminate enemy squads that try launch anti-tank missiles rockets and water bombs towards Israeli territory this is also in the last hour attack positions from which rocket launchers were fired in the direction of Mount Dorf, Mount Hermon and other directions following the IDF strike Hezbollah announced the death of another fighter among its ranks the 50th since the beginning of the war the real number is likely higher most of Hezbollah's casualties are the result of air strikes on its anti-tank units which have been attacking IDF outposts on the northern border some of them eliminated before they could fire their missiles although that's not how Hezbollah sees it we have seen over three weeks of Israeli attacks and strikes carried out by the resistance against Israeli military outposts the Israeli enemy hasn't managed to mark a single achievement despite all of its advanced technology attack drones, artillery and daily air strikes on our bases, none of this has brought a single achievement ahead of a much anticipated speech on Friday by Hezbollah leader Hassan Asrallah his first since the start of the war Iran's IRGC Quds Force commander Ismail Kani is visiting Lebanon this is Kani's second visit to Lebanon since October 7 to coordinate with Hezbollah concerning the conflict with Israel Asrallah's speech should also shed light whether Hezbollah will raise the border clashes to a full-scale war or not all right well I think we can head to northern Israel now our correspondent Pia Steckelback is with us and Pia once again, Kiryat Shmona direct hit right Laura we've been seeing those images, a direct hit causing fires there in the city center Hezbollah in southern Lebanon has also been firing mortar shells and anti-tank missiles towards northern Israel earlier because of two hours really three times red alerts were triggered in different locations throughout the north of Israel of course Kiryat Shmona we are hearing that Hamas is claiming responsibility for the firing of rockets towards that city there 12 rockets that is what is mentioned in the Hamas statement four of them indeed came down one of them hitting a street in the middle of the city and this is already the second time this week lower earlier this week there are luckily no casualties today we are speaking out two injured people one in moderate condition one in light condition there this of course comes ahead or mid of the very high tensions that we have seen throughout the past three weeks really but today we have seen another escalation here we are speaking about more than a dozen of targets that have been targeted by both rockets mortar shells and anti-tank missiles here we are speaking about areas as far away as Safed in the surrounding communities we are speaking about a distance of more than 20 kilometers here that all coming ahead of that very much anticipated speech of Hezbollah leader Hassan Asrallah tomorrow the IDF is currently striking back towards the origin of that fire in southern Lebanon we are speaking about areas of Maruna Ras and Ayat Hashab which are considered Hezbollah centers there which have come under fire really also throughout these three weeks as the IDF is protocol striking Hezbollah targets there and also infrastructure of those other proxies that are present there in southern Lebanon we are speaking about of course Hamas and other Palestinian proxies and as one Arabic IDF speaker today pointed out we are also speaking about another Iranian proxy the Hisham Brigades that have been founded in Syria but oh no now also operating there in southern Lebanon striking against Israel Laura all right Pia thank you very much indeed Pia Stechleback there in the north of Israel following a direct hit on the high street in Shemona too lightly wounded let's talk a bit more Shiri Fangosman is with us Gai Azrael as well Shiri we have this high ranking Iranian IRGC official in Beirut today I mean it said isn't it Hamas has been disappointed Hezbollah hasn't stepped up more do you think that Iran has been holding them back is Hezbollah reluctant to get involved and might that change well it's an issue of timing like I said before they're trying to figure out what are we doing exactly in Gaza and how severe is Hamas there's also pressure within Israel itself to be you know they understand very well that our reaction is going to cause a lot of damage to Lebanon and there are Lebanese forces in the Lebanese government that is trying to prevent Hezbollah from taking that step in fear of the destruction of Lebanon completely but of course Iran is worried that one of its main fronts is Hamas stronghold will be hit and vanishes and there's also a catch 22 here where Israel kept saying that it's going to destroy Hezbollah it's going to destroy Hamas and they're seeing we're actually doing that to Hamas but at the same time we're saying we're going to we're going to hit Lebanon so the catch 22 is do I hit before Israel hits that's for Nasrallah so it's kind of this game that we're playing and he's been saying about this speech for a long time for the last couple of days and we're seeing this escalation now I don't think it's any coincidence it's always convenient to say it comes from Hamas but actually we're controlling all those all of sudden Lebanon so I think we're going to see an escalation from Lebanon we're going to see an escalation I don't know how big that escalation is going to be and it's going to be dependent on how the IDF reacts and also our partners in the US President Biden said at first don't so it's a real test in the coming days what's going to happen because the Americans have sent significant military support to Israel including the world's largest aircraft carrier and they have warned that they will assist Israel if Hezbollah escalates to that point exactly the Israeli Defense Ministry is publishing a statement just an hour ago saying that it is getting ready for the second month of that war and announcing it has so far acquired 3,000 tons of equipment using 100 cargo planes, 5 ships also purchasing 10 billion shekels of ammunition from the Israeli industries this includes ammunition armored vehicles, protective equipment and medical care all of these as the Israel gears up for another month of war with Hamas and of course the potential of a much greater escalation with Hezbollah as both these fronts are still active Israel is well aware it needs to have enough ammunition with whether the Americans take part or not Israel has to be able to defend itself and therefore acquiring all that equipment is essential right now. I mean long term Syria, Israel has made it clear they cannot live with Hamas at its borders and they live with Hezbollah so unfortunately the issue is Iran and the bigger issue is the West versus Russia and China it feels a little bit like war ponds in a much bigger play here just before I came to the studio there was an announcement I don't know if it's correct that Putin, Russia is considering giving air missile defense systems to Hezbollah and we're seeing the signals it's not a coincidence he's supporting Hamas not supporting Israel which traditionally in the West there was a civil war in Syria but Israel wasn't attacked and although the IDF, the Air Force attacked many times in Syria but we're seeing a change here we're seeing a change and it has to do with the bigger picture with the war in Ukraine and remember that it's for us it's Iran and we can't do it alone we can't fight Iran by ourselves and our partners regional partners that we speak about often they have to see the bigger picture what's going on here it's been a strategy of Iran for the last 15, 20 years to surround Israel with missiles that can be attacked from five fronts at the same time there's also the West Bank seeing an escalation that just happened months ago that diverted us to look our attention to the West Bank and not to Gaza so nothing's a coincidence we're fighting against a very sophisticated enemy which is not a democracy like we have which plans ahead and we have to be united both in Israel but both like-minded nations and Iran of course was under significant domestic pressure over the past year following the death of Masa Amini there were unprecedented protests in Iran part of the strategy to counter Iran has been the Abraham Accords closer agreements with normalization agreements with Bahrain with the United Arab Emirates with Morocco and of course Saudi Arabia was just poised to do as well now we had a little bit of what some have been describing as a setback but it is a bit more complex this is a Lebanese media report which claimed Bahrain had recalled its ambassador and Bahrain's parliament which is very different to the leadership under King Hamad said that they were suspending or ending economic cooperation you worked on the Abraham Accords tell us about your reading from what I understand from my former colleagues Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs denying that statement and saying that the relations on track, the ambassador is in place and the relations will go on as usual for now I have to say about Saudi Arabia and the normalization process a very interesting development happened this week we saw the Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia visit Washington after we saw an attack from the Khoutis killing and reported killing four Saudi soldiers and we saw reports it was interesting to see reports that came out from the meeting from the Saudi part was we're talking about with the US on furthering our security cooperation and how do we end the battle in Yemen, the civil war and call for a ceasefire in Gaza and all that from the Israeli side we saw Barack Ravid who clearly the Americans issued a journalist that normalization process is still in play and they're looking forward to continuing that so the Americans are understanding the bigger game is going on what I explained about and about Iran and we have to continue with the normalization process as a counter for what Israel is trying to do I think a lot of Israelis were surprised the Saudis and the Emiratis condemned Hamas or any other countries in the Arab world I personally spoke right after the news broke of Bahrain I spoke to a political expert very close to the government there and he tried to downplay that report saying that the statement came from the parliament who is not involved with foreign relations and that was their way of easing the pressure on the streets of Bahrain, the protests against Israel obviously that is a country that is not unified in terms of its population and the support they have a big share of population 70% of the population is Shia, there is a majority minority Sunni who is the ruling family the Khalifa family I was in Bahrain myself earlier this year and there were parts of the city where us Israelis were asked to remain more quiet or low profile as the threat was there but I'll give you one statement that the Washington institute collected statements from Arab nations in this region regarding Hamas and here is one of the statements without Iran's presence Iranian soldiers, Iranian funds Iranian support for Hamas and the jihadists who control Gaza we would be much closer to achieving a better peace and that statement was in 2019 from Khalid bin Ahmad al-Halifa the minister of foreign affairs of Bahrain former minister of foreign affairs it just comes to show how much easier it is to speak about Hamas and its malign activity when it is not engaged in a war with Israel the traditional enemy the biggest enemy of Bahrain is Iran which is right on its doorstep exactly, Iran back in history was for a short time Bahrain was part of the Persian Empire Republic they're still saying it's part of Iran so there's a lot of conflict there there's conflicts outside of Israel who would imagine simmering away of course we all have a common enemy that is one of the driving forces behind the Abraham Accords for sure the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will be jetting into Israel tomorrow he's also set to visit Jordan this after Amman cancelled a meeting with the US President Joe Biden this month American support for Israel has been ironclad since October 7th but as our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman now reports Biden's tone did seem to change somewhat over the past 24 hours take a look for Joe Biden the war has turned more complicated gone are the early days of emotive speeches from the US President connecting with the Israeli experience and here now is a more cautious style of looking at the war over in the Middle East we're going to continue to affirm that Israel has the right to respond to responsibility of defending citizens from terror and it needs to do so in a manner those consistent international and humanitarian law that prioritizes protection of citizens in principle Biden's positions are consistent from the start he has supported Israel's full on fight against Hamas from the start he has worried about protecting civilians notably he has not wrapped those two together he has wanted to achieve both but Biden must confront the pictures and the politics where his approval rating has dropped 11 percentage points among Democrats presumably because of the war the number of trucks entering Gaza continues to increase significantly but we still have a long way to go the United States is going to continue to drive humanitarian support for innocent people in Gaza who need help and they do need help by November 2024 of course the political impact of the war could diminish many news cycles will have passed the presumed candidacy of Donald Trump will focus minds on the left but Biden for all his Zionist order for all his commitment to building and boosting US allies around the world does need to manage the politics that means changing the tone and for civilians in Gaza bringing results well let's head to New York now we're joined by our senior US correspondent Mike Wagenheim so Mike I've just heard that Tony Blinken will be urging the Israeli government to agree to a series of brief cessations as they put it of military operations in order to allow for hostages to be released safely and for humanitarian aid how do you interpret that that's according to the New York Times that's not really breaking news here it's been hinted at both implicitly and explicitly by the State Department over the last few days that they were first pursuing or exploring opportunities for humanitarian pause and then gradually as the days go by as you listen to more comments and more briefings it's become more steadily gradually toward we want a pause here we want a humanitarian pause not a ceasefire but a pause for humanitarian reasons exactly what you're saying for the hostages to get humanitarian aid more humanitarian aid in Degas no surprise whatsoever that that's going to be a focal point of a Blinken's visit with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials during what will be a pretty brief time in Jerusalem alright and he will be headed to Amman as well this is after the Jordanians cancelled abruptly a planned visit by President Biden shortly after October 7th well yeah keep in mind the timing of that cancellation Biden was scheduled to visit Amman to have a four way summit with the king of Jordan President LCC from Egypt and also Mahmoud Abbas from the Palestinian Authority just a day maybe 36 hours before is when Israel launched its military operation in Gaza so as a result Jordan in support of the Palestinians decided to cancel that we're far away from that now obviously there's more urgency at this point in getting King Abdullah into the loop on things and making sure that he's essentially doing his part that there's coordination between the United States and Jordan on how things are going to be moving forward here and so Jordan welcoming Blinken this time around though they cancelled the meeting with Biden before and just another word then on calls for a humanitarian pause in the fighting do you think that this is due to political pressure at home on Joe Biden and is this something that is agreeable widely in the in the US? He's definitely feeling the heat there's no doubt about that whatsoever but I don't think the call for humanitarian pause is as a direct result of that if we see a call for a ceasefire that's something different and Biden by the way misspoke he said ceasefire to a reporter and then he said the word prisoners which he meant hostages so misstatement there by Biden rather than a change in policy now only one US senator is called for a ceasefire that was two years ago Dick Durbin a Democrat it has not come out of the Biden administration humanitarian pause is for obvious reasons at this point I think the Biden admin whether they're getting political pressure or not is disturbed at what they're seeing on the ground there in terms of humanitarian needs they don't want to look heartless and unsympathetic to the plight here and so it's a humanitarian pause that's the policy now I don't think that's a direct result of pressure if we see Biden go further in his demands on I think that might be an indicator of the heat that he's feeling all right well we'll hear more about that tomorrow thanks very much Mike Wagenheim there in New York thank you Mike well let's talk more about Jordan I want to bring in Dr. Nasir Alamari independent commentator and writer great to have you with this Nasir so let's talk about Jordan of course yesterday it withdrew it recalled its ambassador from Israel it also cancelled the meeting with President Biden they've very much taken a side in the conflict haven't they on the side of the Palestinians what do you expect from tomorrow's meeting I think to understand Jordan you have to understand the double role that the king has to play on the one hand he has to appear pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli at least for the time being but simultaneously he's a staunch US ally and he has a lot of interests with the state of Israel so but you know he's under a lot of pressure there have been demonstrations in Jordan demanding expelling the Israeli ambassador so the king has to look like he's standing up for the Palestinians he's for stopping this war but at the same time I think he understands that this is a fight this is a fight against Iran and Jihadi Iranian groups who if they win he will no longer be king of Jordan so he understands what the US is doing and what Israel is doing but he has to play this double game of looking like he is pro-Palestinian 100% and he's for stopping the war does Hamas have any support among the population inside Jordan is that a threat to the king and give us a bit of history Nassir because Jordan of course has had its own problems with Palestinians in the past hasn't it? Yes and Palestinians hold Jordanian passports some of them are refugees the majority of Jordan are actually Palestinians or of Palestinian origin so the king has to always look like he is a pro-Palestinian but everybody understands in Jordan that he's close to the Israeli security services he's close to the United States and a strategic alliance with Israel so it's a very tough situation I think the king wants this to go away as soon as possible but at the same time I think there is a feeling that if Hamas goes away that will probably pave the way for more reasonable Palestinians to that Israel can talk peace with so there is excitement but there is fear that this thing will last for a very long time and destabilize Jordan at some point. And do you think we might see a long-term impact on relations between Jordan and Israel? I think the king has always maintained behind the scenes relationship with the Israeli security forces he's not fond of the Netanyahu government or any right-wing government he just can't understand why the threats to him sometimes and to his throne keep coming from the Israeli right when they talk about Jordan being Palestine he doesn't understand that because he and his father and his grandfather probably his some of his family are very close to the state of Israel and they have always worked closely maintained close relationships with Israel so he I think he's angry because he doesn't understand why the Israeli right doesn't treat him as someone who's actually helping to stabilize Jordan to stabilize the Palestinian territories and as being a key player in the peace for Israel