watching I-24 News this morning for the latest live updates from Israel. Israel on the brink of war on the northern front with Lebanon in the wake of a targeted assassination of a high-profile Hamas leader in Beirut. Seven people, including Hamas' deputy leader abroad, Salah al-Arori, was killed in the precision apartment strike that literally shook the streets of an upscale Beirut residential neighborhood. Arori is the highest-ranked Hamas leader killed in an assassination in more than a decade. Six other internationally based Hamas commanders were also killed in this precision drone strike on the third floor apartment. Now Hamas and also Hezbollah, both vowing revenge. Israel is on high alert for an escalation that may engulf the entire country. This is a watershed moment in the ongoing months-long war to destroy Hamas as the Israeli ground offensive continues across the Gaza Strip. IDF generals right now preparing for an expanded operation in the north too. We begin our coverage now with I-24 News correspondent Pierre Kloeschendler joining us in northern Israel. A major strike in the heart of Beirut, Pierre. Give us a sense perhaps on the IDF preparedness for what may come perhaps even today. Well the IDF spokesperson, Rirad Mirol Daniel Agari, was very laconic yesterday. He spoke of an increased sense of alertness amongst the IDF rank and file, especially up north in northern Israel. And he said simply that Israel is focused in fighting Hamas. And in a sense intimating to Hezbollah that the targeted killing of Salah el-Aroori, whether it's confirmed by Israel or not, is not blow to Hezbollah but to Hamas and that the war against Hamas and against Hamas officials will continue now. There is a hitch in that statement. Salah el-Aroori was killed in a suburb of Beirut, the Dachya suburb of southern Beirut which is the stronghold of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the political stronghold. And as a result, it's going to be very difficult for Hezbollah to ignore the killing which happened under their nose. Now the thing is, since the killing at 6 p.m. local time yesterday, there have been four actions of Hezbollah in the tit-for-tat war of attrition against Israel across the northern border between Israel and Lebanon, a tit-for-tat war of attrition that hasn't changed the mode of operation up until now. Overnight, at around midnight, there was an anti-guided, anti-tank guided missile launched on an Israeli military position near Kibbutz, Manara, in the upper Galilee panhandle. Two soldiers were lightly wounded, but that is still in the realm of that war of attrition between Israel and Hezbollah, Hezbollah waging this war of attrition in support of Hamas and against Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. But given that, there is a sense here among Israeli analysts that the chain of operational command of Hamas has been badly hurt because Salah el-Aroori was not only the mastermind of operations in the West Bank, and the IDF is operating very strongly in the West Bank, but also was probably the closest person of Hamas on the axis of resistance under Iran command, and was probably the closest Hamas official with Iran Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Now the state of alertness here in Haifa means simply that the shelters are open. Yeah, thank you so much for that update in the North. Great to have you on the program. We're going to continue our coverage here on this major story with Professor Kobe Michael, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies. Professor, good to have you here on IQ for news. I'll ask bluntly, do you believe Hezbollah today in the hours to come will attempt a major attack on Israel? Good morning. I'm not sure about it at all. I think that we have to remember that Hezbollah has its considerations. And when we say Hezbollah, we mean Iran as well. And I think that Hezbollah understands pretty well that if they will attack aggressively Israel as retaliation or no retaliation, the Israeli retaliation or the Israeli response will be very aggressive. And actually, this will be the door or the opening of the path to a full scale war. And I'm not sure at all that this is the thing that Hezbollah is interested in currently. That raises the question though, if there is not a major Hezbollah response, a significant response to this apartment attack in the heart of upscale Beirut suburbs, what does that do for Hezbollah's deterrence factor? Nasrallah vowed that an attack like this on any Palestinian period would necessitate a significant attack on Israel. Doesn't this back Nasrallah in a corner? Yes, and I think that this is also a sort of an Israeli signal towards Hezbollah itself, which means that Israel is able to reach everybody, even if it is full defended in the Dahya, which is the compound of Hezbollah in Beirut. And I think that in a sense, this is a sort of fortification of the Israeli deterrence, vis-a-vis Hezbollah. And it looks that they have to do their calculations and to prepare themselves for, I would say, a better defense vis-a-vis the Israeli new approach. Professor, in your mind, was this a good decision strategically for the IDF to target Al-Aroori at this moment? Yes, of course. I think that it is pretty clear that Israel is determined to eliminate all the leadership of Hamas, be it the political leadership or the military leadership, because Israel makes no distinction between the two types of leadership. And we see that Salah Al-Aroori, who is the second in the hierarchy of Hamas in the political bureau, is also a military leader and he has the responsibility for all Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank and even beyond of that. And I think that this is part of the war, and in each war, each side tries to eliminate the leadership of the other side. And we are at war with Hamas and this is part of the war. And I think that it is exactly in the right timing. Professor, stay with us. I want to dig a little bit deeper into the background of this man. Salah Al-Aroori was a terror mastermind. One of the most wanted criminals in the world, with a big bounty on his head, I-20 News correspondent Robert Swift has a profile of Al-Aroori's long history of terrorism. Until his death and what is alleged to be an Israeli assassination, Salah Al-Aroori was a senior Hamas official living in exile in Beirut. He mixed political and military responsibilities, acting as the deputy chairman of the organization's political bureau and as the commander for West Bank operations. A founding member of the Izzad din Al-Qassam Brigades, a bounty of five million dollars was placed on information leading to his capture by US officials. Al-Aroori acted as a spokesperson for Hamas on prisoner affairs, as shown here speaking in 2010. The rising level of capturing and torturing in the last few months has pushed this issue up the agenda. If there is a way for prisoners to be released other than through a deal with Israel to force Fatah's hand, that option may be raised. And as a senior official, he acted in a diplomatic capacity. Closely linked to the West Bank, he was born in Ramallah and studied at Hebron University, where his activity with Hamas began. His home in the West Bank was demolished by Israel following the 7th of October attacks. Having spent 15 years in Israeli prisons at times being held on administrative detention, Al-Aroori was exiled in 2007. He spent the following years living in Syria, Turkey and finally Lebanon. Patred here with other Hamas officials, including Ismail Hania, following the 7th of October attack, Al-Aroori is the most significant Palestinian assassinated in nearly 20 years. With me now in studio is I, the senior editor guy, Israel guy. It appears that in the wake of this strike, widely attributed to Israel but Israel not directly publicly confirming it is behind the strike. Nevertheless, Hezbollah faces a major test in how to respond and the consequences could be far-reaching. It's first as far as Al-Aroori. Today we commemorate or celebrate, depends who you're asking, four years to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani of the IRGC. To many in Israel, Al-Aroori was the Qasem Soleimani of Hamas and this is where we connect things to Hezbollah because Al-Aroori was the man that connected Hamas with Hezbollah, with Iran, coordinating a lot of the activities out of Lebanon. Sometimes when Hezbollah wanted to fire rockets towards Israel but did not want to do so directly, it used Al-Aroori and Hamas to execute these attacks. Al-Aroori also used funding from Iran, of course, and we saw those very high-level meetings between Al-Aroori, Hasan Astrala and Iranian officials in Beirut openly in front of the cameras, both mainly before the attack but also following the October 7th attack. Hezbollah's strategy hasn't changed. Obviously, this does hurt the image of Hezbollah, the fact that he was targeted in the heart of the Dakhya, that area in Beirut that is controlled by Hezbollah. So obviously, that's a difficult blow and that's a big hit for whoever is responsible for this. Hezbollah will likely respond but it is up to Hamas to decide what they want to do with this. But as we discussed just before we entered the studio, Hamas and Hezbollah are looking to hurt Israelis every day. This is just another stage in the ongoing conflict between Israel and those Iranian proxies that want to eliminate the state of Israel. There's not a day where they are not involved in attempting to hurt murder Israelis. Obviously, now they will, as they see it, will have to respond to a greater extent. But as we know, Hamas is running out of rockets in Gaza. We see how scarce, how random the rocket fire is. So when it comes to rocket fire out of Gaza, we should expect them to try and fire rockets towards Tel Aviv towards more central areas. But three months into the war they're slowly but surely running out of those rockets, which is not the case, of course, when it comes to Lebanon. El Al Ruri was also, of course, responsible for those rocket fire coming out of Lebanon. So it will hurt to a certain degree the possibility of coordinating the rocket fire out of Lebanon. Of course, he was killed together with several other Hamas operatives who were with him in that apartment. Nonetheless, of course, we're expecting to see some sort of response from the north as well. As you mentioned, there's divergent facts here, which is this was a Hamas commander, a big shot in the Hamas terror militia, not Hezbollah. El Ruri was not Lebanese. He was not part of the Hezbollah terror organization. But as you mentioned, this was in the strike in the heart of a Hezbollah-controlled area, in an upscale kind of affluent residential block in the heart of a Hezbollah-controlled district. And Israel himself has vowed that a strike like this, regardless of the membership of who dies, a strike like this would warrant a major response. I mean, the question of the deterrence factor, unless there is a significant attack, perhaps, what would that do for Hezbollah's deterrence credibility moving forward? Look, Israel has been worried about its own deterrence versus Hezbollah for those past three months. We saw that Hezbollah is not deterred, at least when it comes to this limited conflict that we see in the north right now. Obviously, it hurts the prestige of Hezbollah, the fact that someone who was sitting in their home literally was targeted by Israel, but I think also a strong message to Nasrallah and to Yoha Sinwar in Gaza right now. If Allah Ruhi was taken down, Sinwar knows he could be next. He has these hostages, Hamas has for now suspended the talks for the release of more hostages. This is his only card. And he would feel that the string will tighten around his neck. He could be very much like they could be the next one to go. And therefore, that's a strong message from Israel, both to Hamas and to Hezbollah. I want to bring back up, Professor Krobi Mikhail, into the conversation. Multiple Israeli media outlets are reporting this morning, and they're all citing anonymous American officials. But reportedly, Netanyahu did not give the United States any kind of advance warning, a heads up about this alleged targeted strike. What are your thoughts in general, perhaps, about the decision to keep this operation, this assassination a secret, even from President Biden? I'm not sure about it. Maybe the specific decision and the specific timing was not, the Americans were not informed about. I even have some doubts with regard to that. But there is a very, very close cooperation and coordination between Israel and the U.S. with regard to the main modus operandi of this war. And part of the main modus operandi is the idea of taking down, targeting the leaders of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and in any other place, mainly in Lebanon and mainly Salah al-Aruly. I'm not sure that the Americans are surprised. I don't think that they have to be surprised. And I think that Israel is very well coordinated with the United States. Professor, on that point on the United States, Amos Hochstein, the envoy from America, supposed to be in Israel and Lebanon this week to continue these talks to push for a diplomatic solution to these border battles. In light of this attack in Beirut, do you think the diplomatic talks, the diplomacy, could still provide results here? I think that in comparison I would say to last week and before, I think that there is a greater probability, a higher probability. It doesn't mean that we are there. We are not there yet. But I think that there are some indications that there might be a progress in this regard. But things might be changed in a very dramatic manner. And there might be a sort of misperception of Hezbollah. And there might be a sort of retaliation from Hezbollah that will cause a very severe damage in the Israeli side. And then Israel will retaliate very aggressively. And this will be the path, the way to a full deterration. But as far as I understand the situation, I think that Amos Hochstein does a good work there. And there is a higher probability for a diplomatic solution, although it will not resolve entirely the problem that we have with Hezbollah and with all of its missiles. And this is something that we will have to check later on. And I'll note here, just two days ago, right before the suspected Israeli strike in Beirut overnight that killed some of Hamas's top leadership, the US Navy announced at the beginning of the year that the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike group will be headed home. The US decision to withdraw the aircraft carrier from the Mediterranean Sea near Lebanon at precisely the time the northern border was heating up to a new level, raised eyebrows. I-24 News Middle East correspondent Ariel Osseron has more on the possible implications of the move. The United States is shuffling its naval forces in the Middle East, and it may not bode well for Israel. After months of extended deployment off the coast of Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike force will soon sail back to Virginia. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently visited the world's largest warship, which was sent to protect Israel after the October 7 attacks. And this carrier and crew are making history. Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things that we stop from happening. And at a moment of huge tension in the region, you all have been the lift hand to preventing a wider regional conflict. The USS Ford and its accompanying ships will be replaced by the amphibious assault ship, the USS Bad Ann, and its strike force. This will leave just one US carrier in the region, the Dwight D. Eisenhower. Meanwhile, Iran's Al-Bors warship arrived at the Red Sea on Monday through the Babelmandab Strait, as tensions were in high amid increased attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in a strategic waterway. Over the weekend, the US Navy prevented a Houthi force from attacking a ship in the Red Sea by sinking their boats and killing 10 of the militants. Activities by the US and Britain in the Red Sea are in line with the role of those two countries in intensifying instability and insecurity in the regional waters, especially the Red Sea. Such moves will raise regional and international concern about the security of the region. After denying involvement in Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, Iran's foreign minister met in Tehran on Monday with the Houthi's chief negotiator and spokesman, applauding the Iranian proxy over its support for the Palestinians. Even with the USS Gerald Ford around, Iran was not deterred from unleashing its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen on Israel. Now, the question remains whether or not Tehran will interpret the dilution of American naval power in the region as an opportunity to take even more risks. Back with Professor Mikhail, Professor, Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, the crown jewel in the militias that are financed and trained and funded by the Islamic Republic. Hezbollah is the biggest, but there are others in the Middle East. Might a response not come from Hezbollah attacking Israel directly, but could we see a new level of degree in the attacks in the Red Sea on shipping from the Houthis or other militias in the region? It might be, but I'm not sure about that. I think that with regard to the Houthis, I think that they will be more cautious in this regard and mainly the Iranians will be more cautious in this regard due to the presence of the Americans and their allies there in the Red Sea and the determination that was demonstrated by the Americans and the Brits mainly with regard to the potential retaliation if the Houthis will continue targeting ships there in the in Babelmandem. And I'm not sure that the Iranians are willing to take a bigger risk in this regard, but they might operate the militias in South Syria or the militias in West Iraq. They did it before, but I don't think that the capacities, the military capacities of these militias can be compared to the capacities of Hezbollah. And if these fronts or these militias will be operated, I think that Israel will retaliate in a very aggressive manner as it did before. And I'm not sure that the Iranians are willing to enter to this fight right now under the current circumstances. Professor, thanks for being with us on I-24 News. Great to have you this morning. Thank you. Good morning. And as you mentioned at the beginning here, the dates here, this is the anniversary of the killing of Qasem Soleimani, this name that looms large in Iranian, financed Iranian terror. In fact, Nasrallah, the Hezbollah commander, was set to give a speech to commemorate, in his mind, commemorate and mourn the death of Soleimani. It's unclear if Nasrallah is going to be giving a speech today, if that's been delayed or not. But the importance here perhaps on the Iranian connection to Hezbollah and to perhaps the response that may come. Look, all of these, of course, are Iranian proxies. Iran sits back and enjoys what it sees operating its proxies, not being hurt directly by the Israelis or all the Americans. And of course, we should mention the Houthis here as well. So all of these proxies working together against Israel is obviously to the benefit of Iran, who both sponsors and directs to a large degree these groups. This is part of an ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran and these proxies. It's not something that's going to change dramatically the nature of this conflict. We will see a response that is natural both from Hezbollah and from Hamas. The Iranians on their part will not change their strategy. When it comes to Hezbollah, Hezbollah has its own thinking about when Israel is right to engage in a full-scale war with Israel, something that Israel is preparing for. And we saw that yesterday, of course, with the pulling of the troops and Israel saying that these troops that are pulled out will serve as a possible alternative for a wider conflict in the north. Israel is getting ready. Hezbollah is getting ready. And Iran, of course, is running the show to a certain degree when it comes to the strategy of Hezbollah. How united is Hezbollah and Iran? Hezbollah has its own calculus separate from Iran regarding the rather complicated internal situation in the country, too. Obviously, Hezbollah is also a political movement in Lebanon. It does have other considerations. Now, to the question of whether it cares about the well-being of Lebanon, of the people of Lebanon when it engages in these hostile activities against Israel, not to a very large degree, as we saw in the Second Lebanon War as well. This is what they do. Obviously, it is a deterrence. We see other factors being involved here as well, the French other nations that have some sort of leverage on Lebanon trying to at least persuade Hezbollah not to engage in this war with everybody knowing very well what would be the results of a wider conflict with Israel, a very wide destruction both in Israel but also in Lebanon. Guy, thanks so much for being with us. Giving us your analysis. We're going out for a break, but we have more live coverage of the conflict, more export analysis from our guests in studio and around the world. Stay with us. We'll be back soon, right here on I-24 News. Is in a state of war, families completely gunned 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 to be fought as well. News 24 News this morning for the latest live updates from Israel. Israel on the brink of war on the northern front with Lebanon in the wake of a targeted assassination of a high profile Hamas leader in Beirut. Seven people including Hamas's deputy leader abroad, Salah al-Arori, was killed in the precision apartment strike that literally shook the streets of an upscale Beirut residential neighborhood. Arori is the highest ranked Hamas leader killed in an assassination in more than a decade. Six other internationally based Hamas commanders were also killed in this precision drone strike on the third floor apartment. Now Hamas and also Hezbollah, both vowing revenge. Israel is on high alert for an escalation that may engulf the entire country. This is a watershed moment in the ongoing months long war to destroy Hamas as the Israeli ground offensive continues across the Gaza Strip. IDF general is right now preparing for an expanded operation in the north too. We begin our coverage now with I-21 News correspondent Pierre Klochendler joining us in northern Israel. A major strike in the heart of Beirut, Pierre. Give us a sense perhaps on the IDF preparedness for what may come perhaps even today. Well the IDF spokesperson Rirad Mirol Daniel Agari was very laconic yesterday. He spoke of an increased sense of alertness amongst the IDF rank and file especially up north in northern Israel and he said simply that Israel is focused in fighting Hamas and in a sense intimating to Hezbollah that the targeted killing of Salah el Arori whether it's confirmed by Israel or not is not a blow to Hezbollah but to Hamas and that the war against Hamas and against Hamas officials will continue now. There is a hitch in that statement. Salah el Arori was killed in a suburb of Beirut the Dakhia suburb of southern Beirut which is the stronghold of Hezbollah in Lebanon the political stronghold and as a result it's going to be very difficult for Hezbollah to ignore the killing which happened under their nose. Now the thing is since the killing at 6 p.m. local time yesterday there have been four actions of Hezbollah in the tit for tat war of attrition against Israel across the northern border between Israel and Lebanon a tit for tat war of attrition that hasn't changed the mode of operation up until now overnight at around midnight there was an anti-guided anti-tank guided missile launched on an Israeli military position near Kibbutz Manara in the upper galley Le Penhandle two soldiers were lightly wounded but that is still in the realm of that war of attrition between Israel and Hezbollah, Hezbollah waging this war of attrition in support of Hamas and against Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza but given that there is a sense here among Israeli analysts that the chain of operational command of Hamas has been badly hurt because was not only the mastermind of operations in the West Bank and the IDF is operating very strongly in the West Bank but also was probably the closest person of Hamas on the axis of resistance under Iran command and was probably the closest Hamas official with Iran and with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah now the state of alertness here in Haifa means simply that the shelters are open yeah thank you so much for that update in the north great to have you on the program we're going to continue our coverage here on this major story with professor Kobe Michael a senior research fellow at the Institute for national security studies professor great to have you here on iQuaq for news i'll ask bluntly do you believe Kezbollah today in the hours to come will attempt a major attack on Israel good morning i'm not sure about it at all i think that we have to remember that Hezbollah has its considerations and when we say Hezbollah we mean Iran as well and i think that Hezbollah understands pretty well that if they will attack aggressively Israel as retaliation or no retaliation the Israeli retaliation or the Israeli response will be very aggressive and actually this will be the the door or the opening of the path to a full scale war and i'm not sure at all that this is the thing that Hezbollah is interested in currently that raises the question though if there is not a major Hezbollah response a significant response to this apartment attack in the heart of upscale Beirut suburbs what does that do for Hezbollah's deterrence factor Nasrallah vowed that an attack like this on any Palestinian period would would would necessitate a significant attack on Israel doesn't this back Nasrallah in a corner yes and i think that this is also a sort of an Israeli signal towards Hezbollah itself which means that Israel is able to reach everybody even if it is full and defended in the in the dahya okay um which is the compound of Hezbollah in Beirut and i think that in a sense this is a sort of fortification of the Israeli deterrence vis-a-vis Hezbollah and it looks that they have to do their calculations and to prepare themselves for i would say a better defense and vis-a-vis the Israeli new approach professor in your mind was this a good decision strategically for the IDF to target al-arori at this moment yes of course i think that it is pretty clear that Israel is determined to eliminate all the leadership of Hamas be it the political leadership or the military leadership because Israel makes no um no no distinction between the the two types of leadership and we see that Salah al-arori who is the second in the hierarchy of of Hamas in the in the political bureau is also a military leader and he has the responsibility for all Hamas uh chair infrastructure in the in the west bank and even beyond of that and i think that this is part of the war and in each war each side that tries to eliminate the the leadership of the other side and we are at war with Hamas and this is part of the war and i think that uh uh it is exactly in the in the right timing professor stay with us i want to dig a little bit deeper into the background of uh this man Salih al-arori was a terror mastermind and one of the most wanted criminals in the world with a big bounty on his head i-twenty news correspondent robert swift has a profile of arori's long history of terrorism until his death and what is alleged to be an Israeli assassination Salih al-arori was a senior Hamas official living in exile in Beirut he mixed political and military responsibilities acting as the deputy chairman of the organization's politic bureau and as the commander for west bank operations a founding member of the is adin al-qasam brigades a bounty of five million dollars was placed on information leading to his capture by us officials al-arori acted as a spokesperson for Hamas on prisoner affairs as shown here speaking in 2010 the rising level of capturing and torturing in the last few months has pushed this issue up the agenda if there is a way for prisoners to be released other than through a deal with israel to force fatah's hand that option may be raised and as a senior official he acted in a diplomatic capacity closely linked to the west bank he was born in ramallah and studied at hebron university where his activity with Hamas began his home in the west bank was demolished by israel following the 7th of october attacks having spent 15 years in israeli prisons at times being held on administrative detention al-arori was exiled in 2007 he spent the following years living in syria turkey and finally lebanon pictured here with other hamas officials including ismail hania following the 7th of october attack al-arori is the most significant palestinian assassinated in nearly 20 years with me now in studio is i-20 senior editor guy asrael guy it appears that in the wake of this strike widely attributed to israel but israel not directly publicly confirming it is behind the strike nevertheless hezbollah faces a major test in how to respond and the consequences could be far-reaching yes first as far as al-arori today we commemorate or celebrate depends who you're asking for years to the assassination of qasem sulimani of the irgc to many in israel al-arori was the qasem sulimani of hamas and this is where we connect things to hezbollah because al-arori was the man that connected hamas with hezbollah with iran coordinating a lot of the activities out of lebanon sometimes when hezbollah wanted to fire rockets towards israel but did not want to do so directly it used al-arori and hamas to execute these attacks al-arori also used funding from iran of course and we saw those very high-level meetings between al-arori hasan asrallah and iranian officials in beirut openly in front of the cameras both mainly before the attack but also following the october 7th attack hezbollah's strategy hasn't changed obviously this does hurt the image of hezbollah the fact that he was targeted in the heart of the dahya that area in beirut that is controlled by hezbollah so obviously that's a difficult blow and that's a big a big hit for whoever is responsible for this hezbollah will likely respond but it is up to hamas to decide what they want to do with this but as we discussed just before we entered the studio hamas and hezbollah are looking to to hurt israelis every day this is just another stage in the ongoing conflict between israel and those iranian proxies that want to eliminate the state of israel there's not a day where they are not involved in attempting to hurt murder israelis obviously now they will as they see it will have to respond in a greater to a greater extent but as we know hamas is running out of rockets in in gaza we see how scarce how random the rocket fire is so if when it comes to rocket fire out of gaza we should expect them to try and and fire rockets towards television towards more central areas but three months into the war they are slowly but surely running out of those rockets which is not the case of course when it comes to lebanon al-aruri was also of course responsible for those rocket fire coming out of lebanon so it will hurt to a certain degree the the possibility of coordinating those the rocket fire out of lebanon of course he was killed together with several other hamas operatives who were with him in that apartment nonetheless of course we're expecting to see some sort of response from the north as well yeah me as you mentioned there's a divergent uh facts here which is you know this was a hamas commander a really a big shot in the hamas terror militia not hezbollah he wasn't a rory was not lebanese he was not uh he was not part of the hezbollah terror organization uh but as you mentioned this was in the strike in the heart of a hezbollah controlled area in an upscale kind of affluent residential block uh in the heart of a hezbollah controlled district nisrael himself has vowed that a strike like this regardless of the membership of who dies a strike like this would warrant a major response i mean the question of the deterrence factor unless there is a significant attack perhaps and then the what would that do for hezbollah's deterrence credibility moving forward uh look uh israel has been worried about the israel about its own deterrence versus hezbollah for those past three months we saw that the hezbollah is not deterred at least when it comes to this limited conflict that we see in the north uh right now uh obviously it hurts hurts the prestige of hezbollah the fact that someone who was sitting in their home literally uh was targeted by hezbollah but i think also a strong message to nasrallah and to yohasinwar in gaza right now uh if if a la rouri was taken down sinwar knows he could be next he has these hostages hamas has for now suspended the talks for a release of more hostages this is his only card and he he would feel that the the the the string will tighten around his neck uh he could be very much like it could be the next one to go and and therefore that's a that's a strong message from israel both to hamas and to hezbollah i want to bring back up professor crowby michael into the conversation multiple israeli media outlets are reporting this morning and they're all citing anonymous american officials but reportedly you know netin yahoo did not give the united states any kind of advance warning a heads up about this uh ledger targeted strike what are your thoughts in general perhaps about the decision to keep this operation this assassination a secret even from president biden i'm not sure about it maybe um um the the specific decision and the specific timing and it was not americans were not informed about uh i even have some doubts with regard to that but there is a very very close cooperation and coordination between israel and the and the and the us with regard to the main modus operandi of this war and part of the main modus operandi is the idea of taking down targeting and the leaders of hamas in the gaza strip and in any other place mainly in lebanon and mainly salah and i'm not sure that the americans are surprised i don't think that they have to be surprised and i think that israel is very well coordinated with the united states professor you know put on that point on the united states you're almost uh hoaxing the envoy from america supposed to be in israel and lebanon this week uh to continue these talks to push for a diplomatic solution to these border battles in light of this attack and they wrote do you think the diplomatic talks that diplomacy could still provide results here i think that um in comparison i would say to last weekend before i think that there is a greater probability a higher probability uh it doesn't mean that we are there we are not there yet but i think that there are some indications that there might be a progress in this regard but you know things might be changed in a very dramatic manner and there might be a sort of misperception of hezbollah and there might be a sort of a retaliation from from hezbollah that will cause a very severe damage in the israeli side and then israel will retaliate very aggressively and this will be the path the way to a full deterioration but as far as i understand the situation i think that um amos hochstein does a good work there and there is a higher probability for a diplomatic solution although it will not resolve entirely the problem that we have with hezbollah and with all of its missiles and and this is something that we will have to check later on and i'll note here just two days ago right before uh the suspected israeli strike in berut overnight that killed some of hamas's top leadership the us navy announced at the beginning of the year that the uss general ford aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike group will be headed home the u.s decision to withdraw the aircraft carrier from the Mediterranean sea near lebanon at precisely the time the northern border was heating up to a new level raised eyebrows i tv news middle east corresponded aerial osir on has more on the possible implications of the move the united states is shuffling its naval forces in the middle east and it may not bode well for israel after months of extended deployment off the coast of israel the uss gerald our ford aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike force will soon sell back to virginia u.s defense secretary loyte austin recently visited the world's largest warship which was sent to protect israel after the october 7 attacks and this carrier improved our making history sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things that we stopped from happening and at a moment of huge tension in the region you all have been the lynch pin to preventing a wider regional conflict the uss ford and its accompanying ships will be replaced by the amphibious assault ship the uss bed and and its strike force this will leave just one us carrier in the region the dwight d eisenhower meanwhile iran's albore's warship arrived at the red sea on monday through the babel mondab straight as tensions run high amid increased attacks by iran-backed hoothies in the strategic waterway over the weekend the us navy prevented a hoothy force from attacking a ship in the red sea by sinking their boats and killing 10 of the militants activities by the us and britain in the red sea are in line with the role of those two countries in intensifying instability and insecurity in the regional waters especially the red sea such moves will raise regional and international concern about the security of the region after denying involvement in hoothy attacks on commercial vessels in the red sea iran's foreign minister met in tehran on monday with the hoothy's chief negotiator and spokesman applauding the iranian proxy over its support for the palestinians even with the uss jailed ford around iran was not deterred from unleashing its proxies in lebanon syria iraq and yemen on israel now the question remains whether or not tehran will interpret the dilution of american naval power in the region as an opportunity to take even more risks back with professor michael professor you know hezbollah is an iranian proxy the crown jewel in their in the militias that are financed and trained and funded by the islamic republic hezbollah is the biggest but there are others in the middle east might a response not come from hezbollah attacking israel directly but could we see a new level of degree in the attacks in the red sea on shipping from the hoothy's or other militias in the region it might be but i'm not sure about that i think that with regard to the hoothy's i think that they will be more cautious in this regard and mainly the iranians will be more cautious in this regard due to the presence of the the americans and their allies there in the red sea and the the determination that was demonstrated by the americans and the brits mainly with regard to the potential retaliation if the hoothy's will continue targeting ships there in the in babel mandem and i'm not sure that the iranians are willing to take a bigger risk in this regard but they might operate the militias in south syria or the militias in west iraq they did it before but i don't think that the capacities the military capacities of these militias can be compared to the capacities of hezbollah and if these fronts or these militias be operated i think that israel will retaliate in a very aggressive manner as it did before and i'm not sure that the iranians are willing to to enter to this to this fight right now under the current circumstances professor thanks for being with us tonight point for news great to have you this morning thank you good morning and guy you know as you mentioned at the beginning here this the dates here this is the anniversary of the killing of qasem solemany this name that looms large in iranian financed iranian terror in fact nisrael the hezbollah commander was set to give a speech to commemorate in his mind commemorate and mourn the death of of solemany nisrael it's unclear if nisrael is going to be giving a speech today if that's been delayed or not but the importance here perhaps on the iranian connection to to hezbollah and to perhaps the response that may come look all of these of course are iranian proxies iran sits back and enjoys what it sees operating its proxies not being hurt directly by the israelis now all the americans and of course we should mention the hooties here as well so all of these proxies working together against israel is obviously to the benefit of iran who both sponsors and directs to many to a large degree these groups this is part of an ongoing conflict between israel and iran and and and these proxies it's not something that's going to change dramatically the the nature of of this conflict we will see a response that that is natural both from hezbollah and from hamas the iranians on their part will not change their strategy when it comes to hezbollah hezbollah has its own thinking about when is right to engage in a full scale war with israel something that is well is preparing for and we saw that yesterday of course with the pulling of the troops and israel saying that these troops that are pulled out will serve as a possible alternative for a wider conflict in the north israel is getting ready hezbollah is getting ready and iran of course is running the show to to a certain degree when it comes to the strategy of hezbollah how united is hezbollah and iran hezbollah has its own calculus separate from iran regarding the rather complicated internal situation in the country too well obviously hezbollah is also a political movement in in lebanon it it does have other considerations now to the question of whether it cares about the well-being of of lebanon of the people of lebanon when it engages in these hostile activities against israel and not to a very large degree as we saw in the second lebanon war as well this is what what they do obviously it is a deterrence we see other factors being involved here as well the the french other nations that have some sort of leverage on lebanon trying to uh at least persuade hezbollah not to engage in this war with everybody knowing very well what would be the results of a wider conflict with israel a very wide destruction both in israel but also in lebanon kind thanks so much for being with us giving us your analysis we're going out for a break but we have more live coverage of the conflict more export analysis from our guests in studio and around the world stay with us we'll be back soon right here on i24news is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where we see as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well israel israel with lebanon in the wake of a targeted assassination of a high-profile hamas leader in beirut seven people including hamas's deputy leader abroad salah al-arori were killed in the precision strike that literally shook the streets of an upscale beirut residential neighborhood arori is the highest ranked hamas leader killed in an assassination in more than a decade six other internationally based hamas commanders were also killed in this precision drone strike on a third floor apartment now both hamas and hezbollah vowing revenge and israel is on high alert for an escalation that may engulf the entire country this is a watershed moment in the ongoing war to destroy hamas as the israeli ground offensive continues across gaza idf generals now preparing for an expanded operation in the north as well with me now in studios or is as hard the head of research for idsf or thanks so much for being with me do you believe that this is the beginning of a escalation spiral that will end up with idf boots on the ground having to fight inside lebanese territory or not well i think it's certainly a turning point but i don't know to tell you that this is certainly a point where we have to anticipate some sort of escalation in lebanon i suspect i can't prophesize but i can tell you that neither hezbollah nor iran have the interest to sacrifice themselves for number two in hamas with all due respect he is an extremely significant significant personality in hamas but i don't know that they will risk the nuclear program the entire you know infrastructure that they built in lebanon for salih al-arouri despite the heavy heavy blow that they suffered i can tell you that he's the grand architect of hamas abroad and it's probably not by coincidence that today third of january is also the fourth anniversary of the target the killing of another grand architect but only in his case an iranian qasem sulymani who was the great architect of the visionary really of the iranian cuts force area in the middle east and i think with that while israel didn't take responsibility directly for this action i can tell you that it's an extremely strong message to hezbollah to even to iran that nobody's safe and they cannot be safe anywhere and you know we had a fear that to escalate the situation by doing such actions salih al-arouri is an extremely like you said it's extremely high profile figure but the train is already left the station we're already in war tens of thousands of idea of soldiers are already on a boots on the ground in lebanese border we're already conducting you know over six or seven hundred incidents with hezbollah over the past three months so that didn't spark the fear in israel i believe and i think with that that might actually send a stronger message to yakhestin war to khaled masal to muhammad if to the leaders of hamas in gaza and abroad and to the leaders of hezbollah in iran that there there's nowhere nowhere safe for them yeah i'm the salamani front i mean uh nusran uh i saw nusrallah was sent to give a speech today to come in his mind to commemorate and mourn for salamani's death uh that speech it was unclear for us to go forward but new reports in arabic media today say that he is going to speak at six o'clock local time in beirut uh to commemorate salamani's death and certainly touch on on this attack i want to ask uh if we can if we separate the man from the attack uh you know this was not a lebanese citizen this was not a member of hezbollah but the attack happened in the heart of beirut in an upscale neighborhood in a hezbollah controlled district and an attack that hassan nusrallah himself had said would be a red line that would warrant a major escalation a significant escalation if he doesn't do that what does that mean for hezbollah's deterrent credibility amongst the hezbollah supporters absolutely i think uh well first of all nusrallah is set to give a speech uh tonight he cancelled and then he uncanceled it and we all are anxious to see whether he's going to take questions from reporters maybe no i'm kidding but i'm saying that at the end of the day um nusrallah did climb on a pretty high tree pretty tall tree by saying that um assassinations in the heart of lebanon whether lebanese or palestinian or any nationality he said will be met with a strong response now and that was just a few weeks ago that was in the summer it wasn't a year old speech this was very recently absolutely and he feared he knew that israel is extremely serious he knew that they're all and in between uh in crosshairs of israel whether in qatar or in lebanon or in turkey or in iran and they know exactly what they're they're up for but it again uh they're up against the country is already at war and i think nusrallah by sort of placing red lines that it cannot meet let's think for a second if he doesn't do it then he extremely uh you know undermines his status in lebanon but on the other hand will iran and hezbollah risk the entire you know enterprise the built in lebanon just for salih al-awwari i think there are much more visionary than that they are seeing you know decades up front and not just you know the next five minutes and at the end of the day i also think that we can anticipate some sort of response on the part of hezbollah we should keep an eye out uh to lebanon but also to juden samaria we know that salih al-awwari he trained and equipped and even paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to palestinians and arab israelis who venture to lebanon and to turkey to be to go through training there and then come back to juden samaria to israel to commit attacks so he was the mastermind behind behind all of that so it could be that um some of the response that we're up against would be in juden samaria but i gotta tell you the thousands of hamas terrorists that we arrested over the past three months are absolutely a good um uh departure point for israel in this fight i want to bring into the conversation our correspondent in the north of israel pierre clausian us live pierre the fight in gaza continues despite the withdrawal of several brigades from north gaza there are intense firefights ongoing another idf casualty another death uh in fighting uh the battles are still intense in central and south gaza now there is this risk of a full front perhaps in lebanon give us a sense of the preparedness of the idf to handle multiple arenas well the the spokesman of the idf we read nero daniel agari yesterday in a briefing after the targeted killing of uh salah el aruri of course did not confirm that israel was behind that targeted killing there's been no confirmation by uh members of uh uh the war cabinet of bindamin netanyahu but nonetheless he said just to the civilian population just follow the instruction of the home front command just follow their directives but right now there is no extraordinary directives to the civilian population we know that in haifa the shelters are open haifa has not yet been targeted by hezbollah or by other terrorist groups that are uh operating from lebanon uh there were uh rocket fire north of haifa in an industrial suburb of haifa but not in haifa per se um and that would be probably a red line for israel now hezbollah could wait and see um you know vengeance is a meal that you eat cold it says and it's possible that hezbollah right now is on a waiting mode waiting to see what can happen uh on the other hand they can activate hamas who has a military presence in the refugee camps of sidon and tire in nl hillway and al-rashidia they could be uh the ones who operate against israel and as such deflects uh the responsibility uh of hezbollah in those uh actions meanwhile hezbollah has already uh sent an anti-tank guided missile on an israeli military position uh on the galilep and handle on the border with israel provoking uh two soldiers uh who are likely wounded and yet that does not trap us the the edge of the tit-for-tat war of attrition that has been going on since october 8 it's still in the realm of that war of attrition and it's not a full-blown war so right now israel is also on a waiting mode there is a state of alertness of israel's air defense there is a large concentration of idf forces uh on in northern israel ready uh to escalate the war if needs be but at this moment it's just a waiting mode and both enemies are just looking at each other at dagger appear in the in the south of israel in the gaza envelope the idf uh commanders are preparing now for the return of residents to these towns in kibbutzim that are about two or three miles from the gaza border they're actively telling residents they will soon be able to go back home what about in the north uh separate from this attack in in beirut what about the 60 plus thousand families who are not able to return home near lebanon when can they go home right we don't know of any change in israeli policy which was stated very clearly in the sense that israel wants by all diplomatic means to exhaust the policy the pop possibility of implementing the un security council resolution 1701 which was voted after in the wake of the second lebanon war in 2006 against hezbollah which means that hezbollah operatives should be uh withdrawing to a line which is about 10 kilometers away from the northern border with israel uh behind the litany river if that possibility is uh not achieved with diplomatic means israel says it will enforce by military means so we're still in that kind of equation at this point what has been eroded is the equation that nasser chasenalla the leader of hezbollah stated many times that any harm on either a palestinian or a lebanese or an iranian or whatever you call them on lebanon territory on lebanon sovereign territory would provoke an escalation by hezbollah that happened yesterday evening with the targeted killing of salah harouri but right now there is no change in the mode of operation by hezbollah so that means that everybody's in a waiting mode hezbollah israel and also the civilian population that lives in the along the northern border and we're talking about uh 130 000 inhabitants that have had to withdraw to evacuate their homes and seek shelter in other places in uh more central locations in the country that of course cannot last for long but right now israel's position has not changed as far as we know pier thank you so much for that report in the north salah harouri was a terror mastermind and one of the most wanted criminals in the world with a big bounty on his head eyed twitter news correspondent robert swift has a profile of aurora's long history of terrorism until his death and what is alleged to be an israeli assassination salah harouri was a senior chamas official living in exile in beirut he mixed political and military responsibilities acting as the deputy chairman of the organization's political bureau and as the commander for west bank operations a founding member of the east ad deen al kassam brigades a bounty of five million dollars was placed on information leading to his capture by us officials aroori acted as a spokesperson for khamas on prisoner affairs as shown here speaking in 2010 the rising level of capturing and torturing in the last few months has pushed this issue up the agenda if there is a way for prisoners to be released other than through a deal with israel to force fatah's hand that option may be raised and as a senior official he acted in a diplomatic capacity closely linked to the west bank he was born in ramallah and studied at hebron university where his activity with khamas began his home in the west bank was demolished by israel following the 7th of october attacks having spent 15 years in israeli prisons at times being held on administrative detention aroori was exiled in 2007 he spent the following years living in syria turkey and finally lebanon pictured here with other khamas officials including ismail hania following the 7th of october attack aroori is the most significant palestinian assassinated in nearly 20 years back here in studio or aroori was believed to be a key point person if not the key point person regarding the ongoing but fruitless discussions about another hostage deal he was a key member of this negotiation for for khamas the stated goal of this war the twin goals the elimination of khamas but also the return of all hostages how does aroori's elimination impact that well i don't know to tell you that aroori was a key figure in negotiations it's probably more in the direction of yache sinwar who was let's say the tough nut in this situation as well as the khamas leadership in katar i gotta tell you that negotiations with hamas did not bear fruit for four weeks now and have we're not expected to do so anytime soon because hamas was kind of a maximalistic in its demands uh to hold the war all together or to hold the war for one month or all sorts of maximalistic demands that israel simply cannot meet so i don't know if a hostage deal was realistic at this point we all pray for their swift return absolutely but i don't know that hamas was ready to you know give israel this kind of victory parade because does that mean that as a stated goal of the war it may need to be redefined once you start targeted assassinations of leaders internationally uh it makes it more difficult to negotiate hostage release in Gaza yes either more difficult or easy or easier i guess i gotta tell you that um this is an extremely strong message to the leadership of hamas of hezbollah and of iran that nobody's safe and i think that brings them to a point much like the military pressure in the Gaza Strip itself they're not going to release the hostages of their own voluntary will they're going to release hostages out of extreme maximum pressure and targeted killing of senior officials could actually bring israel to a better position in negotiation i'm not counting on it i'm only saying that this theoretically could could you know move the needle i'm just wondering whether the IDF will succeed eventually because in the coming days for example to release more hostages in Gaza of some sort of military pressure that would force hamas's hands targeted killing of officials some sort of um this message could be very well interpreted in yechis and war side that he could be released alive uh out of the Gaza Strip in return for the release of all hostages all sorts of situation which this assassination can bring into this understanding on my perspective i think israel cannot allow any hamas member to stay alive after october 7 especially the senior leadership but a scenario in which let's say four six eight thousand um low level terrorists can be allowed to flee gaza into algeria libya other places much like in the aftermath of the of the first ebanon war let's see where this leads us i want to ask you about diplomacy here i mean we now again are hearing that uh from arabic media that nasralis speech is back on he's going to speak tonight at six o'clock uh and then in the days ahead this week president u.s presidential alamos hoax being expected back in israel and lebanon to again pursue and continue diplomatic talks on a solution to these border battles do you believe in light of this targeted strike uh again nana hezbollah member but in the heart of beirut could diplomacy still work here uh to push hezbollah away from the border where that's not a realistic option i gotta tell you um it remains to be seen but what i can tell you for sure is there was a heart blow for hamas and for hezbollah you know in a moral kind of aspect where in the heart like you said in the stronghold of hezbollah in the heart of beirut you assassinate one of the hamas's senior most members for decades now um and the question what when nasralis say today i think given his last few speeches where he basically didn't say any any much of anything he doesn't want this war right now um hamas leadership was furious at nasralis for not you know going full force in the war on october 7 in the morning um and that leaves with the question well we should always doubt ourselves and not try to anticipate what they will do especially in light of the october 7 scandal but we also are can see that nasralis not taking any significant step over for three months now so the question is is this the trigger is this the red line for him that may i don't know to tell you that i don't want to tell you that because at the end of the day it's not nasralis himself it's not naim qasem it's not any senior hezbollah member it's a hamas member and sunnis and shiais despite their very close cooperation at the end of the day i don't know that shiais would sacrifice themselves and lebanon itself the entirety of the state of lebanon for number two in hamas i just don't see it happening but it could happen if uh the nasrala any run reached the conclusion this is the opportunity each hour to attack israel if they haven't done that for three months you know i'm having a hard time to anticipate it will happen now we don't know what this role is expected to say tonight in his speech certainly this is a a commemoration of the solomony targeted assassination a loroy another the high profile targeted assassination of a hamas member questions grow i guess about you know the the response hezbollah vowing some kind of response do you think it will continue in in the way that we have seen since october 8 with hezbollah primarily focused on on border uh towns and border communities or will the envelope perhaps be stretched a little bit further beyond let's say russia nikara to akko to khaifa just to send a message back well i'll try to to to draw the scenario because i think we cannot anticipate i'm just saying that according to the course of action thus far we can definitely anticipate for example the hamas branch of lebanon reacting that for sure um the rocks that they send over past over in april trying to send rockets toward israel and then hezbollah can deny and say well let's hamas it's not myself hezbollah can try to launch more rockets in further into israeli territory but i gotta tell you if that's we were talking about 2000 rockets per day of hezbollah into central and israel jerusalem haifa bersheba this is a whole different ball game and they understand that and then understand that means total war on lebanon this is why the prime minister of lebanon was you know rushed to denounce the assassination but over the last three months he continuing sort of denouncing israel but also saying we don't want to drag lebanon into a disaster a catastrophe and i think that in they reached a point where yeah it was a hard blow to the morale to the image but at the end of the day will they send set lebanon aflame for salah alawari i'm just i just can't see that happening but we should keep an eye out also not just the lebanon border but also to jiden samaria where as we said before salah alawari was the mastermind behind you know you know being the puppet master and sending terrorists to commit terrorist attacks around jiden samaria in checkpoints in jerusalem inside israel and there have been intense deadly idf raids and some of these terror compounds and camps in in the west bank of the heart of judea and samaria thousands of arrests absolutely almost three thousands arrests over the course of three months we're talking about an annual average of let's say fourteen fifteen hundred terrorists a year and we're talking about now over almost three thousand and three months so i think the pace is absolutely going through the roof and that could lead us to a better vantage point in the certain to a better departure point in the struggle against hamas in jiden samaria i know that the idf i can tell you that the idf today has not only arrested ticking time bombs of hamas but also simply members of hamas around jiden samaria because of their potential to down the line carry out attacks but we're talking about tens of thousands of palestinians in jiden samaria many of them youngsters who sympathize with hamas and could are not registered hamas members as we speak but could take the lead and could take you know the the opportunity to do something and i gotta tell you israel should prepare for that um in a critical manner yeah or thanks so much for being with us here tonight for news giving us your analysis here on this developing critical story great to have you thank you jen and the volunteer israeli organization that is charged with collecting bodies and identifying remains after terror attacks zaka just held a special ceremony to honor their members who've had to handle scenes of unimaginable horror and devastation with care and professionalism as the i-20 for i-20 for news team shows us the families of victims came out themselves to show their gratitude after nearly three months of war zaka one of the organization's most identified with civilian aid in israel is holding a special ceremony it's an opportunity for us to pay tribute to and honor our volunteers who risk their lives in this hard work we want to thank our volunteers this is not the time for celebrations but this is what gives the volunteers the power to continue we want to strengthen them to show them that they have public support zaka is one of the main organizations responsible for collecting and identifying body parts of corpses this issue became crucial in the hamas onslaught of october 7th and later on this is my humble place to thank the people who are doing the job that none of us is willing to do they do it with such dedication and modesty we want to say we are the people of israel everyone who lost someone and needs assistance can see the spark in their eyes you can't ignore it this is the people of israel in its best this ceremony also paid tribute to some of the victims of october 7th such as charon charabi whose two brothers yosi and ellie were abducted to gaza from kibbutz baeri along with his greetings to zaka charon has a strong message for the israeli leadership my brothers who were abducted to gaza are not just my private tragedy it's a national tragedy i think that after 87 days of fighting we need to come to a conclusion about the military operation the military operation in gaza brought us 172 fallen soldiers and only one hostage or he may be dish who got released alive perhaps it's time to think and to concentrate on the political aspect during the ceasefire we returned 86 living hostages and we had zero casualties another participant was iris haim mother of yotam haim who was also abducted to gaza and found his tragic death several weeks ago haim said in the ceremony quote i feel that i lost my kid but i won back my country i feel that since the 7th of october i really understood who are the israeli people i see it in the army the soldiers the parents that are sending the children to fight the people that are cooking for the soldiers for us people that came to comfort us in the shiva and calling me and all the time just want to know and that i know that my son yotam he he's in the heart of every israeli person it was a bittersweet evening with special features but also a feeling of gloom in the air which perhaps also symbolizes israel today as well as the work of zaka between morbidity and the sense of urgency and grace we're going out for a break here in the channel more live coverage ahead more live reporting from the field on this critical day here as tensions mount in the north risks growing of a major confrontation with lebanon that may spiral into war and the battles in gaza continue to expand we will have more coverage coming up stay with us in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where she has our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well for the latest live updates from israel israel on the brink of war on the northern front with lebanon in the wake of a targeted assassination of a high-profile hamas leader in beirut seven people including hamas's deputy leader abroad salah al-arori were killed in the precision strike that literally shook the streets of an upscale beirut residential neighborhood arori is the highest ranked hamas leader killed in an assassination in more than a decade six other internationally based hamas commanders were also killed in this precision drone strike on a third floor apartment now both hamas and hezbollah vowing revenge and israel is on high alert for an escalation that may engulf the entire country this is a watershed moment in the ongoing war to destroy hamas as the israeli ground offensive continues across gaza idf generals now preparing for an expanded operation in the north as well with me now in studios or is as hard the head of research for idsf or thanks so much for being with me do you believe that this is the beginning of a escalation spiral that will end up with idf boots on the ground having to fight inside lebanese territory or not well i think it's certainly a turning point but i don't know to tell you that this is certainly a point where we have to anticipate some sort of escalation in lebanon i suspect i can't prophesize but i can tell you that neither hezbollah nor iran have the interest to sacrifice themselves for number two in hamas with all due respect he is an extremely significant significant personality in hamas but i don't know that they will risk the nuclear program the entire you know infrastructure that they built in lebanon for salih al-aruri despite the heavy heavy blow that they suffered i can tell you that he's the grand architect of hamas abroad and it's probably not by coincidence that today third of january is also the fourth anniversary of the target killing of another grand architect also but only in his case an iranian qasem solimani who was the great architect of the visionary really of the iranian cuts force area in the middle east and i think with that while israel didn't take responsibility directly for this action i can tell you that it's an extremely strong message to hezbollah to even to iran that nobody's safe and they cannot be safe anywhere and you know we had a fear that to escalate the situation by doing such actions salih al-aruri is an extremely like you said it's extremely high profile figure but the train has already left the station we're already in war tens of thousands of idea of soldiers are already on a boots on the ground in lebanese border we are already conducting you know over six or seven hundred incidents with hezbollah over the past three months so that didn't spark the fear in israel i believe uh and i think with that that might actually send a stronger message to yaksin war to uh khaled mashal to muhammad to the leaders of of hamas in gaza and abroad and to the leaders of hezbollah and iran that there there's nowhere nowhere safe for them yeah on the salimani front i mean uh nusran uh i saw nusrallah was sent to give a speech today to come in his mind to commemorate and mourn for solimani's death uh that speech it was unclear if it was going to go forward but new reports in arabic media today say that he is going to speak at six o'clock local time in beirut uh to commemorate uh solimani's death and certainly touch on on this attack i want to ask uh if we can if we separate the man from the attack uh you know this was not a lebanese citizen this was not a member of hezbollah but the attack happened in the heart of beirut in an upscale neighborhood in a hezbollah controlled district and an attack that hasan nusrallah himself had said would be a red line that would warrant a major escalation a significant escalation if he doesn't do that what does that mean for hezbollah's deterrent credibility amongst hezbollah supporters absolutely i think uh well first of all nusrallah is said to give a speech uh tonight he canceled and then he uncanceled it and we all uh are anxious to see whether he's going to take questions from reporters maybe no i'm kidding but i'm saying that at the end of the day um nusrallah did climb on a pretty high tree pretty tall tree by saying that um assassinations in the heart of lebanon whether lebanese or palestinian or any nationality he said will be met with a strong response now and that was just a few weeks ago that was in the summer it wasn't a year old speech this was very recently absolutely and he feared he knew that israel is extremely serious he knew that they're all and in between uh in crosshairs of israel whether in qatar or in lebanon or in turkey or in iran and they know exactly what they're they're up for but it it again uh they're up against the country is already at war and i think nusrallah by sort of placing red lines that it cannot meet let's think for a second if he doesn't do it then he extremely uh you know undermines his status in lebanon but on the other hand will iran and hezbollah risk the entire you know enterprise that they built in lebanon just for salih al-awwari i think they're much more visionary than that they are seeing you know decades up front and not just you know the next five minutes and at the end of the day i also think that we can anticipate some sort of response on the part of hezbollah we should keep an eye out uh to lebanon but also to juden samaria we know that salih al-awwari he trained and equipped and even paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to palestinians and arab Israelis who ventured to lebanon and to turkey to be to go through training there and then come back to juden samaria to israel to commit attacks so he was the mastermind behind behind all of that so it could be that um some of the uh response that we're up against would be in juden samaria but i gotta tell you um the thousands of hamas terrorists that we arrested over the past for three months are absolutely a good um uh departure point for israel in this fight i want to bring into the conversation our correspondent in the north of israel pierre clausianlou joining us live pierre the fight in gaza continues despite the withdrawal of several brigades from north gaza there are intense firefights ongoing another idf casualty another death uh in fighting uh the battles are still intense in central and south gaza now there is this risk of a full front perhaps in lebanon give us a sense of the preparedness of the idf to handle multiple arenas well the the spokesman of the idf we read nero daniel agari yesterday in a briefing after the targeted killing of uh salah el-aruri of course did not confirm that israel was behind that targeted killing there's been no confirmation by uh members of uh uh the war cabinet of bindamin netanyahu but nonetheless he said just to the civilian population just follow the instruction of the home front command just follow their directives but right now there is no um extraordinary directives to the civilian population we know that in haifa the shelters are open haifa has not yet been targeted by hezbollah or by other terrorist groups that are operating from lebanon uh there were a rocket fire north of haifa in an industrial suburb of haifa but not in haifa per se and that would be probably a red line for israel now hezbollah could wait and see um you know vengeance is a meal that you eat cold it says and it's possible that hezbollah right now is on a waiting mode waiting to see what can happen on the other hand they can activate hamas who has a military presence in the refugee camps of sidon and tire in nl hill way and al-rashidia there could be uh the the ones who operate against israel and as such deflects the responsibility of hezbollah in those actions meanwhile hezbollah has already sent an anti-tank guided missile on an israeli military position on the galile pen handle on the border with israel provoking two soldiers who were likely wounded and yet that does not trepass the the edge of the tit for tat war of attrition that has been going on since october eight it's still in the realm of that war of attrition and it's not a full blown war so right now israel is also on a waiting mode there is a state of alertness of israel's air defense there is a large concentration of idf forces uh on in northern israel ready to escalate the war if needs be but at this moment it's just a waiting mode and both enemies are just looking at each other a dagger appear in the in the south of israel in the gaza envelope the idf commanders are preparing now for the return of residents to these towns in kibbutzim that are about two or three miles from the gaza border they're actively telling residents they will soon be able to go back home what about in the north uh separate from this attack in in berug what about the 60 plus thousand families who are not able to return home near lebanon when can they go home right we don't know of any change in israeli policy which was stated very clearly in the sense that israel wants by all diplomatic means to exhaust the policy the possibility of implementing the u. n security council resolution 1701 which was voted after in the wake of the second lebanon war in 2006 against hezbollah which means that hezbollah operatives should be uh with drawing to a line which is about 10 kilometers away from the northern border with israel behind the litany river if that possibility is not achieved with diplomatic means israel says it will enforce it by military means so we're still in that kind of equation at this point what has been eroded is the equation that yas nasser chasna la the leader of hezbollah stated many times that any harm on either a palestinian or a lebanese or an iranian or whatever you call them on lebanon territory on lebanon sovereign territory would provoke an escalation by hezbollah that happened yesterday evening with the targeted killing of salah harouri but right now there is no change in the mode of operation by hezbollah so that means that everybody's in the waiting mode hezbollah israel and also the civilian population that lives along the northern border and we're talking about 130 000 inhabitants that have had to withdraw to evacuate their homes and seek shelter in other places in more central locations in the country that of course cannot last for long but right now israel's position has not changed as far as we know pier thank you so much for that report in the north salah al-arouri was a terror mastermind and one of the most wanted criminals in the world with a big bounty on his head eyed twin for news correspondent robert swift has a profile of arori's long history of terrorism until his death and what is alleged to be an israeli assassination salih al-arouri was a senior ghamas official living in exile in beirut he mixed political and military responsibilities acting as the deputy chairman of the organization's political bureau and as the commander for west bank operations a founding member of the east ad deen al kassam brigades a bounty of five million dollars was placed on information leading to his capture by us officials al-arouri acted as a spokesperson for khamas on prisoner affairs as shown here speaking in 2010 the rising level of capturing and torturing in the last few months has pushed this issue up the agenda if there is a way for prisoners to be released other than through a deal with israel to force fatah's hand that option may be raised and as a senior official he acted in a diplomatic capacity closely linked to the west bank he was born in ramallah and studied at hebron university where his activity with khamas began his home in the west bank was demolished by israel following the 7th of october attacks having spent 15 years in israeli prisons at times being held on administrative detention al-arouri was exiled in 2007 he spent the following years living in syria turkey and finally lebanon pictured here with other khamas officials including ismail hania following the 7th of october attack al-arouri is the most significant palestinian assassinated in nearly 20 years back here in studio or al-arouri was believed to be a key point person if not the key point person regarding the ongoing but fruitless discussions about another hostage deal he was a key member of this negotiation for for khamas the stated goal of this war the twin goals the elimination of khamas but also the return of all hostages how does al-arouri's elimination impact that well i don't know to tell you that al-arouri was a key figure in negotiations it's probably more in the direction of yahe sinwar who was let's say the tough nut in this situation as well as the khamas leadership in qatar i gotta tell you that negotiations with khamas did not bear fruit for four weeks now and have we're not expected to do so anytime soon because khamas was kind of a maximalistic in its demands to hold the war altogether or to hold the war for one month or all sorts of maximalistic demands that israel simply cannot meet so i don't know if a hostage deal was realistic at this point we all pray for their swift return absolutely but i don't know that khamas was ready to you know give israel this kind of victory parade because does that mean that as a stated goal of the war it may need to be redefined once you start targeted assassinations of leaders internationally it makes it more difficult to negotiate hostage release in gaza yes either more difficult or easy or easier i guess i gotta tell you that this is an extremely strong message to the leadership of khamas of hezbollah and of iran that nobody's safe and i think that brings them to a point much like the military pressure in the gaza strip itself they're not going to release the hostages of their own voluntary will they're going to release hostage out of extreme maximum pressure and targeted killing of senior officials could actually bring israel to a better position in negotiation i'm not counting on it i'm only saying that this theoretically could could you know move the needle i'm just wondering whether the idf will succeed eventually because in the coming days for example to release more hostages in gaza of some sort of military pressure that would force hamas's hands targeted killing of officials some sort of um this message could be very well interpreted in yechis and war side that he could be released alive out of the gaza's trip in return for the release of all hostages all sorts of situation which this assassination can bring into this understanding on my perspective i think israel cannot allow any hamas member to stay alive after october 7 especially the senior leadership but um a scenario in which let's say four six eight thousand um low-level terrorists can be allowed to flee gaza into algeria libya other places much like in the aftermath of the of the first lebanon war let's see where this leads us i want to ask about diplomacy here i mean we now again are hearing that uh from arabic media that nasralis speech is back on he's going to speak tonight at six o'clock uh men in the days ahead this week president us presidential al-amos hoax being expected back in israel and lebanon to again pursue a continued diplomatic uh talks on a solution to these border battles do you believe in light of this targeted strike uh again nana uh chesbol a member but in the heart of beirut could diplomacy still work here uh to push chesbol away from the border where that's not a realistic option i gotta tell you um it remains to be seen but what i can tell you for sure is that was a heart blow for hamas and for hezbollah you know in a moral kind of aspect we are in the heart like you said in the stronghold of hezbollah in the heart of beirut you assassinate one of the hamas's senior most members for decades now um and the question of what when nasralis say today i think given his last few speeches where he basically didn't say any any much of anything um he doesn't want this war right now um hamas leadership was furious at nasralis for not you know going full force in the war on october 7 in the morning um and that leaves with the question well we should always doubt ourselves and not try to anticipate what they will do especially in light of the october 7 scandal but we also are can see that nasralis not taking any significant step over for three months now so the question is is this the trigger is this the red line for him that may i don't know to tell you that i don't want to tell you that because at the end of the day it's not nasralis himself it's not naim qasem it's not any senior hezbollah member it's a hamas member and sunnis and shiais despite their very close cooperation at the end of the day i don't know that shiais would sacrifice themselves and lebanon itself the entirety of the state of lebanon for number two in hamas i just don't see that happening but it could happen if uh the nasrala any run reached the conclusion this is the opportune moment each hour to attack israel if they haven't done that for three months you know i'm having a hard time to anticipate it will happen now we don't know what this role is expected to say tonight in his speech certainly this is a commemoration of the solomony targeted assassination al-aroy another the high profile targeted assassination of a hamas member questions grow i guess about you know the response hezbollah vowing some kind of response do you think it will continue in in the way that we have seen since october 8th because we're primarily focused on on border towns and border communities or will the envelope perhaps be stretched a little bit further beyond let's say russia nicaragua to akko to khaifa just to send a message back well i'll try to to to draw the scenario because i think we cannot anticipate i'm just saying that according to the course of action thus far we can definitely anticipate for example the hamas branch of lebanon reacting that for sure the rocks that they send you are overpassed over in april trying to send rockets toward israel and then hezbollah can deny and say well let's hamas it's not myself hezbollah can try to launch more rockets in further into israeli territory but i gotta tell you if that's we were talking about 2000 rockets per day of hezbollah into central israel jerusalem haifa bersheba this is a whole different ballgame and they understand that and understand that means total war on lebanon this is why the prime minister of lebanon it was you know rushed to denounce the assassination but over the last three months he continuing sort of denouncing israel but also saying we don't want to drag lebanon into a disaster a catastrophe and i think that in they reached a point where yeah it was a hard blow to the morale to the image but at the end of the day will they send set lebanon a flame for salah alawari i'm i'm just i just can't that see that happening but we should keep an eye out also not just the lebanon border but also to juden samaria uh where as we said before salah alawari was the mastermind behind you know you know being the puppet master and sending uh terrorists to commit terrorist attacks around juden samaria in checkpoints in jerusalem inside israel there have been intense uh deadly idf raids and some of these terror compounds and camps in in the west bank of the heart of judaea and samaria thousands of arrests absolutely almost three thousands arrests over the course of three months we're talking about an annual average of let's say fourteen fifteen hundred terrorists a year and we're talking about now over almost three thousand and three months so i think the pace is absolutely going through the roof and that could lead us to a better vantage point in the certain to a better departure point um in the struggle against hamas in juden samaria i know that the idf i can tell you that the idf today has not only arrested taking time bombs of hamas but also simply members of hamas around juden samaria because of their potential to uh down the line carry out attacks but we're talking about tens of thousands of palestinians in juden samaria many of them youngsters who sympathize with hamas and could are not registered hamas members as we speak but could take the lead and could take you know the the opportunity to do something and i gotta tell you israel should prepare for that um in a critical manner yeah or thanks so much for being with us here tonight for news giving us your analysis here on this developing critical story great to have you thank you and the volunteer israeli organization that is charged with collecting bodies and identifying remains after terror attacks zaka just held a special ceremony to honor their members who've had to handle scenes of unimaginable horror and devastation with care and professionalism as the i20 i20 for news team shows us the families of victims came out themselves to show their gratitude nearly three months of war zaka one of the organization's most identified with civilian aid in israel is holding a special ceremony it's an opportunity for us to pay tribute to and honor our volunteers who risk their lives in this hard work we want to thank our volunteers this is not the time for celebrations but this is what gives the volunteers the power to continue we want to strengthen them to show them that they have public support zaka is one of the main organizations responsible for collecting and identifying body parts of corpses this issue became crucial in the hamas onslaught of october 7th and later on this is my humble place to thank the people who are doing the job that none of us is willing to do they do it with such dedication and modesty we want to say we are the people of israel everyone who lost someone and needs assistance can see the spark in their eyes you can't ignore it this is the people of israel in its best this ceremony also paid tribute to some of the victims of october 7th such as charon charabi whose two brothers yosi and ellie were abducted to gaza from kibbutz berry along with his greetings to zaka charon has a strong message for the israeli leadership my brothers who were abducted to gaza are not just my private tragedy it's a national tragedy i think that after 87 days of fighting we need to come to a conclusion about the military operation the military operation in gaza brought us 172 fallen soldiers and only one hostage or imegidish who got released alive perhaps it's time to think and to concentrate on the political aspect during the ceasefire we returned 86 living hostages and we had zero casualties another participant was iris haim mother of yotam haim who was also abducted to gaza and found his tragic death several weeks ago haim said in the ceremony quote i feel that i lost my kid but i won back my country i feel that since the 7th of october i really understood who are the israeli people i see it in the army the soldiers the parents that are sending the children to fight the people that's cooking for the soldiers for us people that came to comfort us in the shiva and calling me and all the time just want to know and that i know that my son yotam he he's in the hearts of every israeli person it was a bittersweet evening with special features but also a feeling of gloom in the air which perhaps also symbolizes israel today as well as the work of zaka between morbidity and the sense of urgency and grace we're going out for a break here in the channel more live coverage ahead more live reporting from the field on this critical day here as tensions mount in the north risks growing of a major confrontation with lebanon that may spiral into war and the battles in gaza continue to expand we will have more coverage coming up stay with us in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where she has our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well esta semana news 24 israel bajo ataque news 24 en español trae el análisis y la información de los acontecimientos de la guerra espadas de hierro entrevistas exclusivas reportes desde la zona de guerra la reacción de los países hispano parlantes news this morning for the latest live updates from israel israel on the brink of war on the northern front with lebanon in the wake of a targeted assassination last night of a high-profile hamas leader in beirut seven people including hamas's deputy leader abroad salah al aurori were killed in this precision strike that literally shook the streets of an upscale beirut residential neighborhood aurori is the highest rank hamas leader killed in an assassination in more than a decade six other internationally based hamas commanders were killed in that strike too it was a precision drone strike on the third floor apartment and now hamas and hezbollah both vowing revenge and israel is on high alert for an estilation that may engulf the country this is a watershed moment in the ongoing war to destroy hamas as the israeli ground offensive continues deep inside gaza idea generals are now also preparing for an expanded operation in the north as well we'll begin our coverage live in north israel where i'm joined by i-24 news correspondent pierre clauschenda pierre no one knows exactly how the promised revenge what format will take when it will come but nasrallah and hezbollah are vowing a response to this attack on a on beirut i'd imagine a lot of tension and fear perhaps in the north of israel today there is no palpable feeling the streets of haifa which is an average city northern israel and which hasn't been hit by hezbollah rockets or missiles i think since 2006 so you don't have that sense of palpable fear but we know that the shelters are open we know the army is in a heightened state of alert especially regarding its air defenses against missiles and rockets hezbollah has over 150 000 rockets and missiles some of them are guided missiles they could hit nevragic points in haifa for instance the port of haifa is just behind me there's also the petrochemical industries which are on this side and which will be dismantled in 2029 which is a long time from now but up until now hezbollah has not changed its mode of operation since the targeted killing that hezbollah attributes to israel for instance yesterday or overnight there was an anti-guided anti-tank missile launched at an israeli outpost on the israeli-lebanese border in the galile pen handle two soldiers were lightly wounded and that's part of the war of attrition that hezbollah has launched in support of hamas as israeli is waging its war against hamas in the Gaza Strip yesterday the idea of spokes daniella gary said that israel is focusing on fighting with hamas not on fighting against hezbollah that means and now everybody's in a waiting mode yes and chasa naserallah the hezbollah chief is scheduled to speak tonight at 6 p.m local time he may give a hint of a change of equation that has occurred since october 7 in other words if chasa naserallah in august was saying that every infringement on lebanese sovereignty beat a plane or targeted assassination on a lebanese palestinian an iranian or anyone who is part of the axis of resistance as they call it is hit by israel then that would be a red line for hezbollah but many red lines have been trespassed since october 7 israeli is flying over beirut there is this targeted killing attributed to israel although israel does not confirm nor deny what happened yesterday in the southern suburb of beirut the dahia stronghold of hezbollah and yet obviously if hezbollah chooses to to define what happened yesterday as a red line that has been crossed that could provide that could bring about an escalation into a full blown out war against hezbollah on lebanese territory here thank you so much for that update live for us in khayfa and the sarah will speak just hours away as we await to see what he is will say sarah awari was a terror mastermind and one of the most wanted criminals in the world with a big bounty on his head i-25 news correspondent robert swift has a profile of long history of terrorism until his death and what is alleged to be an israeli assassination salih al-aruri was a senior chamas official living in exile in beirut he mixed political and military responsibilities acting as the deputy chairman of the organization's politic bureau and as the commander for west bank operations a founding member of the is adin al-qasam brigades a bounty of five million dollars was placed on information leading to his capture by us officials al-aruri acted as a spokesperson for khamas on prisoner affairs as shown here speaking in 2010 the rising level of capturing and torturing in the last few months has pushed this issue up the agenda if there is a way for prisoners to be released other than through a deal with israel to force fatah's hand that option may be raised and as a senior official he acted in a diplomatic capacity closely linked to the west bank he was born in ramallah and studied at hebron university where his activity with khamas began his home in the west bank was demolished by israel following the 7th of october attacks having spent 15 years in israeli prisons at times being held on administrative detention al-aruri was exiled in 2007 he spent the following years living in syria turkey and finally lebanon pictured here with other khamas officials including ismail hania following the 7th of october attack al-aruri is the most significant palestinian assassinated in nearly 20 years with us now in studio is retired id of colonel dr. jock nary a former deputy head of assessment with the israeli military intelligence jock good to see you this certainly is a defining moment in the war this is the fourth month of fighting with with khamas dating back to october a watershed moment that's targeted assassination abroad in the heart of beirut of a khamas leader a top khamas member not hezbollah do you believe though this will put israel on an escalation ladder let's say with hezbollah that will result in full war well you know tell you frankly like it's likely yes yeah that we sure we would find ourselves in the in the next 24 or 48 hours in a different state of affairs tracing hezbollah even though we have sent a message through the id of spokesman saying to hezbollah we are we are we have targeted khamas we are interested in fighting khamas we are not we are not fighting hezbollah as if we are not fighting hezbollah on the border anyway this was the message that was sent to hezbollah in order to soften a little bit the the hit because it is really something that it's a turning point it's a it could be a game changer in the in the war with in the area it could turn the whole war between us and khamas into a regional war because i mean the the flare up in the in the lebanese border and the syrian border and in the west bank in gaza and from iraq and also from yemen this is the definitely the united front that iran dreamt about and and hazan nasrallah spoke about so many times in the last year now there's the fact that we had that that what was attributed to israel happened inside the inside the the stronghold of of hezbollah even though not in the real what they call the the security quarter where hezbollah headquarters are there this is in an area vicinity where hazan asrallah was born so it's a it's a small vicinity called mashafi in the in the in an area more bigger area called sheyach which is part of of the dakhia so this is a really a challenge for that was put at the door of of the nasrallah he has to answer because he understands now that the rules that were that existed between israel and and hezbollah are changed totally it's not it's not ready anymore to accept what what hezbollah is imposing on it the war of federation so then let me ask them the contrarian position i'll play devil's advocate a little bit because many agree analysts agree with you that this may be a spark that spirals into war which may have been inevitable anyway but this is the spark but some say that this is not the moment that nasrallah a tactician will want to bring lebanon into full destruction for someone who is a palestinian not lebanese you know the sunni sheyate division the internal struggles within um uh lebanon that this is not a hezbollah member this is not the moment to initiate the big attack that would wreak unprecedented havoc on the entire country uh that there may be only a small escalation not one that would risk a major response from israel to well the the basic thing that seemed to the to ignore is that he would receive instructions anyway from tehran what tehran will decide he will do and and not vice versa i mean he has some some leniency in what to decide on on tactical things in lebanon but strategic things that the order comes from tehran and if tehran wants to to ignite the front it will ignite the front it doesn't care that lebanon he said it he said it only two weeks ago there during the 2006 confrontation uh 150 000 homes were destroyed in lebanon and we have reconstructed that so there's this is not the thing that would frighten him there and he knows that he has an audience and this audience is very well prepared to fight israel it's not we're not talking about the northern part of lebanon where the christian are the christian enclave that position is totally different but they have no the no no power at all no influence on on the system and certainly not on his mother what do you make then of you mentioned the time frame you believe that the blow would come from this rala in the next 24 to 48 hours talk about perhaps why so quickly if i if i refer to what happened 1992 when israel was eliminated the abbas musawi hasan nasrallah's predecessor this happened in the afternoon and around six seven o'clock in the evening finally the the the the announcement was made that he was killed during the near-born attack by by israel it took only five hours later and his valor fired 50 missiles on kirachmone it was only barely five hours later so the the reaction was immediate almost immediate so now that i believe that because of the situation because as you said this is a palestinian he might he might unleash the palestinian factions and we'd say it's not his bala it's the palestinian they are they are taking their revenge they are taking the even though that he has to justify to his audience the all the promises he made that if israel would attack inside lebanon and hit i mean infringe on the lebanese sovereignty hit anybody iranian lebanese or the or palestinian he would he would respond in kind to to israel to israel attack so this is where we are we have to wait till this evening to hear what what are the directions he's giving but even though i'm not expecting to hear from him a declaration of war tonight and you know as usual he would let us guess what is what are his intentions you mentioned you know this dilemma that hezbollah faces it would be a dilemma also for israel if if this comes to pass as you mentioned that the hamas supporters hamas members palestinians in in in lebanon unleash rockets that they have unleashed terror attacks and hezbollah formally denied that they have anything to do with it or even any knowledge of it that it was hamas members in lebanon uh does that put the idf in a dilemma i've had to respond do they hold hezbollah responsible there is a precedent of the of the i give holding the islamic jihad responsible years past and not hamas within gaza but that was under the old i guess i believe that basically if this happens then israel will have to think twice before before firing on to on hezbollah the targets in lebanon and i think that this would certainly diminish the the scope of the war and israel will have to just to swallow the this this event and say okay and i mean this is the the the quick will go and let's let us limit it to this to this point because in any case israel is not interested in widening the war with the hezbollah even though i mean our our patience has has lost i mean we have lost our patience and patience has its limits because all the the provocation of hezbollah have to be met differently also the 60 000 families they cannot go home there is no timetable even no no expectation of them returning to their homes after four months this is this is this is not the issue today and and what's what's the local inhabitants are asking i was asking israel to go inside lebanon and to clean the the the region up to the litanyan even more so a ground incursion which is not the case today we have learned the lessons of the past lebanon is a swamp if we get there then we will be taken into the the swamp for almost forever for another 20 years and this is not the what what we want right now we have to be patient we have to be patient and wait first of all and concentrate on what what is our priority priority is hamas and the the the hostages this is the two things that are very dear to us and we have to concentrate there the issue of hamas and in lebanon and hezbollah in lebanon is second now if we are drawn into this war then we'll have no choice but to act and i don't think that the the action will will demand from us to to begin a ground incursion into lebanon this is not this is not going to happen at least in the beginning that you mentioned the hostages this the twin goals the two goals that were stated repeatedly from the prime minister and other members of the war cabinet there was recently as two days ago to destroy hamas some ministers use different phrases destroy eliminate conquer hamas and to bring home the hostages there are things that hit a complete deadlock in negotiations with the hostages the decision to have targeted assassinations abroad of hamas leaders does that make it more likely or perhaps less likely that there will be some kind of negotiated settlement for the release of hostages at this point there will be more unlikely because the hamas has already declared that that they are freezing all negotiations they're freezing all contacts concerning the hostages and they will wait until there's a real ceasefire established between the israel and hamas otherwise they will not begin any negotiations even though that there were some beginnings of negotiations with hamas concerning the hostages do you think the decision to target the olivary might spark a psychological impact in hania or senwar that may lead them to think that they know where i am i may be targeted next in the in the days to come maybe a limited another limited hostage deal may be worthwhile to spare me and my family well you know they are they are living under the the stress of being of being killed by by israel targeted by israel this is not new i mean even aruri on several occasions that that he was ready to die as a martyr and on his way to jerusalem and so on and so on so that this is this is this is not an argument for for hamas leaders they know that they are targeted the chief of the shabak the internal service has said it very plainly that we they are on his list of and so so there is no no link between that and the actual negotiation with them they know that they can hurt israel by not negotiating because the the internal internal internal pressure inside israel the families and the public asking for the more concessions in order to reach a deal concerning the the hostages the fact that we have that the action against al-aruri is attributed to israel has stopped all those negotiations and in fact has said put that on another agenda so speaking of negotiations the nisraelis speaking tonight in the days to come u.s. envoy almos hox dean expected again to come to israel and to lebanon to pursue again diplomatic talks on a way of a diplomatic solution to end the border battles in light of this attack do you think that that diplomacy can still provide results to push hezbollah away from the border perhaps as far away as the latani or no you know hox dean is trying to treat the cancer with aspirin this is this is more or less i mean he thinks he believes that if we solve the problem of the border the 13 points of the the amplification that we have with lebanon then hezbollah will be the will count down and say okay we can withdraw but this is not the case hezbollah says very plainly that more than more than the 13 points there are seven villages inside israel inside upper galilee that are lebanese and they want them back they want also the the the shiba farms back so this is not something that the americans can give and if we can reach an agreement concerning the 13 points okay who is going to sign it there's no president in lebanon according to constitution in lebanon the president is the only one that is allowed to sign there's such an agreement there's no prime the prime minister is in interim the government is a transitional government so what sort of a deal are we going to to discuss with whom in fact we don't have a partner in lebanon i want to ask them about the us role here it's important to note of course the in the wake of the gerald ford aircraft carrier the world's largest warship the strike group leaving the Mediterranean two days ago the very next day the strike on aurora last night there are reports multiple reports citing anonymous officials that netanyahu did not give advance warning to president biden of this attack a plan for aurora allegedly uh that only providing updates in real time but not an advance heads up if there is going to be an escalation if there are going to be a series of escalating growing attacks that may end up in a regional war what role if any would the us have given the contention in the difficulties between the netanyahu wartime government and the biden administration you know the u.s. administration has to decide whether they want to be present in the middle east or just the be another page in history i mean with all the bases the american bases in in syria and in iraq are under attack by the pro iranian militias more than 150 attacks have been there have been recorded since the beginning of this war and and the scores of americans have been been injured and then the american are being targeted by the hooties they have to understand they cannot evade they cannot evade the war this is unavoidable from their point of view and they have to decide if to strike not only to send two planes you know to to hit one or two bases of the iranian militias but to just wage war against all those who are threatening the american interest in the area now there we have seen how iran has managed at the beginning of the war you know to disrupt the whole process of normalization between us and Saudi arabia now the iran is has sent even a destroyer inside the babel mandib entered babel mandib in saying that we are here so it's the the iranians are defying all the time the americans the americans have no response and they have to decide whether they are answering iran the threats and and answer answer answer iran in kind or just evade that and forget i mean as you said the eyes at the the general ford is is going back to to united states maybe the eyes and how also will be will be will turn and and go back to the united states if this is so that the americans have just decided to just to to leave the whole area and all this the influence the american influence will wane and just disappear but without continued us support would the war look different with hezbollah from israel well you know it is essential that we get american support the even i mean on the man ammunition the field on weapons field on equipment field on the financial field that's 14 billion dollars waiting for for congress to to to agree i think this is very important i mean we have ministers who say that we are not another another star on the american flag but we are very much dependent on on the us and we have to remember to remember that all the time whenever and what we do on on the ground shock thank you so much for being with us giving us your analysis the zaka volunteer organization just held a special ceremony to honor their members who have handled scenes of unimaginable devastation over the last few months as the i-24 news team shows us the families of victims came out to say thank you three months of war zaka one of the organization's most identified with civilian aid in israel is holding a special ceremony it's an opportunity for us to pay tribute to and honor our volunteers who risk their lives in this hard work we want to thank our volunteers this is not the time for celebrations but this is what gives the volunteers the power to continue we want to strengthen them to show them that they have public support zaka is one of the main organizations responsible for collecting and identifying body parts of corpses this issue became crucial in the hamas onslaught of october 7th and later on this is my humble place to thank the people who are doing the job that none of us is willing to do they do it with such dedication and modesty we want to say we are the people of israel everyone who lost someone and needs assistance can see the spark in their eyes you can't ignore it this is the people of israel in its best this ceremony also paid tribute to some of the victims of october 7th such as charon charabi whose two brothers yosi and ellie were abducted to gaza from kibbutz baeri along with his greetings to zaka charon has a strong message for the israeli leadership my brothers who were abducted to gaza are not just my private tragedy it's a national tragedy i think that after 87 days of fighting we need to come to a conclusion about the military operation the military operation in gaza brought us 172 fallen soldiers and only one hostage or i megidish who got released alive perhaps it's time to think and to concentrate on the political aspect during the ceasefire where we turned 86 living hostages and we had zero casualties another participant was iris haim mother of yotam haim who was also abducted to gaza and found his tragic death several weeks ago haim said in the ceremony i feel that i lost my kid but i won back my country i feel that since the 7th of october i really understood who are the israeli people i see it in the army the soldiers the parents that are sending the children to fight the people that's cooking for the soldiers for us people that came to comfort us in the shiva and calling me and all the time just want to know and that i know that my son yotam he he's in the heart of every israeli person it was a bitter sweet evening with special features but also a feeling of gloom in the air which perhaps also symbolizes israel today as well as the work of zaka between morbidity and the sense of urgency and grace thanks for watching i 24 news at this hour more live coverage straight ahead and more updates from the field on this incredibly tense day as we await hassan israeli's speech later today in beirut in the wake of this targeted assassination of a top kamas commander in a precision strike on an apartment the war goes on in gaza with more ideas casualties overnight stay with us for more updates we'll see you soon is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where she has our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well i 24 news this morning for the latest live updates from israel israel on the brink of war on the northern front with lebanon in the wake of a targeted assassination last night of a high-profile hamas leader in beirut seven people including hamas's deputy leader abroad salah al orori were killed in this precision strike that literally shook the streets of an upscale beirut residential neighborhood orori is the highest rank hamas leader killed in an assassination in more than a decade six other internationally based hamas commanders were killed in that strike too it was a precision drone strike on the third floor apartment and now hamas and hezbollah both vowing revenge and israel is on high alert for an estilation that may engulf the country this is a watershed moment in the ongoing war to destroy hamas as the israeli ground defensive continues deep inside gaza idea generals are now also preparing for an expanded operation in the north as well we'll begin our coverage live in north israel where i'm joined by i 24 news correspondent pierre clochenda pierre no one knows exactly uh how the promised revenge uh what format will take when it will come but nasrallah and hezbollah are vowing a response to this attack on a on beirut i'd imagine a lot of tension and fear perhaps in the north of israel today there is no palpable feeling the streets of which is an average city northern israel and which hasn't been hit by hezbollah rockets or missiles uh i think since 2006 so uh you don't have that sense of palpable fear but we know that the shelters are open we know the army is in a heightened state of alert especially regarding its air defenses against missiles and rockets and hezbollah has over 150 000 rockets and missiles some of them are guided missiles they could hit nevragic points in haifa for instance the port of haifa is just behind me there's also the petrochemical industries which are on this side and which will be dismantled in 2029 which is a long time from now but up until now hezbollah has not changed its mode of operation since the targeted killing that hezbollah attributes to israel for instance yesterday or overnight there was an anti-guided anti-tank missile launched at an israeli outpost on the israeli- lebanese border in the galile pen handle two soldiers were lightly wounded and that's part of the war of attrition that hezbollah has launched in support of hamas as israeli is waging its war against hamas in the Gaza Strip yesterday the idea of spokes uh daniel agari said that israel is focusing on fighting with hamas not on fighting against hezbollah that means and uh now everybody's in a waiting mode chassan nasrallah the hezbollah chief is scheduled to speak tonight at 6 p.m local time he may give a hint of a change of equation that has occurred since october 7 in other words if chassan nasrallah in august was saying that every infringement on lebanese sovereignty beat a plane or targeted assassination on a lebanese palestinian an iranian or anyone who is part of the access of resistance as they call it is hit by israel then that would be a red line for hezbollah but many red lines have been trespassed since october 7 israel is flying over beirut there is this targeted killing attributed to israel although israel does not confirm nor deny what happened yesterday in the southern suburb of beirut the dahiya stronghold of hezbollah and yet obviously if hezbollah chooses to define what happened yesterday as a red line that has been crossed that could provide that could bring about an escalation into a full blown out war against hezbollah on lebanese territory here thank you so much for that update live for us in khayfa nasrallah speeches hours away as we await to see what he is will say salah al orori was a terror mastermind and one of the most wanted criminals in the world with a big bounty on his head i-25 news correspondent robert swift has a profile of orori's long history of terrorism until his death and what is alleged to be an israeli assassination salih al orori was a senior khamas official living in exile in beirut he mixed political and military responsibilities acting as the deputy chairman of the organization's politic bureau and as the commander for west bank operations a founding member of the is adin al qasam brigades a bounty of five million dollars was placed on information leading to his capture by us officials al orori acted as a spokesperson for khamas on prisoner affairs as shown here speaking in 2010 the rising level of capturing and torturing in the last few months has pushed this issue up the agenda if there is a way for prisoners to be released other than through a deal with israel to force fatah's hand that option may be raised and as a senior official he acted in a diplomatic capacity closely linked to the west bank he was born in ramallah and studied at hebron university where his activity with khamas began his home in the west bank was demolished by israel following the 7th of october attacks having spent 15 years in israeli prisons at times being held on administrative detention al orori was exiled in 2007 he spent the following years living in syria turkey and finally lebanon pictured here with other khamas officials including ismail hania following the 7th of october attack al orori is the most significant palestinian assassinated in nearly 20 years with us now in studio is retired idea of colonel dr. joc nary a former deputy head of assessment with the israeli military uh intelligence jacquard to see you this certainly is a defining moment in the war this is the fourth month of fighting with with khamas dating back to october a watershed moment that's targeted assassination abroad in the heart of beirut of a khamas leader a top khamas member not hezbollah do you believe though this will put israel on an escalation ladder let's say with hezbollah that will result in full war well you know tell you frankly like it's likely yes yeah that we sure we would find ourselves in the in the next 24 or 48 hours in a different state of affairs tracing hezbollah even though we have sent a message through the idf spokesman saying to hezbollah we are we are we have targeted khamas we are interested in fighting khamas we are not we are not fighting hezbollah as if we are not fighting hezbollah on the border anyway this was the message that was sent to hezbollah in order to soften a little bit the the the hit because it is really something that it's a turning point it's a it could be a game changer in the in the war with the in the area it could turn the whole war between us and khamas into a regional war because i mean the the flare-up in the in the lebanese border and the syrian border and in the west bank in gaza and from iraq and also from yemen this is the definitely the united front that iran dreamt about and and hazan nasala spoke about so many times in in the last year now there's the the fact that we had that what was attributed to israel happened inside inside the stronghold of of hezbollah even though not in the real what they call the the security quarter where the hezbollah headquarters are there this is in in an area vicinity where hazan nasala was born so it's a it's a small vicinity called mashafiyid in in the in an area more bigger area called sheykh which is part of the of the dakhiya so this is really a challenge for that was put at the door of of the nasala he has to answer because he understands now that the rules that were that existed between israel and and hezbollah are changed totally is not ready anymore to accept what what hezbollah is imposing on it the war of attrition so then let me ask them the contrarian position i'll play devil's advocate a little bit because many agree analysts agree with you that this may be a spark that spirals into war which may have been inevitable anyway but this is the spark but some say that this is not the moment that nasala a tactician will want to bring lebanon into full destruction for someone who is a palestinian not lebanese you know the sunni sheykh division the internal struggles within um uh lebanon that this is not a hezbollah member this is not the moment to initiate the big attack that would wreak unprecedented havoc on the entire country uh that there may be only a small escalation not one that would risk a major response from israel to well the the basic thing that seemed to the to ignore is that he would receive instructions anyway from tehran what tehran will decide he will do and and not vice versa i mean he has some some leniency in what to decide on on tactical things in lebanon but strategic things that the order comes from tehran and if tehran wants to to ignite the front it will ignite the front it doesn't care that lebanon he said it he said it only two weeks ago there during the 2006 confrontation uh 150 000 homes were destroyed in lebanon and we have reconstructed that so there's this is not the thing that would frighten him and he knows that he has an audience and this audience is very well prepared to fight israel it's not we're not talking about the northern part of lebanon where the christian are the christian enclave that position is totally different but they have no the no power at all no influence on on the system and certainly not on khizmala what do you make then of you mentioned the time frame you believe that the blow would come from this rala in the next 24 to 48 hours talk about perhaps why so quickly uh uh if i if i refer to what happened in 1992 when israel was eliminated the abas musawi hasan nasrullah's predecessor this happened in the afternoon and around six seven o'clock in the evening finally the the the the announcement was made that he was killed during the uh an airborne attack by by israel it took only five hours later and khizmala fired 50 missiles on kirachmone it was only barely five hours later so the the reaction was immediate almost immediate so now that uh i believe that because of the situation because as you said this is a palestinian he might he might unleash the palestinian factions and we'd say it's not khizmala it's the palestinian they are they are taking their revenge they are taking the even though that he has to justify to his audience the all the promises he made that if israel would attack inside lebanon and hit i mean infringe on the lebanese sovereignty hit anybody an iranian lebanese or the or palestinian he would he would respond in kind to to israel to israel attack so this is where we are we have to wait till this evening to hear what what are the directions he's giving where even though i'm not expecting to hear from him a declaration of war tonight and you know as usual he would let us guess what is what are his intentions you mentioned you know this dilemma that khizmala faces it would be a dilemma also for israel if if this comes to pass as you mentioned that the hamas supporters hamas members palestinians in in in lebanon unleash rockets that they have unleashed terror attacks and khizmala formally denied that they have anything to do with it or even any knowledge of it that it was hamas members in lebanon uh does that put the idf in a dilemma i've had to respond do they hold khizmala responsible there is a precedent of the of the i gave holding the islamic jihad responsible years past and not hamas within gaza but that was under the old i guess uh i believe that basically if this happens then israel will have to think twice before before firing onto uh on khizmala the targets in lebanon and i think that this would certainly diminish the the scope of the war and israel will have to just to swallow the this this event and say okay and i mean this is the the the quid pro quo and let's let us limit it to this to this point because in any case israel is not interested in widening the war with khizmala even though i mean our our patients has has lost i mean we have lost our patients and patients has its limits because all the the provocation of khizmala have to be met differently also the 60 000 families they cannot go home there is no timetable even no no expectation of them returning to their homes after four months this is this is this is not the issue today and and what's what's the local inhabitants are asking i was asking israel to go inside lebanon and to clean the the the region up to the litanyan even more so a a ground incursion which is not the case today we have learned the lessons of the past lebanon is a swamp if we get there then we will be taken into the the swamp for almost forever for another 20 years and this is not the what what we want right now we have to be patient we have to be patient and wait first of all and concentrate on what what is our priority priority is khamas and the the the hostages this is the two things that are very dear to us and we have to concentrate there the issue of khamas and in lebanon and khizmala in lebanon is second now if we are drawn into this world then we'll have no choice but to act and i don't think that the the action will will demand from us to to to begin a ground in