the latest edition of I-24 News. I'm Nicole Zettick with the top stories in Israel and the region. The question on everyone's mind this evening is if Iran will stick to its threats and attack Israel. Multiple reports say the United States seems to think so and is now sending military assets to strengthen regional deterrents. CBS News is reporting a major attack could include more than 100 drones and dozens of missiles aimed at military targets throughout the country. U.S. embassy workers and their families have been told not to travel outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Behrsheva areas and countries including France and India have issued travel warnings against citizens heading to Israel, Lebanon and Iran. Amid mounting international fear U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the potential threat from Iran is real and viable. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has now asked China to use its influence to dissuade Iran from attacking Israel. Meanwhile Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security assessment this afternoon ahead of a possible Iranian strike as Israel prepares for any and all scenarios that could unfold. Let's go straight to the field now for an update on this top story. Our correspondent Belir Sledin joins us live from northern Israel. Belir, how exactly is Israel preparing right now for this possible attack and retaliation from Iran? Well looking at the field here and also hearing what the Israeli officials are saying over and over again in the last couple of days regarding the many layers, multi layers of defense that Israel has in the northern front and in general, but especially in the northern front the place where an Iranian respond could be expected either from Lebanon, Syria or of course Iran itself or Iraq as well. So the drones in the sky that are waiting for any interception of any drones or missiles that could be launched from Lebanon or Syria and of course the fighter jets over our head. We hear it all the time waiting as well and prepared for any possible threat as well as the air defense systems that Israel has. We have here the Iron Dom, the Israeli Iron Dom, but also the American Patriot air defense system. So this multi layer of defense is Israel's strongest defense here in this front but in general we are also expecting that if in case Iran conducts a major attack against Israel and especially if that attack comes from Iran Iranian soil and not from Iranian Broxies or from Syria for example that Iran has a strong military presence in it, we could be expecting also an attack from Israel not only a defense from Israel and this is what Galant has said yesterday, this is what he said again in the meeting with the general cholera, the American general in Hatzor which is the air base in the north of Israel. He said over and over again that this strategic cooperation and also military cooperation with the United States means a lot to Israel and it's the key to cope with any threat from Iran or its Broxies in this area and in case Iran attacks from its soil Israel with missiles or drones we should be saying and Israeli respond to that this could of course escalate the situation here in this front something that the Americans and maybe both sides also doesn't want to see so according to the latest sources that the Americans are saying that they are not interested in escalating this situation and diplomatic efforts are over going right now excuse me in order to try to stop this escalation but also militarily with the American military assets in this region moving the military assets and moving soldiers as well in order to help Israel defend itself from any attack and also in case and that's what we've heard as well yesterday from American sources that they are not ruining out that they might attack with Israel Iran or its Broxies in in case of any major attack and this is important a major attack against Israel that would require Israel to respond. Belair Sledin thank you for that latest update on the northern front will be coming back to you throughout the evening as well as the situation does develop and unfold to talk more about it I'm joined in studio now by former senior intelligence officer with the IDF security analyst Rafael Yerushalmi Rafael thank you for being with us this is the question on everyone's minds right now all of these reports coming out of the United States and I do want to emphasize that they are reports at this point but it's causing quite a bit of fear and some panic for Israeli citizens as well but threats from Iran they're not new this is nothing new are we taking this seriously enough or is it being blown out of proportion so usually the threats coming from Iran are just threats there have been threats for a long time now after the elimination of general Soleimani of the gardens of the revolution the Iranian threatened the world with apocalypse and nothing happened nothing has happened since then but this time they climbed up a tree that they are not able to go climb down from so they're gonna have to strike in a certain way the strike could be a safe face just you know a small measured strike maybe at military target or even an open area somewhere not even on exactly Israeli soil it could be on what is not considered Israeli soil as maybe the Berlin heights or the Gaza Strip that would be a safe safe phase proportionate those response just to say we've threatened we said we're gonna do it we have we did it V or they really mean it they really want to strike harder which I doubt very much but they might and in which case it wouldn't be in the immediate coming hours or days if they want US reports are stating within the next 24 to 48 hours yes okay so that might be the small strike if they want to strike harder they really mean war against Israel which I doubt but let's say then they wouldn't do it now because and they have no effects of surprise the Americans and they didn't realize I think the Iranians didn't realize how the international community would respond and how it's responding in such a strong manner not only the Americans even the Europeans who are usually very cool you know very careful even the French the English they've come out saying if Iran attacks we attack back so you know of course this proportionate manner environment manner so it would the Iranians really want to have such a war against Israel and strike Israel hard then they wouldn't do it now they would wait they would wait for less lesser level of alert I mean the whole of the IDF is on total right now with less American presence in the Mediterranean right now there is even more there are more ships coming in to help us with the aerial defense that so I would say that if they strike in the today or tomorrow or let's say in the coming days then it will be a smaller strike a safe face strike and then it's up to the Israelis to answer or not answer I think the Americans if it's not too too harsh a strike and there are no casualties the Americans who ask the israels to keep cool and leave it at that or they are clever and they're waiting they can also strike now safe face and still but they can also wait and wait for the proper opportunity they are looking for targets you know right now I'm not 100% sure that the Iranians know what target to hit they know that Israel is very well protected we have a huge apparatus of aerial defense which is doubled in power by the presence of the American Navy so that the right thing to do would be to to wait and then strike this this moment it seems and Israel continues to claim that they aren't repaired but speaking of Iran a court in Argentina has declared Iran a terrorist state blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran for the deadly attacks in Buenos Aires in the 90s which targeted Israel's embassy and a Jewish center killing and injuring hundreds of people our senior correspondent Bianca Zanini has more it was the deadliest bombing attack in Argentina's history killing 85 people injuring 300 and shaking the country for decades the terror attack on the Amia Jewish community center in 1994 and on the Israeli embassy two years earlier which left 29 people dead remain an open wound in Argentina's Jewish history for decades the bombing remained unsolved with investigators looking into allegations of corruption involving former presidents judges and the Islamic Republic now an Argentinian court has placed the blame on Iran and its proxy Hezbollah calling it a crime against humanity Hezbollah carried out an operation that responded to a political ideological and revolutionary design under the mandate of a government of a state the two attacks followed by years of accusations and foiled investigations scarred the Jewish community in Argentina the largest in Latin America with some 300 000 members in 2015 Jewish prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of covering up Iran's involvement in the Amia attack he was later found murdered in his apartment the Kirchner was indicted for obstructing the investigation but the case was later dismissed this is not the first time Iran has been blamed for the deadly attack and yet the case remains open and the perpetrators unpunished let's turn our attention to the south now where the fighting and Gaza continues the IDF is moving forward with pinpoint operations against Hamas mainly in the central and northern part of the Gaza Strip troops located explosives hidden inside classrooms of a children's school yet another example of Hamas using civilian infrastructure for terror activity take a look we are here at the heart of a school that only looks innocent in the middle of this school we found a Hamas simulator explosive devices that were ready to explode when our forces arrived during the day we successfully destroyed Hamas infrastructures you can see the school behind me here you can see an explosive device right next to the school under a trash can inside the school we found a Hamas hidden spot these are two explosive devices ready to explode on our soldiers here is where the terrorists stayed they escaped the moment we arrived here for more on the latest coming out of the Gaza Strip our correspondent Zach Anders joins us live from southern Israel now Zach walk us through the latest developments on the military front as the IDF continues to operate inside the Gaza Strip yeah in the ground force element to this is one of the most important things that we're keeping our eyes on considering this withdrawal from the Kanyunas area leaving a considerably smaller amount of ground forces concentrated in the central area of the Gaza Strip and that's a ream corridor to be specific this is where we see the Gaza Strip split in half and from the reports of aid workers NGOs it appears that this corridor has been fully regulated the north to south movement now they are describing that they're getting approval to go north the aid trucks that the IDF is facilitating also going through this corridor but it's been remarkable to watch from our vantage points the amount of airstrike activity that's also occurring just north of this corridor that the IDF has established now we don't know for certain the approximate or the exact number of ground forces that remain inside the Gaza Strip we know the 400 first the 162nd in the Nahal Brigades still have forces were told through the IDF remaining in this area but the exact number of troops and what that looks like is not something they've gone into the specifics it's still considerably less than what was before the Kanyunas pullout at one point we were told as many as 30,000 soldiers could have been inside the Gaza Strip at any one point considerably fewer now with this new strategy that's taken shape so the IDF says they still have been able to perform these pinpoint raids that take place or emanate from their center of control in this central area of the Gaza Strip and we're seeing a little bit of what that looks like with that those images that you just saw that was an operation taking place not far from where they're again centrally located but we've also seen over the past two days forces move into areas inside Gaza City or just on the southeast edge of Gaza City performing what appears to be tactical operations small operations as well so I think the the images that you are accustomed to seeing in the last few weeks of troops surrounded by tanks and heavy armor personnel carriers that's still going to be something you see going forward but perhaps a far more limited scope and scale Zach Anders with an update from Southern Israel thanks for all of the latest happening inside the Gaza Strip right now now Ravel I want to come back to you when it comes to the ongoing fighting inside the Gaza Strip we're seeing these pinpoint operations continue but earlier in the week we heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a date on the calendar is marked for a Rafe operation offensive inside Rafe now seems even in Israel there might have been a little confusion about whether that date is actually on the calendar book what does that even mean especially amid this mounting international pressure not to have a full on ground offensive in Rafe well first of all it'd be interesting to know what date it is because the date but we don't know which one if you look at the situation now on the ground in the Gaza Strip there is certainly no preparation for such an attack on the Rafe but a stronghold of the Hamas you have only one brigade operating now of the IDF in the Gaza Strip meaning you have almost like like 10 15 percent of soldiers than what we had before before we had up to seven brigades operating in the Strip they are doing a serene slow job of cleaning up let's remind the people that there are six battalions left untouched by of the Hamas out of 24 meaning and 18 have been dealt with they are not completely destroyed but they are dismantled they cannot operate as a battalion so 18 are out of the way more or less strategically but there are six battalions two in the center where we are now seeing some activity in the Albalach in the center of the Gaza Strip and four underground under Rafe these are the six that are have at some point I don't know if there is a date or not the date but at some point we have to deal with them and we have to finish them off otherwise we haven't reached the objective of that war whether this objective what should have been the objective from the start on or not I don't know because if the objective is to dismantle the Hamas it's not only militarily it has to be dismantled also politically and administratively it means it has to lose its grip on the Gaza Strip and we do not see a date for that for the day after what do we do with the Strip once we've got rid of the military power of the Hamas so right now in any case on the ground we do not see something being prepared we do not see movements or reserves being cold or movements of Israeli battalions and tanks towards Rafah on the country there is less less activity so also would there be a plan for a massive attack on Rafah then you have to evacuate a lot a lot of civilians from Gaza and that alone would take at least a month just to evacuate this enormous amount of people out of the combat zone so all you know we're far from at a little bit more from the date we're far from the date anything of the date Rafael we've talked about the north we've talked about the south I want to turn our attention to the west bank as well there's important clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinian locals with several Palestinians wounded and one reportedly killed after settlers reportedly opened fire in the area now at least three Israeli soldiers are said to be injured as well the incident comes as idea of troops and special forces are working to locate a missing 14-year-old boy from Jerusalem Benjamin Ali Ma'er was last seen early this morning when he went out shepherding but hours later his sheep returned to the farm without him roadblocks are set up throughout the area northeast of Ramallah as the search continues with serious concern for the boy's life Rafael I want to come back to you when it comes to this developing story we've seen clashes like this in the west bank but not for some time now because amid the ongoing war it does seem that the clashes that we had seen between Palestinian settlers and Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the west bank had been more subdued but could an incident like this threaten to spark something up again absolutely the settlers the Jewish settlers I'm only speaking I want to say right away of the extremists right there 450 000 Israeli settlers in the west bank there may be two or three thousand extremists but these extremists might succeed where the Hamas failed and inflame the west bank why because there is a tragedy there there is this boy that has disappeared we don't know yet if he's been killed or kidnapped by a terrorist or if he just got lost we don't know what happened to him and there is an army there as you rightly said they're doing their job very well there is police there is Palestinian security forces there are people there to look for that boy and to see what happened to that boy the settlers I didn't wait they just went down they went to attack a village they don't know where the boy is there they have no idea what's going on they already burned houses they threw stones etc okay fine they're angry but they keep the already a person this person is is guilty or is it innocent I don't know I am sure not I mean they're torching houses without checking if there are people inside and that of course might inflame the region it is very very dangerous and rightfully said a few times before these extremist settlers both the security threats just as much as some terrorists and we see that they also killed because until now we used to say okay these guys just cut down trees or burn cars but they don't kill well today they have killed and this is extremely dangerous for the rest of the area of the population I'll say it again there is an army there is a police they have to do their job they are doing their job we we just saw here on the pictures that are now on the screen settlers next to the the military people the military are searching the cars are checking and the settlers are there like taking them how to do their job what to do complicate the idea of troops exactly they're hampering the the work of the of the shin bet also I'm afraid I have to be very to use these strong words but again I remember I remind everybody it's an extreme French this this settlement from where this child has disappeared is is an illegal settlement it's by very extremist people on the of the Bengt via school Smotrich school and I remind people for more than 400 000 people are peaceful settlers most of them are not even religious they are there for economic reasons because it's cheaper and they live with next to the Palestinian villages on a daily basis buying one from the other using Palestinians to repair their homes I mean let's put things in proportion but unfortunately on the Palestinian side as on these only sides there are people who are not interested in that kind of following up on this developing story Rafael your shell may thank you for your insight on all of these developments happening throughout the region right now now in the southern community of kibbutz near all survivors and hostage families held a pre-pass-over seder pleading for the release of their loved ones who have been held in Hamas captivity for more than six months now I-24 News Emma Siegel has a story near Oz the scene of unspeakable devastation in the wake of the October 7th massacre where one in every four members of the small kibbutz were either murdered or taken hostage to Gaza and now six months later survivors and families of hostages gathered for a pre-pass-over seder in the ruins of the once lively community calling for the release of their loved ones we're standing here at the place where I used to celebrate Passover with my father my family and with my whole community so many of us are still missing I want the world to speak up clearly and loudly in a demand to let our people go Passover one of Judaism's most sacred holidays to commemorate the Israelites liberation from slavery in Egypt and exodus to freedom and now thousands of years later Israelis are once again fighting for freedom none of the hostages are safe all those that are alive are in constant danger they have no time how is it possible that we're forced to fight our own government for the right of our loved ones to return home 133 hostages still remain in Hamas captivity including Kaffir Bebes who turned one in Gaza and his four-year-old brother Ariel both taken with their parents from near Oz six months have passed six months of them being there in hell it can't be that they are going through hell just in order to be murdered in captivity there has to be hope we have to free them now hasn't the time come for the whole world to also shout for Ariel and Kaffir a shout for justice for justice for humanity for an end to this nightmare let my family go let our people go the war in Gaza is overshadowing many festivities right now those marking the end of Ramadan Aida El Fideh is a holiday usually celebrated with family and food but at CNN's Nick Robertson reports this year it's marked by sadness and loss in Gaza Eid's joys are scarcer in Gaza this year celebration eat amidst ruin Farah crying as she recounts finding her beloved Eid clothes in the rubble of her own then realizing she won't get to wear them her family's festivities foregone this year thank god we're alive for Eid her father explains but we're exhausted and devastated it should be in our home comfortable eating celebrating in the ravaged enclave millions are clinging to what is unbreakable tradition we insisted on praying inside Rafa's Faroo mosque so all the world knows that we are holding on to our mosques to our land to our country Mustafa El Halu from Gaza City says Eid spirit also being kept alive in makeshift ingredients of everyone's Eid memories donated by charities outside of Gaza lovingly crafted into date sesame and caraway cookies we're trying to make our kids happy remind them of the smell of Eid Aklan Salah says it didn't get the traditional new clothes there is no joy for Eid no balloons no sweets what is in abundance this year Eid's custom of commemorating the dead silent clusters of sorrow surrounding fresh dog soil in other years less tragic than today Um Ahmed came with her children my kids lost their father she says when I told them I was going to visit his grave they told me mom we want to come visit baba this little one was banging on the stone saying I want to see baba he said who's going to celebrate Eid with me there is no going back a generation here growing up with new memories of Eid of suffering and loss that's all we have time for on this latest edition of i24 thanks for tuning in our news channel broadcasting from israel with dozens of correspondence throughout the world brings the truth from israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries bringing israel's story to the world i24 news channels now on hot to the latest edition of i24 news i'm michael zedek with the top stories in israel and the region the question on everyone's mind this evening is if iran will stick to its threats and attack israel multiple reports say the united states seems to think so and is now sending military assets to strengthen regional deterrence cbs news is reporting a major attack could include more than 100 drones and dozens of missiles aimed at military targets throughout the country u.s. embassy workers and their families have been told not to travel outside the great of televiv Jerusalem and bear sheba areas and countries including france and india have issued travel warnings against citizens heading to israel lebanon and iran amid mounting international fear u.s. national security council spokesman john kerby told reporters the potential threat from iran is real and viable and u.s. secretary of state antony blinkin has now asked china to use its influence to dissuade iran from attacking israel meanwhile prime minister benjamin netanyahu held a security assessment this afternoon ahead of a possible iranian strike as israel prepares for any and all scenarios that could unfold let's go straight to the field now for an update on this top story our correspondent bilir sladeen joins us live from northern israel bilir how exactly is israel preparing right now for this possible attack in retaliation from iran well looking at the field here and also hearing what the israeli officials are saying over and over again in the last a couple of days regarding the many layers multi layers of defense that israel has in the northern front and in general but especially in the northern front the place where an iran in a respond that could be expected either from lebanon syria or of course iran itself or iraq as well so the uh drones in the sky that are waiting for any uh interception of any uh drones or missiles that could be a it launched from lebanon or syria and of course the fighter jets over our head we hear it all the time waiting as well and prepared for any possible threat as well as the air defense systems that israel has we have here the iran dom the israeli iran dom but also the american pituit air defense system so this multi layer of defense is israel's the strongest defense here in this front but in general we are also expecting that if in case iran conducts a major attack against israel and especially if that attack comes from iran iranian soil and not from iranian broxies or from syria for example that iran has a strong military presence in it we could be expecting also an attack from israel not only a defense from israel and this is what gallant has said yesterday this what he said again in the meeting with the general cholera the american general in hazzar which is the air base in the north of israel he said over and over again that this strategic cooperation and also military cooperation with the united states means a lot to israel and it's the key to to cope with any threat from iran or its broxies in this area and in case iran attacks from its soil israel with missiles or drones we should be seeing an israeli respond to that this could of course escalate the situation here in this front something that the americans and maybe both sides also doesn't want to see so according to the latest sources that the americans are saying that they are not interested in escalating this situation and dramatic of efforts are over are going going right now excuse me in order to try to stop this escalation but also militarily with the american military assets in this region moving the military assets and moving soldiers as well in order to help israel defend itself from any attack and also in case and that's what we've heard as well yesterday from american sources that they are not ruining out that they might attack with israel iran or its broxies in in case of any major attack and this is important a major attack against israel that would require israel to respond well there's the dean thank you for that latest update on the northern front will be coming back to you throughout the evening as well as the situation does develop and unfold to talk more about it i'm joined in studio now by former senior intelligence officer with the idf security analysts rafael you're show me rafael thank you for being with us this is the question on everyone's minds right now all of these reports coming out of the united states and i do want to emphasize that they are reports at this point but it's causing quite a bit of fear and some panic for israeli citizens as well but threats from iran they're not new this is nothing new are we taking this seriously enough or is it being blown out of proportion so usually the threats coming from iran are just threats they have been stressed for a long time now after the elimination of general sulemani of the gardens of the revolution the iranians threatened the world with apocalypse and nothing happened nothing has happened since then but this time they climbed up a tree that they are not able to go climb down from so they're gonna have to strike in a certain way the strike could be a safe face just you know a small measured strike maybe at military target or even an open area somewhere not even on exactly israeli soil it could be on what is not considered israeli soil as maybe the girl in heights or in the gaza strip that would be a safe safe face proportionate those response just to say we've threatened we said we're gonna do it we have we did it v or they really mean it they really want to strike harder which i doubt very much but they might and in which case it wouldn't be in the immediate coming hours or days if they want us reports are stating within the next 24 to 48 hours yes okay so that might be the small strike if they want to strike hard like they really mean war against israel which i doubt but let's say then they wouldn't do it now because they have no effects of surprise the americans and they didn't realize i think the irans didn't realize how the international community would respond and how it's responding in such a strong manner not only the americans even the europeans who are usually very cool you know very careful even the french and english they've come out saying if iran attacks we attack back so in of course this proportionate manner environment manner so it would the irans really wants to have such a war against israel and strike israel hard then they wouldn't do it now they would wait they would wait for a less lesser level of alert i mean the whole of the idea is on total alert right now with a less american presence in the mediterranean right now there is even more there are more ships coming in to help us with the aerial defense so i would say that if they strike in the today or tomorrow or let's say in the coming days then it will be a smaller strike a safe face strike and then it's up to the israelis to answer or not answer i think the americans if it's not too too harsh a strike and there are no casualties the americans will ask the israels to keep cool and leave it at that or they are clever and they're waiting they can also strike now safe face and still but they can also wait and wait for the proper opportunity they are looking for targets you know right now i'm not a hundred percent sure that the irans know what target to hit they know that israel is very well protected we have a huge apparatus of aerial defense which is doubled in power by the presence of the american navy israel so that the right thing to do would be to to wait and then strike this this moment it seems and israel continues to claim that they aren't repaired but speaking of iran a court in argentina has declared iran a terrorist state blaming the islamic republic of iran for the deadly attacks in buenos iras in the 90s which targeted israel's embassy and a jewish center killing and injuring hundreds of people our senior correspondent bianca zanini has more it was the deadliest bombing attack in argentina's history killing 85 people injuring 300 and shaking the country for decades the terror attack on the amia jewish community center in 1994 and on the israeli embassy two years earlier which left 29 people dead remained an open wound in argentina's jewish history for decades the bombing remained unsolved with investigators looking into allegations of corruption involving former presidents judges and the islamic republic now an argentinian court has placed the blame on iran and its proxy hezbollah calling it a crime against humanity hezbollah carried out an operation that responded to a political ideological and revolutionary design under the mandate of a government of a state the two attacks followed by years of accusations and foiled investigations scarred the jewish community in argentina the largest in latin america with some 300 000 members in 2015 jewish prosecutor alberto nisman accused former president christina fernandez de kirchner of covering up iran's involvement in the amia attack he was later found murdered in his apartment de kirchner was indicted for obstructing the investigation but the case was later dismissed this is not the first time iran has been blamed for the deadly attack and yet the case remains open and the perpetrators unpunished let's turn our attention to the south now where the fighting and gaza continues the idf is moving forward with pinpoint operations against hamas mainly in the central and northern part of the gaza strip troops located explosives hidden inside classrooms of a children's school yet another example of mas using civilian infrastructure for terror activity take a look we are here at the heart of a school that only looks innocent in the middle of this school we found a hamas simulator explosive devices that were ready to explode when our forces arrived during the day we successfully destroyed hamas infrastructures you can see the school behind me here you can see an explosive device right next to the school under a trash can inside the school we found a hamas hidden spot these are two explosive devices ready to explode on our soldiers here is where the terrorists stayed they escaped the moment we arrived here for more on the latest coming out of the gaza strip our correspondent zack anders joins us live from southern israel now zack walk us through the latest developments on the military front as the idf continues to operate inside the gaza strip yeah and the ground force element to this is one of the most important things that we're keeping our eyes on considering this withdrawal from the con unis area leaving a considerably smaller amount of ground forces concentrated in the central area of the gaza strip and that's a ream quarter to be specific this is where we see the gaza strip split in half and from the reports of aid workers ngo's it appears that this corridor has been fully regulated the north to south movement now uh they are describing that they're getting approval to go north the aid trucks that the idf is facilitating also uh going through this corridor but it's been remarkable to watch from our vantage points the amount of airstrike activity that's also occurring just north of this corridor that the idf has established now we don't know for certain the approximate or the exact number of ground forces that remain inside the gaza strip we know the four hundred first the one sixty second in the nahal brigades still have forces were told through the idf remaining in this area but the exact number of troops and what that looks like is not something they've gone into the specifics it's still considerably less than what was before the con unis pull out at one point we were told as many as 30 000 soldiers could have been inside the gaza strip at any one point considerably fewer now with this new strategy that's taken shape so the idf says they still have been able to perform these pinpoint raids that take place or emanate from their center of control in this central area of the gaza strip and we're seeing a little bit of what that looks like with that those images that you just saw that was an operation taking place not far from where they're again centrally located but we've also seen over the past two days forces move into areas inside the gaza city or just on the southeast edge of gaza city performing what appears to be tactical operations small operations as well so i think the the images that you are accustomed to seeing in the last few weeks of troops surrounded by tanks and heavy armor personnel carriers that's still going to be something you see going forward but perhaps a far more limited scope and scale sack anders with an update from southern israel thanks for all of the latest happening inside the gaza strip right now now rafael i want to come back to you when it comes to the ongoing fighting inside the gaza strip we're seeing these pinpoint operations continue but earlier in the week we heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu a date on the calendar is marked for a rafa operation offensive inside rafa now seems even in israel there might have been a little confusion about whether that date is actually on the calendar book what does that even mean especially amid this mounting international pressure not to have a full on ground offensive in rafa well first of all it'd be interesting to know what date it is because the date but we don't know which one if you look at the situation now on the ground in the gaza strip there is certainly no preparation for such an attack on rafa but a stronghold of the hamas you have only one brigade operating now of the and the idea of in the gaza strip meaning you have almost like like 10 15 percent of soldiers than what we had before before we had up to seven brigades operating in the strip they are doing a serene slow job of cleaning up let's remind the people that there are six battalions left untouched by of the hamas out of 24 meaning 18 have been dealt with they are not completely destroyed but they are dismantled they cannot operate as a battalion so 18 are out of the way more or less strategically but there are six battalions two in the center where we are now seeing some activity in the in the center of the gaza strip and four underground under raffia these are the six that are have at some point i don't know if there is a date or not the date but at some point we have to deal with them and we have to finish them off otherwise we haven't reached the objective of that war whether this objective what should have been the objective from the start on or not i don't know because if the objective is to dismantle the hamas it's not only militarily it has to be dismantled or so politically and administratively it means it has to lose its grip on the gaza strip and we do not see a date for that for the day after what do we do with the strip once we've got rid of the military power of the hamas so right now in any case on the ground we do not see something being prepared we do not see movements or reservists being called or movements of Israeli battalions and tanks towards raffa on the country there is less less activity so also would there be a plan for a massive attack on raffa then you have to evacuate a lot a lot of civilians from gaza and that alone would take at least months just to evacuate this enormous amount of people out of the combat zone so all you know we're far from a little bit more from the date we're far from the date anything of the date raffa we've talked about the north we've talked about the south i want to turn our attention to the west bank as well there's important clashes between jewish settlers and palestinian locals with several palestinians wounded and one reportedly killed after settlers reportedly opened fire in the area now at least three israeli soldiers are said to be injured as well the incident comes as idea of troops and special forces are working to locate a missing 14-year-old boy from jerusalem ben-yamin akhi ma'er was last seen early this morning when he went out shepherding but hours later his sheep returned to the farm without him roadblocks are set up throughout the area northeast of ramallah as the search continues with serious concern for the boy's life rafael i want to come back to you when it comes to this developing story we've seen clashes like this in the west bank but not for some time now because amid the ongoing war it does seem that the clashes that we had seen between palestinian settlers and jewish settlers and palestinians in the west bank had been more subdued but could an incident like this threaten to spark something up again absolutely the settlers the jewish settlers i'm only speaking i want to say right away of the extremists right there are 450 000 israeli settlers in the west bank there may be two or three thousand extremists but these extremists might succeed where the ramahs failed and inflame the west bank why because there is a tragedy there there is this boy that has disappeared we don't know yet if he's been killed or kidnapped by a terrorist or if he just got lost we don't know what happened to him and there is an army there as you rightly said they're doing their job very well there is police there is palestinian security forces there are people there to look for that boy and to see what happened to that boy the settlers i didn't wait they just went down they went to attack a village they don't know where the boy is there they have no idea what's going on they already burned houses and they threw stones etc okay fine they're angry but they killed the already a person this person is is guilty or is it innocent i don't know i am sure not i mean they're torching houses without checking if there are people inside and that of course might inflame the region it is very very dangerous and rightfully said a few times before these extremist settlers both the security threats just as much as some terrorists and we see that they're also killed because until now we used to say okay these guys just cut down trees or burn cars but they don't kill well today they have killed and this is extremely dangerous for the rest of the area of the population i'll say it again there is an army there is a police they have to do their job they are doing their job we we just saw here on the pictures that are now on the screen uh settlers next to the the military people uh the military are searching the cars are checking and the settlers are there like taking them how to do their job what to do complicates the idea of troops exactly they're hampering the the work of the of the shin bet also uh i'm afraid i have to be very to use these strong words but again i remember i remind everybody it's an extreme fringe this this settlement from where this child has disappeared is is an illegal settlement it's uh by very extremist people on the of the bank via school smotrich school and i remind people for more than 400 000 people are peaceful settlers most of them are not even religious they are there for economic reason because it's cheaper and they live with next to the palestinian villages uh on a daily basis buying one from the other using a palestinians to repair their homes i mean let's put things in proportion but unfortunately on the palestinian sides as on these only sides there are people who are not interested in that kind of quiet following up on this developing story rafael your shell may thank you for your insight on all of these developments happening throughout the region right now now in the southern community of kibbutz near os survivors and hostage families held a pre-pass over seidae pleading for the release of their loved ones who have been held in hamas captivity for more than six months now i-24 news i'm a seagull has a story near os the scene of unspeakable devastation in the wake of the october 7th massacre where one in every four members of the small kibbutz were either murdered or taken hostage to gaza and now six months later survivors and families of hostages gathered for a pre-pass over seidae in the ruins of the once lively community calling for the release of their loved ones we're standing here at the place where i used to celebrate Passover with my father my family and with my whole community so many of us are still missing i want the world to speak up clearly and loudly in a demand to let our people go Passover one of Judaism's most sacred holidays to commemorate the israelite's liberation from slavery in egypt and exodus to freedom and now thousands of years later israelis are once again fighting for freedom none of the hostages are safe all those that are alive are in constant danger they have no time how is it possible that we're forced to fight our own government for the right of our loved ones to return home 133 hostages still remain in hamas captivity including kafir bibis who turned one in gaza and his four-year-old brother ariel both taken with their parents from near os six months have passed six months of them being there in hell it can't be that they are going through hell just in order to be murdered in captivity there has to be hope we have to free them now hasn't the time come for the whole world to also shout for ariel and fear a shout for justice for justice for humanity for an end to this nightmare let my family go let our people go the war in Gaza is overshadowing many festivities right now those marking the end of Ramadan a del fide is a holiday usually celebrated with family and food but at CNN's nick robertson reports this year it's marked by sadness and loss in Gaza eads joys are scarcer in Gaza this year celebration eat amidst ruin farah crying as she recounts finding her beloved ead clothes in the rubble of her home then realizing she won't get to wear them her family's festivities foregone this year thank god we're alive for ead her father explains but we're exhausted and devastated we should be in our home comfortable eating celebrating in the ravaged enclave millions are clinging to what is unbreakable tradition we insisted on praying inside raffa's ferrute mosque so all the world knows that we are holding on to our mosques to our land to our country Mustafa el hallou from Gaza city says ead spirit also being kept alive in makeshift kitchens ingredients of everyone's ead memories donated by charities outside of Gaza lovingly crafted into date sesame and caraway cookies we're trying to make our kids happy remind them of the smell of ead a clan salad says it didn't get the traditional new clothes there is no joy for ead no balloons no sweets what is in abundance this year eads custom of commemorating the dead silent clusters of sorrow surrounding fresh dog soil in other years less tragic than today um akmed came with her children my kids lost their father she says when i told them i was going to visit his grave they told me mom we want to come visit baba this little one was banging on the stone saying i want to see baba he said who's going to celebrate ead with me there is no going back a generation here growing up with new memories of ead of suffering and loss that's all we have time for on this latest edition of i-24 thanks for tuning in israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well to the latest edition of i-24 news i'm Nicole zadik with the top stories in israel and the region as we come on the air right now there are red alerts siren in northern israel warning of a large rocket barrage coming near the border with lebanon this comes as the question on everyone's mind this evening is if iran will stick to its threats and attack israel multiple reports say the united states seems to think so cbs news is reporting a major attack could include more than 100 drones and dozens of missiles aimed at military targets throughout the country us embassy workers and their families have been told not to travel outside the greater televives jerusalem and their shaba areas and countries including france poland in india have issued travel warnings against citizens heading to israel lebanon or iran but is this a tangible threat or all part of tehran's psychological warfare us national security council spokesman john kirby told reporters the potential threat from iran is real and viable but israel says they're prepared for anything this evening us central command chief met with idf chief of staff her t-holevi following a comprehensive assessment of israel's readiness on all fronts our correspondent mary mcallib has the latest on the increasing threat from iran as israel braces for a direct attack from iran warnings of such an attack could be imminent seem to be reaching a fever pitch a new report by the wall street journal alleges israel's preparing for the eventuality that a retaliatory attack by iran on northern or southern israel could happen as soon as this weekend though plans are actively being discussed the report claims that no final decision has been made it's just the latest in a series of warnings to come out of washington that the situation in the middle east is at risk of a major deterioration after an israeli airstrike targeted an iranian consulate in damaskus killing top iranian military officials including a senior member of the islamic revolutionary guard corps elite coups force we are prepared and are on high alert both defensively and offensively and we will know how to both inform the public and deal with any threat leaked us intelligence assessments suggest israel could be facing attack by iran or its proxies however israel has already been under fire from some of these proxies since the beginning of the israel gaza war with hezbollah launching daily attacks into northern israel and the yemeni houthis attacking the south yet us defense assessments are increasingly leaning towards the assumption that in retaliation for the forceful israeli attack in damaskus iran will return with a forceful attack on israel itself though amid the warnings from washington there have also been strong messages of support we also want to address the Iranian threat to launch a significant they're threatening to launch a significant attack on israel as i told prime minister netanyahu our commitment to israel's security against these threats from iran and its proxies is iron clad let me say it again iron clad we're going to do all we can to protect israel's security the u.s. says it has been engaged in a series of diplomatic efforts and contacts to send a clear message to iran not to escalate the conflict in the meantime israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is not bowing down from a fight insisting they are preparing for military scenarios outside of the realm of the ongoing gaza war we're also preparing for scenarios of challenges in other arenas and we established a simple principle whoever hurts us we hurt him we are preparing to meet the security needs of the state of israel both in defense and in attack iron the people of israel trust you and may we all have great success and in the background of the diplomatic signaling israel this week putting into operation new defensive capabilities introducing its new seaborn defense system the c-dome designed to shoot down missiles yet another layer of air defense amid the increasing din of threats to its territory we are expecting a statement from idf spokesman daniel higary later in this broadcast but for now let's go straight to the field for an update on this top story our correspondent belir sladeen joins us now from northern israel belir let's talk about how israel is preparing right now for this possible threat from iran whether it be from proxies like hezbollah and we'd seem to have seen quite a bit of activity just now as we're coming on the air from lebanon what can you tell us yes exactly a couple of minutes ago a large barrage coming from south and lebanon toward the israeli northern communities specifically to the the upper galeel so we're talking about more than 10 rockets fired from south and lebanon toward israel and as we've been seeing in the last couple of days that this calm that we have been witnessing since actually a couple of days ago could be the calm before the storm so after not hearing the sirens for a couple of days today's afternoon the siren was heard in the area of the upper galeel and now again this large barrage in the area of bet hillel and dafna which is also in the upper galeel we are witnessing of course some sort of escalation again from hezbollah's side this could be a retaliation that is not connected to the expected iranian respond late the late afternoon the israeli military said that they have targeted buildings that belong to hezbollah in south and lebanon and they have killed hezbollah militants in these buildings so this could be a retaliation for that and this is the second time for the second day in a row that israel actually announced that they target buildings that hezbollah militants are actually inside those buildings we are yet to see hezbollah announcing any more deaths in their from their militants in the ground but this could be of course coming in the coming hours and this would make the number of militants killed by israel in south lebanon more than even 270 in this conflict since the assault is started on the 8th of october so we are witnessing this and of course this readiness for israel that we can of course sense here the fighter jets are all the time in the air and i can assume also drones are activated in the air ready to intercept any attack by iran or its bruxes here in the north or other fronts as well i assume as well that as gallant has said in yesterday specifically he said that the iran dom as well as the the patriot defense system i can assume is ready to intercept any threat from iran so this multi-layer of defense is what israel is actually preparing for this possible attack that many intelligence even american intelligence is saying that this could be seen in the coming hours or later this weekend but everyone here is on high alert the military is on high alert for any interception for any rockets and one more thing that we need to say that the home front actually told the managers of the hospitals in the north that they should be ready for a possible scenario where they need more staff even in the hospital so they should check whether they have enough staff so this could also be connected to the preparation that israel is making for this attack aliyah sladeen with the latest updates coming on the northern front will be coming to you for more updates throughout the evening but thank you for giving us that report from the field to keep this conversation going i'm joined in studio by former europe and middle east editor for the associated press as well as the author of the ask questions later newsletter international affairs analyst dan perry thank you for joining us this evening dan our top story right now being the quote unquote impending threat from iran and while we're hearing different reports all right now even from different u.s. officials stating that iran will respond but what's different this time because iran making threats to israel that's nothing new and so are we playing into the psychological fear that they're trying to instill in us we clearly risk that uh israel has systems in place to uh intercept and frustrate the various kinds of attack that iran has seen is uh likely to launch or that it might launch uh and clearly state of high alerts is justified i would say this national panic uh is not and serves nothing and no one other than perhaps to give the iranians some satisfaction so when we're looking at it and we're seeing these different place countries come into preparedness i'm curious also we heard secretary of state Anthony blinkin spoke to his counterpart in china asking china to dissuade iran from having a large scale attack on israel so this goes into play with the geopolitical region and influence as well you asked what is different i think one thing that's different is that the americans are making public their own intelligence assessments that's something really is imminent uh and it would be unusual for the iranians to respond so quickly so directly having telegraphed it so so clearly yeah iranians historically don't rush to counterattack and they don't embroil themselves in conflict at a time that is convenient to the rival rather they wait and prefer the element of surprise so i i i am intrigued that the americans are projecting this degree of near certainty that something is coming and it's quite striking the degree towards their making efforts blinkin talking to his to the to china is is reflective of so many interesting things including that he believes china has a great degree of persuasion with with the iranians who among their various quote unquote successes i think we can count having become a member in good standing of the global axis of evil with the chinese and the russians i mean they're they're it's like a try over it at this point um and who knows maybe indeed the chinese can can interfere since october 7th the chinese have not been a particularly positive player in this uh in in the middle east if they want to change that posture perhaps now might be the time well speaking of iran a court in argentina has declared iran a terrorist state blaming the islamic republic of iran for the deadly attacks in buenos iris in the 90s which targeted israel's embassy and a jewish center and killed and injured hundreds of people our senior correspondent bianca zenini has more it was the deadliest bombing attack in argentina's history killing 85 people injuring 300 and shaking the country for decades the terror attack on the amia jewish community center in 1994 and on the israeli embassy two years earlier which left 29 people dead remain an open wound in argentina's jewish history for decades the bombing remained unsolved with investigators looking into allegations of corruption involving former presidents judges and the islamic republic now an argentinian court has placed the blame on iran and its proxy hezbollah calling it a crime against humanity hezbollah carried out an operation that responded to a political ideological and revolutionary design under the mandate of a government of a state the two attacks followed by years of accusations and foiled investigations scarred the jewish community in argentina the largest in latin america with some 300 000 members in 2015 jewish prosecutor alberto nisman accused former president christina fernandez de kirchner of covering up iran's involvement in the amia attack he was later found murdered in his apartment de kirchner was indicted for obstructing the investigation but the case was later dismissed this is not the first time iran has been blamed for the deadly attack and yet the case remains open and the perpetrators unpunished let's turn our attention to the south now where the fighting in gaza does continue the idf is moving forward with pinpoint operations against hamas mainly in the central and northern part of the gaza strip true plow hated explosives hidden inside classrooms of a children's school yet another example of hamas using civilian infrastructure for terror activity take a look we are here at the heart of a school that only looks innocent in the middle of this school we found a hamas simulator explosive devices that were ready to explode when our forces arrived during the day we successfully destroyed hamas infrastructures you can see the school behind me here you can see an explosive device right next to the school under a trash can inside the school we found a hamas hidden spot these are two explosive devices ready to explode on our soldiers here is where the terrorists stayed they escaped the moment we arrived here for more on the latest happening in the gaza strip our correspondent zack anders joins us live from southern israel now zack we've mentioned both the military front that continues but i want to talk about the humanitarian front as well because over the course of the week we've seen more aid than ever before enter the gaza strip and the idf says that they've opened new crossings as well so what can you tell us about the developing humanitarian situation inside gaza hi nicole from downtown estad where the port of estad is now open for ships to bring in aid we know that the ship based aid over the course of this conflict has flowed through two key points and one of those being a staging area in cyprus where apparently authorities have been able to then take the aid or monitor it somehow it's not entirely clear what exactly the method is for trying to spot weapons or anything that the idf does not want flowing into the gaza strip some of those aid ships have been facilitated through important cyprus and then move on their way to israel one of those access points being ashkelon but now estad the port of estad will be reportedly opened for those ships and the ship based aid to flow through and then by truck reach a northern crossing the erezz crossing which primarily was a pedestrian access point is now going to be open for vehicles today we're told is the day the first day that trucks have actually gone through this new point in the northern half of the gaza strip it appears that this area has just essentially the fence has been taken down and a road has been made to allow these trucks to go through we have seen that again that the most acute need for this aid has been in the northern half of the gaza strip in gaza city where it has been very difficult to facilitate these aid disbursements but it's the idf and cogat that's telling us once again that the amount of aid that's getting into the gaza strip is not the problem it's the distribution of said aid that there isn't enough resources on the ground to do this effectively or to do it in a safe manner and that this is where the bottleneck has been the idf saying in the last three days there's been a record amount of trucks beating pre-war records of the amount of truck-based aid that's gone through several different checkpoints now you can include the northern checkpoint the erezz crossing that area and of course the raffa crossing continues to be the greatest area where these trucks have been able to flow through and we're told that israeli officials are in authorities are working around the clock to scan these trucks check the aid before it goes in to ensure no weapons are being made uh being transported inside into the gaza strip zack anders with an update on the latest humanitarian situation reporting to us from southern israel thanks for that update now i want to remind our viewers we are still waiting to hear from idf spokesman hagari but in the meantime let's come back here to studio dan i'm curious to hear your thoughts because right now the idf says the war is continuing but there's one brigade operating inside gaza the nakhal brigade and so what does this mean for the future of the operation in gaza at this level of deployment in gaza and was this a tactic of surgical strikes here and there that's a recipe for forever war uh and i'm not the first to suspect that some people on the political side in israel want to prolong the war for political reasons um it uh it i think the moment approaches where a decision will have to be made uh i i was talking to a military analyst earlier today who uh who who argued that even though you can certainly present the words of success and urban successes obviously hamas has been much diminished and degraded uh it it you're at the point where if this is what you've done in six months it's time to call it a day because israel's fundamentally hamstrung by the fact that there is about a hundred hostages hopefully most of them still alive uh held by hamas out of the u.s this week stating that's could not be the case that most of them are alive well we there are various reports that may be close to half might no longer be alive but either way that's still 60 hostages uh who are alive and israel can't really go in there the the idea that this that eradicating hamas fully and rescuing the hostages by military pressure go hand in hand as opposed to contradict was a logical fallacy and after six months it's difficult to dispute that uh that's really how it's looking so there is an argument that says gaza has been punished quite stupendously hamas has been degraded very significantly israel will accept the deal that is on the table uh by hamas receive all the hostages and pull out a gaza in the war now that is a tremendous defeat uh in a way because that means it leaves hamas standing and in charge in gaza that will give sucker uh to jihadis all over the world but but if at that point israel begins preparing for the next round where it goes in without one hand tied behind its back because of the hostages then you could argue that that is a more effective way to finish the job other than as opposed to now when finishing the job may mean killing the hostages so uh if uh i would say there certainly is an argument for doing that and instituting at that point going forward an absolute zero tolerance policy let the world know that the first molecule that steps out of line by hamas and gaza will retrigger the war and see see if that doesn't cause them to be finally at last a third i would be assuming that it wouldn't uh because they are nihilistic and the arji hadis and that's in their dna i would assume the first rocket that violates the ceasefire would come and that would then trigger a final invasion of of gaza where you don't have the hostages hamstringing you what about the international pressure then because many people even are worried about a temporary ceasefire and how we might see more and more international pressure to continue to have more of a permanent ceasefire but once israel does pull out it could be more difficult to then reinvent i i assure i mean that's a concern i i i wouldn't dismiss it but on the other hand as as is usually the case in the middle east we're looking at the least bad option is the least bad option continuing the wars it is uh with israel being tired and feathered and the war being seen right now by much of the world is no longer legitimate i i you could argue it either way uh but i certainly think that there is value to public diplomacy and israel has really failed failed to explain itself to the world so i would hope if we go into this new stage and that might happen at some point um israel just makes clear that we are prepared to call it a day unless we are attacked once more and if we are attacked once more we will finish the job come up may however many people choose to protest in the streets of london we will do it but it will certainly replenish israel's uh highly depleted stock of international legitimacy damper i want to turn our attention to the west bank briefly there's reports of clashes between jewish settlers and palestinian locals with several palestinians wounded one reportedly killed after settlers opened fire in the area now at least three israeli soldiers are said to be injured as well the incident comes as idf troops and special forces are working to locate a missing 14-year-old boy from jerusalem ben yemen akhi mayer was last seen early this morning when he went out shepherding but hours later his sheep returned to the farm without him roadblocks are set up throughout the area which is northeast of ramallah as the search continues with serious concern for the boy's life now dan if these reports are all true and we did see israeli settlers open fire at palestinian locals palestinians living in the west bank this would certainly look like a uh evolving in a developing situation and could really spark the flames in the region it's no secret that hamas's desire was to have their war experience contagion not just with the hooties and hezbollah but also in in the west bank and indeed in israel itself with israeli arab citizens that mostly hasn't happened whether what we're seeing here uh reflects a change is uh is is hard to say and i wouldn't rush to that conclusion because at the end of the day uh the west bank uh has been volatile for years uh incidents happen all the time uh the most extremist fringe of the settlers in the west bank are absolutely reckless uh and and criminal in their behavior and israel should do more to control them obviously because they really are like pyromaniacs with uh with a with a lip match uh so yeah let's hope the boy's found and the perpetrator's arrested and this doesn't lead to an inflammation in the west bank because the last thing is real needs is a second front or a third they're already operating in the west bank near daily and nightly with these continued raids in the west bank but it's very low grade uh the hamas's aspiration would have been for for a fully defied of the breakout and that that has not happened uh and by the way that has not happened partly because of efforts by the pa for which to get no thanks from israel well coming back to that then when it comes to the pa and when you mentioned earlier in the broadcast plans for possibly israel pulling out of gaza having hamas continue to rule the gaza strip as one scenario as one scenario let's say then how would the pa fall into that uh my preferred option all along had been for israel to uh to uh openly state that they're goal is to to reinstate the pa in gaza if israel pulls out without having done that then obviously the pa does not have a role in gaza other than by the way to continue paying the salaries of civil servants in gaza which weirdly they continue to do um the government has refused to discuss uh this plan uh biden and much of the arab world are proposing to uh to to integrate the pa back into gaza it's part of the day after plan um israel the many mistakes among the many mistakes israel's made beginning with a complete breakdown and failure to uh act upon clear actionable intelligence before october 7th among the many mistakes has been a refusal to engage the world and explain to reinstate the pa without denying that the pa has problems they are the less bad option uh retaining hamas in charge of gaza has been something that netanyahu for years has seen as having an advantage because it weakens the pa so who knows perhaps the capitulation scenario is describing before which really is painful to contemplate maybe something that netanyahu himself actually prefers to finishing the job and reinstalling the pa which really kind of would be his only option if he really did finish the job i i want to continue to talk about what is happening in gaza they actually we were getting news that higari is speaking so let's take a listen to what uh idf spokesperson has to say hello shabbat shalom a short while ago there were sirens in the northern region and that was following launches from the lebanese territory most of the targets and the missiles were intercepted by our military there haven't been any casualties in this event over the past 24 hours we've conducted a situation estimate in the idf preparing for various scenarios following the various declarations on iranian attack the commanders of the branches presented to the chief of general staff the preparations both on the defensive and on the offensive and tailoring the operational response in all sectors it's important to state that we have been at war over the past six months and we've managed to deal with all kinds of threats our defensive mechanisms are prepared and can deal with any threat individually alongside our defensive capabilities we are also prepared for an attack we are prepared for offensive measures with various capabilities and we will know how to take action in order to prepare israeli citizens a short while ago the situation estimate of the chief of general staff along with the american military sent coms commander came to an end we are conducting a joint situation estimate to make sure that we have close cooperation i'd like to emphasize that at this point there aren't any changes in the instructions of the home front command if there is a change we will inform you immediately it is important to say that over the next few days we must be vigilant alert and prepared i know that this situation raises many questions and this is why we're going to continuously provide updates all of the instructions for the different behaviors are listed in the home front commands website we have the best defensive capabilities in the world but of course they are not a hundred percent please continue to abide by the instructions and we will inform you of any change the contact of iran throughout the war is escalating the situation in the middle east and is undermining undermining the security stability we will know how to take action wherever it is necessary over the past few hours the security forces have been operating in judein samaria in order to locate ben jamin akhi ma'ir a 14 year old teenager he has been missing since the morning we take this event very seriously and many of our forces are deployed throughout the region and participating in the search among them the isa and the israeli police we will inform you if there are any updates questions the idf radio it has been published today that the security establishment didn't properly assess the risks before it took the operation following which we are on this alert situation has there been an underestimation of iranian intentions at the beginning of the war and of course before the war as well since the beginning of the war and before iran has been operating against the state of israel during this war it's been doing so through its proxies it has done so through yemen there were cruise missiles launched from yemen and ballistic missiles all of these targets including drones and uavs we have intercepted successfully the militias in iraq have operated following direct instruction of iran and they also used uavs we intercept them every few days through the air force aircrafts or through our air defense measures and in syria as well iran has instructed and exercise capabilities his bala is funded and trained and guided by iran all of these are elements that we have been operating against over the past six months iran is pushing the region towards escalation we will know how to deal with the iranian threat we are preparing very well and we will know how to respond to whatever happens there have been publications over the past 48 hours that local authorities are opening shelters following their conversations with the home front command and that the home front command has discussed hospitals to prepare for alertness and you say that there is no special alert so there's a certain gap here can you please explain are there any specific recommendations and what dialogue does the home front command have with civilian factors the instructions of the home front command remain unchanged and yet as i've said the next few days are days in which we need to show alertness preparedness discipline as well and we need to update once we know we need to update in order to provide sufficient time for the civilian population to prepare and as we look at the at the entire situation estimate it'll take a few more days and we will know how to do so rapidly and on the spot whenever necessary we are preparing with everything that needs to be prepared whether it's schools hospitals field trips we will know how to inform the Israeli population at the right time that is our role that's our job and we do so together with the home front command in all of our conversations with the general staff and the political echelon we will know how to do so when necessary thank you very much and Shabbat Shalom you were just watching IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Higari give a press statement amid the increasing threat from Iran but as he was clear to state Israel is prepared on all fronts and at this moment there is no change in direction from the home front command for Israeli citizens here in Israel Dan I want to come back to you following this there's no changes from the home front command obviously Israel is prepared but something that he did say Higari said that while the Israelis defense is ready their offensive is also ready so they are ready to attack and retaliate as well yeah I mean that's really one of the big questions whether if Iran executes a pro forma retaliation will Israel just absorb it and and not get dragged into an escalation and I think probably what we're looking at is if the attack is only on a military base in the north or in the south it might just do that because Israel doesn't have an interest in starting a war with Iran and I think that disinterest in actual direct warfare is mutual but but in effect Higari's statement was a little bit of a threat that if Iran goes beyond that threshold then they can expect to be attacked themselves and I do believe that the US has made similar statements in recent days as well making clear as Biden said that the commitment to Israel is ironclad you don't have to use such language if the fact that the US is clearly all of this this whole all this messaging for once you have public diplomacy that is intelligent all this messaging is meant to dissuade the Iranians from overplaying their hand here so when we're looking at this it does seem that Iran on the one hand as they talk such a big talk and have these continued threats they need to walk a fine line of committing those threats without sparking a full-on regional war because there's a lot at play here if the United States does get involved yeah I I note that the Iranians never gave a timeline they just said they're gonna react so at the end of the day they can wait another year and they haven't really violated their their threats they haven't walked away from their threats as I said before that they tend to retaliate when when they think the time is right for them that said there clearly was intelligence about a particular assault that was very specific and that has been under censorship I think in Israel and whether they have been persuaded to back away from such an attack is something that will basically find out in coming days Dan Perry I'm curious to hear your recommendations right now for any citizens or people here in Israel amid all of this frenzy so to speak it's really a a waiting game and we can only provide so much analysis but what should people really be doing I almost can't believe I'm gonna utter these words given what happened here in the past six months but I think they have to I think they have to put their faith in and in the authorities and and the defense establishment and even the government because there is a state of readiness right now on October 7th there was a breakdown of readiness but Israel is presently ready as I said before sure I mean be on alert stock up whatever you feel you might need for a couple of days but I don't think there should be panic Dan Perry I appreciate your insight into all of these latest developments unraveling day 189 thank you now IDF forces in Gaza are fighting under the difficult conditions of urban warfare we're using their firearms quickly and accurately means the difference between life and death now troops can rely on a new smart gun developed by Israel weapons industry it uses a mini computer system to keep their shots right on target Mathias in bar our defense correspondent for the i-24 news french channel has the story a mini computer incorporated into a weapon the future isn't tomorrow it's very real the israeli company iwi has introduced a fourth firing mode on the trigger the arbel the system doesn't just fire when it wants it fires because I aim and pull the trigger I could continue like stopping the shooting it took us nine years to achieve an optimal result of the system for small arms and submachine guns we therefore incorporated a computer which will help the shooter to be more precise using an electric trigger and a battery the system is already operational already tested by several armies around the world and it works at all distances in all positions the keyword here is not the famous adage one shot one hit but rather aim well shoot once the rest entrusted to this mini computer we did a study of the behaviors of shooters who already have experience when the shooter aims at a moving target the system will understand analyze and give a response to a shot in motion and not as if the target was static the objective here is to fire a large number of bullets in a short period of time he fired five bullets in less than a second and all five were on target this is what we call a fatal shot the proof in pictures with the arbel the more our camera moves in the better we understand the ease with which the system allowed the shooter to aim and hit on the left the automatic fire of an experienced shooter some bullets hit the target on the right the same shooter with arbel all 10 bullets are on target it is the first weapon in the world the first that transforms a sniper rifle you turn any shooter into a sniper we said what is missing well thanks to this mini processor we managed to get the best out of any shooter we have certainly added 900 grams to the weight of the weapon but we have considerably reduced the number of bullets fired 500 in a negative arbel submachine gun double for the same weapon without a system less of ammunition it's less weight crucial in modern urban warfare like the one currently being carried out by israeli army forces in gaza let's take the example of a force ambushed in gaza or in position to this target for example the soldiers have to be much more precise and since they will manage to hit the target the arbel system addresses many problems in this regard on the battlefield let's have a look at the real conditions this negative machine gun transforms into a precision weapon most bullets hit within a few dozen meters and then this shot the drone is hit from the third bullet the arbel engineers are certain of it once operational the microprocessor will no longer have any limits we want to update everyone on our top story this evening after hearing from idf spokesman rear admiral daniel higary the question on everyone's mind does remain this evening if iran will stick to its threats and attack israel even as israel says they are prepared on all fronts multiple reports say the united states seems an attack is coming cbs news is reporting a major attack could include more than 100 drones and dozens of missiles aimed at military targets throughout the country us embassy workers and their families have been told not to travel outside the greater tel Aviv jerusalem and their sheba areas and countries including france poland and india have issued travel warnings against citizens heading to israel lebanon or iran but the question still remains is this a tangible threat or really all part of tehran's physical psychological warfare without lifting a finger they are still managing to cause panic in israeli citizens well u.s. national security counsel spokesman john curbie told reporters today that the potential threat from iran it is real and viable but israel still says they are prepared from anything and as we heard from rear admiral daniel higary he said not only is israel ready for defensive measures but possible offensive measures as well and this evening u.s central command chief met with idf chief of staff hertica levy following a comprehensive assessment of israel's readiness on all fronts we did see at the top of this broadcast as well a large barrage of rockets fired from lebanon from the iranian proxy hezbollah now claiming responsibility for that attack and the idf saying some 40 rockets were launched from southern lebanon we will continue to update you on all of these top stories on dig 189 of israel's war against tamas but as we're seeing keeping an eye on all of the different fronts in the region you can always add to i24news.tv for more updates on these developing stories but for now we are going out for a quick break thanks for tuning in who was kidnapped with her brother itai from the nova party in reyim on october 7th and frida's part of the november hostage deal spoke before the committee of the status of women and gender equality in the israeli parliament the knesset this morning in a very she spoke of the terrible ordeal the hostages go through especially the female hostages every woman there it's really hard to say this and there have been plenty of testimonies recently every woman there is subject to sexual harassment in one or another form they abandoned me once and i'm sitting there and i say to myself okay in a few days they'll come and rescue me it's not logical that so many people are prisoners what is this something like this has never happened and never in my life did i think they would take so much time another day and another day and another day i returned after 50 days and i'm dealing with things i don't want to describe what they're going through for 179 days and joining us now is avishag avinoam who's the initiator and project manager of the movement named hamas rape mitu avishag avinoam thank you very much for being with us thank you for having me and and we're hearing these these uh the we heard this testimony from maya reggae this morning it's it's not the first testimony we heard maybe not even the first testimony we heard this week we're hearing quite a difficult testimonies a can this does this eventually move decision makers to understand that six months on some kind of a deal to bring the people back now has to happen because if it doesn't happen soon maybe there'll be no one to bring back alive well i think the deal should have been made in the first weeks even before we got into gaza that's something that we should have done way long like long ago but that's a different story now we are in a completely different situation and the family is the friend of the hostages especially after the multiple reports coming out from the new york times the guardian now at the kinesa there is this committee about the association the report of the association of rape crisis in israel and the un report and so forth really four official report that came out showing on the state that the hostages might be in and this is not a good state and we have to do everything possible in order to pressure the government really to make an effort to release the remaining hostages hopefully they will be back safe and alive i understand there are some difficulties moral difficulties in regarding of releasing prisoners terrorists we all acknowledge that that's what it takes in order to take them out but since the government did not stand in permission to protect the citizens of southern israel during october 7th and also there are many also reports coming out showing about the immense a lack of of organization and that happened within military units and within the security system in israel so you know they just cannot come to the hostages families and friends and the ones who are active to their release they cannot just say we cannot do that now because they are demanding a high price to pay we aware of that we know that but we have no choice we have to first bring them back and then solve the issue one and for all if it's possible abisha could you tell us more about this this project the Hamas raped me too what what does that mean what exactly are you promoting okay so our project rose after the october 7th with a group of volunteers what we've done and we're still doing today but the intensity of the work was obviously in the first few months of the war we were monitoring the social activity of human rights children's rights and women's rights organizations on all of their social media platforms and their website checking their statements their posts they are sharing we just want to see how they react to the events that took place to the attack and obviously to the sexual assaults we're focusing now on women's rights organizations also children's rights that were absolutely silent like save the children and plan international unicef they were all silent about what happened to israel children we emailed them we demanded their condemnation we demanded them to come up with a statement to release the hostages or children at least or from women organization to condemn the rapes and sexual assaults and to demand their release and we encounter with silent really the only a few organization that really replied to us were it really the replies were were a laughing stock really you you look at the email that they are sending me and it's the justifying the attack uh oxfam international addressed us to their q and a section on their website they say the condemnation appears there and it appears under the question why we don't talk about israel it's really absurd it's really absurd and you know this is what we are dealing we are dealing with um uh very left extreme left organizations that refuse to make a political uh distinguish between what happened to innocent people to the political map of the region they just refuse to make this difference and they're not supposed to do politics that's that's the thing so we are very surprised by that and so after email then after email emailing them and demanding their condemnation and see that we don't have really a partner to talk to talk with we started a campaign of shame online and we are active on our social media mainly on instagram we are shaming every few weeks we taking one organization and we are shaming them we had that with the toronto rape crisis center which they said nothing about what happened and in february they decided to host an event on their facilities cooperating with uh two extreme uh very extreme pro-palestinian organizations in toronto that demanding the release of the terrorists from the prisoners before the release of the hostages so uh we shamed them uh online and they were uh it was a big scandal around this event uh that we shamed them and they ended up eventually um uh apologizing and canceling the um and the collaboration with these two organizations and turning back to that fateful october 7th massacre the children of kibbutz berri suffered an unbelievable trauma that will take a lifetime to heal and only days ago some of those children who survived the massacre returned home for the very first time more in this next report how are you are you excited or a bit tense or both we too do you remember that conversation we had six months ago we met at the dead sea hotel and i asked you what you missed most uh i've heard so much about your house and all the stories you've told me but i wanted to ask you aren't you afraid of seeing things that are too difficult for you well let's go it's been five months since we last saw each other and i'd love to know how you've been since it can't be do you still feel comfortable there or have you had enough easy how does it feel to see what's going on here in the kibbutz what kind of emotions do you feel i'd like to ask you what has changed since the last time we saw each other the last time we saw each other you told me that every Friday night you would have trouble falling asleep is it because you don't want to wake up on Saturday morning and experience what happened all over again so how come So all the time you were locked up in the shelter, this was the only light you had? He's still not sure? Do you still think a lot about what happened? How do you do it? Does it bother you that I talk about it with you? Do you try to erase them? Is everyone okay? Niri, how are you? How are we going? What was your grandmother's name? Is it hard for you to be here? Can you tell me a bit about your grandmother, Pessie? For example, what did she like to do? I'm told you look a lot like her. What resembles her most?  What's Amos's corner? How does it feel to be here now? I think it's important for us to be here and feel the house. It's all different from when you were in the shelter. Niri, come here. No, I'm not going inside. I'm going inside just to get out. This was your kindergarten? Yes. It used to be here. We used to play here. We used to play here. Yes, we used to play here. You know, we don't like to play in the playground. What do you miss most? The house. The house. The house. The house is normal. The most important thing is to bring back all our children. That it's like a child.  Yes.  Do you think they'll all come back? Yes. Do you think about them a lot? I don't think they'll all come back. But they'll all come back. I remember when we first met, you told me, we're not moving back home. I don't go back to the house. As long as you don't come back. This is for the safety of the house. Are the hostages the most important thing? Most importantly, more than everything. We want them to come back, and if we want them to, it will happen. What are we eating? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Everyone's mind this evening is if Iran will stick to its threats and attack Israel. The United States seems to think so. It is now moving an aircraft carrier through the Red Sea towards Israel in a show of deterrence against Iran. US Embassy workers and their families have been told not to travel outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and their Shabbat areas. Countries including France, Poland and India have issued travel warnings against citizens heading to Israel, Lebanon or Iran. But is this a tangible threat or all part of Tehran's psychological warfare? US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the potential threat from Iran is real and viable. But as we heard from IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari this evening, Israel is prepared for anything. And as of right now, there are no changes to the Home Front Command instructions. I'd like to emphasize that at this point there aren't any changes in the instructions of the Home Front Command. If there is a change, we will inform you immediately. It is important to say that over the next few days we must be vigilant, alert and prepared. I know that this situation raises many questions and this is why we're going to continuously provide updates. All of the instructions for the different behaviors are listed in the Home Front Command's website. We have the best defensive capabilities in the world, but of course they are not 100%. Please continue to abide by the instructions and we will inform you of any change. The contact of Iran throughout the war is escalating the situation in the Middle East and is undermining the security stability. We will know how to take action wherever it is necessary. Within the past hour, some 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel. The Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for this latest barrage. Let's get an update from the field. Our correspondent Baleris Ladin is in northern Israel right now. Baler, what is the latest on the northern front as we're seeing from both these Iranian proxies and as Israel prepares for maybe a threat from Iran itself? Yes, exactly. But as we've said in the last coverage, this large barrage that we've seen this day isn't connected to the Iranian response. It's actually because of the latest Israeli attacks on southern villages in Lebanon, Ita, Shab and Taiba. Both of these sites, apparently, as the IDF has said, militants that belong to Hezbollah has been eliminated and has been killed. So that's why we are seeing this large barrage against Israeli targets. We're talking about 50 or even more Katyusha launcher rockets that were fired through from, excuse me, southern Lebanon to the shilling possessions or the artillery possessions of Israel. And this is, again, the response that Hezbollah has for the latest Israeli attacks on southern sites in southern Lebanon. So the Israeli military also said in the last hour that it has intercepted two explosive drones that were fired from southern Lebanon to Israel. We've heard the sirens at least once in Hula. And another one in the upper Galil where there were suspicious of a drone that has entered the Israeli airspace. Both cases hasn't resulted in any damage or casualties as the Israeli military is saying. And also this afternoon, the rocket that was fired at Margaliot and the siren was heard there also was actually falling in open terrain. So we're seeing that Hezbollah is escalating the situation here after two days of relative calm here in this front. But this apparently has been the calm before the storm. Aliyah Sledin with the update on the latest happening on the northern front. Thank you so much for joining us in that latest report. Now, these are all of the tough stories we have time for on this latest edition of I-24 News. We are going out for a quick break, but you can always head to i-24news.tv for updates on these developing stories. For now, I'm Nicole Zettick, and thanks so much for tuning in. Francis met today with members of the families of the 133 Israelis held captive by Hamas and Gaza. It is the Pontiff's first such meeting with hostage relatives since last November. Now, the Pope has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for facilitating access to humanitarian aid for negotiations to end the war, also for release of the hostages. Now, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who accompanied the hostage families to Italy, said the purpose of the Vatican meeting was to, quote, strengthen them and support the return of the abductees home, adding that Francis' support, quote, has great moral and practical weight. Now, among those present at the meeting was Gal Delale, survivor of the Nova Music Festival, whose brother Guy is still being held hostage in Gaza, along with his mother, Mirav. And joining us is now, is Ilan Delale, father of Guy Delale. He brings your speaks to us from Alfie Menasha. I don't know if you've spoken to your wife and son there, but what can you tell us? Is there something you could tell us about that meeting today in the Vatican and how you see maybe its importance? I should say there were about five hostage families that were represented there. Good evening. Yes, my wife and son traveled to Italy with the Foreign Minister and some of the other hostages' families. In order to talk to the Pope, tell him our stories, let him hear our pain and make him work with us in order to release the hostages. I talked to my wife earlier and she said that the Pope was very empathic. He had very much patience for them. He listened to everybody and then they had a common prayer together. He promised that he will help whatever he can to help release the hostages. I think that he is going to do whatever he can. There was also a meeting, I believe, with Italy's Foreign Minister requesting Italy's support in raising the issue of the hostages. There is a feeling I have a lot. Maybe you feel that in recent months, especially in recent weeks, the cries for immediacies fire in the international community and media have overtaken those cries to free the hostages, in some cases separating from them. Do you have that sense and what could be done to reverse that trend? Well, it is very frustrating. At first, most of the countries supported Israel. They understood the danger of the fundamental Islam and the extermination of Hamas. Along the way, something happened. I don't know. Somehow, all the world is very, very looking forward to Gaza and they want to help them and I don't know what happened, but it is frustrating and we need to work harder in order to explain ourselves and let the world understand that they must report Israel because Israel is fighting their fight right now because in five or ten years what happened in Israel will happen to them exactly in their homes in London and in Paris and they must understand it because if they won't, they will have the same as us. Right. Elon, I almost hate asking family members of hostages how they are feeling on any particular day because it can be very frustrating, I understand for you, but there are some signs, indications, circumstances we heard that even the defense ministers say this is an opportune time to make a deal. How are you feeling right now? Is there any you feel hope for optimism that in the coming days or weeks there might be a breakthrough? Well, it's been four months since the last deal and during this time we heard many talks about deals that just about to be happened and it didn't happen. So today I just watched three different channels and so three different ways to see what's going on and everybody, all the reporters say what they think and nobody really knows what's going on. So we try not to listen to the media and wait for the former announcement. Right. It's been six months on, but even now UD has some voices in the government even from some ministers from some segments in Israeli society, so I think a minority now seeming to put more stress on say the mission to defeat Hamas than on releasing the hostages. I don't want to get specific, you can if you want, but what is your message this evening maybe to some of those people? Well, there are two ways to release the hostages. One is by military force and the other is by negotiation and make a deal. I told the prime minister when we met that I'm going to support whatever he decided that it's best to release the hostages but if you think that it's a military way, then do it, but it didn't happen until now. So I guess they're going to the other way which means negotiations and a deal. I really hope that the deal will come out now and the hostages, most of them will be free. Of course, if you're talking about both of them opposed to the deal before and I think they will oppose to the deal now but fortunately there are more people that can vote for the deal so they don't have much influence about this. Ambassador Lee, I thank you for joining us. I think in the past when we've talked about Israel's diplomatic differences with Turkey, you've made the point that Erdogan always kept the economic connections going. He separated out diplomacy from trade. So how serious is this step now of taking economic sanctions of Turkey against Israel? It's certainly serious. It's civilian goods that are under an agreement, a trade agreement, free trade agreement that we signed with Turkey in 1996. So it's against all regulations, trade regulations. So it has a bilateral meaning because the goods are very important especially to the construction business here that is in a sensitive situation now but it has also a wider meaning because this can affect other countries as far as I know it's the first country that has full diplomatic relations with Israel that is applying sanctions on civilian goods, some spoke on weapons, some spoke on sanctions on settlers and settlements but I think it's the only one, it's the first one. It definitely hopes that there will be more following but they're bilaterally important and also globally. Now we know it was really maybe economic concerns that fueled Erdogan's reprochement with Israel looking maybe to join with Israel and exploiting that natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean. Israel now says it's going to apply sanctions back on Turkey in response. Is that the proper way you think to deal with this situation to strike Israel, to strike back at Turkey with its own economic sanctions? One of the sad things here is that Erdogan did it because he feels that Israel is much weaker than it was on the 6th of October and its ability to respond also globally through the United States or through Europe or through international organizations is minimal. The bilateral response is also not so meaningful because Erdogan has still things that he can go ahead with and if we will revenge by limiting Israeli goods to go to Turkey, he can still stop the oil, the Azerbaijanian oil from coming to Israel because the pipeline is going through Turkey. So I'm not sure an economic revenge from the Israeli side will be much felt in Turkey and I think it can trigger further moves by Turkey. Right. One last question briefly. Do you think eternal politics in Turkey is a factor here, as we said in our report? Yes, yes, definitely, definitely. During the municipal elections right before the opposition demanded stopping the trade with Israel and even was critical on Erdogan for not doing so. He has the feeling somehow that one of the reasons for his defeat was that he didn't take such measures before the municipal elections, so he's doing it now. I think it is a factor, but not as much as the feeling he has that Turkey does not suffer any reaction, international reaction as might have been a year or two ago when Israel had a different international standing. In the United States and also in Germany, these are the two leading foreign suppliers of defense products to Jerusalem. In fact, the U.S. accounts for 69% of armed supplies to Israel and Germany to 30%. A mandate set down in the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding promised a total of $676 billion. I think we have some visuals on this of the US military aid over 10 years. Germany's arms sales to Israel totaled $326.5 million, mainly for air defense systems and communications equipment. At the Hague in the Netherlands today, German officials responded strongly to accusations made by Nicaragua's leftist government that charging Berlin with facilitating what it characterizes as Israel's campaign of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Here's what the legal advisor to Germany's foreign ministry had to say after today's hearing at the IJC. Unlike Nicaragua, we are striving to do justice to both parties to the conflict. We are guided by respect for international law, responsibility for the security of Israel, respect for the suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza, efforts to free the Israeli hostages, as well as by the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination in the context of a two-state solution. We have stated that we'll reject Nicaragua's unfounded accusations and there is no reason for the ICJ to adopt provisional measures. Well, let's go to Berlin and speak with journalist and political analyst James Jackson. And James, how is this being taken now in Germany? The irony, of course, from our perspective in Israel to see Germany being accused of abetting genocide in helping Jews defend itself as opposed to committing genocide against the Jewish people. Well, of course, the genocide convention was set up after the Second World War by a Polish Jew, Raphael Lemkin, who wanted to see people on trial for committing genocide against the Jews. So there is a certain historical irony about this case. However, I think that also makes it slightly painful or even just awkward for many Germans to see themselves effectively on trial for genocide again, but this time for supporting the Jews or rather the state of Israel, the Jewish state, instead of for committing the Holocaust. And I think that's why they made one of their arguments today, which was that one of their principal arguments was that the support for Israel came from Germany's responsibilities from its history. However, some would also say critics might argue that Germany should have learned a responsibility for all of humanity, especially the Jews, and not just for defending the Jewish state. It's a big political discussion that has been taking place in Germany. In the meantime, the German public have changed their opinion and are backing a ceasefire by a large majority with 8 out of 10 now wanting Israel to stop. 69% want an immediate ceasefire and 8 out of 10 want Germany to put pressure on Israel. So we've seen a noted change in senior politicians. Previously, these were activists on the street, many of them Palestinian themselves or pro-Palestinian. But I do think that the centre of society has taken a more critical line towards Israel. That, of course, does not mean that they support Nicaragua's accusation of genocide or that will go through in the court in the preliminary measures or towards the final ruling of the ICJ. Organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest released a statement today condemning death threats directed against Israel's contestant Edin Golan, who is set to perform next month in the competition under very heavy security in Sweden. But other Israeli performers and artists or those who are identifiably Jewish or being targeted or seen as pro-Israel are being targeted by protesters and finding their concerts and events cancelled by cow promoters or venues. Nicole Sedeck has the latest on this very real and potentially dangerous manifestation of cancel culture. The Jews have been cancelled. Literally. The band HaGehudim, which translates as the Jews in Hebrew, was told there's a problem with the political nature of their name, causing a New York concert venue to cancel their scheduled performance. The Israeli band is the latest to take a hit in the culture war brewing abroad. American Jewish rapper Matis Yahu had three of his shows cancelled over threat of pro-Palestinian anti-Israel protests. And he's not even Israeli. When there's this opposition or being pushed against the wall, like, you know, like some kind of thing comes out, so it's been very, like, made me, in some ways made me feel like a stronger connection to Israel and a more powerful connection to my Jewish identity. Matis Yahu says he'll keep playing shows to overpower the hate. But for many Jewish artists, the hate is pouring in online. Israel's Eurovision contestant, Eden Golan, has reportedly received death threats on Instagram. Her only crime being born in Israel, a country at war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza. In response, the Eurovision Broadcasting Union posted this statement, saying the EBU recognizes the strong emotions stirred by this year's Eurovision Song Contest and the intense debate sparked by the inclusion of an Israeli entry, adding, we are firmly against any form of abuse or harassment at participants, online or offline. There's a full fact section on the official Eurovision website dedicated to answering people's questions on why Israel is allowed to participate. Similar displays of anti-Semitism threatened to cancel. Israeli singer, Edwin Benziken's show in Paris this week. She sat down for an interview with I-24 News to discuss the difficulties of performing right now. I am an Israeli Jew, yes. It's very, very difficult. We don't feel safe, but it's not just in Paris. It's really everywhere. We can't feel safe. But we are here. We will win. The nation of Israel lives. All of these stars targeted for their Jewish identity say they won't back down and will continue to play whatever venues do. Welcome them in. Well, for more, we're joined now by Noah Shufotinsky. He is an educational and outreach manager with the group Stand With Us. But he is also a musician, a rapper, goes by the name of West Side Gravy. He joins us this evening from Tel Aviv. And, Noah, you were an artist before your time, in a sense, because you were speaking out in words and music against the BDS movement well before October 7th. But what we're really seeing since then is it really going up so much dramatically. So I want to just get your, first of all, just your response to these kind of events. This group that you deem being canceled, Mattis Yahu, and it seems anything connected with not just Israel, but Jewish, now is facing the risk of being literally canceled. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I think it's tragic that something is powerful as music. It's always been a tool where people are able to come together and hear perspectives and stories that they never would have heard once again as a battleground against Jews. Right, and let me ask you about, you're someone who I know had, as I said before, for a number of years spoken out in some of your music. You've discussed these issues. How concerned with you'd be about going abroad, going to the U.S. and performing and facing, let's say, threats out, right, threats now? So I've actually traveled to the United States and to a few other countries since October 7th, sometimes also with the intention to go and perform music, and it's something that I've been very aware of. I've received threats every day already on social media. You know, I wake up to a new death threat surrounding just my relationship to my country, to my homeland, and to my culture. And I think that these concerns of artists are all 100% founded in reality. They're based in the reality that us as the Jewish people and us as we have to deal with the double standard when it comes to sharing our culture. And unfortunately, that's manifested into threats of violence. I think it's important for us to know that no matter what, we have to still show up and we have to still use our voices because as artists, that's the gift that we've been given. That's the gift we're able to share with the world. Right. Now, you have roots in the United States and the Jewish community there, also the African American community. What about your reaction to the artistic community? What should be that art, that culture should, in a sense, be shielded from this kind of political intimidation that we're seeing, for example, against someone like Ed and Golan in the Eurovision? I think it's extremely sad to see the lack of solidarity by people. I like to try and focus on the solidarity that does exist amongst Jews and non-Jews who are supporting our artists. And I think that once again, seeing the reaction that we got, even from the beginning, having to revise her song because her experience as a Jewish person and as an Israeli on October 7th was apparently political, goes to show what we have to face as a people. As a child, my parents raised me to understand that being black and being Jewish, I was going to have to sometimes work twice as hard as people next to me simply because of my identity and how people perceive that and would discriminate against me. And at the end of the day, I wasn't an excuse not to work hard, not to represent who I am, but it's the reality. And I think this is just another example of the reality that we face because of something that you can't say is a political issue. You can't say that it's just anti-Israel or against an Israeli policy. It's against the existence of Jewish people and out of connection to the homeland that we come from, which is silent. I was kidnapped with her brother, Itai, from the Nova Party in Raim on October 7th and freed as part of the November Hostage Deal, spoke before the committee of the status of women and gender equality in the Israeli parliament, in a very strong testimony. In a very strong testimony, she spoke of the terrible ordeal the hostages go through, especially the female hostages. Every woman there, it's really hard to say this and there have been plenty of testimonies recently. Every woman there is subject to sexual harassment in one or another form. They abandoned me once and I'm sitting there and I say to myself okay, in a few days they'll come and rescue me. It's not logical that so many people are prisoners. What is this? Something like this has never happened and never in my life did I think it would take so much time. Another day and another day and another day. I returned after 50 days and I'm dealing with things. I don't want to describe what they're going through for 179 days. And joining us now is Avishag Avinoam, who's the initiator and project manager of the movement named Hamas Rape Mitu. Avishag Avinoam, thank you very much for being with us. Thank you for having me. We're hearing these, we heard this testimony from Maya Regev this morning. It's not the first testimony we heard, maybe not even the first testimony we heard this week. We're hearing quite difficult testimonies. Can this, does this eventually move decision makers to understand that six months on some kind of a deal to bring the people back now has to happen because if it doesn't happen soon, maybe there'll be no one to bring back alive. Well, I think the deal should have been made in the first weeks, even before we got into Gaza. That's something that we should have done way long like long ago. But that's a different story. Now we are in a completely different situation and the families, the friends of the hostages, especially after the multiple reports coming out from the New York Times to Guardian now at the Knesset there is this committee about the association, the report of the association of red crisis in Israel and the UN report and so forth. Really, the report that came out showing the state that the hostages might be in and this is not a good state and we have to do everything possible in order to pressure the government really to make an effort to release the remaining hostages. Hopefully they will be back safe and alive. I understand there are some difficulties, moral difficulties regarding of releasing prisoners, terrorists we all acknowledge that that's what it takes in order to take them out but since the government did not stand in permission to protect the citizens of southern Israel during October 7th and also there are many also reports coming out showing about the immense lack of organization that happen within military units and within the security system in Israel. So, they just cannot come to the hostages families and friends and the ones who are active to their release. They cannot just say we cannot do that now because they are demanding a high price to pay. We aware of that, we know that but we have no choice. We have to first bring them back and then solve the issue one and for all if it's possible. Avisha, could you tell us more about this project the Hamas rape need to what does that mean, what exactly are you promoting? Okay, so our project rose after the October 7th with a group of volunteers what we we've done and we still do it today but the intensity of the work was obviously in the first few months of the war we were monitoring the social activity of human rights, children's rights and women's rights organizations on all of their social media platforms and their website checking their statements that they are sharing we just want to see how they react to the events that took place to the attack and obviously to the sexual assaults we are focusing now on women's rights organizations also children's rights that were absolutely silent like save the children and plan international UNICEF they were all silent about what happened to Israel children we emailed them with the mandate with demanding them to come up with a statement to release the hostages or the children at least or for a women organization to condemn the rapes and sexual assaults and to demand their release and we encounter with silent really the only a few organizations that really reply to us were really the replies were were a laughing stock you look at the email that they are sending me and it's justifying the attack Oxfam International addressed us to their Q&A section on their website they say the condemnation appears there and it appears under the question why we don't talk about Israel it's really absurd and this is what we are dealing with very left extreme left organizations that refuse to make a political distinguish between what happened to innocent people to the political map of the region they just refuse to make this difference and they're not supposed to do politics that's the thing so we are very surprised by that and so after email then after email them and demanding their condemnation and see that we don't have really a partner to talk to talk with we started a campaign of shame online and we are active on our social media mainly on Instagram we are shaming every few weeks we taking one organization and we are shaming them with the Toronto rape crisis center which they said nothing about what happened and in February they decided to host an event on their facilities cooperating with two extreme very extreme pro-Palestinian organizations in Toronto that demanding the release of the terrorists from the prisoners before the release of the hostages so we shamed them online and there was a big scandal around this event that we shamed them and they ended up eventually apologizing and cancelling the collaboration with these two organizations and turning back to that fateful October 7th massacre the children of Kibbutz-Berry suffered an unbelievable trauma that will take a lifetime to heal and only days ago some of those children who survived the massacre returned home for the very first time more in this next report how are you are you excited or a bit tense or both me too remember that conversation we had six months ago at the Dead Sea Hotel and I asked you what you missed most I've heard so much about your house and all the stories you've told me but I wanted to ask you aren't you afraid of seeing things that are too difficult for you now let's go well let's go it's been five months since we last saw each other and I'd love to know how you've been since it can't be do you still feel comfortable there or have you had enough how does it feel to see what's going on here in the Kibbutz what kind of emotions do you feel I'd like to ask you what has changed since the last time we saw each other the last time we saw each other you told me that every Friday night you would have trouble falling asleep is it because you don't want to wake up on Saturday morning and experience what happened all over again it's like the storm there's a storm in the neighborhood outside of the tunnel I took all this, thank you I took all this too I'm already starting to get up ok, this is I've already finished you've already finished the dishes yes, we've finished all the dishes of the house so all the time you're locked up in the shelter this was the only light you had he's still not sure do you still think a lot about what happened how do you do it does it bother you that I talk about it with you do you try to erase that I don't know how to say it but I don't know I don't know I don't know what's going on it's like I'm hearing something is everyone ok? Niri, how are you? how are you? I didn't hear anything it was a canyon it was a canyon where are we going? what was your grandmother's name? I don't know but I don't know and it's in my heart it's all it's my grandmother's name is it hard for you to be here? no can you tell me a bit about your grandmother Pessie? I don't know what to say for example, what did she like to do? she liked me I'm told you look a lot like her what resembles her most? by a knife do you miss her a lot? what's Amos's corner? it's such a small place that we had to come here there are a lot of holes I just opened the window a little bit this is the holes how does it feel to be here now? it feels like a place like this that's important to me and to feel the house it's everything that goes in the corner look, let's go no, I'm not going in I'm going in this was your kindergarten? yes here it was we used to play we used to play you know I don't know what do you miss most? the house where? the house the main thing the most important thing is to bring all the holes that's like that you can live without yes you can't live without all the holes do you think they'll all come back? yes do you think about them a lot? yes but there's a lot of holes I remember when we first met you told me we're not moving back home are the hostages the most important thing? what are we eating? tell me, does eating what you like here make you feel a bit at home? who wants to come back to Barry? is it clear for you or you hesitating? I don't know when I look back at it now almost six months later it was a primal reaction it was like a fight or flight reaction it's a lot of people that are speaking up obviously we wish there would be more I might be the loudest I might be the most vulgar my being what I represent, who I am is under attack I just want to say it's a real pleasure to be here thank you guys for honoring us for encouraging us it feels nice sometimes we feel very alone out there but we also feel this deep sense of being connected to each other to Israel singing superstar Matis Yahu was also part of the ceremony's panel discussion Matis Yahu, who has a new single and is working on 40 unreleased songs as well as performing in Israel for the second time since October 7th spoke to me backstage before the ceremony in some ways made me feel like a stronger connection to Israel a powerful connection to my Jewish identity it kind of like brought me kind of back to this focal point of being kind of this feeling of when there's this opposition or being pushed against the wall I think that people like Rapa Port and Matis Yahu represents the best values of our Israel to be a proud Jew and like Mordechai in the Megillah Mordechai won't bend on his knees in the face of evil in the face of anti-Semitism and this is the test for every Jew today in the world Michael Rapa Port and Matis Yahu live in New York where anti-Semitism and violence against Jews are rising to levels never seen in modern history that's just not what New York City represents and true New Yorkers are I would imagine that the majority of those people running around doing this are not New Yorkers because that's not the New York spirit and now it's a time for the city to make a statement protecting the Jews because they've made statements protecting other people and New York City is a city for everybody Are you feeling threatened in any way being a Jew walking around with a high in New York? I don't know, not so much I don't really walk around much to tell you the truth I don't know I don't go out Polish Influencers Stefan Thompson who is not Jewish has been one of the biggest advocates for Israel because this is a fight for our very survival it is the survival of Western civilization we need Israel and Israel needs the West and that is what we need Really singer Michal Greenglick performed on stage she is carrying on the legacy of her brother Shaul a soldier who died in Gaza on December 26 My brother was an amazing singer he participated in the next start to the Eurovision he decided to leave the show and to join his friends in the army he fell on December 26 in a heroic battle where he defended all his soldiers since Shaul died that's what I do I go on stages, I sing I try to give as much as hope and strength as I can through the words and the singing and the music and even though the hostages have not yet returned and the war with Gaza is not over Jewish pride and unity around the diaspora will only continue to flourish I want everybody to continue to stay sane and everything I lead with is for the hostages, for the hostage families for the idea, for their families for the survivors because the fact that we're still dealing with this 178 days later those people that I just mentioned have a chance to heal or mourn because we're still in it I think the Jewish people will always be bickering and arguing with each other but then when obviously there's a tragic situation we also shine and we come together and we shine our light very strongly so it's like a balanced thing like darkness and light In Jerusalem, Emily Francis I-24 News Israel 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 lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well News 24 To the latest edition of I-24 News I'm Nicole Zadek with the top stories in Israel and the region The IDF says some 40 rockets were fired towards northern Israel this evening. The Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the latest attack It comes as the big question remains if Iran is going to stick to its threats and pull a major attack on Israel the United States seems to think so and it's now moving an aircraft carrier through the Red Sea towards Israel in a show of deterrence against Iran US Embassy workers and their famili