no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. Remove it from your vocabulary altogether. We say this both to our enemies and to our friends. We will continue until we defeat them. We have no alternative. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Khaled bin David. It is day 30 of Israel's war against Hamas. The IDF continues its military operations in northern central Gaza, with more than 100 airstrikes hitting Hamas facilities and tunnels, as its troops advance on Gaza City. The toll stands at some 1,400 Israelis killed since October 7, including 345 soldiers, 29 of them in the Gaza ground operation, excuse me, 33 of them in the Gaza ground operation. The IDF confirms 241 held hostage in Gaza. The Hamas health ministry in Gaza claims a number of killed there, nearing 10,000. The IDF today reopened a humanitarian corridor for two hours, so Gaza civilians could travel south out of the main battle zone. But said its soldiers along that corridor came under attack from Hamas gunmen. On the northern front, an anti-tank missile launched from Lebanon hit a car near Kibbutz Yiftakh, killing one of its occupants as Israel continues to trade forces from Hezbollah and other terror groups across the frontier. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the Biden administration continues to press Israel for a humanitarian pause in the fighting. And we do have some breaking news right now. The breaking news right now, there was a red alert in the Tel Aviv area, in central Tel Aviv, including the area of the studio, including areas such as Wishaw and Lezion. We have in studio Reserves IDF Major General Eitan Dango, the former military secretary and three defense ministers, former coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories. Eli Hachenberg, of course, I-24 News anchor, Eli, we're in the middle of a red alert right here again in Tel Aviv. Our colleagues once again rushing to shelter. We cannot even count the amount of times that this had happened in recent weeks. And if I'm not mistaken, we can also hear right now what I hope, the sounds of our interceptions above the Jaffa skies, indeed an ongoing situation as well altogether going into high alert mode during those evening hours, not something that any person should ever get used to, but in the context or in the frameworks of this war. The abnormal, normal, if you will, Kalev, and speaking of the abnormal, normal, we had a briefing this afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sounding that it is becoming very personal, has put it that way with the Yixin War, the leader of Hamas and the Gaza Strip, saying that he's like a little Hitler in a bunker. This is how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defining Senwar, his people. He couldn't care less about his people as in Gaza residents, of course. And all of this is happening, of course, as the ground operation continues to gain a steam on the ground. The encirclement of Gaza City continues in full swing. And one of the main objectives of this operation is, of course, to eliminate not just Hamas's capabilities, but also Hamas's leaders. So these are remarks by the Israeli Prime Minister very much echo these war objectives. And now to other perhaps interesting comments made by senior diplomatic officials today, talking about a day after, even though it sounds very far away, obviously there's a lot of talk, especially in Ramallah today, Palestinian Authority President speaking about a day after with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. And here in Israel, diplomatic officials are telling us that they don't see any situation, which Israel do not have the supreme security responsibility in Gaza. It does not mean that Israel has any desire to rule the Gaza Strip whatsoever. But in terms of the security mechanisms, Israel is in it for the long ground. Now, another front call of this, we're not talking about often. And thankfully, this is the case, right? The West Bank, for the time being, it seems that the lid atop this boiling pot is being held tight. And yet, and Israel knows that according to this diplomatic source, it can change in a second. And Israel is ready to this type of scenario. Again, the possibility that this very deceiving quiet in the West Bank will flip Israel getting ready to that. And on the northern front, perhaps if you will, Kalev, the most alarming update we've heard today from a diplomatic source that the communities in the north will or would return the civilians of these northern communities will go back home pending on the success on the victory down south. As in, from what we understand, there is no intention now to deal with the northern threat. And it all comes down to the ability of Israel to have a clear victory in the Gaza Strip. Which may, which will likely take months from now. So saying that they're not going to be coming. Of course, those comments, maybe. No security reassurances when it comes to the northern. No. And of course, today and the time we saw an Israeli civilian killed by a rocket in the north. Yes, and he was drawn on the road and he was hit by an anti-tank missile. Of course, Israel has tried to evacuate civilians from that border area. But some are still there. Some are still working there, obviously, and unfortunately, one lost their life. Eitan, I want to go refer to some of the remarks that Ellie just made. She heard from a diplomatic source about Israel wanting to keep security, does not want to, of course, rule over Gaza, but wants to keep the security control over Gaza, akin to how it has in the West Bank. But is that something really feasible? How is that technically even feasible? Because unlike the West Bank, there is a clearly defined border there with Gaza. It's immediately bring you the thinking about West Bank and area A and B. What does it mean, I think, that there are a few conditions that doesn't matter who will be there at the end. One thing, sure, Israel is not intent to be the one that will control the life in the Gaza Strip. But there will be some kind of a strip, a perimeter that will make sure that between the fence and the depths, like something I estimate between two to three kilometers that will be clean from anything else. We will not allowed to be there any more kind of people from Hamas on the fence. Secondly, I think that we will keep the right to be active everywhere in the Gaza Strip while we will see any kind of breaking the, let's say, the threat towards Israel that we will be able to active in those places. But Kalev, to be honest, it looks like from now a long distance. What we will have to do first of all, and this is why it's very foggy, the end the game of this kind of thing, it's the fact that we have to break and to destroy the Hamas leadership or to move them outside of Gaza or to make a kind of a procedure that the process of the structure of the Gaza Strip held or controlled by Hamas, also armed by Hamas will not be exist anymore. For such a thing, you will have to pay attention, patient, and this is the meaning that it will take time. I'm not translate what Ali said about the long time that Israel declare its combination of a time to keep or to reach the main goal by the military step and after that will be months that you will have to correct and to make it on the way to make sure that you destroy because we cannot destroy in few minutes or a few months all the structure of Hamas, it will take time. Meanwhile, you will have to be assisted like a modulary system. This is my own estimated from my experience to be working with the international community, especially with the movements like Red Cross, like the UNRA and the others, together with civilian, civilian municipalities that already have the tools to control the civilian and then if you get the achievement and you get what you need to do with Hamas, I'm sure that you will see kind of adding up in modern countries that now cannot declare about their aim to be there. The end game will be a question about the Palestinian authorities. So in this respect, if I may add to that point, speaking of the day after in the Palestinian Authority, the senior official is also telling us today that it is not enough to re-validate Gaza in terms of infrastructure if and when, of course, the time comes. It also must be put through, and I'm quoting here, through the process of denazification in terms of the culture of the Palestinian Authority as in the desire, the will of killing Jews. This official is saying, still very much exists among the Palestinian Authority ranks. And this is something more cultural, more spiritual that will have to be addressed. We have to say denazification as it took place in post-war Germany was a process of years, Eli. So an ambitious undertaking for Gaza. I would like to make it clear when I analyze the military situation. We surround the north part of Gaza. We are moving well. We are moving slowly, but on the right professional way. And we are looking out to deal with the underground tunnels, because it's something very complicated. It means that till now, Hamas have capacities. Like now, when we are here in the Arsirene, it will take at least a few weeks. But when we will get the first achievements about it, I'm sure you will see a new kind of turning the circle by Egypt, by others, other countries, and the United States is really deeply involved. We'll talk a little about that further on. I want to thank Eli Hockenberg for coming into studio with us. Speaking about some of these military developments today, the IDF spokesperson, we're Admiral Daniel Hagari, did give a briefing to international media this afternoon presenting new evidence, for example, of Hamas trying to block the flow of civilians to that safer zone that the IDF has established in the southern half of the Gaza Strip. Here is some of that. And I want to show you how Hamas blocks the road. Hamas tries to prevent Gazans from moving south. They put roadblock to stop civilians from leaving Jabalia. I want to be clear, the IDF adjusted our ground operations to keep the corridors from the north to the south open. But Hamas is attacking our forces, like yesterday, that opened this corridor. This is why we had to stop the corridor yesterday. And Eitan, here we have, even in that humanitarian corridor, we're talking about humanitarian pauses. But of course, if Israel soon does, I don't know if you want to call it a mini-pause. It was just a couple of hours. Hamas takes advantage, starts opening fire on the troops that have been trying to establish that corridor, that roadway, to take those civilians and Gaza down. And by the way, even with Hamas shooting IDF forces who make this road to allowed and to make much more safe the people to cross, and they shoot on these people also with anti-tank missiles, you see by who passed there, people were walking and not using their vehicles. This is something interesting. I know it from myself and I was interested in what's going there. Secondly, I think that Israel will not agree to any kind of stopping the fire, even not a ceasefire, for a few hours and more, till we will see any kind of getting ahead with the release of the hostages. After Satchez, and probably we ran that clip, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that made that very clear today. But on the other end, I might say that you will have to pay attention that many double-containers truck are moving every day, two Rafa crossing. And the problem is not the Israeli checking. The Israeli checking is really moving ahead. The trucks, the problem is the unreadiness of the United Nations or the others to move this amount of trucks, the ball in the area. Okay. Let's stay with us. We want to jump to the north there, in northern Israel and Pia, another intensification there and a fatality in the, along the Lebanon border today. Indeed, Kalevan, intensification that we've seen this evening. Now a short while ago, rockets were sent towards the city of Kiryat Shmona and the area. Hezbollah already claimed responsibility for that. Five rockets went down in the city of Kiryat Shmona. No injuries were reported there, just the damage to properties and also cars there, Kiryat Shmona, one of the dozens of northern communities that have been evacuated because of the increased skirmishes specifically between Israel and Hezbollah there. And we know that Hezbollah launched those rockets as a direct reaction to an incident that occurred earlier this evening on the Lebanese side in the community of Ainata, which is right behind the Israel-Lebanon border there in an airstrike that is attributed to Israel by Lebanese sources there. Three people, three children were killed and one woman traveling in a car outside of that village there on the Lebanese side of the border. The Hezbollah-associated channel of al-Mayadeen attributed that to Israel. The Israeli army has not commented on that incident yet. But Hezbollah had announced that as a reaction to that killing there of four Lebanese civilians, they sent, they launched those rockets to northern Israel. And that also comes after another Israeli casualty, a fatality in civilian who was killed earlier this afternoon in the Israeli northern kibbutz of Yiftah, which is a kibbutz right underneath of the city of Kiryat Shmone. Somebody there, a civilian, again, was targeted by an anti-tank missile launched by Hezbollah there from southern Lebanon. It wasn't clear what condition he was in, but an IDF spokesperson a couple of hours ago confirmed that we're talking about a civilian and that the civilian was killed in that anti-tank missile strike by Hezbollah. That coming after several anti-tank missiles were launched from southern Lebanon today in different areas of northern Israel. And that just shows you how volatile the situation here is and how the skirmishers are continuously, constantly increasing to live. Right, it certainly is. And it's also, unfortunately, even though Israel has evacuated many of those border communities, there are still plenty of civilians, both still living and working there within the firing range of the Lebanese border. And unfortunately, we're tragic results today. Piaz Takobach in the north, thank you for that. And the IDF chief of staff, Herzl Alevi, did comment this evening on all this activity in the north, including, of course, I guess, responding to the fatality there. Let's take a listen to that clip. We have a definite goal of restoring and significantly improving the security situation at the borders, not only in the Gaza Strip. And we understand very well and we hear a lot what the feelings are amongst the residents in the north. We are ready at any moment to go on the attack in the north. We understand that it can happen at any moment. Now earlier today, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in the West Bank meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He's now making a surprise visit there in Iraq. He's speaking. Let's take a listen. Your visits today. Here in Iraq, what kind of steps did you talk about with the Iraqi Prime Minister? Specific steps that they can take as a government to try to reduce the militia attacks and attempted attacks on US forces here. And looking back at Ramallah, you said that you have a view for the Palestinian authority to have a potential governance role in Gaza. I wanted to ask what President Abbas's view was of that today. And if he's in favor, why do you think that's a great idea given the generally low view of the Palestinian authority among Palestinians? Well first with regard to Iraq, Prime Minister Sudani has spoken out clearly. In fact, he made an important statement about a week ago, October 23rd, condemning these attacks and making clear the imperative that they stopped. And in addition, he is working with his own security forces and others to take necessary action to deal with these attacks and to seek to prevent them. So we talked about that. I can't get into specifics. But this is a matter of Iraqi sovereignty. No country wants to have militia groups engaged in violent activity that's clearly against the interests of Iraq and its own sovereignty as well as against our interests. So I think we have a shared purpose and commitment in trying to make sure that these attacks don't happen. And we also share the interest and interest that's shared with virtually everyone in the region to make sure that the conflict in Gaza doesn't spread to other places, whether it's here or elsewhere in the region. So everyone is looking to take the necessary steps, use their authority, use their influence to try to make sure that this stops doesn't happen. With regard to the visit to Ramallah and the Palestinian Authority, look, they and we are very focused on the day of, even as we need to be thinking about the day after. And I think what's clear is that with regard to the day after, with regard to future Gaza, West Bank, Palestinian views, Palestinian voices, Palestinian aspirations need to be at the center of that. And that's what we focused on. The PA is playing a very important role right now in the West Bank in trying to keep stability there. That's usually important because no one wants another front in the West Bank or anywhere else and they're really stepping up under very difficult conditions to do the necessary work. But if you project forward to the future, what we all agree is that in defining that future, in shaping that future for Gaza, for the West Bank and ultimately for a Palestinian state, Palestinian voices have to be at the center of that. The Palestinian Authority is holding on to innocent hostages, babies, children and women, innocent, holding them murderously. We at the IDF and the Sheenbat and all the security establishment do not forget we're doing efforts around the clock every hour, collecting any piece of information. Every operational opportunity will continue to treat this as a primary goal of returning them back. We embarked on this war out of great pain and we're determined to win and to bring our loved ones back. Today, IDF forces led by the Gulani Commando have surrounded the city of Gaza. They've reached the shores in the southern part of the Gaza city and have surrounded the city. Now there is Gaza North and Gaza South. They've reached the coastline. They're holding that line. We still allow a corridor so that residents of the northern part of the strip and Gaza city will be able to go south. This is a one sided corridor will continue to operate on the ground in the northern part of the Gaza strip and Gaza city. Since the start of the ground operation, we have attacked over 2500 targets, even in these hours. An extensive attack is taking place against terror infrastructure, both on and underground, searching for terrorists and senior commanders. We're attacking it with great force tonight and all the days at these very moments and a significant attack is taking place. I wish to commemorate the dozens of medical teams with doctors and paramedics, female paramedics that are giving life-saving treatment to the fighters while risking their lives. Today, we presented to the international media additional criminalizing footage of the cynical use Hamas is making of medical facilities like hospitals enabling terrorist infrastructure. On the back of humanitarian groups will continue to expose to the world what sort of murderous group we're dealing with using the population as a human shield. And we, despite all these things, will continue to reach every terrorist and will kill him in the north. There were a number of incidents today. IDF struck Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon in response to the firing of an anti-tank missile that killed an Israeli civilian. The IDF conducted several other strikes of terror infrastructure and squads and vehicles that drove them. Air defense systems have also thwarted a drone that Hezbollah has attempted to fly into our area. It was intercepted over Lebanon. The IDF chief visited the northern command today and approved plans for the future for the readiness of the IDF in the area to respond with in a significant manner against every attack against the state of Israel. Any attempt of firing every terrorist will be fought with in the home front. I reiterate the need to follow the home front command recommendations. Over the past hour, there were multiple alerts all over the country. Continue to follow the instructions, go to the safe rooms and wait until the interceptions are done. We will continue to update with all the websites of the home front and recommend about our recommendations together with the local authorities in order to allow routine next to, in addition to the war. We have given notices to the families of 347 fallen IDF soldiers that have been killed in battles. We'll continue to follow the families and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. Questions, please. We see a significant strike in Gaza in recent hours. Can you elaborate on that? Hezbollah is threatening to hurt civilians. Is there any other message that you wish to convey to Hassan Isra'la? First of all, we're striking widely around Gaza. There's an extensive strike on terror infrastructure right now on the ground and underground, taking down terrorists and commanders. It is part of our ground operation that together with the air strikes and strikes from the sea as well. I want you to know about that. All of these together, their purpose is to create pressure in order to eliminate Hamas. With regards to Hezbollah, it is not right to address this. But we'll address this with actions and not with words. That was Virad Mullah Daniel Hogar, the IDF spokesperson, delivering his nightly briefing to the press, talking about the situation in North Gaza, the fighting that is going on there. And also in the north of Israel where there was a civilian fatality today. Etan, I want to go back to some of the comments that we heard. First of all, let's talk about the North for a minute where there was this fatality today. I think that till now we can estimate that there is no change dramatically in the North. It's still keeping by Hezbollah, let's say a level of escalation with Israel that is built on the area of the border and also mostly attacking a military post or area by using the tools that we were used to till now. It means anti-tank missiles. It means that the launching rockets or and they are in a lot with the special power of one on the border towards Israel. But if you ask me, Kalev, I may say that after the speech of Nasrallah, if you ask me, I will not be convinced that he limited himself in the reaction. In my opinion, we should keep a very high alert because I think that Iran and Hezbollah still didn't make their mind concerning entering to a much escalate or bring it to a very high way like a war with Israel because they are keep all their deployment and won't the border and also their launching units in a high alert. And they didn't have been damaged till yet. Only those who were with the anti-tank missiles and most of them, by the way, belong to Palestinian movements. So still, Hezbollah is controlling that area. They are controlling completely. So certainly they're allowing those control. They're allowing those Palestinian terror groups to launch from the Lebanese territory. They're controlling it completely. And in my opinion, we have to be careful not to be cheated by Nasrallah to be like he's willing to keep the balance. He can change it in the coming days in a direct contact towards going in Gaza and in a change in the policy in Tehran. All right. Also, I want to now go to the south of Israel. They wrote our correspondent, Zach Anders. And Zach, give us a sense. Another day and another evening where fire, rocket fire from Gaza continues to hit the south or at least be directed towards the south, despite all the fighting going on there within North Gaza. Right. And that rocket launch that was targeting central Israel, we were able to actually see from here those rockets as on their way north had an interesting trajectory. And some of them appeared to split apart even we were able to capture that on video. Some of those rockets, it looked like, did disintegrate over Gaza. Now, we've been in a kind of a low period in the last hour or so, the six o'clock hour was the heaviest with the explosions over my shoulder and the repetitive, even sound of small arms fire and the tatat of machine gun fire from our location. Now, the sound does carry because we're up on a hill. But some of those noises were able to reach us. So they seem to be fairly close. Right. And very intense. And Daniel Hogari, the IDF spokesperson, was asked about that, some very intensive airstrikes over 100 airstrikes in Northern Gaza. He was asked if there was specific targets there. He just gave a general answer about Hamas leadership. But certainly it does seem that the IDF is pressing on reports even today that they secured the coastline in the Gaza beach, at least in the northern part of that area. So right by you hearing during the course of the day, are you hearing there some of that, those strikes hitting in Northern Gaza? Yeah, absolutely. And the location does seem to be curious enough to where these strikes are very close to the border, to the fence. And in northeast Gaza, Bet Hanun, obviously, we're seeing strikes there and in Jabalia further to the towards the coast. These strikes come in bursts. We'll see several bright flashes and explosions that will be followed by a few more strikes. But it has been very quiet in the last hour, I should say. There have been off every, I would say, maybe a half dozen or so in the last hour, the six o'clock hour was the heaviest. All right, Zach Hand is there down on the Israel Gaza border and still wrote. Thank you for that. And of course, the question is, I do want to go to some new evidence that was put out by the IDF today showing how Hamas is placing those rocket launchers that they are using. And we just had a volley of rockets here in the Tel Aviv there. They're placing those rocket launchers in areas that endanger Gaza civilians, including children. Here are some of that. And this kind of answers that question, Eitan, which even some in Israel are asking, how is it in the midst of all this heavy Israeli air strikes and fighting there that Hamas continues to launch rockets from northern Gaza? Coming out of those tunnels in areas like we saw children's playgrounds, residential buildings, shooting off some of those rockets, knowing that it's going to draw return fire from Israel, but then they retreat back in the tunnels. And of course, people in those residential buildings are God forbid in those children's playgrounds are the ones who are talking. This is the story of Hamas. Hamas is using the human regular life in Gaza to defend themselves and to create delegitimization towards Israel. Like the example you have in this movie, you have thousands of such places, near a swimming pool, near a club, near a place to give new schools, near my masks, etc. They are using it and running down to the tunnels as you describe. This is a fact that Israel should signal to the words and show who and how they are making their fire towards Israel. By the way, the fire tonight, for example, was going to the southern area or to the central part from Hanunez. They are moving ahead, but they still keep the capacities to launcher towards Ashdod, towards Ashkelon or to use motors, shells towards the forces that are active near the border. And they still have these capacities. I may tell you that Israel does not put this kind of fighting towards this kind of launcher at the first priority. The first priority is the hills, is the tunnels, is the terrorist themselves, is the leadership of them. And by the way, we are striking from there some kind of working on this kind of targets of a motor shell, etc. But this is a fact the world has to understand. While we are giving the reports about using hospitals as a shelter, using gas pools as a shelter, it means that we have to move these hospitals to the area of the south. While there is opportunities and Egypt itself open, for example, now for more than 80 people to move to hospitals. Right. I'll just answer that discussion also about bringing hospital ships. So some of the West European nations may be bringing hospital ships off the coast of Gaza and having them do their Aitans stay with us. Because a few minutes ago, we did see US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Iraq speaking to press a surprise visit. Of course, this weekend he was in Amman Jordan meeting with regional Arab leaders. And from there he went today to Ramallah to consult with the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Now, Blinken was greeted with protests in that West Bank city, even though that meeting was kept pretty low key with no public statements at all. The State Department did say afterwards in a reading that Blinken assured Abbas that residents of Gaza would not be forcibly displaced permanently by the IDF's military operations. He also deployed violence against Palestinians being committed by what he said were extremist elements among the Israeli West Bank settler community. Well, for more, let's go to Ramallah now and speak with Palestinian security analyst Mohamed Najee. Mohamed, I spoke a bit about what Blinken had to say. What did Mahmoud Abbas have to say to Secretary Blinken? Yes, Khalif. This is the second meeting between Abbas and Secretary Blinken since the outbreak of this war on the 7 of October. And the meeting took lasted for one hour with no joint statements after which reflects the gap between the Palestinians and the American position toward the ongoing war in Gaza. The Palestinians asked Blinken to immediate ceasefire and stop of this war and enable the entry of the humanitarian assistance and Israel should stop the deduction of the Palestinian tax money. So the Secretary Blinken said that it could be temporary ceasefire, not a permanent ceasefire. And he said that he wants to increase the humanitarian assistance that allowed to enter to the Gaza Strip. So the Palestinians continues their diplomacy and defund Russia by the Palestinians and the Arabs on the US to pressure Israel to avoid civilians of bombardment and evacuate the injured to be treated in the Egyptian hospital and allow more fuel, more medical supplies and food to enter into the Gaza Strip. All right, well, fuel is probably a no go at least now for Israel. Let me ask you, Mohamed, because there was apparently some discussion about what we're calling the day after in Gaza, the day after the war. And reportedly, President Abbas said, though, while the Palestinian Authority wants a role, would take a role, it would have to be part of an overall political, some kind of arrangement that would include also the West Bank. But what is he talking about there? Is he saying that the Palestinian Authority would take no role at all in Gaza unless there was a final peace agreement? Or is there some flexibility where the Palestinian Authority would take some kind of a role, administrative role in Gaza, even before there would be a final peace agreement, which is unlikely to happen certainly in the near future. Yes, Kalef, Secretary Blinken says that the Palestinian Authority would play a significant role in the session of the Gaza Strip after the end of this war, but it's unclear at the moment when this is going to happen. He said maybe it will be in cooperation or coordination with other international organization and security budget, but it's unclear what does he mean by the issue. But I tell you that the Palestinians feel comfortable that the U.S. confirmed that the B.L.O. is the legitimate representative of the Palestinians and said that this after the war should be a long track of this process and he supports the two state solution. So the Palestinians says that there will be a political horizon after this war and the Palestinian Authority says it's ready to again turn back to control the Gaza Strip and to cooperate to conduct such a role after the end of this war. All right. Well, again, for Israel, as said repeatedly, though, it's not going to discuss the day after until it finishes with the order of the day, which is eliminating Hamas and the Gaza Strip. Mahabba Najib, Inram Allah, thank you for that. Eitan, I want to go back to the northern front. Some reports apparently coming out of there. And of course, this intensification that we saw today with the killing of an Israeli civilian in northern Israel. And what has borrowed Lebanese sources say also were civilians killed on a Lebanese side of the border. And they emphasize this use. Hezbollah warned Israel because they claimed that three civilians were killed by airstrike by UAV in the area of Bingebell. So this is something to maybe let them to cross or their plan to cross the line between military posts to civilian targets. It can be. I'm not saying that it will be. It's it's still keep the zone. But what I said you before, I'm not trust Hezbollah. I'm not trust Iran. I think that the speech of Nasrallah was a cheating speech. We don't have to look at it as he's not going to do anything. He's in a high alert. The decision has not been taken and can be that he will make higher the escalation there. Right. And by there, I got the report. I saw now that in Syria, there is a report that the airport in Khaled was striked from the air in a few something like 20 minutes ago. Possibly a one another. It can be another reported Israeli airstrike. Yes. Usually at the airports, they are targeting weapons shipments. And in Kiryat Monab, by the way, yes, there was a report that was here in kind of shooting in the area of the city and even now it's quiet. The civilians that are still there were requested to stay in their homes. All right. I want to look at the Gaza Strip. There are flares going up over Gaza there. The sky is being lit up. What is that an indication of Eitan? All this flair activity. It's an indication that the operation around Gaza is continuous. And what does it mean? I heard your report before that we are very close to the main area on the, let's say we are not on the underground, but to surround Shatti refugee camp and the hospital of the main hospital in Gaza where there is the center. The Shifa hospital. Shifa hospital. Right. So those flares would be an indication of ground activity. It means that the ground, it's going to serve the ground activities by the air, by the way, the cooperation, coordination between the air and the ground activities is coming really to high stage and really are serving the ground movement inside Gaza. And what does it mean? We succeeded. I think it was published already. We succeeded to surround Gaza from the west side by infantry brigade. And it was reported that Israel took control of the beach in Gaza, the coastline. Yes, but they are moved from the area we entered and cross Gaza between south and north. We also moved on the area of the beach. We are moving to the north part of Gaza while we surround already Gaza from the north and from the east north. It means almost completely decide Gaza is surrounding by IDF the area that we succeed to break some of the circles of defending by Hamas. It's more crowded now and Hamas is under, let's say, defending or using its system in an area that is more limited. All right, well, you mentioned the hospital, Shifa Hospital being a command center. In fact, the IDF spokesperson Daniel Choghari did give this briefing earlier today presenting new evidence on how Hamas is using not just Shifa, but other hospitals in Gaza as military posts. Choghari focused on other medical centers besides Shifa, including what's called the Indonesian hospital. Here is some of that. I will show you the reason why they built the hospital there. This picture here was taken in 2010 when the hospital was under construction. Take a look here at the area in red. They were Hamas terror outposts. Unsurprisingly, Hamas built a hospital on top of their terror infrastructures. Those outputs of Hamas had underground facilities before they started to construct the hospital, the Indonesian hospital. And eight times that's crucial information there. Again, I should mention, we didn't even show, he spoke about what's called the Indonesian hospital. He spoke about what's called the Kuwait hospital. That's because the funding for these hospitals came, a Qatar hospital, excuse me, because the funding from these hospitals came from these other Arab and Muslim states giving charity, you could say, or philanthropic funding for Gaza's health system and Hamas using it to build up these commands and attack centers there in and under the hospitals. I think it's very important to Israel to explain and that it will be understood by those countries that are making these hospitals, why we are asking to make efforts to move the hospitals to the south, to bring field hospitals, to bring maybe from the sea, fleet hospital, to make on the border between Egypt and Gaza, another hospital. It will help a lot to give people the medical treatment they need really by the teams of the medical serving and on the other ends, it will release us to be active against these terrorists that are hidden in these hospitals by the tunnels and by the others in order to really to move home, to funk, to destroy the functioning of the underground tunnels, et cetera. And it's going slowly, but it's very important that the legitimation and to make some activities, as I told you at the beginning from Egypt, for example, and by the others, bring other kind of opportunities to the south area of Gaza. Instead, these hospitals, we will cooperate to move this according to the international laws, how to move these medical people who needs this medical treatment to this area and make a replacement to an area while they will be served by a medical, real medical treatment. All right. That is a life feed of the sky above Gaza. There's not much to see there, so I don't know that we should be having that right at the moment there. Okay, again, we're making some progress there. I just want to relate something that Daniel Higari said, also said he talked about the efforts to get the civilian population, the remaining civilian population there in the north of Gaza, down south. Highlighting just the over a million leaflets, a million and a half leaflets dropped, calls made hundreds of thousands of calls directly to residents of the Gaza strip, trying to get them, wanting them to get themselves to try to minimize those civilian casualties in northern Gaza. Yes, absolutely. This is one of the main goals of Israel while we are moving ahead and coming to another stage of the plan of this kind of maneuvering the forces and entering to urban areas and have this kind of clashes between these terrorists are moving from the tunnels, are launching anti-tank missiles, have some observers on the, let's say, about on the other buildings. We need that this area will be as more as we can empty from civilians because this kind of fighting will bring much more casualties that are not necessary to be there. And they are still used by the local Hamas terrorists as the kind of defending themselves using them. So I estimate there are something like 400,000 people who are still used. So yesterday the movie on Chifa Hospital while the centralizing many people open all the lights in this area, we have to stop it and it's much be done as quick as we can. All right, I want to jump back to the north on our Pia Stakobach reports of Pia that warnings to residents of Kirchmoner to stay in their houses. Clearly there is concern about renewed activity there. Also reports of a potential alleged air strike in Syria. So clearly the army is concerned about the intensification even in the coming minutes or hours there in the north. Right, Kalef, and we've already partially seen that intensification here this evening. A little bit less than two hours ago, rocket alert sirens sounding in the area of Kirchmoner. His bala claiming responsibility for launching a number of rockets onto that area, five rockets impacted in the city, not causing any casualties because that city has already been widely evacuated within the last two weeks. Five rockets impacted in the city there only causing damage to property and to vehicles there. His bala saying that this launch of rockets was a direct reaction to an incident in southern Lebanon that occurred shortly before, according to al-Mayadina. His bala affiliated Lebanese channel and Israeli air strike targeted a vehicle traveling on the road next to the village of Ainata in southern Lebanon, very close to the Israeli border, killing the four people who were traveling and one of those vehicles, four people for Lebanese civilians, three children and one mother there, apparently this family of a journalist, this is what we are hearing from Lebanese media. The Israeli army itself did not issue a statement on that incident, yet his bala saying that their strike on Kirchmoner was a direct reaction to what happened there in southern Lebanon, also announcing that they would go even further there. Now, earlier today we had several sirens sounding in different communities in northern Israel. Also in the community of Yiftakh, which is a kibbutz right underneath Kirchmoner there, one Israeli civilian was killed by his bala launched anti-tank missile there. That's what we've been hearing also from the IDF Spokesperson's unit this evening, civilian there in Israel and the kibbutz of Yiftakh being killed by anti-tank missile. Yes, Takobach, thank you for that now. Just, thank you for that. Just north of Kirchmoner is a town of Metula, which sits right on the border of Lebanon. Jews have lived there through many years, through many wars and conflicts. The residents are used to having to evacuate during the war to make room for the Israeli military. However, this war is different. Our Emily Francis went to Tiberius, where the people of Metula have organized and kept their routine intact, even while being displaced indefinitely from their homes. As we enter the fifth week of the war in Israel, the town of Metula on the border of Lebanon has turned into a military base. Metula is the northernmost town in Israel. They are surrounded by Lebanon on three borders. And our neighbors, Hezbollah, are the best and the most evil of all possible neighbors. But when the proud, robust Metula community of about 2,000 people had to evacuate after October 7th, they didn't miss a beat. Metula community has experience in being harassed on the border for years and years. Metula is the only settlement in Israel that is actually surrounded by hostile border and like 70% of our fence. Basically one road to come in and out. So it's a part of who we are and it's a part of our choice to live there and to help define the strong borders of Israel at this edges. Liat Cohen-Raveave is a consultant by profession and a community leader who along with other municipal leaders have taken the helm to make sure the 2,000 residents stick to a routine. Organizing activities and exercise all to keep people calm. How is this an important way to not just go down in a deep state of depression? I will say it's even our responsibility as community leaders. I think that a time of uncertainty and vagueness and situation when you have to deal with so much unknown factors and your sense of security and safety was deeply harmed. It is super important to try to relate to that by creating as much as you can. The majority of the residents are living in three hotels in Tiberias, the Sofia Hotel for the elderly residents and adult couples. And next door at another hotel, families and children are keeping to a routine, something that is a top priority for many reasons. We built units that fit for every age from zero till 18. Here and in Tiberias, we made a connection, we made everything that the children will get education and will have something to wake up for and not be all the time in the rooms and don't do nothing because it's a very difficult time for the children. Matula is a small moshav, built by pioneers and farmers about a century ago. And many of the descendants of the original families still live in Matula, a testament to their commitment, even with an enemy on the other side of the fence. They built Matula in 1896 and from since 1896, our family, the Lishansky family is in Matula. And our family has a small hotel which is going generation after generation. My grandfather built it and now it's empty. I am the seventh generation. My great-great-grandparents lived in the second house built in Matula. It's my home and my life. And even though we live next to a dangerous border, it's not a scary life here. It's a full life. In the end, we will return home. And even though we're living in a terrifying war time, the majority of Matula residents have no intention of moving away when the war is over. What is the heart and soul of the Matula community that is choosing to really live right next to Hezbollah? These are unique special people. This is an internal dialogue that you are having with yourself. And if the answer is, yes, I'm going to be there, it makes you a unique person. I want to think right, because it's a choice. It's a daily choice to raise your children 100 meters from a whole-style border. You want to help define the borders of this country. If crazy people like us will not exist, we're going to have a problem. If 2,000 people from Matula will not be able to go back into their homes, feeling that they can go to sleep without fearing that someone will cut the fence and then cut their throats, which is not an option, they're not going to go back.  Emily Francis, I-24 News. With us, we're going out for a brief break. Big questions answered at the Edmund and Lillisafer Center in Jerusalem. Questions like, what makes us human?  What makes it so sophisticated? Is it only the number of the cells? We have more, 1,000 times more than the number of them. Or is there something else in the brain that is beyond the big numbers? My answer is certainly yes. Some people feel that there is something else, maybe a mystical thing, that it's not only the material, but there is something else that comes to the complicated machine, makes us human. I don't think so. It's a machine, a wonderful, wonderful machine. So if this is a machine in principle, I should be able to replicate it. Professor Idan Segev has spent his life mapping out the brain's base unit, the neuron. When you have a mathematical formulation of a biological phenomena, you build a machine that replicates the mathematics, and the mathematics represent the biology. So we merge biology with technology through mathematical understanding. If you want a complex machine to be able to do complex things like multiple tasks and general artificial intelligence, then you will need, for sure, more complex architectures that exist today. What Professor Segev is doing at LSAC is building that new architecture, or at least the code for it, machines that transcend the limits of hardware. This other machine will be very much like us. It will feel. It will walk. It will be intelligent. It will be our friend. 1,500 people murdered and more than 3,000 injured. And the war with Hamas continues. We bring you firsthand testimonies from the front lines, from those who survived, and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas. Follow us as Israel fights terror from the South and North.  Be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. Remove it from your vocabulary altogether. We say this both to our enemies and to our friends. We will continue until we defeat them. We have no alternative. Well, welcome to or back to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Khaled Bindavid. It is day 30 of Israel's war against Hamas. Now, the IDF is continuing its military operations in northern central Gaza with more than 100 airstrikes hitting Hamas facilities and tunnels as its troops advance on Gaza City. The toll stands now at some 1,400 Israelis killed since October 7th, including 345 soldiers, 33 of them just in the Gaza ground operations. Now, the IDF confirms 241 people are being held hostage in Gaza. The Hamas Health Ministry there claims a number of Palestinians killed nearing 10,000. The IDF today reopened the humanitarian corridor for two hours. So Gaza civilians could travel south out of the main battle zone, but said its soldiers along that corridor came under attack from Hamas gunmen. On the northern front, an anti-tank missile launched from Lebanon hit a Karnia Kibbutzif Tach killing one of its occupants as Israel continues to trade fire with forces from Hezbollah and other terror groups across the frontier. In the West Bank City of Ramallah, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the Biden administration continues to press Israel for a humanitarian pause in the fighting. Now, among the many foreign leaders and ex-leaders who are coming to Israel to show support is the UK's colorful former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A senior diplomatic correspondent, Owen Altam, caught up with Johnson as he was getting it toward the Gaza border area given by the Likud Knesset member, Danny Danone, and he filed this report. Welcome to the killing fields of Kfar Azar, four weeks on. Where on this Sunday, Likud member of parliament, Danny Danone, brought two foreign dignitaries who joined the train of so many who have come here to pay their respects. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, both known as strong friends of Israel here to show solidarity with the Israeli people. You just heard the artillery going off again and here to pay homage to the victims. Let's hear what each had to say. I think it's so important to come here in person if you can, and I think it's particularly important for me to come here now several weeks after these appalling atrocities because the memory is fading and people are losing focus and they're losing clarity about what happened. So when you see the blood on the sofa, when you see the blood are still on the floor, and when you see the absolutely incontrovertible evidence of innocent families being massacred in their own homes, you need to remind people of the difference between what those Hamas terrorists did and what Israel is now trying to do to make sure it can't happen again.  And there are just so many who do believe in never forgetting and never again. And Romain committed that in every opportunity they can grasp to pursue it. You can hear the artillery maybe even as we film, our feet touch the belongings and the clothes thrown on the ground by the looters who came here after the inhabitants of the houses were killed. You can see the bullet holes in the wall. The former prime ministers each saw those also as well.  Sadly, the Israeli military and Israeli dignitaries have grown accustomed to bringing people here on tours, whether they be foreign correspondents, whether they be visiting foreign dignitaries. Here in the killing fields of Kfar Azza, only four weeks on as this war continues, as Israel continues to try to make known to the world the full scope of what happened here and in so many other communities that had been living and thriving Kibbutzim and Moshevim here on the Israel Gaza border. Owen Ultriman, I-24 News, Kfar Azza, Israel. And joining us in the studio is Professor Alon Tal. He's a former member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset for the then blue and white party of Benny Gantz, still associated politically with Benny Gantz, we could say, and a chair of the Tel Aviv University Department of Public Policy. Alone we see there, again, the impact of bringing these leaders down to that Gaza border, those decimated communities. Boris Johnson, someone anyway who has been supportive of Israel as has Rishi Sunak is the current occupant of the chair. But the question is how long that impact is gonna hold for Europe as we see, for example, the challenges Israel is facing in minimizing civilian casualties on the other side of that border in Gaza. Well, we've seen throughout this month of warfare the dissonance between the social media messaging and the vociferous demonstrations in the streets of Europe and the positions of leaders and the fact that we've had a chance live Germany and the president of France and the British leadership has all showed this is all extremely important, but it is a finite resource, as you say. And so I think that although Israel likes to talk about the fact that this military attack is gonna take months to do it right, we don't have months. There is a ticking time bomb which says eventually international support will start to evaporate. And Israel needs to be in a position by then where they can come up with an endgame, a vision, and by then have defeated the Hamas. It's not a situation we can go on indefinitely. All right, well, let's stay on diplomacy for a moment. Talk about a diplomatic trial by fire. The new US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, officially began his work here today by presenting his credentials to President Isaac Herzog. Now, Lew was confirmed just last week by the US Senate and that was in the face of opposition from Republican lawmakers who criticized his role in advancing the Iran nuclear agreement. That's why he was serving as the White House Chief of Staff for then President Barack Obama. Here's what Lew and Herzog had to say today in Jerusalem. It was a difficult time. Representing the United States as ambassador to the state of Israel's profound honor. I arrived in Israel only days after being confirmed last week, arriving on Friday to join the Secretary of State for important consultations. These are not normal times and this is not a normal transition. I met this morning with families of hostages and there are no words to explain the pain they feel and we share. Working for the release of over 200 hostages, including Americans, will remain a top priority until their captivity comes to an end. The United States stands with you. We will work together and our resolve will remain strong. Thank you for this honor and I look forward to working with the government and the people of Israel during my time here. I'd love to greet you at a time of peace. You deserve the full welcoming ceremony. Together, Ambassador Lew, dear Jack, we can defeat the forces of chaos and violence and evil and make our hopes for the region a reality. May you go from strength to strength. I wish you be hatslacha and bless you. Ambassador Jack Lou there, boy, talk about coming in, get trying to hit the ground running alone. But of course, again, again with the question with the US, strong support by President Biden. But at the same time, some of the cracks are starting to show in the differences of the Israeli government's approach and the Biden administration's, the increasing cause and pressure for they don't want to use the word ceasefire, humanitarian pauses. To some degree, you could argue what that really is. And also, increasing pressure on Israel to address what we call the day after or as you put it, the end game in those meetings that we see Blinken having in Amman that's somewhat with Arab leaders and with Mahmoud Abbas today in Ramallah. Well, President Biden got some bad news today if you believe the New York Times polls would suggest that five of the key swing states now are polling in favor of Donald Trump. And the concern is that perhaps part of the reason for this drop of support has to do with certain communities which are opposed to stand on the warfare. So Israel needs to be aware of the big picture here. American support is absolutely critical as a strategic asset in the long term. So though we obviously make our decisions based on our interests in terms of how we conduct the war, it's very, very important that we are cognizant and sensitive to the position of this administration which has been so very, very supportive of Israel and is so deserving of our consideration when we think about the tactical stages of the operation. All right, I want to move from US politics since you brought that up to Israeli politics because there wasn't up, even with the war going on, there wasn't uproar on the political sphere here today. After the minister of national heritage, Amichai Eliahou, he's a member of Itamar Ben Vierz, a Jewish power party, said in a radio interview that one option for the IDF is using an atomic bomb on Gaza. It asked about the safety of the hostages. Eliahou responded, why are the lives of the abductees who's released, I really want? More important than the lives of the soldiers and the people who will be murdered later. He also rejected a humanitarian aid going into Gaza saying there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza. Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu caught his remarks detached from reality and suspended him from further cabinet meetings. Other politicians, opposition leader, Eliahou Pete said he should be fired, forced to resign immediately. And I go to you alone because as I said before, former parliament member with Ben Egan still affiliated with his political camp, he's joined the government. And here you see the cracks in the Israeli government, the divergence between the positions, the war aims and those like Eliahou, even though he's a French political figure, he sits in the cabinet. I mean, he is making decisions affecting national policy. We're all trying very hard to keep politics out of the discourse as we conduct the war. But sometimes it's impossible because when you have somebody who's so extreme and says something that is so outrageous and so damaging to Israel's stature, both in the world and to the Arab community around us, it's unbelievable. The fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu did not fire him is unacceptable. This kind of statement from a racist, really, really extremist indicates just how problematic it is when the government is controlled by these small fringe things. And that's why it's so important that Gantz did go in and provides a modicum of moderation, intelligence, professionalism, and sanity. I'm just gonna respond though. Yeah, Eliahou Pete's argument for not going in was I'll support the war aims of the government. But on the civilian side, I can't join a government where there are figures such as Amichai Eliahou. I think that Benny Gantz and the National Unity Party, we've made it very clear that our support is not for this government. It is for the people of Israel during a time of warfare. And the second that this war is resolved, we are gonna immediately move back to our position and hopefully move forward to a new and early election. But it's at present, I think when we see how this war is being managed so skillfully, so... On the military side. On the military side, you know the fact that Gadda Izanqad, a former chief of staff of the army and Gantz, also a former chief of staff of the army and minister of defense, they are providing the gravitas, the experience that we so need to run this operation. All right, and let's get back to the operation. Let's go to correspondent Zach Anders who was down in Stade Road near the Gaza border. And there does seem to be some kind of operations going on. We saw those flares early as Zach above Gaza, Northern Gaza, it was usually an indication of perhaps ground operations on the move there in Gaza. What's your perspective from there right on the border? Right, the ground operations, that's a major point today, especially when we see the level of strikes that continue in Northern Gaza, where they have told us that they have encircled Gaza city, right? And then you see these strikes that are coming beyond what would be their encirclement lines. The IDF has not made clear whether there are still pockets of resistance, whether fighters are using the tunnels to try and take advantage of some vulnerabilities in this zone that the IDF says they do have control over. They also made a point just a few moments ago to say that they have reopened a humanitarian corridor from the North to the South and that they did see evidence of people in Gaza city fleeing through that corridor to the South, but from our vantage point from what we can see here, the strikes continue in Northern Gaza, again, beyond what the IDF says they have control over. Right, of course, and as I did say earlier, we had early in the day, the IDF saying that their soldiers around that humanitarian corridor were actually fired on by presumably Hamas forces, even though they were trying to make safe passage for those civilians heading South. Zack Anders there in the stereo, thank you for that. Well, let's move now to the aftermath of October 7th. Children in Israel are now sharing their stories about the horror they experienced after Hamas terrorists entered their Kibbutzk, for Gaza in Southern Israel. Tammy Harrell has more on how they feared for their lives as they hid from terrorists on the morning of October 7th and also on one organization called My Wave, which is making a big difference through allowing children to ride a wave of hope through the power of surfing. Warm weather, a blue sky, and four chillful young people going down to the sea to surf. A pastoral picture that is so different from the hell that Rotem and Ofir went through just one month ago at Kibbutzk, Farazah. In six and a half years, when all the terrorists started, we took over the whole family, went to the school, and then after a while, they went to the school in the Kitan Konenut, where there is a school of terrorists.  And I, my mother and I, stayed at home in Mamad. And then, all the time, we were on the phone trying to figure out what was going on. And then we started listening to the stories, and then we understood that they were terrorists. Simply, the whole house was destroyed. And then we started listening to the stories of the Arab family and the terrorists. And then we contacted my father, and we told the terrorists at home. In the middle of the night, we heard the voices of the Arabs at the end of the hall. It was a moment that we understood that they were trying to kill each other. Really. It's not even to be heard. Really, a few minutes later, we heard a sound in the hall. Of course, we heard a sound, everyone heard his voice, and it was Israel. Really, you said it was Israel? Really. Maybe it was 40 times in a minute, really. Really, Israel. As Rotem O'Fyr and their families were huddled inside the safe rooms, outside on the green paths of Kfar-Aza, an infernal was already raging. They threw the house, and then the car. It was allowed to be locked. And then we started to fight. This is what we keep inside the safe rooms and hide there. Or what we do and what we do, what we do and what we do. Even though there were still dozens of armed terrorists roaming around outside, indiscriminately murdering anyone they encountered, Rotem, his mother, and sister decided to leave the house. They hid in the storeroom for nine hours until the IDF forces rescued them. And he was in a very dangerous place. Good friends of the IDF contacted me and sent me messages that the family that was just close to us were preparing for an emergency. The father was in a difficult situation. I said, of course, it's my fault, and it was not possible to get out of it. We went to another family that had left the house. And they brought him to our house. And my father, my big brother, and a couple of friends came to our salon. Suddenly there was a letter in the house, in Hebrew, which tells us how she was at home. It was a surprise. So you were in the house, you were in the house, it was a surprise. It was a great surprise. The hours passed. The darkest came and a fear in his family were still shuttered in the safe room for 20 long hours until the rescue team arrived. Two and a half of them came to us. Each one of us spoke a few words. What did you say? We went back to the outside and said, all the guards that took me outside were at your service. I went to the station, I saw a ticket, I picked up everything, and took my bag with me, my toys. As I said, we live in peace. Peace is upon them. One month later, Rotem, Ophir, and the other children of Kfar Azad, who survived the massacre, were evacuated to Kibbut Shfaim, started their day at the sea. The Hagar Shalee, My Wave Association, was established with the aim of helping boys and girls at risk through surfing, as mobilized for a new mission. We arrived on October 7th, and we, as it happened, on Saturday, we got to the airport, and we got to the station for the first day, by means of planning to leave the area, you said, it's time for us to be there, pass through the waves, the waves that caused the waves that between us, they didn't say to live. We know that in this critical time, really now, in this situation, we have to create some kind of experience, some kind of return of faith in the world of refugees, to the outside, to the sea, to the open sea, to the open sea, to experience, and really to return the most simple things. The biggest goal is to give a change, because when we are in the sea, we don't think about anything, and they come out, and everything, suddenly, is really clear, and you see, physically, everything is so clear, we think. For a moment, you smile from all the distance, that you have to go home, that we have left to swim in the sea, just smile from all this, and laugh with friends. For everyone, there is his swimming pool, so I think that's not my point of view.  Really, because that's what makes it fun to come, and there is a feeling, what they call it, just the waves. That's it. The sea and the coast, in the correct way, the people who are a little bit correct, it can simply be allowed to swim, and to be allowed to swim, and to be allowed to swim, in places where you are allowed to swim. We are here with them, as a whole, and you have to be here, really every day, on the beach, in the chaos, in the work of the youth, from the youth, from the youth, you return to safety, and you take the thing forward. And this is just the beginning, it is clear to everyone that there is still a long road ahead for these young people who left the innocents, memories, and sweet childhood experiences, in the Gaza border village. I feel like I want to return to my hometown, instead of spending time with my family. My hometown doesn't know if it's alive or dead, because it doesn't know the language of the house, but we see that someone is using the gas, it needs it, and we still eat, we don't eat. Maybe we were wrong, but we can say that we are okay. Okay, I think no one is wrong. No one is wrong. And when I realized that we were wrong, seven days ago, on the second day, Kenan Ben-Ari came to save us, and then, I said to myself, fuck, I am a living soldier, I am a living soldier, I am sitting here, Kenan Ben-Ari. Wow, I'm crying. I'm in shock, I don't know if I'm gonna forget this thing. Alone, just watching that and striking and looking at those children, you and I are both a long time American immigrants to Israel, looking at the US now, and some of the protests that we've seen against Israel and for the Palestinians. Certainly, legitimate to acknowledge Palestinian suffering and criticizing Israel, but the lack of sympathy for those children, those aren't the voices that were raised after October 7th for those children while still focusing exclusively on Palestinian suffering. Tearing down posters of Israeli hostages, some of this, but yeah, my comprehension. It is a bewildering period of time, Caleb.  Cornell University closed down for a day because they can't guarantee the safety of Jewish students. These are things which were unimaginably United States and I'm really wondering how this could come to be and most of all how could the so-called liberal progressive left embrace this and my explanation is that there has been this simplistic way of dividing the world into colonizers and settlers and victims and somehow or other along the way we did a very bad job of explaining the history and people buy into this notion that Israel is some sort of a colonizing nation. There's a lot of Palestinian propaganda which even rejects the notion that there was ever any Jewish presence in the world and we didn't do a good job of refuting it. What's happened is that all of a sudden Israel is placed in this position of some sort of a demonized victimized when in fact the result is that liberal progressive people are on the side of Iran, they're on the side of Putin, they're on the wrong side, they're in the side of forces of darkness and so we have to do a much better job of reaching out in our work as Israel to explain the history, and to respond is essential for a two state solution without getting rid of Hamas, we'll never get any more. I'll stay with us, there are air raid sirens going off in Kirchmona, of course all of the IDF had asked residents of Kirchmona to stay in their houses near their protected rooms, stay with us, we'll carry on after a few minutes. Made for me, a unique concept in Israel made for me, designer of all your events, schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il Made for me, official dresser of I-24 News. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Past since October 7th, the day Israel was brutally attacked by Hamas, a month since the Black Sabbath when Hamas terrorists murdered over 1400 thousands of others and took 240 people captive. A month since the IDF entered a war against the vicious terrorist organization. A month later, I-24 News returns to the place where it all began. Join us on November 7th, only on I-24 News. Back to the special broadcast on I-24 News, still with me is studio Lontal from a member of parliament for the Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party, and now a Reserves IDF Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Cornricus is the International Spokesperson for the IDF, joins us from Tel Aviv. Jonathan, thanks for joining us. I actually want to start in the north. We saw an intensification there today, even now, sirens going off in Kyachmona, a civilian killed in the north, intensification of fire there. Are we seeing is it an assessment that there is an elevation intensification there in the northern border? Good evening, Kalev. Well, there's definitely combat events going on, not the first time that Kyachmona is targeted, and we will have to see if this is Hezbollah or any other of the Palestinian terror organizations that are also active in the area. That remains to be determined, but we can confirm that there's alarms in Kyachmona. Overall, still tense. The IDF is deployed in a defensive posture along the northern border, ready and prepared to retaliate if and when Hezbollah decides to escalate the situation. We are focused on Gaza. There is significant fighting in Gaza. Tonight we are striking several areas in the Gaza Strip quite hard, so that is what we are focused on. The primary focus is on Gaza. Right, and I know the IDF is giving out specifics in terms of the strategy, but there are reports today of the IDF securing control of the beachfront, I guess, of northern Gaza or the Gaza Strip. What is the significance of that in terms of the overall strategy for the IDF in Gaza? The significance is mostly that Israeli troops are in and around the city of Gaza, which is the center of gravity of Hamas. That is where we are attacking and we're operating with infantry, armor, artillery, combat engineers on the ground below the ground and, of course, from the air. That is happening as we speak and we are engaging with the enemy wherever they are deployed. We have lots of intelligence of many of the locations where there are Hamas strongholds in the different areas around Gaza City and inside Gaza City itself and up until now advancing according to plan, working neighborhood by neighborhood house by house with ground units and doing a lot of clearing up of tunnel infrastructure, a lot of close quarter engagement and a lot of fires that are directed both from the ground and from the air. I also want to ask you there was this briefing by Rear Admiral Daniel Hagar, the idea of spokesperson today, a lot of focus on Israel, the IDF's efforts to get that to remaining population tens if not a few couple of hundred thousand of civilians in northern Gaza down into the southern part, the southern half of the Gaza Strip. There was an opening of a humanitarian corridor today but efforts by Hamas not only to block it but even to open fire on Israel IDF forces as they try to secure that humanitarian corridor. So talk about the difficulties even of making it possible for the civilians in the north to get to the south. We're trying to help Gazans and the organization that is supposed to be responsible for the Gazans or claim sovereignty there, Hamas is doing exactly the opposite. It's quite an absurd situation where we care more about the life of civilians than do those that claim to govern there. The first time that we told residents to evacuate was more than two weeks ago, two weeks and two days and since then we have been in a continuous efforts, phone calls leaflets, voice messages and many other ways in order to try to tell the people of Shatti and Jabalia and Gaza City and many and Zeytun and all of the other neighborhoods that are in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. We're telling them to evacuate and to go south out of a concern for their own safety and the graphic that you're showing is what we published on our social media in Arabic. So of course that it is accessible to people speaking Arabic. The bottom line is that we are trying to create a situation where the battle space is with less civilians and to have only combatants in the battle space in order for there to be as least as possible combatant casualties. We care about civilians. We have said very clearly the civilians are not our enemy here we are fighting against a vile and cowardly terrorist organization and at the end of the day we want to focus on it and it is extremely regrettable that this very same organization is preventing the civilians from evacuating safely towards the south. Right and you mentioned the work of your own office the IDF spokesperson's unit. I want to talk a little about the challenge you face on that battlefield one in which you are personally involved in specifically when for example let's take an example this recent report the recent Israeli strike at an ambulance which was reported as a violation of war codes in which the IDF then has to go and make the point of Hamas using ambulances to transport not just its troops even its leaders to try to transport them I mean talk a little about the challenge when you have to deal and come out against that interpretation that narrative of the situation in Gaza. Yeah you know it's been documented since 2014 that Hamas uses ambulances on the battlefield in order to transport commanders combatants and weapons in direct violation of international law they did it then and they do it now and it's systemic it's not a one-off they did so a few days ago and we were able to see that and we struck two of those ambulances because we saw that they were and we perceived a threat from combatants in ambulances and we are well within our rights to do so according to international humanitarian law now the problem is that so many in international media instead of focusing on what's happening that Hamas is using ambulances on the battlefield endangering real wounded people who are in other ambulances instead of focusing on that and the outcry being on that they focus on the one event where we strike an ambulance which is full of terrorists and one issue that I think is very challenging it needs to be addressed is the double standards and the let's say the level of evidence that we are held to and that international media demands of Israel it's always about Israel claims that and that the claims could not be independently verified that's usually the caveats that are attached to whenever Israel says something but whenever Hamas flouts any of its propaganda whether it is fake events with the al-Ahli hospital or with ambulances or with other events that have been proven to be fake it's never the same caveats and it's never the same caution from the international media about the information coming out so I think it is very challenging and we are doing everything we can in order to get verified trustworthy information out to Israel and to the world in order to explain what it is that we are fighting and why we are forced to conduct ourselves as we are I am confident that at the end people will see evidence and they will understand that what we are saying is true and it is unfortunate that our enemy has nothing holy nothing is beneath them they use their civilians as human shields they use hospitals, schools mosques and churches and UN facilities for their combat capabilities and it's about time that people start changing their mindset and actually listen to what we have to say and the evidence that we provide Finally Jonathan, I do have to ask anyone who sees your many interviews with some of the foreign media that you just described on social media every third comment after that is how do you keep your patience so I feel I have to ask you that question, I don't know if you have an answer It's a non-issue, I know that the assignment here is of the highest importance because people around the world have to understand what's going on, people around the world have to get a chance to see someone from Israel explaining in plain language and I don't mind repeating myself a million times if people listen and are able to understand that we speak the truth, we are fighting for our lives and I don't care if I get a million annoying or repetitive questions at the end of the day, the truth must be out and we must be able to explain to the world what we're doing, why we're doing it and you know all of the people here in the IDF spokesperson unit, social media on interviews etc that is what we are committed to doing to getting the truth out and fighting the false narratives that are out there and unfortunately so many people around the world are still misinformed by Alright Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conrigas, thank you for joining us on I-24 News Well let's look more again as we've been following stories of the personal tragedies especially following October 7th. Now one young man, Ofer Tsarfati was at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th with his girlfriend Chauval Ghal and some friends celebrating his 27th birthday. Now when would the event was attacked by Hamas terrorists, Ofer reportedly responded with cool courage, helping some of them escape the massacre but at some cost for himself as he appears to have been caught by terrorists and is believed to have been taken hostage in Tugasa. Well joining us now is Chauval Ghal that is or for his girlfriend and another friend, Hodaia Abu they join us from the town of Curiat Atta and Chauval or Hodaia talk about that what I just described more in detail what happened there at the Nova Music Festival and especially how Ofer responded to what was happening. Alright so Chauval here and all of our friends were in the party at Re'im Ofer was celebrating his 27th birthday he wanted to celebrate it at the Nova Festival with all his friends and he with his girlfriend Chauval around 6.30 a.m. Saturday morning they started to notice the bombs and the rockets above them followed up with gunshots they got into their cars and drove to the main road until they had no choice but coming into the fields for something like 4 hours Ofer and Chauval was hiding under a tree until noticing two red sea cars approaching Chauval and their friends got into the first car and Ofer gave up on his seat and got into the second car eventually Ofer's car was attacked by a squad of Hamas terrorists and the driver and the girl next to him was murdered immediately and Ofer and the girl Romy Gonan who was sitting next to him at the back seat they were injured and what we that Ofer was talk to us a little about the kind of person I mean we see this moment demonstrating courage what kind of person Ofer was Ofer is still the best person we know is always keeping his smile on he have a huge heart and you can tell by this story that he just gave up his seat for another people so he is a really kind man and we all miss him and you can tell by this story and by this time in this whole 30 days we were everyday at the family's house and we're just waiting for him and we're doing everything we can to bring him back home and we know he will do the same for us talk about because anyone who looks at the social media your social media and also even affairs with active what you are doing to keep his awareness awareness of him and his plight not only just in Israel but also abroad using also posting stuff in English as well yes we have an instagram page called bring of fear home and we are uploading everyday videos about him talking in English in Hebrew and translated and we have we get a lot of love from all over the world we get a lot of support and we really appreciate it this is our mission now to keep the awareness of fear and all of the hostages and we want them all back home now we can't stand for another day and not for another 30 days right finally I'm going to ask what you as you know we're an international platform as well what's your message now to the world here we're at the we're nearing now a month just really just a full month in which not just fear but of course all those people taking hostage into Gaza most of cases not even a sign a proof of life what's your message to the international community perhaps on this day so our message is first of all we need your support we need the world support in these moments we need the world to we're having some hostages this is really important for us we need not only a life sign we need them back home now imagine your kids, imagine your boyfriend or your girlfriend right in this situation we can't stand another 30 days we can't stand we need to bring them back home and this is the world's mission not only Israel's mission and we also support Israel and we support Israel Defense Forces and what we're doing right now inside Gaza Strip and we know they will bring them back home but we need the world support right alright well certainly most of all of course I wish the safe return of Alfred Sarfati and all of the hostages there in Gaza, Shoval Ghal and Hodaia Abu thank you so much for joining us and telling your stories on I-24 News I'm always heart breaking to hear those kind of stories and I want to relate that again to what Jonathan Conrique is, the IDF spokesperson had to say about the importance of getting these messages across out into the world and changing the narrative which for a very brief moment after October 7th seemed to be going a certain way and now is falling back into in certain areas certainly predictable patterns there is that bitter and somewhat cynical position that says the world only appreciates the Jews and is sympathetic to Jews when they are victims and I think the amnesia that we're seeing internationally, the people have completely forgotten the context that Israel didn't want this war they're calling for a ceasefire we had a ceasefire going for years until November 7th so I think that our job is to do exactly raise this issue, the fact that there are 240 hostages, 30 of them are children, a 9 month old baby these are things that are just unacceptable and constantly mind that Israel did not ask for this war but if we're going to have any hope of having some kind of resolution with the Palestinians we have to destroy the Hamas and for all the modern Palestinians who might be interested in one day working out some sort of solution with us, this war is critical and so with all the horrible images that we see and the sympathy we have for collateral damages, there are some things that you have to do because without this, this region has no future all right, well we've been talking about these big pro-Palestinian or some case pro-Hamas protests that have become a defining feature of the war across the west and elsewhere in the world as well as we can certainly brought a new wave of those, our senior diplomatic correspondent and Lynn Plachemiah tells us about this latest round of protests and how Israel and its supporters could respond to it a month into the war it's clear who owns the streets of western capitals with big pro-Palestinian protests again Saturday from Washington to London to Paris begging against the gates of the White House we have a duty today to stop the massacre by pressing the criminals in the White House and in Israel to end the siege of Gaza and end the genocide that's taking place against the Palestinians and end the occupation signs called for ceasefire and called the President of the United States Genocide Joe and used that slogan from the river to the sea an outburst of passion unmatched so far from the pro-Israel side this is 70 for a commitment to out of course protests have also broken out far beyond the west in Latin America as here in Santiago Chile and across the expense of the Muslim world from Indonesia to Senegal we are here to support the Palestinian cause to demand an immediate ceasefire to demand that humanitarian aid reach the people of Gaza to demand a ceasefire now to demand a free Palestinian state we want all this to stop these rallies have raised fears in Israel and in Jewish communities worldwide for the extremism from some protesters but Israel and its supporters could have an answer build and show a broad coalition to capture the political center across the west and beyond to argue the protest movement is extreme and that moderates should reject it keeping in mind that beyond the thousands in the streets are many of millions of voters sitting at home alone somewhat disheartening to see those protests but as you said and you said earlier if you look at this for example the governments of Europe taking a much more supportive role of Israel not so much in South America we should say and that was mentioned there and there is a center that is supporting Israel at this stage the question is of course whether that center is going to be able to hold up as the ground operation in Gaza grinds on you're right Caleb in that sense I find it always disheartening to see the hypocrisy on people on the one hand accusing Israel of genocide which is absurd and at the same time calling for Palestine from the river to the sea which essentially means we are going to erase any kind of a Jewish state I should know there is a particular debate for example in the United States right now about that slogan from the river to the sea so the point is that this is a horrible war but people lose any kind of perspective when the United States went to battle in Afghanistan and it had its reasons 71,000 civilians were killed in Iraq over a million war is a terrible thing I think what we have to recognize is that what was the reason and what is the objective and if our objective is to get rid of an evil a horrible regime which uses its own people really really so atrociously and so heartlessly we have to recognize that we have to speak the truth and be encouraged by the fact that people who are willing to hear evidence-based arguments, intelligent and enlightened leaders are standing by us and we have to know how to target our message so that progressive people will have enough information to stand up to the disingenuous disinformation which is being propagated by these Palestinian no Hamas advocates so that's what we have to do just to redouble our efforts and speak the truth speak to the truth and speak truth to power as they say alone Tal thank you for joining us here on I-24 news now let's look at the toll we spoke about different types of toll that are being taken on the Israeli public from the events of October 7th and subsequently as well now the Iran organization has for years offered Israeli political counseling over the phone not surprisingly since October 7th its phones have not stopped ringing a correspondent, Maurel Elan has their story Yoav receives a call he's been answering this line benevolently for over 15 years on the other side of this line is someone in need of psychological help since the Hamas massacres on October 7th the calls content has changed drastically many of the calls are related to fear of rockets sirens, kidnapping or murder there are also people who are worried about their loved ones what happened on October 7th is a trauma for the whole country Yoav is one of the Iran organization's 1,600 volunteers in Israel for years Iran has been offering a listening ear and psychological support to its residents while Iran receives 1,000 calls a day before the war with Hamas this figure has now tripled since the beginning of the war the calls have been even more heartbreaking than usual in the first hours the talks were unimaginably violent children from Sterot, from Nativot from the Gaza border who are at the heart of the events it's very difficult for our volunteers for example calls from young people who are still at the festival attacked by Hamas with specialized lines for soldiers the ultra-orthodox and Arab populations in Israel and accessibility in many languages Iran targets a wide audience the patients who call are people like you and me that's why all of our calls are anonymous let's take the example of a soldier or a mobilized person who's scared because his unit is going to enter the Gaza Strip so he talks to a volunteer who listens to him and normalizes his feelings for the volunteers it's also difficult they are affected by the calls they receive although Iran provides them with the tools to cope with the weight of the calls this burden stays with them long after they've hung up I share the emotions of people who call and it affects me when I'm on a call I can't cry with the people even though sometimes I do I try to find strength in them listen to them or maybe find them to help most of the time people just need to be listened to but it's very trying and these situations come home with me Iran is available to all Israelis offering an essential service to help them cope with the traumas that began on October 7th and which will leave their mark on the country for years to come and just an update on the situation in the north of Israel it was as you mentioned before there were sirens in the town of Kyriakshmone many citizens who have been evacuated and there was a rocket for landing of a rocket there in Kyriakshmone it looks like it caused some minor damages but no reports of injuries now we're looking at live images of Gaza what you're seeing those are flares flares lighting up the sky above northern Gaza there's a gasoline indication of ground operations underway and as we heard from Lieutenant Colonel Konrich is the idea of Spokesperson earlier there is some intense fighting going on there in northern Gaza we're going out now that's the end of this particular broadcast but please do stay with I-24 News we'll be coming into the anchor's chair with continuous coverage almost one month now day 30 of Israel's war against Hamas drawing to a close thank you for being with us month has passed since October 7 the day Israel was brutally attacked by Hamas a month since the black Sabbath when Hamas terrorists murdered over 1400 Israelis wounded thousands of others and took 240 people captive a month since the IDF entered a war against the vicious terrorist organization a month later I-24 News returns to the place where it all began join us on November 7 only on I-24 News here on I-24 News as we continue a rolling coverage day 30 of the war here in Israel there's like a little Hitler in a bunker this is how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defines that today the murderers Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip his idea forces continue to gain steam in their ground operation pressing on Hamas power strongholds in Ramallah meanwhile it's the talks of the day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saying he's willing to take over the Gaza Strip as part of an overall diplomatic deal if and when of course but the senior diplomatic sources in Jerusalem is telling us tonight there's no feasible option which Israel will not have supreme security responsibility in Gaza saying it is not enough to rebate this Strip once the war is over it must also be put through a process of quote classification this culture the sources of wanting to kill Jews still exist in the Palestinian Authority and while for now the West Bank is quiet there is a possibility of tables turning Israel getting ready for it speaking of turning tables it's both the Middle East that is changing and the changing of the Middle East the I-24 official telling us tonight there are wise people in both Saudi Arabia and Israel will start it before the war will continue after but in one condition an Israeli victory and we want to begin this broadcast up in the North I-24 news correspondent Mary McAuliffe in the south rather I-24 news correspondent Mary McAuliffe standing by there with the I-24 news team Mary thank you for joining us well the idea of spokesperson is showing some proof today Hamas it was quite well known that Hamas is using hospitals as terror bases hinting on the next moves perhaps the next focus of the ground operation absolutely right and we also just heard them once again announcing hospitals and I just want to cut off to say we just again heard rockets overhead seen rockets from this direction headed towards Tel Aviv likely might have sirens in the next coming moments but at least 10 rockets being fired from inside the Gaza Strip towards targets in central Israel so what we are seeing is that Israel continues to push deeper south into the Gaza Strip cutting this area into half into the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip after they've reached the coats still able to file rockets into areas of central Israel we've also seen reports from inside the Palestinian territory inside Gaza Strip today some of these reports coming out talking about also strikes on hospitals and warning about these strikes on hospitals telling all civilians to try and get as much distance away from possible from these areas because they will likely become targets just as you mentioned again putting out many many different pieces of evidence and intelligence gathering to prove that Hamas is using these hospitals has facilities underground that they're trying underneath these hospitals we continue to see that we have trying to strike these and hearing reports also that they have been successfully striking some of them we don't have much information coming out inside the Gaza Strip right now because there has been once again a total communications blackout this is the third time this has happened since the beginning of IDF operation last week but as we can just see here on the ground obviously this operation is ongoing we've seen numerous different airstrikes throughout the night today IDF using all means at its disposal to try and attack some of these targets we've seen helicopters mortars artillery shells shelling this area right in the background that's Bate Hanun this is an area in northern Gaza Strip that has been heavily targeted by the IDF throughout the evening we have watched this also in Jabalia very heavy strikes and I'll tell you this explosions that we've seen in this area have been massive not just the explosions coming from the airstrikes also whatever it's detonating on the ground clearly sending up explosions very possible these could also be munitions warehouse they are targeting or tunnels that they're targeting underground yes and Mary we can definitely feel even I would dare to say the latest barrage is another heavy barrage of rockets towards Israel's center this evening we couldn't hear from our studios here at the Jaffa port what I assume or rather hope or interceptions again yet another very heavy barrage of rockets towards Israeli center communities at this evening and Mary all this is happening again as you have been mentioning that the encirclement of Gaza city of the main Hamas power stronghold in the strip is almost completed what is from what we can say from what we know what are the current challenges of the IDF forces underground and once this objective is achieved what are we to see next the underground infrastructure perhaps taking center stage exactly just as you mentioned Ellie underground is what we're talking about here this remains to be the major challenge for the IDF forces as they continue to try and push deeper south we're still seeing the ability by members of Hamas to pop up out of these tunnels to launch mortars or place mortar launchers that have been used to hit IDF tanks we saw this happen over the weekend of course the death toll among Israeli soldiers who are operating inside the Gaza strip once again rose today now total of 33 have been killed since the beginning of this operation and the fact that Hamas is still firing rockets into central Tel Aviv tell you they still have defensive and offensive capabilities and they're absolutely exercising them against the Israeli troops who are trying on the ground to complete that encirclement of Gaza city and to try and get inside this area where they know underground is this deep intelligence hub where they have capability to one see what's going on the outside but also to launch rockets also to regroup on the ground for the IDF as it continues to try and work inside Gaza strip is trying also to try and set up this area and try and force all the forces that are pushing back against them they are definitely facing resistance that's not to say they haven't had successes in gaining ground they've been able to cut off the north part of the Gaza strip from the south IDF saying today that they successfully managed to do that that there's now a north Gaza strip and the south Gaza strip this is official as of today as Israeli forces officially entered that coastal area on the south so they have been able to get inside that line the challenge of course is going to be Gaza city they knew this was always going to be the main issue where they had the main tunnels underground that they have to continue to try and deal with Yes, I 24 news correspondent Mary McAuliffe on the Israel Gaza border thank you very much for this Mary will of course be touching base with you later on in the program thank you very much for this Mary joining us now in the studio for this broadcast Mr. Analyst and thank you very much for joining us well we mentioned the issue of hospital at the beginning of our conversation with Mary in the context of whether this would be the next objective of the Israeli forces there as a target of Hamas terror infrastructure first and foremost perhaps the infamous Shifa hospital but there's another side to it and this is the humanitarian assistance and it seems that there is a change of tune on the Israeli side if at first there was this notion that through depriving humanitarian aid it will be used as some sort of leverage over Hamas leadership there now different music simply because of the fact that as Benjamin Netanyahu Israeli Prime Minister is saying tonight couldn't care less about the civilians there so depriving them humanitarian aid will achieve nothing other than cutting the operation time of Israel short then if Hamas cared what happened to civilians in the strip they would not have staged a massacre against Israel which made the current operation absolutely inevitable and it would have given up by now because it's clear that it's causing corruption in Gaza, they don't and so that type of leverage isn't going to work unless the idea is that it would achieve what hasn't been achieved in 16 years which is to get the population to rebel but it's rather clear that the population at this point is more occupied with survival and escaping from the war zone rather than rebelling and also this pressure by the Americans I mean to a degree if Israel agrees to various humanitarian measures not only is that perhaps a human thing to do but it's buying itself more time to complete the task which looks like it will take time so the setting up or the establishment of field hospitals how crucial is it to this point in time I think that when we see the international pressure in Israel we understand that the operation has two legs one leg is the military leg and we see that Israel and IDF was ready to go into Gaza to see what's going on and the fact that Israel was able to basically close Gaza all around it means that IDF was ready to go in now the other leg is the international leg and as the pressure builds against Israel the humanitarian aid is crucial for Israel to get more time to achieve the goals building hospitals and by the way Israel called the population of northern Gaza Strip to go south meaning once Israel told them to go south Israel also has a responsibility to take care of those people who went south so building hospitals or letting Egypt get some of the people from Gaza into their hospitals Egypt doesn't like the idea of refugees going into Sinai but when we're talking about people that are injured filled hospital with limited number of people that will cross something that Egypt is willing to do not more than that and President Sisi was very clear about the fact that he will not let refugees cross from Gaza Strip into Sinai and reportedly even Israeli initiatives to try with international backing to relocate some of the Gaza citizens into Egypt for the in between period bearing no fruit at this point in time and I do want us to circle back to what we've opened the program with and this is a senior diplomatic official speaking today in Jerusalem talking about the hostage situation in the sense that the if at the beginning there was this notion that the military pressure will undermine the diplomatic route of releasing hostages at this point in time Jerusalem believes that military operation will only increase the prospects of such how do you explain this changing dynamic I think that from my perspective Israel made a mistake from the beginning thinking that Qatar will solve the problem in diplomatic way Qatar from the beginning cooperated with Hamas Qatar knew and even if Qatar didn't know the money that was sent from Qatar into Gaza let Hamas prepare the operation the massacre over 7th and now letting Qatar be also the mediator once they are involved deeply in what happened is very problematic I guess that the only thing that will make Hamas release hostages will be beside the diplomatic pressure the military pressure and the fact that they will want to save their own lives because they see their own lives as very precious as they don't see others life as something that they need to take under consideration so once they will understand that Israel will soon take them they will be ready to do something and release hostages Hamas Gaza doesn't consider everything that's happened in the past month in other words are they not prepared to die? they are prepared to send others to die I remember during the Second Intifada I mean themselves well okay the life of themselves they will not give don't worry I remember when Jibril Rajub called Arafat during the Second Intifada Israel was raiding his base in Batunia and Jibril Rajub told Arafat the Israelis are crazy and Arafat told him okay you'll be a martyr? yeah a martyr for Jerusalem but when we were on his doorstep with Herzl Alevi by the way that time was the commander of Matka the commander he called all the leaders of the world and told them crying Israel is going to kill me he didn't say I will be the martyr for Jerusalem I mean Jibril Rajub is not a religious fanatic from Hamas for paranoid it doesn't mean that they're not chasing me we'll put a stop right here because we want to jump to the northern border and get updated with what's happening there 24 news correspondent Pia Stakalbach sending by there with the I-24 news team Pia not a day passing by without some back and forth there but tonight seems like some sort of an escalation direct hits in the northern city of Israel also an Israeli civilian killed earlier in the day what can you tell us right Ali this has been quite an eventful day and evening as well the city of Kiryat Shmon in fact in the upper eastern Galilee region was targeted twice rockets were launched onto the city and the surrounding area twice the first time we're talking about a few direct hits there also the second time we're talking about a number of rockets but that city has been widely evacuated really throughout the past two weeks it is widely void of civilians there that's why also there are no reports of any injured or casualties there only damage to infrastructure there and two cars that were torched as a result of the direct rocket impacts there and that comes after a security incident in southern Lebanon the Hezbollah affiliated channel Al-Mayadeen has been reporting about an Israeli airstrike in the early evening hours that targeted a car that was traveling on a road next to the village of Ainata which is located right behind the Israeli border on the southern Lebanon side there where three children and one woman were killed now the Lebanese media is attributing that strike to Israel the Israeli army says that that incident is under review not is getting investigated but Hezbollah after that incident issuing a statement saying that they will react to that and also claiming responsibility for at least that first barrage of rockets of the city of Kiryat Shmona which really is a very quite rare step because especially when we talk about rockets many of the times that we've seen rockets in the north the Hamas military ring the Katab Qasam in southern Lebanon have been claiming responsibility for firing rockets now we're talking about Hezbollah firing rockets towards the city of Kiryat Shmona and of course all that coming after earlier today an Israeli civilian was killed in an area that is right underneath of Kiryat Shmon in the Kubut of Yiftakh where an anti-tank missile fired from Hezbollah from southern Lebanon hit a truck and killing that one civilian which raises the number of Israeli civilians killed here in the north two weeks ago one person was killed on a construction site in Stula another community very close to the Lebanese border alien that really shows you how these skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah are constantly increasing we're talking about quite high tensions here that are continuing that have been high the tensions have been high throughout the past three weeks four weeks now of the war but you can see that the pace is intensifying is increasing and also the intensity of those attacks. Thank you very much for this much more from Pia later on tonight gentlemen before we broaden our discussion a bit and look at the different players here in the region I do want to circle back once again to these remarks interesting remarks that we're hearing today by senior diplomatic official talking about the northern front saying that communities the residents of Israeli communities along the northern border will be able to return there only due to the success down south alluding to that in terms of proactive action vis-a-vis Israeli enemies on the northern front shouldn't really hold their breath let's call it aggressive defense mode for the time being I mean there's two schools of thought in Israel one is to preempt Hezbollah move and fix that problem as well I think it's rather optimistic to try to fix the Hezbollah problem at the same time as fixing the Hamas problem I would hope cooler heads prevail Israel does not have any more of an interest of opening up a second front in or the Nazis for sure and then the ability to succeed down south heavily depends on the ability to keep the arenas separate and yet a mother will have to tuck her child in bed in Kiryat Shmona once this is over I think the hope is that the resolution in Gaza will be so unequivocal so clear and so crushing to Israel's enemies as to constitute the kind of deterrent that we saw against Hezbollah itself with what was undoubtedly their defeat in 2006 something I think that the Omer government doesn't get much credit for but which we see was true they have been deterred since then the idea I think is to deter Hezbollah once more without taking on Hezbollah by means of Hamas but that of course entails the optimistic idea of finishing off Hamas and I mean I have to say Gaza I'm not that surprised they were able to bisect the strip I'm not that surprised they were able to bomb many thousands of buildings and I'm saddened to see that the civilian casualties are apparently as high as they are none of that's a big surprise what would have been a big surprise would have been a pleasant surprise after a month almost of all this is if they were already in Gaza City clearing it out of remaining nests of terrorists and trapping them all into tunnels but on the other hand yes they're being cautious and we can laud them for that this is not a reckless operation but on the other hand that caution entails a prolonged time span and because of the civilian casualties I think the pressure on Israel will eventually grow to end it and from Israel's perspective that could happen prematurely because of all this otherwise laudable caution so have we crossed the Rubicon in disrespect of international backing what's next now? I think it's inner political issue because Netanyahu's government needs to decide what's next and I'm sure that the Americans are asking and when Blinken is coming to Israel he's asking what's next who's going to take over so we are hearing all kinds of ideas about who will take over Gaza nobody will take over Gaza unless Israel will keep on going forward with some kind of an agreement with the Palestinians in the West Bank I'm hearing today Abu Mazen is saying I will consider taking over Gaza if Israel will do something in the West Bank there is no other option Netanyahu knows that but he's now a hostage by so he needs to decide basically he needs to decide not about Gaza, he needs to decide about Jerusalem what Jerusalem is going to do because Gaza from I'll say military point of view it will happen we started this operation two weeks ago it will last a few months, maybe a year Israel can do it but this official is also telling us that there is no feasible scenario in which Israel is not does not hold a supreme security presence in the Gaza Strip but they are talking already about what will be the security solution and arrangement before they are talking about what will be the physical arrangement of Gaza who will take over Gaza because even if Abu Mazen takes over Gaza it still doesn't mean that Israel will be in charge from a security point of view but Netanyahu needs to decide he didn't decide yet and this is why I'm not sure right now that he will go all the way to destroy Hamas to destroy Hamas we do want to join now to the conversation Ziegler Distinguished Fellow from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Mr. David Makovsky, former divisor special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations thank you very much Mr. Makovsky for joining us Blinken here in the Middle East yet again, surprised visits in Iraq even what are the American objective Mr. Makovsky what is the ideal American day after if the Palestinian Authority was strong enough they would be ideal after all they were in charge from 1994 to 2007 it hasn't happened before the question though is are they strong enough and you don't want to set them up to fail and that's why I think the secretary is checking with the Arabs to see maybe there could be some sort of multilateral component, a coalition of the willing I don't think the United Nations is something Israel could consider but a coalition of the willing to be interim administrators until the Palestinian Authority a coalition to succeed that means they would do the reconstruction and public order and would have to have some sort of coexistence with Israel as well and that is something that's unclear so he's scheduled this visit to Ramallah today he's also in Iraq I think he wants to do a sounding of Abbas on what is feasible and the Iraq piece I think is more about militias in Iraq that could be hitting American forces and maybe even joining with the Houthis and firing rockets at Israel which the US has intercepted so two different objectives there but the main thing for the US are the four points remember it's the objective of toppling Hamas it's the humanitarian assistant it's finding some way for the hostage release and what you just asked about the day after those are the four big ones so it seems that when it comes to the first three the US may back to differ on specific issues but more or less there is an agreement on those when it comes to the fourth one here perhaps there's more of an abyss but we don't know yet enough because Netanyahu I think is fearful that any talk of Israel's position on the day after that has details of who except Israel could come in to create a coalition crisis for himself so it is ironic we're hearing whispers in Washington that the US that Israel is going to say well the PA is not a bad idea because we'll treat the whole area like area B where Israel goes in and out anyway but I think that could create some coalition problems too so I think one of your panelists said it both of them might have spoke well but I think the one about politics within Israel about talking too much about the day after is a constraint and so they're kind of trying to work around Israeli politics by having the secretary go out talk to air partners and by the way although it has not gotten any media attention are two of his advisors of our relief and Derek Chalet are out in the region for the same purpose the media hasn't picked up on it but it's the same point about what is the day after the US is counting on the chasm between public statements of the Arabs and their private sentiments about Hamas now don't get me wrong it's genuine what the public feels that they feel it they know one thing the Arab leaders they're not elected people so they never want to get on the wrong side of their publics but their own views of Hamas are pretty clear as well and they know there's no as I think Dan said there's no stage two unless stage one is done unless you topple Hamas nobody's going to go in there little tears will be shed if and when Hamas is eliminated and that includes all the leaders here in the region following what you've just mentioned Mr. Makovsky reports now that the CIA Chief Bill Burns is visiting Israel so not just blinking the entire American administration in and out thank you very much Mr. Makovsky pleasure to be speaking to you thank you sir a few minutes and we're back by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on I-24 news welcome back on this special broadcast here on I-24 news day 30 of the war here in Israel news not just current leaders but former ex-prime ministers Boris Johnson of Britain and Scott Morrison of Australia of course arriving in Israel today for a special solidarity visit much welcomed one of course but is what you see from here not really what you see from there I-24 news senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultrimann tagged along welcome to the killing fields of Khvaraza four weeks on where on this Sunday Likud member of parliament Danny Danone brought two foreign dignitaries who joined the train of so many who have come here to pay their respects former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Italian Prime Minister Scott Morrison both known as strong friends of Israel here to show solidarity with the Israeli people you just heard the artillery going off again and here to pay homage to the victims let's hear what each had to say I think what's it's so important to come here in person if you can and I think it's particularly important for me to come here now several weeks after these appalling atrocities because the memory is fading and people are losing focus and they're losing clarity about what happened so when you see the blood on the sofa when you see the blood still on the floor and when you see the absolutely incontrovertible evidence of innocent families being massacred in their own homes you need to remind people of the difference between what those Hamas terrorists did and what Israel is now trying to do to make sure it can't happen again well my first message to Jewish people around the world is I care we care those who have come here care and there are a lot of people who do and even those who have not seen this and that you are not isolated you are not alone and there are just so many who do believe in never forgetting and never again and rule main committed that in every opportunity they can grasp to pursue it and maybe even as we film our feet touch the belongings and the clothes thrown on the ground by the looters who came here after the inhabitants of the houses were killed you can see the bullet holes in the wall the former prime ministers each saw those also as well you can smell the smell of smoke and even some say the smell of death here even weeks after sadly the Israeli military and Israeli dignitaries have grown accustomed to bringing people here on tours here in the killing fields of Kfar Gaza only four weeks on as this war continues as Israel continues to try to make known to the world the full scope of what happened here and in so many other communities that had been living and thriving Kibbutzim and Moshevim here on the Israel Gaza border Owen Alderman, I-24 News Kfar Gaza, Israel And back here in studio with Mr. Dan Perry and Mr. Gunem Ben-Nitschak for staying with us the diplomatic again international credit the backing of course of paramount importance and Volodymyr Zelensky the Ukrainian president wanted wants to arrive here in Israel wasn't so happy about it being published before was actually finalized but it would mean more than just this visit it will fully complete this illustration of the new axes of good and axes of evil I do think so Israel had for its own reasons equivocated on the issue of Russia and Ukraine and upset Zelensky at the time no little for him to come here would be very useful for Israel because he is currently somewhere between Gandhi and Jesus Christ on a global respect scale and it would show that Israel is not as isolated as some fear and of course he has a lot to gain he wants to be very much not threatened in terms of the U.S. focus and aid by what's happening in Israel so I think the insuring that Ukraine then the effort to aid Ukraine will not be in any way harmed or diminished is implicitly part of what he's getting in exchange for coming here in line with Israel and speaking of the American policies here it's not just the U.S. policy that is impacting the war here or reshaping the war here in Israel but also the war that is reshaping the U.S. to an extent exactly a year until E-Day where do we stand we want to welcome now Hailey Sofer CEO of Jewish Democratic Council of America and Eagle Marcus director of Republican Overseas Israel thank you so very much for joining us well we've used the term crossing the Rubicon in the context of international backing to Israel is Biden now over the Rubicon when it comes to the Democratic support Hailey absolutely not I mean as you've seen in the past four weeks President Biden has not held back denouncing the pure and unadulterated evil of Hamas offering his support of Israel and American Jews the first president to visit Israel during war time and obviously the secretary secretary Blinken was there this weekend as well on his fourth visit assuring Israel that they will never have to stand alone he has the support of the Democratic Party in this position Democrats have overwhelmingly stood with Israel we saw just this week there was an effort by Republicans to politicize to delay and to condition for the first time US assistance to Israel the unprecedented 14.3 billion dollars in aid that President Biden pledged Republicans decided to delay by politicizing it in a package that is going to never pass the Senate let alone be signed by the President into law they knew that going into it but they chose to politicize it so Democrats to summarize Democrats stand with President Biden stand with Israel and Republicans have chosen to politicize this moment and to condition aid Egal is Israel becoming a political pun in the American political game well you see than Haley here this is not about left versus right this is about right versus evil and I have to commend the President and Secretary Blinken for taking a very strong stance supporting Israel now in terms of her position about Republicans you know politicizing this they passed a clean bill to support only Israel 14.3 billion dollars they didn't link it to aid to Ukraine Taiwan and other hotspots around the world which I think deserve debate I don't think that giving a free checkbook is in the right interest of the United States of America I think that you have to consider and debate what blowing up and continuing to blow up our our deficits due to our national security so to that as we're politicizing the Israel issue is of course ridiculous but you know again to take Israel must and always remain above the political arguments between left versus right this is all about right versus wrong and so far the President and Secretary Blinken have been strong supporters of the state and because the Biden administration been so clear about it Haley it seems it is more than just an issue of pro or against Israel when we're talking about again the inner Democratic party scene I think it was Bill Maher who referred to the 90s sister soldier moment when a leader back then was Bill Clinton when you know you needed to do what you need to do as a leader not as a politician as in taking up bald stands against extremes and a party should Biden have this moment when it comes to the progressive elements of the party doesn't seem that there's any soul digging in this side of the aisle well I was in the room on October 11th with President Biden when he spoke to leaders of the American Jewish community about his deep commitment to Israel and I can tell you that it wasn't just words it was words backed by a deep emotion his outrage over the horrific massacre the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust and by actions his support of Israel his unprecedented pledge of assistance and the movement of military assets to the region to deter other bad actors including Iran this president has been remarkable in his support and he is his position is supported by the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Congress importantly our leadership in the Senate and the House by contrast just days that same day on October 11th the head of the Republican Party the presumed presidential nominee Donald Trump mocked Israel mocked the prime minister and praised a terrorist organization on Israel's northern border with over 100,000 rockets pointed at Israel Hezbollah so this there is a contrast and it needs to be called out and yes indeed that money was conditioned by Republicans yes it was a clean bill because it only included the money for Israel but no it wasn't unconditional it linked it to aid or to cutting the amount of assistance by cuts to the IRS it was a ridiculous unnecessary in other words having it paid for in other words having it paid for the difference here the difference here is that we actually want to preserve the national security of the United States of America by not blowing out our deficits and it's not inappropriate for them to say you know what we have to have this paid for we didn't hear that from the president I'd like to ask you a question the deficit just tell me where the money is coming from that's not inappropriate that's not patriotic and that's not anti-israel that's responsible leadership so please tell me where's the money going to come from okay so emergency supplemental assistance don't need an offset second of all the congressional budget office said that the if you're willing to blow out our deficits okay I I'm happy to take turns here they said it would increase the deficit but the bottom line is that president Biden asked for this assistance for Israel for Ukraine that would not be conditioned in any way it was the first time that there's ever been a conditioning of aid and it's clear this very inexperienced speaker the fifth choice of Republicans that took three weeks for them to choose the speaker had no idea what he's doing he conditioned the aid it's dead on arrival because both McConnell and Schumer in the Senate have said they will not support this package and the president has said he will veto it so this very important assistance that Democrats have no it won't go to him because the Senate won't pass it that's how it works they're going to have to negotiate control by Democrats well anyway I think that the aid in of itself is illustrative of the strong support that exists for Israel this aid package was requested by the president and it is supported by Democrats once in the house they can figure out how to pass it unconditionally it will be signed into law and it will immediately be going to Israel Dan Perry here in studio chime in I was just going to chime in on the US deficit actually as it approaches about this may not be the world's biggest problem right now and I can certainly see how the special appropriation might actually pass regardless of fiscal prudence and responsibility I'd also note that elections in the US are one in the center it's true that Biden has a problem the progressive wing of the party but like 75 or 80% of Americans do not have lack of moral clarity on who attacked who in the current conflict to speak of the anger generation completely the issue is with Gen Z 24-year-olds in there there is a catastrophe so in 20 years when they're in power false equivalences and nonsensical narratives of decolonialization might be a real concern but right now if Biden is looking at 2024 he's probably wise to support Israel which is why it's no surprise that he's doing that on top of the fact that he has a nice line ism within him and also he's experienced enough to know what happened on October 7th yeah that is we have to be honest Trump's statements on that not really reassuring let's put it that way as you know I'm not a Trump fan but when you look at the statements of Ron DeSantis when you look at the statements of Nikki Haley both of who would be outstanding candidates I think that they were strong very very strong articulate and I'm not going to defend Donald Trump I'm just again counting down exactly a year until election day it seems that still things can happen but it seems Donald Trump is leading both Haley and DeSantis by double digits it will be