 Welcome to the special news edition here on I-24 News. I'm Bati Leventhal, thanks for joining me. It is day 74 of war between Israel and Hamas, today being Tuesday marked the first time in around a week where rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards central Israel. At around 1pm local time rocket alert warning sounded in southern Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Batiam, Rishon Itzion, Kfar Chabad and Beit Dagan. Hamas claimed responsibility for firing the latest barrage. There were no direct hits or injuries reported. All this as two more IDF soldiers were killed as the Gaza ground operation continues, bringing the death toll now to 131. Meanwhile the IDF has released for publication that Kamala Dwan, the hospital director of Jabalia in northern Gaza, confessed to the Shin Bet security agency that Hamas took over his hospital as a military operation center. And joining me here in the studio is Avi Pazna, the former Israeli ambassador to France and Italy and the former world chairman of Karen Hayasod, United Israel Appeal. Avi, good afternoon to you and thank you for being here with me. This is quite a massive sort of put forward of evidence and proof that the Shin Bet was being confessed to by the head or the director of a hospital, saying yes, this hospital was in fact being used by Hamas and yet the world still chooses to believe alternative reports coming out. You know it's very strange you are right because we proved more than once, three, four, five weeks ago when we entered Shifa and there was need to prove we invited the foreign press to come and visit and they saw, they saw the tunnels, they saw the arms, the ammunition, everything ready even where the hostages were kept in Shifa hospital and we tried to convince the world. But you know when you don't want to be convinced, you cannot, I mean if you have a mental block and people say it's a hospital, a hospital, a hospital and we say no, it was a hospital and inside the hospital there was a terror base and it is very difficult to push this point across because people do not make the connection between a hospital and terrorism. They cannot understand an operation like the Hamas operation. Now I hope we have further evidence. We have the director of Shifa hospital who has admitted that yes it was a terror base. He said it was forced, it's possible. I do not, I cannot judge him but we have to push this forward and I tell you why. Because there are other hospitals in the Gaza Strip, they also serve as terror base. So if we can prove that one, the biggest one, was also a main terror base. And the rest will fall in line. Yeah. I hope so. It's an interesting point to push but as you mentioned when someone has a mental block it's obviously very hard to try and persuade them otherwise. What doesn't need persuasion whatsoever however is the minds that have been made up in terms of the Israeli public when it comes to the government and the leadership of this country. Obviously on day 74 of war very different to the first seven days of war where the narrative was we'll get to the tough questions and the finger pointing after the war but now that we are well into three months of war there's a big question being pointed at what's going to happen politically and I believe there's new information coming out that most Israelis say that they want elections immediately. Yes. And the latest polls show that usually in war what happens the Israeli public used to coalesce behind the government. And yesterday there was a poll on one of the TV chain and it showed that the coalition today if elections were held today that the coalition would get only 44 members of Knesset and the opposition 77 look at the different. So and you have to ask yourself why is that? I think it is because of the shock still of the shock of what happened on October the 7th and that those who were then in the government and who still are today are responsible. And I think that the fact that Netanyahu did not say that he's responsible this makes some of the public feel angry at the lack of will to present himself as responsible for the action of the government saying yes we'll deal with it afterwards. The public doesn't accept that a party but now I have to caution elections are not for tomorrow. Tomorrow still will be a day of war and after tomorrow maybe election will be held six months from now when you're from now who knows and you cannot know what will happen then but if they were held today strangely enough it is Gantz who would win those elections. Gantz who apparently has no other function than being a member of cabinet he has no ministry he has no power and he is the favorite candidate this is politics but politics as you know is very evasive and what is true today four months from now cannot be true anymore. Have you stayed with me I want to get an update now without correspondent Nicole Zedek who is standing by for us in the South. Nicole obviously the big story coming out at this hour being that they are allegations from the Shin Bet that one of the hospital directors of a hospital in northern Gaza has revealed that not only was his hospital overrun by Hamas terrorists but it also housed one kidnapped hostage what more do we know coming out from this report. Well it's in this investigation from the hospital director Bhatia who was just arrested last week and we're talking about this hospital as you said which is located in northern Gaza specifically in Jabalia and he's just talking about in this investigation how embedded Hamas terrorists wore into his exact hospital he himself was recruited by Hamas back in 2010 and now even for the past several months as you said not only has Hamas been operating out of his hospital but at one point even housing a kidnapped soldier he goes on to talk about how there were designated offices designated spaces for interrogations for investigations for special forces all inside this hospital he even also talked about how there was specific private ambulances specifically for Hamas terrorists and in one instance where he said that one of his own patients at this hospital needed to be transported to the nearby Indonesian hospital he said he needs critical care we need to take the civilian the civilian that Hamas their own government are supposed to protect however Hamas refused to transport them in their so-called private ambulances because they said their operations are more important so hearing word for word exactly from this this director of the hospital really shows exactly what the IDF has been trying to prove for the past several months at this point now but yeah that that Hamas is using several of these hospitals as really Hamas military hotspots and I'm getting we're looking behind me I'm hearing from my cameraman there is another explosion I'm going to have him zoom in so you can see as we're talking about what's happening in Jabalia right behind me is more the area of Bait Hanun and as we're panning a little bit more or more south that is also where Jabalia is you can't see it on your screen right now but we continue to see these explosions we continue to hear just these sounds of war and this is in the northern part of the Gaza Strip so we're continuing to see I want to note behind me is Bait Hanun behind that is Bait Lahia and then we have Atatra as well and earlier today we also heard different troops had seized huge weapons caches in Atatra and Jabalia as well not only finding different rockets different guns but also then going to different Hamas houses in these towns as well and finding pictures pictures of children wearing different Hamas military uniforms and posing with guns so this goes to show not only is it the civilian infrastructure that's being used but civilians at a young age children who are just being taught this ideology from these Hamas militants these Hamas terrorists themselves corresponding to calls that are giving us an update there from the southern border of Israel with the Gaza Strip thank you very much for that and still with me here in studio Avi Pazna Avi 74 days of war it still seems to be an incredibly difficult and grueling task for Israel to have to explain to the international community that this war is not against the Palestinians that doesn't dis take away or at least dis include the fact that Palestinians unfortunately are being put in harm's way and are dying as a result of the war but this is against Hamas Hamas who has overtaken all civilian infrastructure and life in the Gaza Strip why is this still proving such a difficult point for the international community to differentiate between Hamas a terror organization and the Palestinians who do have a legitimate plight you know the saying that one picture is worth a thousand words and this is what's happening to us as simple as that when you see let's say you you are in London on New York and you see the scenes on TV in Gaza there is a plight of civilians there is no question about that we are doing what we can in order to avoid civilian losses and this is why by the way in parentheses the operation is going step by step because we wiped out everything we have thanks god an air force who could have wiped out everything there we don't do that in order to protect the civilian population but when you have pictures which you saw for example Gaza people hungry Gaza people looting the humanitarian aid or you see a mother a Palestinian mother crying over at that child a thousand words is not enough to explain them that's the problem you see every time when you will see a picture of a tank stopping an ambulance the ambulance will win the information war not the tank that's the Israeli problem we are winning this war yes but we have to be very careful to try really to do the minimum damage to the civilian population as much as we can and this is why we evacuated them from the north to the south when we attacked the north we spared thousands of lives of Palestinians but this is an untold story because it is very very difficult when I sit with you and behind me for example you see picture of destruction and of houses which are in ruin and you see people crying and it's very difficult this is what happens in the first week we had it very easy very easy we were we were the victims we were those who suffered and who lost people thousand two hundred people it was very I remember it was very easy to explain everything it gets more and more difficult and we have to make a big effort also a visual effort to try to show picture of what we are doing in order to help the local population because our war again is against the Hamas and not against the Palestinian people and at least on this side of the border as you mentioned while not the massacres that we saw on October 7th the suffering still continues in different waves being that the IDF death toll continues to grow during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip but also many of the families dealing with the fact that the hostages are still being held captive under Hamas control in the Gaza Strip and on that note I want to cross to our correspondent Emily Francis who's standing by for us in Tel Aviv near the main entrance of the security headquarters a key position of many of the protests and demonstrations of the families in relation to the hostages their loved ones that are being kept still in the Gaza Strip 74 days into the war meaning they've been kept kept of 73 days what is the latest on the ground there Emily what are the families calling for Hi Bate listen the families first and foremost are still in spite of all of the the whores and nightmares even of the past five days they are still hoping and they still have faith that their family members will come home what they're doing right now this evening at 29 past every hour which is because everything happened at 29 past the hour they are taking 241 seconds to read all of the names but without further ado I'd rather hear from Nadab Rudayef the son of Lior who is one of the organizers and you are literally my personal hero since I've gotten to know you I'm in your own dad you don't know anything about about him but you are still here with confidence that he's gonna come home tell us about first tell us about your pops so thank you first of all so this is my dad Leo I'm in 61 he suffered a heart attack two years ago and on October 7th because he is the man he is which is the ultimate volunteer he went outside because he's a volunteer medic in Mada for many years and he's an ambulance driver he went outside because he heard gunfire and he heard the sirens so he went outside to see that everything is okay a while my mom was at the safe room alone at home while everything happened my youngest brother was at the nova festival trying to try and succeeding to flee for his life with another friend which is one of the of the relief signs that that we had but ever since quarter to nine in the morning of October 7th we have nothing except his phone was pinned in in Hanyunas and ever since we have no no indication where he is we have no sign of life from him not even from the people that have been returned I think the strength come from the fact that hope dies last I cannot if if the hope will die we have nothing to fight for so so I will keep on hoping until otherwise but the fact that there are still 129 hostages being held captive in in Hamas hands right now is unbearable for 74 days it's been unbearable and it's just we would just want them here you feel speaking to Netanyahu and speaking to the war cabinet the few times that you have is it is it making any impact I'm hoping that it is I think the first couple of times we were more focused on them realizing who we are and who is our personal hostage that that is there and I think in the in the last couple of weeks we we as family is starting to started to demand answers we want and and we are here because we want the answers we want to know that the Israeli government and Netanyahu is doing whatever they can to be the leaders they need to be in front of us and in front of the whole world and the western world in terms of leading and and be the one that are initiating the process of the of the of the negotiations because I don't think we can continue dancing around what the Hamas is is saying and we need to be more affirmative so we are here because we want to reinforce them that we are here with them not against them right do you feel also with the video that was released of the the three other men I mean it's it's got to be so painful if if you I mean to see them how is that like for you to process so I'm always saying and yesterday was not was not unusual that even when the the hostages was released a couple of weeks ago in the first deal that was made because we as families became one big family we are experiencing the whole spectrum of emotions in in an hour in in in half an hour we can be super happy and hopeful and optimistic but at the same time it's devastating that it's not your own personal joy and yesterday me personally I know all three men and I know their families because I grew up with their grandkids and their and their kids so I was super happy and optimistic because I can see three older gentlemen that are 80 plus years old and they look okay under the circumstances but at the same time I am saying I'm happy for their families but it's still not my dad so it's it's it's earth chattering and happy and hopeful and devastating it's everything together roller coaster all at once yeah Nadav thank you so much for your candor and for your spirit and you're giving us all something to believe in thank you very much that's all for now Batia back to you in the studio Emily Francis giving us an update there from near the hostage headquarters but also the security establishment headquarters in Tel Aviv thank you for that and as they just spoke about obviously the psychological warfare by Hamas continues with a video being released on Monday being yesterday of three elderly men the IDF news desk spoke with Orphir Metska the granddaughter of Yoram one of those elderly men seen in the recently published video he is more we were happy to get a sign of life to know that he's alive but on the same time we know the time is running out and we know that we we I watched the video and he doesn't look good he looks older and he got skinnier than he was before so he lost weight so yeah we we see that time is running out and you can see it on on them in the video also Chaim and Amiram we know them from the kibbutz they don't look good we the video is a psychological terror like anything else that the Hamas is doing and the video doesn't change changes this the statement that we hear to say and we said it before and we will say that today and and until the day will come back that they need to come back fast and we need to return them as soon as possible because time is running out and in the last two weeks we just heard more and more names of hostages that were killed murdered by the Hamas most of them and we don't want it to end like this no of course I can I can I mean I can't imagine what you're going through but it must be you know so much anguish when we have reports about a possible ceasefire deal you know another one to try and get hostages back and then the reports are denied are you are you getting the information that that you need are you getting the support that you need we hear the information like everyone from the news we don't get much more than that and like you said we we hear all sorts of things and then we hear that it's not going to happen and it's just changes all the time so we're trying not to be overwhelmed by the news because we know that when something will be serious then the army will let us know but until then we can just say all over the news how much it's important and and how much we need to hurry to to bring them home because time is running out yeah it's urgent it's urgent now I mean listen was it any comfort to you to see that he wasn't alone he was with the the two other guys from near Oz yeah yeah of course um and um and also I know because my grandma uh came back and I know that she was with him until she came back so you remind us your your grandmother was also taken wasn't she but she was returned onto that deal yeah she was returned on the fourth uh on the fourth day of the deal um she was very nervous to hear about this video because unfortunately she heard about it from the news before uh the the army let before the army sent us the message um so that was surprising and uh she she was very nervous from this video meanwhile the IDF has released for publication that the hospital director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabalia which is in northern Gaza confessed to the Shin Bet that Hamas Noroni took over his hospital and turned it into a military facility but at one point it also housed a kidnapped soldier now Kahlots his name is Ahmed Kahlots who told the Shin Bet and the IDF during his interrogation that not only did Hamas force him into turning the hospital into a base but that he along with 16 other members of the hospital staff had been a lieutenant colonel in the terror organization for more than a decade take a listen she was if you take a look if you take a look she was What do you mean? Amid. What's the use of the smoke in your hospital? They are the ones who hide it. They are the ones who are responsible for the situation. They are the political leaders. They are the soldiers of the Kuba. The soldiers are the soldiers. They were the guards. They hide it. They sit there for about 10 days and then change to another place and then go to the hospital. Why do they hide in the hospital? Because the hospital is safe. No, they don't hide in the hospital. How many people are there? There were about 100 people in the hospital. In the hospital, of course, there are medical forces who are part of the group. Yes. Yes. I remember when I was 16, I remember when I was 17. I worked in the hospital for the first time. Are they the doctors? Yes, they are the doctors. What do they do in the hospital? They work either as a doctor, or as a nurse, or as a doctor. They have official duties, but they have other duties in the hospital. And in the hospital, there is one of them. When you enter the hospital, do you go to the military station? Yes. Is there a hospital in Hamas? Yes. What do you mean? There is a hospital in Hamas, and two of the beds. I remember the name of the hospital. It is a hospital in Amishah, in the middle of Egypt. There is a hospital in Jundi. There is a place for the guards, the police guards, there is a place for the guards, there is a place for security, there is a place for security. And each of them has a special line, a special line, a special line. This is a place. Do you use the hospital in Hamas, or is it a special hospital? Yes, a special hospital. It is a well-known hospital, even if it is different, we don't use it. Why do you use it? We use it for Jundi. We use it for our bodies. I don't know what they used, but I saw them going down, and they didn't bring down the tree. They didn't even help us with the tree. There are many trees, and there are trees, and you can take anything you want, and they can go down. Why? Their job is important. They use it for their bodies. Do you mean they use it for their bodies? No, they don't use it. I don't know. What do you think about Hamas's crimes? I told you that they did. They did it because they were hiding in the square, and they didn't hide in any place. And the people they killed. What do you mean? They killed him. I don't know. Avi, in the last 30 seconds of the broadcast, a lot of revelations, but which was perhaps the most captivating? But, yeah, this is an amazing video. The whole operation of the hospital is a Hamas operation. Al-Azir el-Kasam operation, the armed forces of the Hamas, they run the hospital. They are the masters of the hospital. It's not a hospital. It's a terror base. It's as simple as that. We have to widely distribute that all over the world for people to believe us. And hopefully, that video will at least do some of that. Avi Pazna, the former Israeli ambassador to France and Italy, and the former world chairman of Karinaiya's Sword United Israel Appeal. Thank you for being with me. That brings us to the end of this edition, but stay tuned for more updates on the 74th day of war. Welcome to the special news edition that is day 74 of war between Israel and Hamas. Today, being Tuesday, marked the first time in around a week where rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward central Israel. At around 1 p.m. local time, rocket alert warning sounded in Southern Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Batiam, Rishon Itzion, Kfar Chabad and Beit Dagan. Hamas claimed responsibility for firing the latest garage. There were no direct hits or injuries reported. All this as two more IDF soldiers were killed as the Gaza ground operation continues, bringing the death toll now to 131. Meanwhile, the IDF has released for publication that Kamala Dhwan, the hospital director of Jabalia in northern Gaza, confessed to the Shin Bet Security Agency that Hamas took over his hospital as a military operation center. And joining me here in the studio is Avi Pazna, the former Israeli ambassador to France and Italy and the former world chairman of Karin Hayasod United Israel Appeal. Avi, good afternoon to you and thank you for being here with me. This is quite a massive sort of put forward of evidence and proof that the Shin Bet was being confessed to by the head or the director of a hospital saying yes, this hospital was in fact used by Hamas and yet the world still chooses to believe alternative reports coming out. You know it's very strange, you are right because we proved more than once three, four, five weeks ago when we entered Shifa and there was need to prove we invited the foreign press to come and visit and they saw, they saw the tunnels, they saw the arms, the ammunition, everything even where the hostages were kept in Shifa hospital and we tried to convince the world but you know when you don't want to be convinced you cannot, I mean if you have a mental block and people say it's a hospital, a hospital, a hospital and we say no, it was a hospital and inside the hospital there was a terror base and it is very difficult to push this point across because people do not make the connection between a hospital and terrorism they cannot understand an operation like the Hamas operation now I hope we have further evidence we have the director of Shifa hospital who has admitted that yes, it was a terror base he said it was forced, it's possible I do not, I cannot judge him but we have to push this forward and I tell you why because there are other hospitals in the Gaza Strip they also serve as terror base so if we can prove that one, the biggest one was also a main terror base and the rest will fall in line I hope so it's an interesting point to push but as you mentioned when someone has a mental block it's obviously very hard to try and persuade them otherwise what doesn't need persuasion whatsoever however is the minds that have been made up by the Israeli public when it comes to the government and the leadership of this country obviously on day 74 of war very different to the first 7 days of war where the narrative was we'll get to the tough questions and the finger pointing after the war but now that we are well into 3 months of war there's a big question being pointed at what's going to happen politically and I believe there's new information coming out that most Israelis say that they want elections immediately and the latest polls show that usually in war what happens the public the Israeli public used to coalesce behind the government and yesterday there was a poll on one of the TV chain and it showed that the coalition today if elections were held today that the coalition would get only 44 members of Knesset and the opposition 77 look at the different and you have to ask yourself why is that I think it is because of the shock still of the shock of what happened on October the 7th and that those who were then in the government and who still are today are responsible and I think that the fact that Netanyahu did not say that he is responsible this makes some of the public feel angry at the lack of will to present himself as responsible for the action of the government saying yes, we'll deal with it afterwards the public doesn't accept that apparently but now I have to caution elections are not for tomorrow tomorrow still will be a day of war and after tomorrow maybe election will be held six months from now one year from now who knows and you cannot know what will happen then but if they were held today strangely enough it is Gantz who would win those elections Gantz who apparently has no other function than being a member of cabinet he has no power and he is the favorite candidate this is politics but politics as you know is very evasive and what is true today four months from now cannot be true anymore have you stay with me I want to get an update now with our correspondent Nicole Zedek who is standing by for us in the south Nicole obviously the big story coming out at this hour being that there are allegations from the Shin Bet that one of the hospital directors of a hospital in northern Gaza has revealed that not only was his hospital overrun by Hamas terrorists but it also housed one kidnapped hostage what more do we know coming out from this report well it is in this investigation from the hospital director who was just arrested last week and we are talking about this hospital as you said which is located in northern Gaza specifically in Jabalia and he is just talking about how embedded Hamas terrorists were into his exact hospital he himself was recruited by Hamas back in 2010 and now even for the past several months as you said not only has Hamas been operating out of his hospital but at one point even housing a kidnapped soldier he goes on to talk about how there were designated offices designated spaces for interrogations for investigations for special forces all inside this hospital even also talked about how there was specific private ambulances specifically for Hamas terrorists and in one instance where he said that one of his own patients at this hospital needed to be transported to the nearby Indonesian hospital he said he needs critical care we need to take the civilian that Hamas their own government are supposed to protect however Hamas refused to transport them in their so called private ambulances because they said their operations were going to be done so hearing word for word exactly from this director of the hospital really shows exactly what the IDF has been trying to prove for the past several months at this point now Batia that Hamas is using several of these hospitals as really Hamas military hotspots and I'm getting a we're looking behind me I'm hearing from my cameraman there is another explosion I'm going to have him zoom in behind me is more the area of Bait Hanun and as we're panning a little bit more south that is also where Jamali is you can't see it on your screen right now but we continue to see these explosions we continue to hear just the sounds of war and this is in the northern part of the Gaza Strip so we're continuing to see I want to note behind me is Bait Hanun behind that is Bait Lahia and then we have Atatra as well and earlier today we also heard different troops had seized huge weapons weapons caches in Atatra and Dabalia as well not only finding different rockets different guns but also then going to different Hamas houses in these towns as well and finding pictures pictures of children wearing different Hamas military uniforms and posing with guns so this goes to show not only is it the civilian infrastructure that's being used but civilians at a young age children who are just being taught this ideology from these Hamas militants these Hamas terrorists themselves Corresponding calls it giving us an update there from the southern border of Israel with the Gaza Strip thank you very much for that and still with me here in studio Avi Puzna, Avi 74 days of war it still seems to be an incredibly difficult and grueling task for Israel to have to explain to the international community that this war is not against the Palestinians that doesn't take away or at least disinclude the fact that Palestinians unfortunately are being put in harm's way and are dying as a result of the war but this is against Hamas who has overtaken all civilian infrastructure and life in the Gaza Strip why is this still proving such a difficult point for the international community to differentiate between Hamas a terror organization and the Palestinians who do have a legitimate plight You know the saying that one picture is worth a thousand words and this is what's happening to us as simple as that when you see let's say you are in London or New York and you see the scenes on TV in Gaza there is a plight of civilians there is no question about that we are doing what we can in order to avoid civilian losses and this is why by the way in parenthesis the operation is going step by step because we could have wiped out everything we have thanks God an Air Force could have wiped out everything there we don't do that in order to protect the civilian population but when you have pictures which you saw for example Gaza people hungry Gaza people looting the humanitarian aid or you see a mother Palestinian mother crying over at their child a thousand words is not enough to explain them that's the problem you see every time when you will see a picture of a tank stopping an ambulance the ambulance will win the information war not the tank that's Israel's problem we are winning this war yes but we have to be very careful to try really to do the minimum damage to the civilian population as much as we can and this is why we evacuated them from the north to the south when we attacked the north we spared thousands of lives of Palestinians but this is an untold story because it is very very difficult when I sit with you and behind me for example picture of destruction and of houses which are in ruin and you see people crying it's very difficult this is what happens in the first week we had it very easy we were we were the victims we were those who suffered and who lost people 1,200 people I remember it was very easy to explain everything it gets more and more difficult and we have to make a big effort also a visual effort to try to show picture of what we are doing in order to help the local population because our war again is against the Hamas and not against the Palestinians and at least on this side of the border as you mentioned while not the massacres that we saw on October 7th the suffering still continues in different waves being that the IDF still continues to grow during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip but also many of the families dealing with the fact that hostages are still being held captive under Hamas control in the Gaza Strip and on that note I want to cross to our correspondent Emily Francis who is standing by for us in Tel Aviv near the main entrance of the security headquarters a key position of many of the protests and demonstrations of the families in relation to the hostages their loved ones that are being kept in the Gaza Strip 74 days into the war meaning they've been kept captive 73 days what is the latest on the ground there Emily what are the families calling for Hi, Bate, listen the families first and foremost are still in spite of all of the whores and nightmares even of the past five days they are still hoping and they still have faith that their family members will come home what they're doing right now which is because everything happened at 29 past the hour they are taking 241 seconds to read all of the names but without further ado I'd rather hear from Nadav Rudayev the son of Lior who is one of the organizers and you are literally my personal hero since I've gotten to know you I'm in your own dad you don't know anything about him but you are still here with confidence that he's gonna come home first tell us about your pops so thank you first of all so this is my dad Lior he's 61 he suffered a heart attack two years ago and on October 7th because he is the man he is which is the ultimate volunteer he went outside because he's a volunteer medic in Mada for many years and he's an ambulance driver he went outside because he heard gunfire and he heard the sirens so he went outside to see that everything is okay while my mom was at the safe room alone at home while everything happened my youngest brother was at the Nova Festival trying to try and succeeding to flee for his life with another friend which is one of the relief signs that we had but ever since quarter to nine in the morning of October 7th we have nothing except his phone was pinned in Chaneunas and ever since we have no indication where he is we have no sign of life from him not even from the people that have been returned I think the strength come from the fact that hope dies last I cannot if the hope will die we have nothing to fight for so I will keep on hoping until otherwise but the fact that there are still 129 hostages being held captive in Hamas hands right now is unbearable for 74 days it's been unbearable and it's just we just won them here speaking to Netanyahu and speaking to the war cabinet the few times that you have is it making any impact I'm hoping that it is I think the first couple of times we were more focused on them realizing who we are and who is our personal hostage that is there and I think in the last couple of weeks we as family is starting to demand answers and we are here because we want the answers we want to know the Israeli government and Netanyahu is doing whatever they can to be the leaders they need to be in front of us and in front of the whole world and the western world in terms of leading and be the one that are initiating the process of the negotiations because I don't think we can continue dancing around what the Hamas is saying and we need to be more affirmative so we are here because we want to reinforce them that we are here with them not against them do you feel also with the video that was released of the three other men it's got to be so painful to see them how is that like for you to process I'm always saying and yesterday was not unusual that even when the hostages were released a couple of weeks ago in the first deal that was made because we as families became one big family we are experiencing the whole spectrum of emotions in an hour in half an hour we can be super happy and hopeful and optimistic but at the same time it's devastating that it's not your own personal joy and yesterday me personally I know all three men and I know their families because they grew up with their grandkids and their kids so I was super happy and optimistic because I can see three older gentlemen that are 80 plus years old and they look okay under the circumstances but at the same time I'm saying I'm happy for their families but it's still not my dad so it's earth-chattering and happy and hopeful and devastating it's everything together Nadav thank you so much for your candor and for your spirit and you're giving us all something to believe in thank you very much that's all for now Batia back to you in the studio here's an update there from near the hostage headquarters but also the security establishment headquarters in Tel Aviv thank you for that and as they just spoke about obviously the psychological warfare by Hamas continues with the video being released on Monday being yesterday of three elderly men the IDF news desk spoke with Orfair Metzger the granddaughter of Yoram one of those elderly men seen in the recently published video we were happy to get a sign of life to know that he's alive but on the same time we know the time is running out and we know that I watched the video and he doesn't look good he looks older and he got skinnier than he was before so he lost weight so yeah we see that time is running out and you can see it on them in the video also Haim and Amiram we know them from the kibbutz they don't look good we the video is a psychological terror like anything else that the Hamas is doing and the video doesn't change the statement that we here to say and we said it before and we will say that today and until they will come back that they need to come back fast and we need to return them as soon as possible because time is running out and in the last two weeks we just heard more and more names of hostages that were killed murdered by the Hamas most of them and we don't want it to end like this of course I can I can't imagine what you're going through but it must be so much anguish when we have reports about a possible ceasefire deal another one to try and get hostages back and then the reports are denied are you getting the information that you need are you getting the support that you need we hear the information like everyone from the news we don't get much more than that and like you said we hear all sorts of things and then we hear that it's not going to happen and it just changes all the time so we're trying not to be overwhelmed by the news because we know that when something will be serious then the army will let us know but until then we can just say all over the news how much it's important and and how much we need to hurry to bring them home because time is running out yeah it's urgent it's urgent now I mean listen was it any comfort to you to see that he wasn't alone he was with the two other guys from near Oz yeah of course and and also I know because my grandma came back and I know that she was with him until she came back so your grandmother was also taken wasn't she but she was returned on to that deal yeah she was returned on the fourth day of the deal she was very nervous to hear about this video because unfortunately she heard about it from the news before the army before the army sent us the message so that was surprising and she was very nervous about this video meanwhile the IDF has released for publication that the hospital director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabalia which is in northern Gaza confessed to the Shin Bet that Hamas not only took over his hospital and turned it into a military facility but at one point it also housed a kidnapped soldier now Kachlots Shin Bet and the IDF during his interrogation that not only did Hamas force him into turning the hospital into a base but that he along with 16 other members of the hospital staff had been a lieutenant colonel in the terror organization for more than a decade take a listen what do you think about Hamas? he is dead what do you think about the last time that Hamas was killed? he is dead what do you think about Hamas? he is dead and how did you use Hamas in your investigation for the murder of Hamas? they are the ones who hid the picture they are the political leaders they are the leaders they are political leaders they are the soldiers they used to have rooms to hide they sat there for about 10 days then changed to a different place and then went to the hospital why did you come to the hospital? because the hospital is safe for them they don't use the hospital how many people came? he came he came to the hospital he was shot by the shot the hospital is under medical care which are part of the medical records do you think they are a part of the medical records? yes they are I mentioned them and every one of them what did you work at? or outside? they are shortcut workers who do you work at? I do colleagues or doctors There are official documents, but what are the other documents in the story? And in Saraya? There is one in Saraya. So you can say that your hospital has become a military station? Yes, under the secret door. Is there a hospital in your hospital? Yes. In my office, there was a police station. And two officers. My name is Amisha. I'm a resident of Egypt. There is a military station. There is a police station. There is a police station. There is a police station. There is a security station. There is a special security station. And each of them had a special line. A special line. There is a security station. Do you use any special documents? Special documents, yes. I don't know any special documents. Even if they are different. Why do they use it? They use a plastic bag. And they use a plastic bag. And they use other documents, I don't know. But I saw them coming out and going down. They didn't help us to get down. There are a lot of documents. And there are documents. They take what they want. They take what they want. Why? My job is important. What is your job? My job is to talk to people. You mean they use the plastic bag? Yes. I don't know any other documents. What do you think about Zouma Hamas? I told you that he is Zouma Hamas. He is Zouma Hamas. Because they used to hide in the square. They hide in the square. And the people hide in the corner. What do you mean? They hide. They hide. Avi, in the last 30 seconds of the broadcast, a lot of revelations. But which was perhaps the most captivating? But yeah, this is an amazing video. The Hamas operation of the hospital is a Hamas operation. Al Aziz El Qassam operation. The armed forces of the Hamas, they run the hospital. They are the master of the hospital. It's not a hospital. It's a terror base. As simple as that, we have to widely distribute that all over the world for people to believe us. And hopefully that video will at least do some of that. Avi Pazna, the former Israeli ambassador to France in Italy and the former world chairman of the United Israel Appeal. Thank you for being with me. That brings us to the end of this edition. But stay tuned for more updates on the 74th day of war. I'll come back to our special coverage here on I-24 News. 74 days since Hamas massacre took place in Israel. And fighting is still going on deep inside Gaza with 129 Israelis still in Hamas hands. Israel's President Herzog is now floating the idea of a humanitarian fire pause in exchange for hostages. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. First to I-24 News correspondent Nikol Cedric in Sderot in southern Israel with the update from there, Nikol. Yes, that's right. And we continue to hear just the constant sounds of war really behind me. You can see kind of a small fire behind me. But this is also just within the past two minutes right before we came on air some flares lighting up the sky behind me. And the reason that the idea of uses flares is to just get a better look on the ground as it is nightfall in the area here. So as night falls, they're continuing to try and just get a look at what's happening in the Gaza Strip as we continue to hear the constant sound of different explosions, different firing, all of that happening here in this northern section of the Gaza Strip, which is directly behind me here. As this is happening, as you said, Jacob, you can hear some of those firing on your phone, but this is just the scene that's happening here in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. But turn our eyes towards the southern part of the Gaza Strip. As you were mentioning, we are hearing some pretty heavy firing now. But as you mentioned in the southern part of the Gaza Strip earlier today, President Isaac Herzog sitting down with ambassadors from 80 different countries to talk about a possible humanitarian pause, another temporary pause in the fire just like what he said earlier today. He said it's not Israel's fault that Herzog claims because he said Israel is inspecting hundreds of different aid trucks daily. But he says it's the United Nations and other agencies that are struggling to keep up and inspect these trucks. Now in the meantime, as Herzog says, they're ready to see another humanitarian pause. He also said that we could see the humanitarian aid instantaneously tripled. He said at a moment's time that the U.N. does not agree with these claims and they say it's just difficult to safely deliver this aid with the constant Israeli bombardment. The constant Israeli bombardment that even we're hearing here in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, but as they say in the southern part as well. So that's what the U.N. is saying. The United States, however, a completely different idea behind why we aren't seeing so much aid delivered. They said there's a lot of border crossing. Not sure if you can hear some of these explosions happening behind us here, Jacob, but pretty, pretty heavy. I'm hearing my cameraman point behind me because you can you can see it. Just take a look at some of these explosions. I'm going to step out of the frame. We're seeing about I think I counted five different explosions in this area behind me. It is hard to tell from about two, two and a half miles away, of Bait Hanun just yesterday about just over 24 hours ago. The IDF said they did have control over Bait Hanun, but this is also close here in the northern Gaza Strip. Because right behind Bait Hanun you have Bait Lahia and then you have Atatra and Atatra and Jabalia, which is just a little bit more south. Those are also two areas where earlier today the IDF said they were operating in Atatra and Jabalia also finding huge weapons caches, different rockets, different just major, major weapons and guns in some of those areas. So we continue to see, but this, let me tell you in the past four hours that we've been here, this is the heaviest exchange in military action that we've seen in this section of the northern Gaza Strip for really the past several, several hours since we've been out here today. So as night falls, you're still seeing a lot of war. A large explosion in the sky above and we're still, it's in the sky, it's on the ground, all of these sounds of constant war, 74 days in and this is what we're seeing in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, even more than a day after, more than 24 hours after this area behind me, the IDF said that they had controlled Bait Hanun. So this is what we're seeing on the ground now, Jacob. Yeah, and we can definitely see, Nicole, thank you very much. Thank you. Now, let's move to Emily Francis, I-24 correspondent in Tel Aviv where hostage families Emily are starting to lose patience. Hi, Jacob. Yes, the hostage families have been here all night. They're even camping out a lot of them, even though it's starting to get pretty cold here at night and what they've started to do beginning tonight is at 29 past every hour, they're closing the street, the entrance of headquarters where they're literally taking 241 seconds to read the names of all the hostages and that is kind of a metaphor for it was 29 past the hour when the invasion happened on October 7th and originally there were 241 hostages that were taken also at this hour, some of the families are meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were awaiting word on what has accomplished and what is being said in those meetings but again the families not losing hope despite the horrible tragedy, the video that we just saw of the three elderly hostages that was just released even though we haven't shown it very, very disturbing, very upsetting and obviously what happened on Friday with the three hostages that were killed but still the families are holding it together because they have each other and you know that is so very important to them in keeping hope alive. Similarly I want to add I don't know if it's been reported yet but Jerry Seinfeld has been in Israel and we're told that he spoke to hostage families and also took a tour of Kibbutz Berry today I have had a chance earlier this evening to speak to some of the family members including the brother-in-law of one of the hostages here's what he had to say. If I didn't have hope I would not be speaking with you here I would not be standing here today we have to have hope so that other people will come and support us and continue advocate for Omri and all the hostages held captive by Hamas. We have to keep fighting, keep advocating as long as we can the tragedies are horrifying us and we're living in a continuous nightmare but we're here for them and we want to make sure that those policy makers understand that time is running out and that every second in captivity is like eternity. Emily are the families planning to step up their activity as they are running out of time basically? Yes I mean that's one thing that's been really incredible about the tenacity and the cohesion of the hostage families you know every day they're doing something it's really unbelievable for me you know someone a journalist here objectively watching and listening to their you know to their passion in continuing to organize you know they were talking a few days ago about doing a hunger strike obviously you know one of the family representatives said not a good idea they've already you're struggling so much and they need food to have the strength to continue but yes they are not giving up and they are organizing and they are trying to get through to the war cabinet in trying to get these hostages released but as we know like you just heard from Moshe just a short time ago every second that counts you know is that goes by clinging on to as much hope as you can see from everyone here not a lot of anger still just doing what they can having resolve and continuing to power forward in spite of this living nightmare we're all going through. Thank you very much Emily Francis in Tel Aviv live with the families of the hostages here in the studio with me is the Ronald Vitelle former commander of special forces of the IDF thank you for coming there is another maybe effort to revive negotiations it's very tough it's very complicated and Israel's president Herzog he's the one who maybe was sent out to say we can consider another ceasefire for you know exchange of hostages. Yeah this time I think we are at the front we are initiating the moves we saw the head of the Mossad in Europe in Norway and Warsaw talking with the head of the CIA and the prime minister of Qatar there's no question that this is the top priority of Israel Israel is a democracy it's our strength and weakness because in terms of negotiating position it compromise our position but it's clearly that the Israeli public demands and I think the cabinet war cabinet thinks the same this is top priority the question in what price I think humanitarian pause humanitarian ceasefire for sure but if it means the end of war this would be like declaring raising a white flag in terms of Israel so I'm not sure this is in the cards but yes some kind of a deal and we have to wait and see what kind of a deal and whether the Hamas would accept the deal. Right some people say obviously from the families we don't mind the end of the war for our loved ones so but this is not something under terrible. What does it mean the end of the war it means at what we can't retaliate against Hamas attacks what does it mean the end of the war we can take a pause we can take humanitarian stop for the war but then we'll have to be there we'll have to be present we'll have to be able to target Hamas action so end of the war it's it's too high of a toll for Israel to pay and I think the pressure will put on Hamas might also work out to our advantage it's not that they are in the best negotiating position either we're in Chanyunas the leadership is there so it has to work out for our advantage. Another element that was floated that may be giving safe passage to the leadership of the militant Hamas from Gaza out of Gaza in exchange for hostages is this feasible? It seems that people don't consider it seriously but I think and I think we've been discussing it earlier it's a scenario that it was true to Beirut in 82 and in Beirut PLO was a vicious enemy not like that in Beirut we were fighting and we were... and Arafat was there and it was an arky enemy of us for tens of years and we allowed him to go to Tunisia if there's a country that is willing to offer this safe passage I think this is a thing to consider because to settle the account where many years I had to settle them as we did settle with a few of the leaders of the PLO later so I think it's a possibility worth considering and discussing. The question is whether Israeli leaders would consider that to just killing Mr. Sinwar and have that as their victory? If the opportunity presented... I mean the priorities right now are hostages dismantling the infrastructure we have to do it the tunnels and so on and then targeting those top leaders if we succeeded to target Sinwar in the next few days this is also a position in the negotiation because the Hamas would be dismantled in terms of leadership and we can work out some deal. I think this is a position where the opportunity would present itself for sure. I'm sure we think about it, consider it and this part of the pressure we exert on Hamas because we are there in Chanyunas we think they are there and we are trying to target them. Another statement by Israel's defense minister I had some traction in Israeli media and caught the attention of the right-wing politicians in the government and he said yesterday by the way when the US secretary on his side he said that some people in Gaza will be able to come back to the northern part what does that mean? I think the Americans are very much worried that we have some idea of cleansing the northern part of Gaza from Palestinians where they see the devastation they see the ruins and they think well maybe this is our plan and you heard from many of their officials or thinkers our declared positioning is that we don't take over Gaza and we don't inhabit Gaza it means that people can go back I mean it would be massive reconstruction that would be required so I don't think we intend to take over northern Gaza but we have to have some, create some parameters, some new outlines for the structure to protect us and to protect our villages. At any case Israel wants to have some sort of security control of what's going on. Yes first buffer zone which is not it's limited because this is not huge Gaza and of course the ability to go inside when you need it to have this operation this limited operation but this means that we must dismantle the tunnel infrastructure because in terms of every offensive procedure this tunnel infrastructure is a real threat as we see with our soldiers in the death toll that rises. That's about Gaza but there's sort of a mini war going on on the border of Syria and Jordan and the reason is major smuggling efforts of drugs and arms and with us to talk about this is Dr. Nassir Alamari thank you very much for joining us again. Thank you for having me. Now what's going on there when Hamas and is actually apparent in Syria as well other factions was exactly pushing drugs and arms over there. Exactly and there's a theme that runs through the Middle East right now Iran backed militias are engaged with with the U.S. allies including Jordan to destabilize these countries and Jordan has been dealing with a very difficult situation with these militias that have turned to smuggling drugs through Jordan targeting the oil rich Gulf countries and there have been deaths this is a serious for Jordan for the first time in history Jordan is struggling against drugs being used by young people and the Syrian regime and Iran are turning a blind eye to this because they are profiting from it since the country has failed and Jordan now has to cope with this very very challenging problem on its northern border. Yeah and there were some serious fire exchanges there can this grow into a bigger thing on the border between Syria and Jordan? Well I have said on this program probably that Iran is trying to destabilize the Arab countries and they have since then they have created this situation in Gaza now they are moving the Houthis to target ships and now in Syria they want the Assad regime to profit from smuggling so what we see is really a theme that runs through the Arab world right now a sustained low level attack against these countries and the ultimate goal is for the Iranians to take over these countries and install Hezbollah style government in each of these countries and unfortunately Jordan with a lot of responsibility to deal with this onslaught coming from Iran So everywhere you look it's Iran? Yes it is and they have the patience they have implemented this for 40 years and they have declared they said we want to restore an Islamic state of some type and systematically they have done it and now Jordanians and the Jordanian authorities fear that Jordan is the next target and that will complete the encirclement of Israel of course they cannot attack Israel directly but these low level attacks year after year are believed by the Iranians to be the key to destabilizing taking over the Arab world primarily and then encircling Israel and dominating the region kicking out the Americans and Westerners and taking over completely. Thank you very much. Thank you. Ofir Engel is one of 110 Hamas hostages released from captivity last month he's 18 years old his girlfriend treated him to a special trip to see his favorite basketball team but there's more to that here's the story. The romantic trip of these two teenagers ofir engel and his friend in time for Christmas season to see his favorite basketball team is accompanied with immense distress 18 year old ofir was released from Gaza two weeks ago and will remain in Hamas captivity How does it feel to fly right now? Exciting. A little. Because dad is still there. Yes, we miss them so much. They're probably in the tunnel or in a house. On that black Saturday ofir a 12th grade student from Kibbutz Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem was with 17 year old yuvalin baeri during the sirens the two parents and two sisters entered the safe room it was 10 in the morning when the terrorists broke in and what do you see? Three terrorists enter with guns. Two with guns, one with an RPG First thing they shoot the dog Shoot the dog first They're very afraid of dogs and then just Take us all downstairs Are they speaking with you? In Arabic they say to you There's a black car waiting for us They motioned in, opening the door Her father, Yossi, went in first and then she and I held hands She's already getting in her foot inside already Then they take her out and put me in Are the women just taken out? No, they just leave them with the other two terrorists This is the last image I have in my memory of them Are the women just taken out? No, they just leave them with the other two terrorists This is the last image I have in my memory of them Are you yelling anything to them? I told him I love you Did you hear? Yes Did you answer? No, we're already driving away What I remember is the red eyes Fear, shock, because you don't understand what's going on You see her with two terrorists and in captivity you think she is either dead or kidnapped There is no other option, logically Nothing Two terrorists, what are they doing with you? The two terrorists just walked away What's going on in the car? They just take us to Gaza The person sitting in front has a weapon aimed at us, like this Oh really? Yes Ophir was kidnapped together with Yossi Yuval's father and a neighbour, 16-year-old Amit Chani 54 days in captivity They saw no other hostages They also stayed close to his girlfriend's father And Yuval's father calms you down? Yes, he reassured us But obviously everyone is scared So it's calming only for a moment What do you do all day? Play cards I can't look at another card What did you play? A game they taught us Are the terrorists also playing with you? Yes How did they act towards you? It is relative to a good situation Yes, we were not abused They were simply psychologically abused They keep saying they don't want you Who doesn't want you? Israel There's only one demonstration in Israel There's only one demonstration for a week And the families don't want you to come back They don't take action or do anything You're going to stay here for at least a year Things like that In your head you say it won't be a year for sure It'll be five months I figured I'd be back sometime Were you afraid to die there? Yes I was less afraid that they would kill me Because if they wanted to kill me They probably would have killed me on the first day And they wouldn't care about bringing food What food really? There was no food A pita and a half In the morning, yes, with lavender So what scared you? From the booms around That the IDF doesn't know our location Suddenly a missile would hit The house near us was bombed It sounded like it hit ours One of the guards was informed That a relative of his had been killed You say to yourself Just as long as it doesn't come back at us Just don't come back at us Ophir's most difficult moments Were when terrorists moved them twice Through the heart of the city When they were completely exposed In total darkness When all around non-stop explosions When they transferred you Do you see Gazans? Obviously Yes, it was a terrible fear How would you know who's going to turn on you? Do you think they care? No They don't care about each other You know some extremist would kill me And the Hamasnik with me And did anyone come see you? They had their boss who would come and bring food Once every two days Who would bring a packet of pita bread Whatever you eat You eat in these three days Did he say anything to you? He would come and tell us again That they don't want us and all that He was the main one Who was psychologically abusing us Did you make a connection with one of them That was more pleasant? The one who guarded us Was a bit better Didn't he say something like Death to the Jews? Yes, he did say that They know nothing other than that He tried to explain to him What do you want from me? I'm a kid from Israel So he told them a hundred times They said, why are you in Israel? Why did your family come to Israel? What did you answer? I told him my grandfather was born here Then he tells me, you're lying, you're lying Why would I lie? So I just said yes Should I argue with him? Do you see Sinwar? No, where? They told me this is Sinwar When they told me you are returning to Israel He pointed at someone He said this is Sinwar But he was so fat and didn't even look like him Do you believe them when they tell you You are going back the next day? Yes, because they look happy and To get rid of you? Yes, we are quite a heavy burden for them What did you say to your father Before you separated? Nothing, we were separated in an instant Oh, just like this? Yes, just like this I call her I call her and tell her I'm fine, I'm alive Everything is good What did she say to me? Shave your beard and then call me Did you see what he looked like? No, you were excited Yes, yes Until I saw him with my own eyes I couldn't believe it Is there one moment that you cry Or did you suddenly fall apart? I was just shocked that he was there In front of me I collapsed for a second Did it surprise you that she suddenly Fell to the floor? Yes, I think she was also a little shocked Ophir Who played with you? I was shocked I was shocked I was shocked I was shocked I was shocked I was shocked Ophir Who played last year on the Apollo Jerusalem Youth Basketball team Is a die-hard fan The team flew him and his family this week For a match against Pauk des Aloniki In the Champions League Teenagers shouldn't go through this We'll take a short break now And we'll be right back With more special coverage here on I-24 News Israel is in a state of war Families completely Done down in their beds No worries, she as our soldiers Are fighting on the front lines But the general perception is something That certainly needs to be fought as well Welcome back to our special coverage Here on I-24 News Welcome to northern Israel To the border with Lebanon Where Hezbollah is I-24 News Zach Andrews is still there Isaac How are you? It's another active day With as many as Over five rocket attacks That we've been able to count Hezbollah is not taking credit For all of these attacks There's been many more alarms With a number of attacks We have seen one of the barrages On Kyriash Ramona Included a multitude of rockets And this followed what we saw earlier At about one p.m. There was a drone infiltration That apparently was intercepted No direct hits It seems like from today But that has not been Directly confirmed We have heard from the national ambulance service That there has not been any reports of injuries Hezbollah in media in Lebanon Is claiming that they have had Successful hits and casualties But they have done that a great many times Throughout this conflict And it has not proved to be accurate So again, more posturing there But it has been Another very active day here It's been numerous attacks And the amount of information That's been coming out has been Difficult to quantify the exact number Thank you very much Back up there in the northern border Of Israel, back to the studio Doronavital former commander Of Israeli special forces Of the IDF Let's talk a little bit about the north That focuses obviously on Gaza But this is an ongoing problem No solution so far in the horizon What's going on? We have a constant order I do feel we have the upper hand In terms of the exchanges We do hit more Hezbollah Than they succeed to hit us But the question, where does it go? We have this political diplomatic campaign France, the U.S. In terms of the Littani line The 1701 resolution of 2006 Ten kilometers was put down By Israeli defense ministers Last night So whether this is possible Whether this is a scenario That is visible that the Hezbollah Would allow himself to withdraw This is a All a request But I think even if we in the end Would go in a year or two Or in a few months or next week Into some military campaign We better be off if we did some Diplomatic campaign ahead That gives us the Gaza's play Or the reason why to enter Because a campaign in Lebanon In the context of also the campaign in Gaza Would mean devastation and destruction In a huge magnitude Lebanon Is a fragile country Something we gladly go into But this we might be forced Is there a scenario when Israel Take control of like 10 kilometers Not necessarily by stepping in So this is another From there for sure Stepping in is the old lesson We had the buffer zone We all are veterans of the buffer zone That used to protect us In the northern thing But of course if Hezbollah withdraw And we have a way to really In the new technology though After Gaza we have to be very careful With technology Monitor the area Then we are in a better positioning We shouldn't forget that We have all our cities And evacuated This is a big deal Economical toll We have to see how it does It continues The rhetoric of Israeli leaders Is if we don't solve this Diplomatically We'll have to take force First of all we have to use The rhetoric that I say To the Israeli leaders Basically we have to tone down Our rhetoric because it didn't play Good in the previous years Vis-a-vis what we see in Gaza We have to be smart And we have to work with our alliance And our alliance is U.S., Europe So if there's a campaign The diplomatic campaign And we have the upper hand In the Lebanon right now Then we should continue And the moment we think That some threshold was crossed Together with some consent Some agreement Some tacit agreement with our allies We can go to a military campaign But we don't rush into a military campaign All right Not only north Not only south The United States announced The formation of a dozen nation coalition To secure international shipping In the Red Sea I made repeated Houthi attacks From Yemen The question is What is the plan? Here's I-24 News Robert Swift The United States and nine other nations Are forming an international naval coalition Their task? To counter escalating Houthi attacks In the Red Sea A threat which is disrupting a transit route That accounts for 12% of global trade We've launched Operation Prosperity Guardian Under the umbrella of combined maritime forces And under the leadership of Task Force 153 All countries have the right To move freely and lawfully In international wars Canada, the UK, France, Italy The Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, Spain And Bahrain will participate Either by contributing ships Or through intelligence assistance Actions the multinational force may take Range from intercepting Houthi drone And missile launches To striking the group's assets in Yemen A move the US has so far Appeared reluctant to make Additional countries are involved in the formation But have declined to announce so publicly States such as Egypt, Jordan, the UAE And Saudi Arabia Are reportedly concerned with the blowback That could come from confronting the Houthis directly Of course we are concerned About the potential for escalation Our region is very complex And we do not need any other conflicts to erupt And therefore we hope that we will be able to avoid Any further escalations in our region The Houthis say they will continue Attacking ships destined for Israeli ports As long as operations in Gaza continue How the Yemeni group and its Iranian backers Will respond to the naval coalition is unclear And may depend on how aggressively It confronts the Houthis So we have Colin Rich out and with us Thank you very much for joining us We have been speaking about what's happening In the Middle East before and the United States And the Houthis have been attacking ships already Is this going to be a serious retaliation Or just wait and see if they attack again Kind of policy of this coalition Well it's good to be with you I think this is a very incremental step I don't see this as a strong deterrent To further action by the Houthis I think this is a response That is in keeping with the current US approach We have a naval task force in the region The task force 153 I believe And so this new operation Coalition of 10 additional countries Is just really bringing a few more ships Into an existing operation That's there to provide reassurance for global shippers The problem is that the Houthis Understand the economic costs they're imposing here And they appear willing to continue to do it They've already gotten British Petroleum And some others to... I believe to either scale back Or to stop shipping through this area And they're driving the insurance rates up They're imposing a cost And I think this very incremental step May not be enough to deter them From continuing to do so Can the world afford not having This kind of shipping lane, you know And the cost of supply chains Maybe oil, maybe inflation Prices going up I don't think it's good for the politics Of any of the countries involved Certainly not for the US president Who has an election coming up Of course later next year I think this is one of those cases Where a sharper sort of response Is called for and probably necessary I think the navies involved Are all very good, very competent They can stop piracy But they're not going to stop rockets And missiles and attack drones Unless they start some attacks On many coastline and the Houthi controlled areas Unless you impose a real cost Where these attacks are being generated from Then I think you're going to pay the economic cost And I don't think that dynamic can continue How come such a small force Maybe it's well equipped by Iran But still a small force Can cause so much damage without paying the bills Well there's games within games here One game that's being played I say game not because it's not serious But because there's strategy involved In both sides Of course it's between Iran, Israel And the United States with regards to Gaza The president has said President Biden several times repeatedly Actually that he would like to avoid A further escalation That he would like to gradually slow And de-escalate the situation in Gaza So he is refraining from doing anything Regionally that would look like a new Sort of escalation of force Or an expansion of the conflict The Iranians for their part Are trying not only to exhaust Israel But to exhaust the United States And to draw them into larger conflicts as well This I think is a case where Iran is willing To fight to the last Houthi In order to impose costs on the U.S. and Israel So it's a sensitive situation But it calls for a sharp response Again we've got the Tomahawk land attack missiles We've got the assets to do that And I think if the Houthis continue these attacks It's going to come to that It's going to come to attacks on the Houthis in Yemen Why Arab countries that are damaged as well By this are not joining this coalition? Complicated regional politics as you know And still this idea that there's Escalation space left on the Iranian side I mean the Houthis are really sort of A stalking horse for Iran at this point And don't want to see more attacks On U.S. forces in Iraq or Syria New attacks on northern Israel from Hezbollah And Lebanon and I think countries Other countries in the region like Saudi Arabia Or Turkey are also very concerned About what's going on in Gaza So I think that they have a real disinclination To muddy the water so to speak And to slow resolution of the situation In Gaza through expansion of a conflict as well It's a different sort of concern From what the United States has But it gets them sort of to the same position As the Biden administration then Okay, Rich Adzen, thank you very much Always a pleasure Let's go to Dubai, to Bastien Bari Our men there, Bastien How do the Gulf countries look at this Not joining the coalition But looking at the Red Sea Being disrupted by the Houthis Well, by creating another corridor Through the roads It is beyond the symbolic aspect Of the spoken rapprochement between Israel And Saudi Arabia This is all part of a desire to reconnect The countries of the region From those ancient times When whatever the empires Or various external dominations The countries of the Middle East Were all linked together In a sort of mesh of trade routes And if this project is announced Now with American support It is no coincidence We'll be interested in participating At some point as well as Saudi Arabia The UAE Even India eventually And I think it's safe to say That these countries' contributions Will be announced on the slide At the later stage So this road project Is of course Israeli But it will also be American, Arab And Indian, especially since the idea Is also to add a rail aspect To the idea of being to You know, link the Mediterranean sea To the Indian Ocean, not just by sea As is currently the case via the Suez Canal But also by rail and road Yes, Bastien, we lost you for a minute there Let's see if we can reconnect And if not, I'll ask you here In the studio Before we have this maybe vision Of some sort of alternative to While shipping, this is something That the world cannot afford This is a test for the United States as well And I wonder why And we'll talk about it later Also why Saudi Arabia and other countries Are very hesitant to take part in this I think those countries They have to play some double game Because they have the public Which has this, because of this The public sees what's going on in Gaza And sees the pain of the citizens in Gaza But on the other hand, in terms of the interests Of those countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Suez Canal Clearly they are part They want to see this thing With those attacks of the Khouty dismantled And we shouldn't forget that the Khouty Themself, they attacked the oil infrastructure In Saudi Arabia a few years ago So the conflict is there So I think the coalition is formed I think the U.S. Empires have their logic And time, so they formed the coalition Slowly, of course, they don't need The other forces in order to attack They need them for some kind of legitimation In terms of the move that they are going to make I think in the end it cannot go Without any offensive campaign By this coalition, laid by the U.S. Against the Khouty, this is unacceptable This is blocking world trade I like the fact that India was mentioned There was an Indian in some conference I met the head of the Indian Navy And he mentioned the fact that Napoleon said that the Indian Ocean Is the key to the world trade So all the trade that comes on the Indian Ocean To the Red Sea, or through the initiative Of Biden, through the continent This is at least an optimistic prospect For the future, but right now We can't allow the Khouty To play their hand in this fashion But we shouldn't forget that the Khouty Launched ballistic missiles Towards Israel And unmanned aircrafts Towards the city of Lannat in Israel What about Israel? I would say like this, in this context We have a historical precedent We were attacked by Saddam Hussein In the first Gulf War in 1991 And then we, the IDF The Air Force, me as a commander In Syriot Matkal We actually planned to act In the northern Iraq Against those missiles But there was a very strict veto By the U.S. president back then That Bush that we shouldn't participate And of course you can't participate In this kind of a landscape Without being in sync with the other powers So I'm sure the U.S. says to Israel Right now, let us do the job If they need our help We will of course volunteer our help Any help, any participation of Israel In this war would have to be in sync With our allies, this is for sure So, and Israel is not part of the coalition? It's not part of the coalition We have the capabilities, of course It's 1700 kilometers away But we have the capabilities to attack So Iran is closer, but this is a target That we can really locate But we have to be in sync with the coalition Of course we can't be in the coalition We are not in the coalition even in the second Gulf War We are never invited to the coalition But we are part of the coalition Yeah, that's part of the All the sensitive Moving parts Exactly In this crazy part of the world Exactly this way More on the economic side This is with us now is Dr. Alex Coman Our economy expert, thank you very much For joining us, Alex Yeah, maybe it's time You like new thoughts Maybe it's time to think Of alternative shipping And go on the ground Yeah, this is amazing Actually, it's like the Silk Road There was one road through the water And one road through the ground And this is the incredible innovation That I find really ingenious Necessity is the mother Of innovation And you think it's visible It can be done It can be done Which is not trivial given Given the hostilities and it's also economical Because it's Basically comparable to the cost Of shipping around Africa You should keep in mind that when we Sail around Africa The companies do not really Increase the price per container In equivalent value But they actually always take another Bonus for themselves So they make it much more expensive They were talking about more than $400 Per container So this is the price of shipping by land Which is very feasible If you think about it going through Jordan And entering Israel For Jordan, the price is very Very competitive And I think it's Interesting, it's surprising Now, they Afraid that oil prices will go up Supply chain problems And all of that How long can the United States Wait and see, wait and see Time is running Well, this is an example Where the fact that the problem Hurts many parties This is good news for us It's not just us Israelis Being hurt by the Houthis Egypt is the major loser Because it makes so much money from shipping From shipping In the Suez Canal So there are so many players That are hurt by this That it's obvious that there's going to be A powerful coalition Mobilized coalition I'm happy that I do not carry A Houthi passport Because I believe that the solution is going to be A root solution Rather than a Symptomatic solution This is really the first time When we see ramifications Of the Gaza war have An international, serious international Impact, right? On the economy I'm talking Absolutely, it's funny because One of the things we need to understand is Whenever you see oil prices going up It is just manipulation Because when you think about OPEC plus The oil producing countries It's not like dinosaurs stop dying We have the same amount of oil We have the same demand, perhaps declining But they always use the opportunity Last time we saw it in the October war In 73 And now we see it again, so it's just a pretext It's just like a symbol telling The oil producers, guys We have a bonanza here Let's raise prices, let's create some artificial Shortage Which is completely, completely artificial So that's a chance for us to fill our pockets So make Benefit from other people's pain And that's an ideal plan So yes, we can expect the prices To go back up They also love the high prices when Russia invaded The Ukraine, so they would love To see the prices high again And we are approaching Or actually almost in the middle of winter So that would be also Would have a significant impact, right? Yeah, absolutely In winter you have less solar energy You have more demand for heating It's ideal to say Wow, let's raise the prices It's optimal And you're telling me They're just looking for excuses, right? It's not really Absolutely, whenever you see somebody hurting You know this from birds of prey And from hyenas You see somebody bleeding That's a chance for you to benefit And these are the rules of the game There is a pretext The pretext is a signal to all the players Don't fool around Because usually OPEC used to be Non-efficient because when some countries Reduced production other countries raised it Recently, sadly OPEC has been very disciplined So this is a signal to saying Guys This is our bonanza It's winter like you said before We have a pretext Let's fill again our bank accounts Again, let's celebrate So the comments Since we speak We're approaching the end of the year Give me a little Summation of 2023 How was it economically? Well, first of all, 2023 If you look at the stock markets It was a fantastic year We're talking about S&P Rising but something like It's going to be something like 22-24% Which is excellent It's one of the best years we've had Particularly In light of 2022 Which was a bad year So the markets rallied In Israel Of course this was bad news because The Israeli stock market was very poor Because we have a bad Minister of economics And also because the second was weak So Israel did poorly In terms of stocks that the world did well High-tech and start-ups This was a very Very strong winter Money did not come in Quite a few companies Went bankrupt because they were Starved, they did not have the money That was promised to them And so this was a bad year for start-ups But I would expect next year To be a good year for that It was an excellent year for the defense industry Particularly the Israeli defense industry The fact that Russia invaded the Ukraine Many countries panicked And realized that there Is such a potential Israel is the only country that actually Has operational systems that actually Prove themselves in dire situations Under bombardment Of thousands of missiles So it's good for the Defense industry And financial systems We are going to see them We're going to see an earthquake Where things are going to be Less commissions Much faster response The financial fintech Is going to revolutionize the industry And AI AI is incredible We've seen its impact in the beginning Companies laying off people And next year we'll see this Tenfold is going to exponentially Change the workforce Mediocre people Do not have the right to exist AI is going to do their job Much better Much, much, much faster And much cheaper You're being sarcastic, of course As always Dr. Coman, thank you very much Thank you, it's a pleasure Back to Gaza, the IDF says that Kamal Adwan, the hospital director Of Jibalia In northern Gaza, confessed To the Shinbad that Hamas Took over his hospital as a military Operations center Take a listen Ahmad Hassan What's your job? I'm looking for it What's your current job? I'm the director of the hospital of Kamal Adwan What do you think of Hamas? 1010 What's your last time in the hospital? 1010 What do you think of Hamas? He's dead What do you think of Hamas? He's dead What do you think of Hamas? He's dead He's dead He's dead He's dead He's dead He's dead He's dead I am going to tell you I've been in the hospital For about 10 days I was still in the hospital The hospital is safe, they don't have to go to the hospital. How many people have come? About 100 people have come to the hospital. Do you know the hospital in its natural condition? Yes, I know 16 people. I remember them all. They are all in the hospital or outside. Are they from the hospital? Yes, they are. What is your job in the hospital? It is my job as a doctor, as a nurse, as a nurse, as a doctor. It is a official job, but it is another job in the hospital. Yes, back to you, Dr Aram Vital here in the studio. So we can call this a military hospital, though this is not a military, obviously, this is a terrorist hospital. There is no question about it. This is a great evidence for us to present to the world. We see actually that it is military personnel in this hospital, hiding as a dinner kassam. This is the military wing of Hamas. This is not police or other positioning. So this is a clear evidence of what is going on beneath the facade of the hospital. Dr Aram Vital, thank you very much. We'll take a short break and we'll be right back with more special coverage here on I-24 News. Stay tuned.