 who are drawn about what's happening on the military front, not much in Gaza, but today was quite a massive rocket barrage towards the center of Israel. Yeah, I think he mentioned that he never saw such a challenge. This is a real security challenge. The Gaza city with the infrastructure of underground tunnels, the hostage dilemma, and then you have the northern border that you don't want to wake up, but you have to keep your citizens safe and you're in some exchange of fire. So Israel is facing maybe one of the greatest dilemma in its history. And right now, forces are prepared in Gaza. I think the northern border we are well prepared with plans and to react once some threshold is being crossed. But the hostage dilemma really came in the last few days to the forefront and we'll have to see how this works with the idea of the ground offensive. More rockets are being fired today. And the question is how many are there? I mean, thousands and thousands. Yeah, they still can occupy us for days. Luckily for us, we have the iron dome. This is really proof itself again and again. But of course, if the northern border starts with the 150,000 missiles that they have with different kind of accuracy and so on, then even the iron dome would have a problem handling it. So again, dilemma, our security forces really have to provide some answer in the short time. And many Israelis ask, how did we allow this to happen? What happened? This is a setback that is really, it's hard to consider how did it happen. Our attention was elsewhere. Our attention in the last year was in the West Bank. We had some mini war in the West Bank. And in a grand global picture, we can go into it. We don't have enough time. But I think we really set our attention and our priorities not in the right place. Any questions, Ruth? Any questions? Thank you very much. We'll go to the city of Ashkelon in the relatively southern part of Israel. I-24 News Defense Correspondent Jonathan Regev is there. Jonathan, what's the update? Ashkelon, as crazy as it may sound, there were sirens all over the country, Bersheva twice, central Israel twice, Tel Aviv. Ashkelon, which is the city that was mostly targeted since this war began, was actually quiet today. The citizens here have no illusion that this will be, that this will remain throughout the day. They're well aware. We're actually hearing explosions as we speak, possibly interceptions to the south of us. But we are hearing explosions and the people here are getting ready, getting closer to the protected shelter, as it may indicate that something may be coming our way. But at least up until now, we've not seen any sirens looking up in the sky. I don't see any interceptions at the moment, but we did hear explosions a few seconds ago. Ashkelon, now we're hearing very loud explosions, seems like artillery, but I'm not sure of that, but we are hearing rather loud explosions. Ashkelon, you can see, I think behind me, there's relatively a traffic, relatively lots of traffic. If we compare this with Esderot, for example, it's a completely different story. Esderot, a practical ghost town, 90% of the population there is gone. Esderot being a little bit closer to the Gaza border itself, and also a smaller city. Ashkelon is a city of 160,000 people. Even if you want to, you cannot evacuate such a large city, and it is the largest city close to the Gaza border, which is seven or eight miles to the south of us. While this is happening, there's constant shelling and artillery of the IDF in Gaza. As the days go by, this fire towards Gaza seems to be intensifying. For the moment, Esderot seems to be focusing with attacks from the air through artillery. No ground incursion for the moment. When will that happen? No one is really certain about it. Okay, Jonathan Muregev, thank you very much in the city of Ashkelon. With me here in the studio now are retired colonel Alon Eviatar. Thank you very much for coming. And Daniel Elon, former ambassador to Washington, former Israeli ambassador. UN Secretary General created a steer in Israel by saying about an hour ago that this thing happened not in a vacuum. This is unusual. Well, it's despicable. It's another, I would say, low, moral low of the UN. You know, Jacob, I happened to serve four years in Israel's mission to the United Nations. This is the most corrupt, not just morally corrupt, also in other terms corrupt organization. And we have to understand why the UN is made out of the 193 member states. But out of these 193 member states, about 110 are against us. They are 22 Arab countries. They are part and parcel of the 57 Muslim countries, which are part and parcel of what used to be the non-alliant, which are now are called in different group of states. Anyway, 110 are against the West, against the US, against Israel, and they are the puppets of the Palestinians. This is what it is. Now Gutierrez, if we go back to the Secretary General, who also was the prime minister of Portugal before that, he is in their hands in many ways. There were some better, let's say, Secretary-General, who had their own conscience and compass, and they were kind of walking in between the lines and were more steadfast. This guy is just totally lost it. I can tell you another thing, two, at least two, which I happen to know personally because I was approached by somebody to help. Two of the kidnapped, of the hostages, are with Portugal passports. So we try to contact him to see if he can use his leverage. He's nowhere to be seen. He's nowhere to be seen. I think that he should get a message, Mr. Secretary, you are not welcome here anymore and I don't think we should ever see him again here and just neutralize him as a factor because he's not helpful anyway. When the convoys or the trucks of humanitarian aid are coming through the Rafa, and Colonel Evietar would know it better than me. So they get in their food, medical supplies and equipment, water and all that, no fuel, which is understandable. But I say, why don't the Mr. Gutierrez have the very initiative of putting you and personnel, bringing in the Red Cross personnel, put them in the trucks so they go in Gaza, they will be not harmed, and they are the ones who should demand to see the hostages. But they don't do anything. They are just in the way, they are harmful and they're not helping, not our cause. And at the end of the day, they discredit their own organization. The UN has no credibility whatsoever. So those who toyed with the ideas that maybe the UN will take over Gaza after the day after, this is... I don't think so. We have a history with the UN. The 67 war, the Six Days War, 1967 happened before the UN. They had the UNEP, they had a peacekeeping force, which, first word from Nasser, they took them away instead of saying, no, they are there to stay. And of course we have UNEFIL, we have other things, they do not stop anything. The same thing here. If anything, I think we should look for some kind of a regional architecture. Maybe some, I don't know, some multinational force. By the way, with the peace treaty with Egypt, we insisted not to have a UN, and what do we have multinational force? With the Italian battalion, American, and so maybe this should be the same structure for the Gaza the day after. Okay. Alon, let's talk about what's happening in Gaza today. Nothing on the ground. On the other hand, rockets towards Israel. And growing tension between the military and the militant people in the Israeli leadership that want to get in. But the political level says hold it. We hear about the question of or the debate or the discussion, if you want, between the political level, prime minister and others, and the headquarter of the IDF. The question is if and when and in what way the ground maneuver will start. We don't have an answer about that, just rumors, just expectation and so on. But I think that while we are trying to analyze, and I'm saying try, not know for sure, because the Hamas headquarter covered and controlled the media and the websites and so on in Gaza Strip. When we try to analyze the internal situation in Gaza Strip, and especially inside the top five, I would say, of the seniors of Hamas headquarter, I would say that during the current situation, they have two strategic goals. One is to delay the option of ground maneuver, the Israeli attack, the war if you want inside Gaza. Second, and it's connected, each to other is to control the hostages file or the hostages case, which means that they have, I would say a huge achievement in their hand and they know how to play it, to play game with the Israeli side, in order also to continue use the psychological warfare and in order to try to separate between the Israeli society and the government. And second, it's a huge tool for them, for the headquarter from us, also not just to delay the ground maneuver, but also to keep their survival. While they control the situation, despite the huge destroying of Gaza Strip, despite the attack from the airplanes and so on, I think that so far, their situation, the political situation, the core of the headquarter of Hamas is still exist. And they launch, continue launch rockets. We see the changes on the ground. And this is something that only ground attack will change. Yes, just ground attack will have, I would say, huge influence or impact on this case, on this issue. All right, even before the Hamas attack, there were significant concerns regarding a widespread conflict, Middle East correspondent, Ariella Saran, breaks down the different regional threats and danger in Israel. Hamas' surprise attack on October 7th took an unprecedented toll from Israel's southern communities, both in terms of scope and brutality. But it also threw Israel into a rapidly escalating downward spiral on its northern border and in the West Bank, with the potential of turning into a regional conflict. And then on Thursday, this happened. The crew of the guided missile destroyer at USS Carney, operating in the northern Red Sea earlier today, shot down three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. And we cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen, heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel. And so from ballistic missiles in Iran to drones from Gaza, rockets from Lebanon or cruise missiles from Yemen, Israel is perhaps the most threatened country in the world. So what exactly is Israel up against from its various potential and current enemies? Let's start with the most immediate threat, Gaza. Palestinian terror groups, mainly Hamas, have 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 30,000 rockets and missiles, and dozens of attack drones. To the north in Lebanon, there's Hezbollah, with 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 150,000 rockets and missiles, and 2,000 attack drones. Poor Iranian militias in Syria have dozens of drones, while in Iraq, they hold dozens, 200s of ballistic missiles and drones. The Houthis in Yemen, who've already thrown their talon to fight, have hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones as well. And then there's the head of the octopus, Iran. Its national and paramilitary forces have over 3,000 ballistic missiles, some of which can reach Israel, and many thousands of attack drones. We have warned everyone that this conflict can turn into a regional battle if the aggression, brutality, killings, ongoing bloodshed, and destruction against our people in Gaza persist. With a multi-layered air defense system considered one of the most advanced in the world and the help of the U.S. Navy, Israel says its military can manage a multi-front war, but it's a scenario it and its allies hope to avoid, provided that it has not already begun. With us now is Arash Azizi to talk about the Iranian angle. Thank you very much for joining us. Iranian fingerprints all over the place. What's their game plan here? The regime of Tehran is the only, we have to remember this, the only state in the region that actually wants to fight Israel. No other state in the region no longer has any plans to fight Israel or any intention. The Tehran regime is the only one who is funding Hamas and policy and his long job for military purposes. Hamas, of course, has sort of relations, political and financial relations with other states, but the only one that has a strong military and sort of terroristic relation with is the Tehran regime. And their goal is one that Khamenei, the supreme leader, has defined as a strategic patience usually. Increased the capacity of these groups in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Syria, in Yemen, and of course in Gaza and also West Bank actually. And they've increased their capacities over the past few years, but they're also worried about a broader conflagration. So this strategic dance, if you will, continues as they try to attack here and there and they try to control these groups. They don't have 100% control, but they have, you know, close to that. While at the same time, of course, they're denying any direct operational role by Tehran because they're worried about the possibility of a broader conflagration, naturally. How does that resonate inside Iran? How does that affect the internal problems of the regime in Tehran? The Iranian people as a whole are no fan of this regime foreign policy. And I'm not even saying that as a good thing or a bad thing, of course, as an Iranian, I'm no fan of it. But vast majority of people in Iran, I think they're not no fan of the regime. This is shown in many slogans over the years that they've shouted in many demonstrations. The slogans like, neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I give my life for Iran. The slogans like, leave Syria, do something for us. Similar slogans against the regime's line, anti-American and anti-Israel line. And in the last few days, we've seen when a film director tried to speak against Israel in a funeral, she was booed down. When they tried to, some regime people tried to sort of raise the Palestinian flag the day after the attacks, many fans in this football game booed him and we sort of crewed the slogans and asked him to take the flag down. So the Iranian people by and large are no fan of this policy for the simple reason that it has brought them nothing. What has regime's so-called axis of resistance and support for these terror groups like Hamas and others in the region have brought them? It has, for the people of region, it has been killing hundreds of thousand people in Syria, of course, intervening and violating sovereignty of Arab countries, including Palestine, effectively violating their sovereignty. And for the Iranian people, it has only brought economic misery, international isolation, and only bad news. So Iranians as a whole, the regime of Tehran, Khamenei do not have public backing for their anti-Israel line. Arash Azizi, thank you very much. Tania, I'll come back to you. We almost forgot there's the big one, the bigger conflict, Iran versus Israel, nuclear bomb, threats to bomb Iran. What is all of that? Well, we see here actually a few layers. We have the local layer of Israel vis-a-vis Hamas, vis-a-vis Hezbollah. Then we have the original level, which is Israel vis-a-vis Iran, the atollas. But then there is also the global one, which is the United States vis-a-vis Russia and China. Without the massive economic support of China to Iran, the Iranian would not have been able to sustain all those sanctions. And of course, the political support and military support from Russia. So you can say basically that we are in a midst of a world war. I mean, the manifestation doesn't have to be nuclear armageddon and bombing all over the world. But this is a world war. And if I look back to the 30s of last year, the world war started first of September, 1939. But actually, it was much earlier when Hitler annexed the Anschluss, Austria, when he moved into the Sudetenland. I mean, the aggression was there and it was building up to this world war. It seems like this is what we're having now. And I think this is also what the Americans understood right away, that if they do not stand fast and firmly with Israel now, I mean, they do. But in a way that has never been done before, then the chances for miscalculation from Hezbollah or Iran could be much more palpable. And I think they just want to draw the line in the sand, not just for the Iranians and Hezbollah, but also for Russia and China. Right. Even if Israel destroys Hamas, cleans up Gaza, whatever, still there's the huge problem Hezbollah in the North. And sooner or later, Israel will have to build with that. Yeah, it's one of the topics that we have to discuss. And it's a wide, I would say, big and huge challenge, rather or bigger than the Hamas issue. I think that if we are speaking about Hezbollah case, we have to analyze or to go for a wide perspective, not just Hezbollah, but also the northern front, if you want. We include on the same package Hezbollah and its military units and so on. In Syria, we have, during the last days, I saw it myself, you don't need anything to use. Then films, movies or some kind of indicates in the website, Iranian militias are militias. They came from Iraq, from Afghanistan, from Iran, all of them belong to the Shias. And they're used to cross, I saw it yesterday night, cross the area from, let's say, the center of Syria, Damascus and so on, to south, to the Golan Heights border in order to have a threat on the Israeli side, on the northern border as well, together with Hezbollah. So we have two main areas that Israel should challenge it in order to prevent escalation or wide war in this time, in the current time. I think that it will be in the first Israeli priority in the future. What is the future? Nobody can say if it will be next month or next year, but I think that as long as Hezbollah is located in south Lebanon with 150,000 missiles, with all those Iranian militias and so on, this is the strategic threat on the area of northern of Israel, and I think it still exists despite the fact that so far the escalation with Hezbollah between Hezbollah and Israel is a limited escalation. I think that it depends also on the improvement or the development if you want, on the southern front. What will be next month, so I don't know. Next week in Gaza Strip, we'll have influence and direct impact on the motivation if you want or the interest of the Hezbollah and the Lebanese as well. Dunning, many in the Israeli security establishment thought that it was a good opportunity to attack Hezbollah now, and the Americans are saying no. This is sort of a conflict we haven't seen before, and it looks like the Americans are very firm on that. Yes, well the Americans are firmly behind us, totally behind us, and actually we do need their guidance because we're talking about the collective memory and capabilities of a superpower. So they understand things in a broader sense. So from the first day, they said you take care of Hamas. This is the immediate threat. It's very important that you obliterate Hamas in such a way that will deter Hezbollah. The whole region is looking now. How will the war end in Gaza? Friends and foes alike, we know that the Arab countries have always been fan-sitters to see where the wind blows and then they go with the winner. It's very important for the United States that Israel and subsequently the United States will be the winner. So the Saudis, all the countries, will keep with the American camp and not move towards Iran and others. So this is why also they sent, one of the reasons, they sent the Eisenhower and the Gerald Ford right away to tell us, the Hezbollah, the North, let us deal with it. First of all, with indeterrence. You know, the flip side of this is how long are you going to stay here with the, you know? I will stay here forever. Well, this is true, but the American concern right now is you have to be effective and you have to show results. If you limit the war to Hamas, you can show great results. If you open another front, you know, it can take much longer. It's going to be much more difficult. And their main concern is original war. If Iran comes to the aid of Hezbollah, then the U.S. will have to move in. They don't want that. All right. Natalie Bloom is one of the survivors of the Nova Rave massacre, what started as a dance festival. Here's her personal story. I know by myself, I can wish. We came to the party a day earlier. There was another party nearby. When the whole thing started, we didn't understand what was happening. We heard the rocket interceptions in the air. We heard the bombings. I had an anxiety attack. We started to move towards our cars. The first group of people who left was killed. We started to hear gunshots. We left the party area towards the main road. We saw a line of cars. People told us that there is a terrorist infiltration. At that point, I started to run. I lost contact with my friends. Each one ran in a different direction. I got inside the car of two girls. We heard screaming. We heard a gunshot. We heard a gunshot. We heard screaming. We started to drive to an agriculture field. We left the car and started to run again. I saw a police officer yelling at me, run fast. One of the girls who was with me in the car got shot in the back. When she fell down, she looked at us. We continued to run. I couldn't help her. I continued to run. We spent five hours in the field and we didn't see any security forces. I told her that I was going to run for three hours. I ran. Then I saw a car. He stopped and I was shaking. I thought to myself, I hope they're Jews. They yelled at me, get into the car. And we drove away. I remember that we had to run. At one point, we had to choose whether to turn right or continue to drive straight through the field. Whoever turned right was shot. We heard their screams. I love trance music. I started to go to rave parties during the past year. This is our place. I don't think I'll ever go to a party again. People say that if we stop partying, the terrorist will win. But I don't see myself dancing again. When I danced, people used to smile. They told me, don't stop dancing. But I don't think I'll ever dance again. But I don't think I'll ever be able to dance again. Yeah, that's the situation. These are the personal stories. We'll take a break now and we'll be right back with more coverage here on Nightly Furnace. 1,500 people murdered and more than 3,000 injured. And the war with Hamas continues. We bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines, from those who survived, and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas. All of us as Israel fights terror from the south and north. Get the inside scoop on what's going on. Only on I-24 News. Ithi Adonai, you can't do anything to me. And to the dead. We're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Tell us, we don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly, were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Welcome back to I-24 News special coverage. We'll go to the northern border of Israel with Lebanon. I-24 News correspondent Robert Swift is there near the border. Looking at what he described before is one of the busiest days over there. Let's go to you, Rob, at the north. So as we're speaking, there's a contact going on behind me. On the hill behind me where you can see the smoke, that appears to be a vehicle or something else that's been struck by a Hezbollah anti-tank weapon. And in response, we've heard a huge amount of artillery fire from Israeli physicians firing onto the southern Lebanese side of the border. And just in the last few seconds, we've been hearing automatic gunfire again coming from the hill. If you see the black smoke to the left of the tower, that is what appears to have been the target of the anti-tank weapon. And then a little further to the left of this, there's white smoke. That is just in the last few seconds appeared there. And it appears to be in connection with the automatic weapon fire that we're hearing. As you can hear, the artillery, the Israeli artillery, is continuing to fire. This is likely looking to suppress Hezbollah positions a bit to the north and the northeast of us in an attempt to prevent them from firing onto this hill that we're looking at right now. We've been hearing small arms fire from a couple of other directions as well and also drones. And just to give you an idea of how much this artillery is firing right now, this is, I think, the sixth time I've been on the border. And I've never heard this much artillery being fired here on Israel's northern border. And several of the times that the artillery is fired, we've heard the shells going over our heads and then hitting targets in kilometers to the north of us. You'll also see on some of the other hilltops around us, there's smoke where other positions have been struck. And this appears to be a pretty significant contact that is taking place here. This comes after a day that's been relatively quiet with just a single anti-tank weapon being fired earlier at a community not far from here. But as you can see behind me, the confrontations are very much ongoing. Thank you, Robert, back in the studio here with Daniel Elon and Alon Eviatar. And also let me bring in Jose Nato Jose from the Foundation for the Fences of Democracies. And let me ask you, Jose, what's the American point of view in all of this? Can you describe it for us? Well, so far, the American point of view seems to be trying to not let things escalate between Israel and Hezbollah. And I think the American way of doing this is just to send reinforcements to the region, as we have seen with two aircraft carriers so far and many anti-missile systems such as Patriot and Tad. So whether this will deter Hezbollah, we can tell, but what we know is that so far, Hezbollah is playing, is going to a controlled confrontation with Israel. So far, it's only been anti-tank missiles, not these big missiles that might activate Israeli defenses such as the Iron Dome. Why is the United States so concerned about Israel attacking Hezbollah? I don't think the concern is about Israel attacking Hezbollah. I think the concern is to see this war expect which will necessarily bring the U.S. into the war. No one knows how far it will expand and no one wants to see side battles. I think the thinking here in Washington is that for the time being, the focus should remain on Gaza and on dismantling Hamas. And clearly Hezbollah is trying to distract Israel from doing this mission. And clearly Washington is trying to not let Hezbollah distract Israel from what it's currently trying to do. Okay, let's listen to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the UN Security Council earlier today. First, we all recognize the right and indeed the imperative of states to defend themselves against terrorism. That's why we must unequivocally condemn Hamas' barbaric terrorist attack against Israel. Babies riddled with bullets. Young people hunted down and gunned down with glee. People, young people beheaded. Families burned alive in a final embrace. Parents executed in front of their children. Children executed in front of their parents. And so many taken hostage in Gaza. We have to ask, indeed it must be asked. Where is the outrage? Where is the revulsion? Where is the rejection? Where is the explicit condemnation of these horrors? We must affirm the right of any nation to defend itself and to prevent such horror from repeating itself. No member of this council, no nation in this entire body could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people. Ambassador Haylon here in the studio. Keeping Iran as it is. And the lesson that many said was learned here that if you leave it alone, it will grow and kill you. There are some who say, you know, like Senator Lindsey Graham said, let's bomb Iran or something like that, right? Maybe that's the opportunity to get rid of this. Well, in a strategic, in a clear strategic thinking, you know, in an ideal, let's say situation without other, let's say exogenic factors, it makes sense. It makes sense. It could make sense as a huge strategic subterfuge, you know, Hamas right now is contained in its corner. Well, Hezbollah is not expecting, we can do that or we can do Iran. But this is not how the game is played, especially because the United States is running this game and the United States does not want the original war. The United States, they don't want to be involved, certainly not with the boots on the ground. So what they sent here with the two strike groups of the Eisenhower and Gerald Ford was a deterrent. So they do not need to use the ground forces and they do not need to be pulled into a war. And also there is a political consideration, Jacob, that the United States is very fast gearing towards an election campaign next year, which actually it will start January. The campaign really with its full force will start January. You know, it's a matter of three months. So this is why the US will do everything in its power to keep this front with the Hezbollah or even with Iran quiet at this point. Now, when everything is said and done and when the war is over, then there should be some reckoning, not just from Israel's point of view but from the American point of view. What to do with the Ayatollahs in Iran? Will there be any kind of price exacted from them? And this is a big, big question. By the way, Jacob, I must say that this was a, I would say, one of the toughest and clearest statement of a Secretary of State of the United States in the UN in the, it was in this roundtable of the Security Council. And actually it was directed towards Gutierrez. The Secretary General also sat there. Usually he presides over the articles of association over there and all that from a bureaucratic point of view, technical point of view. I don't know if you had a chance to see him. He was getting smaller and smaller, as Biden said. Where is the outrage? And he was describing what they did. Parents murdered in front of their children. It was a real astonishing message from Blinken in the UN. Back to you, Hossein and Hossein. Again, the question, sooner or later, will the United States have to face the Iranian problem? We're speaking about the nuclear aspirations and whatnot. Absolutely. I think all of the wars and the troubles that we see start in Iran, and they'll only end when the Iran regime has ended. Unfortunately, there's no easy way. There's no silver bullet. But if the Ayatollahs understand that their security is at stake when they order their properties to attack US bases, I think their calculus would change. And this is one thing that America has avoided to do over the past decade. I think at least now we've shifted away from the imaginary theory that came out during Barack Obama's time when we were thinking of a grand bargain with Iran. When we assume that Iran is a rational player and if we remove sanctions, they will become a normal country. Now we are sure that Iran will never become a normal country. That Iran lives off of wars and ordering, instructing its proxies to engage in wars. So if the US ever sends Iran this message, that your own safety, the regime's existence, is at stake if you order more attacks, then I think the calculus would change. Alone. Regarding the last report that we have seen just now from your report in the northern border, we have to emphasize that to remember that every fire incident like this could escalate in the movement without any capability or any order to control it. Every fire incident like a missile, launching missile against tanks and so on, could end with casualties when death in Israel is, and then ignite. But we've been hearing that Israel has been practicing, has been getting ready to attack Iran, possibly. It was an option on the table. And also taking into consideration multi-faceted war here. There were talks about that. They were talking about as if it might happen. It was an option. So maybe that day is nearing. Maybe. But I think it belongs to the strategic level which connected to USA to America. It's not on the local level. It's not by the hands of Israel alone. I think it's a huge issue that we should discuss it, but not in the current situation. This is a too complicated situation that we don't need even now to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat and so on. I think that Iran, regarding the last interview, Iran tried to put pressure on Israel from both sides, from the southern front and the northern front together in a parallel time. And this is a huge and new challenge for Israel, for sure. And I think this is the main, I would say, importance of the relationship between Israel and the USA regarding the new treatment. Right. But let me ask you, on the Israelis were told over and over again that the military is ready for this kind of situation and even more. And now they go under the cover of the United States. So there's a double message here for the Israeli public. Yes, it is. But I don't think it's necessary to Israel's detriment, not in imaging, not in the strategic positioning. Look at the United Kingdom. The great United Kingdom, they needed the Americans. They begged the Americans to come and to help them during World War II. And they took it very, very understandably and with open arms. I think what we need to understand now, and maybe Colonel Leviattaro can also relate to that, that the game has changed in such a way that we are not alone anymore. We used to be playing a solist game. We were always alone in our area because the situation was enforced on us. Now we are beginning to be part of a coalition. And as part of the coalition, there is a give and take. And there is no doubt who heads the coalition, which is the United States. So certainly we have to defer to the United States in many, many ways. But this is not in any way infringing upon Israel's security or in Israel's image. This is a new game right now. And I think we should benefit from that and not look at it as something which is negative. My commission, I connect that this is the right point of view. Those who think that the current conflict is between the Palestinians and the Israelis, between the Hamas terror organizations and the IDF, totally wrong. It's wider, it's bigger. And I think we have to discuss the new, I don't want to say third world war, but this is the third world conflict, if you want. Yeah, if I may say one more thing, Jacob, you asked about Iran, what to do with Iran. I think the messages that Iran received from the United States during Obama and also during Trump was the wrong messages. First of all, the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement in 2015 was very weak. The United States didn't use its leverage. And then when the Iranians provoked American military, whether by sea or air, they even intercepted and shot down an aircraft under Trump, there was no response. So you see how the Iranians are getting more and more bolder. All right, thank you for that. Thank you, Hossein for joining us for this discussion. Thank you. Now, this traces of drugs were found with the Hamas terrorists in southern Israel. Among them, the Kaptegun, which is rampant now in the Middle East. With us now is Dr. Julian Kavanaugh from Emory University School of Medicine. Thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for having me. What are the effects of Kaptegun and why it is favored by terrorists like ISIS? It's a stimulant. In one word, this is an amphetamine. This is an old amphetamine that in the 1960s was used to treat diseases like ADHD or neurocolepsy. And it was found very quickly that it became a drug of abuse because the onset of action and duration of action is really quick. And so what stimulants, especially when they become drug of abuse, cause is acting on dopamine. And dopamine is the neurotransmitter of pleasure of being concentrated. So people who use drugs like Kaptegun feel hyper-focused, very concentrated, they don't need as much sleep. They kind of feel invincible. They have an increase in their self-confidence. And they also lack sometimes empathy and fear. And since you also have this suppression of appetite and sleep, that's also for something of an operation, so to speak, something that can be used by terrorists. So I'm not surprised at all that the homeless terrorists would use this drug to get through the horrible deeds. Yeah, that sounds terrible. It's just ideal for people who are out there to murder other people. Yeah, I think it's also used probably by the terrorist handlers to condition future terrorist youth that turn into terrorists. Because when you come off of a drug like Kaptegun, there is depression, fatigue, body aches. So it could also totally see how handlers could condition terrorists to associate the drug with violent acts and ideology. Everything that those handlers want them to do and to use the drug to enhance their control over the youth that they condition to become terrorists. So that's maybe what really encapsulates the relationship between terrorism and the use of this particular stimulating drug, which is also abused by millions of people who struggle with the fiction, but should not be seen under the light of this association with Kaptegun and Hamas, which is very particular. And as much as Kaptegun is a drug of abuse, the evil of Hamas should probably not be confused because the evil is with Hamas. The evil is not with the drug for abuse, is not with the addiction. All right, Dr. Julian Kavanaugh, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Kibbutz near Oz was one of the hardest hit on October 7th. We have toured the devastated area and watch it in the next report. So the tour of this abandoned Kibbutz is like entering a war zone, the epicenter of a pogrom just after the perpetrators disappeared. That house belongs to Tamir from the Kibbutz emergency team. I don't know what happened to it. The lawns and paths are flanks by burnt houses. Look, they burned down a children's room here. Objects left behind by the looters are scattered around. They tried to steal everything there was. And in the parking lot, there are remains from dozens of cars that were set alight. 400 people lived here, a full and vibrant community. Everything is abandoned now. Each house with its own story, those who are kidnapped, those who are murdered, and those who barely survived. With all this blood here, how did they survive? They survived, but he was injured. He was blown up. He has a bandage on his hand, but managed to hold the door. And because of that, his family survived. Her sister's family, they were murdered, all five of them. This morning at the entrance to the Kibbutz, we met Ron Bart, who hasn't left since the Hamas Rampage. He goes through the list, point by point, and we take care of it, OK? He is the one who's trying to gather people's belongings and also oversees the volunteers with the vans who came to evacuate the survivors. We've got an opportunity to hand some of the equipment over to the residents. We have lists of additional residents who are waiting for us to take the things out their homes. We will take any van like this to the family. The volunteers will pack, collect, register each box. And that is what they're doing right now. Call me if I can organize some friends with vans to come and take out small equipment of the Kibbutz members. What does it do to the soul to see such a thing? I walked with shivers for several days. It's something stronger than me. Every laptop you see, take it. There's not much left inside the homes. The thieves who came in the second wave, dismantled televisions from the walls, took laptops and turned over the cabinets in search of jewellery and luxury items. During those hours, we accompanied Omri into the homes of his friends. He talked about everything, but did not say a word about the family tragedy. Are the parents OK? The parents were kidnapped. Yours? Yes, the parents were kidnapped. My father used to be a journalist, and there are articles about him playing the piano. My kidnapped parents are 83 and 85 years old. This whole row of houses, my parents were kidnapped. This is Ofer and his two daughters, kidnapped. This is Yuval, here, can't remember his last name. The two daughters and both parents, kidnapped. Is it your parents? Yes, this is my mother's cinematography. She was upside down. They couldn't move her, and she was upside down. Everything is burned. My parents are among the founders of this kibbutz. Kitchen, living room, small room, attic. This is the piano. There are a lot of videos of my father playing. Did you manage to understand exactly what happens? They were in the secure room, but they had no idea what was going to happen. They had no idea what was going to happen. They were in the secure room, but they had no chance to really hold the handle. It's not a handle that locks, and they were probably taken out. They did a search. They're in Gaza, according to the phones. That's all the information we have. There are many initiatives, private initiatives, in Israel right now to help citizens. The citizens obviously were affected by this war tremendously. With us now is Ben Samocham. Good evening, Ben. Good evening. I called it before the crypto man, but that's your industry. Tell us a little bit about what you do in this and how that brought you to raise funds for people in Israel. Yes, of course. Basically, I founded the largest crypto website, academy, community, YouTube podcast, the media channel. Therefore, I have a large audience in Israel and many connections. It was very natural for me when it was Sunday morning, the day after the horror, to put everything on pause and to start talking with my connections and getting volunteers. We set up with a goal to raise as much money as we can via crypto, which means that there's a large international community of crypto holders, Jewish or not, Israel supporters or not, or just see the horrors and want to help. So we called it Crypto-Aid Israel, and we gathered a group of at first 10 and then within two hours already more than 100 and then within two days more than 300 volunteers from very reputable and large companies in the blockchain and crypto space like Fireblocks and Market Across and Beats of Gold, which is an Israeli broker, and they've all contributed many, many efforts to bring this in together. It was pretty insane how you suddenly have 300 volunteers, every single one of them is split into a different group and one is in charge of the marketing and the public relations and the website. It's a unique community, the cryptic community, right? Yeah, it's very special in how we do things whether it's the transparency because you have to obtain trust. People don't necessarily know me in the international phase. So do they trust me? Do they trust how I handle things? Do they trust the group of volunteers, very big companies, also KPMG, helping us with bridging funds into Israeli banks? And this is all what, in Bitcoins? Yeah, so we are raising the funds in Bitcoin, in Ethereum, in stablecoins, which are assets backed by dollars and many other cryptocurrencies as well. We are also going to have crypto communities so that they'll be able to donate with their coin. We managed to raise more than $200,000 so far and to allocate almost 35% of it. That's great. How do you make sure the money goes to where it should? So we have a team that's dedicated to onboarding nonprofits, Biet Zaka, which right, they were the first donations so that they have ceramic vests and stretchers and helmets, etc. when they're operating in the field, whether it fits the foundation for advancing the regional area of Ishkol. So we donated 100,000 shekels for them to provide shelter for families evacuated from the horrors. Biet Levechad, which is a very large nonprofit, it's a project organized by Orhan Elgiv and Galil. They are supporting the people of the Ote Faza, the Gaza Envelope. So we are in contact with them and not only that, they also provide us with the proof that what they're doing with the funds, the videos, the thank yous, etc. Great. Thank you very much, Ben, for coming. Thank you. This would be it for us. Stay tuned for more special coverage here for the night, one for years and hopefully have a good night from Tel Aviv. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us. We don't want to do it. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly, were butchered in their beds. We've awakened the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. We never thought we'll reach such a state. This is why France is prepared for the international coalition against the Islamic State, within which we are engaged for our operation in Iraq and Syria to also be able to fight against Hamas. Mr. Secretary General, in what war do you live? Welcome to this special broadcast for my 24 news. I'm Khaled bin David. It is day 18 of Israel's war against Hamas. The IDF has stepped up its airstrikes on Gaza, killing the Hamas commander who led the massacre at Kibbutz Berry. Hamas in turn boosted its launching of rockets into south and central Israel with a half dozen minor injuries reported today. Israel's death toll is still at least 1,400. In Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, fatalities rose now to over 5,700. IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Alevi said the army is ready to go into Gaza, but strategic and tactical factors dictate that the time for that is not yet ripe. While many in Israel ask, what is the point at which a ground operation becomes absolutely necessary? The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, offered Israel strong support in discussions here with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials, and in a meeting with the families of French-Israeli citizens being held captive in Gaza. And one of the two hostages released last night by Hamas, 85-year-old Yochavit Lipschitz emerged from hospital and spoke about her imprisonment in Gaza. The cult said that has more on that in this report. After 17 days in Hamas captivity, 85-year-old Yochavit Lipschitz and 80-year-old Norit Cooper were released to the International Red Cross. Finally, back to their families in Israel. Seated in a wheelchair, Yochavit recounts the moment she was ripped away from her home in Kibbutz near Oz. I went through hell. I didn't think or know I'd get to this situation. They went on a rampage in our Kibbutz, kidnapped me, laid me over a motorcycle on the side and flew with me through the plowed fields. They blew up the fence, the special electronic fence that caused two and a half billion shackles and didn't help at all. And masses stormed our houses, beat people, some of them like me, kidnapped. They didn't distinguish between old and young people. After beating Yochavit with sticks and dragging her to Gaza, her daughter explains Yochavit was led through the underground tunnels in the strip. Yochavit is a huge, huge, looks like a spider web. Yochavit says she was kept with roughly 25 other hostages. Before, she and four others were taken to a separate room to receive medical care. People were friendly. They kept the place very clean. They were very concerned about them. Yochavit's daughter says her mother was treated surprisingly well while in captivity. Seeing a doctor on a regular basis and eating the same meals as members of Hamas. This video released by Hamas shows Yochavit shaking the hand of her captors before walking off with the Red Cross. Many are worried this is just part of Hamas' propaganda. Fueling their claims, they released hostages for humanitarian reasons. Yochavit is just one of more than 200 kidnapped. And the same treatment can't be said of others, including Yochavit's husband, who remains hostage in Gaza. My mom said that she was treated well and that the people were kind to her. We do not know what is the story of the hundred and seventy-five or so other prisoners. We cannot deduct from it that they too are in a good condition. Four hostages have been released so far. But at least 220 remain in the hands of Hamas terrorists. Including dozens of children and an estimated 20 over the age of 60. The IDF is reportedly dropping these papers throughout Gaza. Urging Palestinians with any verified and valuable information to call the Israeli army on a secure line. And they could be compensated with a financial reward. All of this in hopes that the 220 remaining hostages will be brought back to Israel safely and quickly. And the United Nations today holding its special monthly session dedicated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But there was nothing usual about the protests outside U.N. headquarters in New York with hundreds of demonstrators there waving Israeli flags and holding up pictures of the hostages in Gaza. Inside, Israeli Foreign Minister Ali Kona dressed the Security Council beginning with some harsh words directed by General Antonio Guterres for the way in which he framed the Hamas attack. It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their lands steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence. Their economy stifled. Their people displaced their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing. But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Mr. Secretary General in what war do you live? Definitely this is not our war. Saturday October 7th will go down in history as nothing less than a brutal massacre. Saturday October 7th is a wake-up call for the entire free world. A wake-up call against extremism and terror. Let's go to our senior US correspondent Mike Wagenheim there at the United Nations and Mike, some strong words to call on for the Secretary General today. Wow, oh wow got personal in there in this Security Council meeting the Ambassador for Israel to the United Nations Gilad Ardan calling on Guterres to resign from his position saying that any organization that was founded for the ashes of the Holocaust to have such a leader espouse those views is sorrowful and shameful. I asked Guterres's spokesperson's unit about his comments today. They told me he said what he said people are free to say what they say in return. They had no particular comment on the fact that Cohen cancelled his meeting with Guterres this afternoon they said they hadn't even been aware of that except for a tweet that came from Cohen a few moments prior. They said he's not justifying terror in any way I said well look at what he said he says he doesn't justify terror but then he lists essentially a laundry list of justifications for what Hamas did. They said no you can't identify the problem until you can't come up with a solution to the problem until you can identify what the problem is that was their way of saying that those laundry lists of grievances on behalf of the Palestinians that Guterres listed was his way of identifying what he says the problem actually is. So a war of words and rhetoric right now between the Israeli side and the UN secretary general. There is a schedule at least a meeting later today between the families of abductees from Hamas and the secretary general himself. We have not received official word yet on whether that meeting will actually happen since a foreign minister Cohen will no longer be visiting the secretary general's office. Right and Mike we see protests outside the UN in support of Israel and bringing up the hostages issue and of course inside Israel bringing some of the family members there to make that point. That's right and that was a focal point of minister Cohen's speech today essentially look at what Hamas has done here not only raping, pillaging, brutalizing the equivalent of ISIS but saying that you can speak to the families themselves here they can tell you their own personal stories and that's what they're doing today at the UN they'll meet with New York's mayor later on today and then with the members of the American Jewish community but one thing Cohen did note loud and clear kind of in the context Kalev we used to hear what starts with the Jews doesn't end with the Jews in the wake of the Holocaust. Cohen said what starts in Israel and on the Gaza periphery doesn't end there it will filter out to the West with Hamas's stated goal of jihadism and he said that if you're not willing the global community is not willing to stand up to it now it'll be on your doorstep sooner rather than later. All right Mike Wagenheim at the UN headquarters in New York thank you for that. I want to go down to our defense correspondent Jonathan Regev in Ashkelon Jonathan just in the last hour some details coming out of a quite serious incident that was prevented at Kibbutz Zikim there in the southern coast. Yes Kalev we don't have all the exact details we're now at the beach of Ashkelon a beautiful beach a beautiful marina here in the southern city which is now of course completely empty in just about five miles or so to the south of us in Zikim and attempted infiltration into Israel by the naval unit of Hamas we heard that as many as nine terrorists may have tried to infiltrate into Israel the details are not exactly clear now we know the IDF has killed at least some of them did it hit all of them we don't know and you can see right behind me there are soldiers there are a few groups of soldiers here on the beach looking directly into the sea because we do not know at this time if all of the terrorists that attempted to infiltrate were actually shot were actually caught so the danger still persists we do know there was an attempted infiltration we do know that at least some of the terrorists were killed is it all of them we do not know once again I'll mention Zikim is the site of an Israeli community and also an Israeli base a base that was targeted in that morning of October 7th is the King Beach roughly five miles to the south of us so it's pretty close and we do know that on that day on October 7th there was also the war attempt by Hamas possibly to also reach here the beaches of Ashkelon eventually it didn't happen it may have happened now again and searches are ongoing there in the beach in Zikim there's a lot of alert among security forces here in Ashkelon overlooking the beach right behind us Jonathan we are hearing seeing that there is a red alert in the Gaza border area south of you now and we did see a pretty massive launching of rockets especially to central Israel today including here in Tel Aviv I think go on Jonathan I think we may even see something to the south of us it's not surprising because in the days after the October 7th attack we've seen a couple of times that there were very large rocket barrages and rocket launches towards areas where terrorists were trying to infiltrate in the days when the border fence was of course still open there were various infiltration attempts and every time that there was a large barrage of rockets towards some area that could have meant that there are attempted infiltrations to that area so it would not be surprising at all to see at the moment rockets being fired to the area of Zikim which as mentioned this is a few miles just behind us then it would not be surprising at all to see rockets being fired towards that area here the city of Ashkelon is quiet today but it's the city that took the biggest amount of rockets so far in this war no one here in Ashkelon leaves under the illusion that the quiet that persisted here today would continue All right Jonathan Regev there in Ashkelon thank you for that we were joined in studio by reserve IDF Colonel Kobe Marome national security expert on his Bola Hamas and his your strategic situation and our senior correspondent Owen Ottoman Kobe I want to get back to the hostage release obviously Hamas for Hamas this was a strategic move perhaps to buy time to make propaganda points some criticism of that press conference at the hospital today wondering whether that plays into Hamas's hands by putting apparently there was no attempt by the government to a debrief culture on what to say and a lot of questions being asked about that yeah I think I live hostage issue is one of the critical and toughest issues on the table it's one of the war objectives regarding to Israel we must do whatever we can as a nation to do through the international community pressure through Qatar or any military means to try whatever we can to release the hostages now I think that the fact that Israel delayed the ground forces invasion for a couple days it's the right thing to do there is any opportunity right now through the amazing pressure that United States another country put on Qatar but I must tell you something very clear in the end of the day Israel cannot accept the way that the Hamas is going to take their time and release every couple days two or three it's not going to work Israel said very clear we're going to give a chance to this opportunity for like a week we're going to have a deal if not the ground forces invasion is on the way we have heard the chief of staff today it's ready and let me tell you something else I know what the idea is going to do the plans for the ground forces invasion through these battles I'm sure we'll have other operational opportunities that we're going to try to release some of those because you can imagine that the Hamas who is in trouble they release those hostages because there's no question they want to change their image all of an international community because everybody look at them as worse than ISIS Nazi Secretary Kohn said in the UN today Hamas or the Nazis I think the Israeli delay of the ground forces is the right thing to do we must do whatever we can any effort that we can to try to release those hostages there's no question about it I just want to say just now reports air raid sirens going off in the southern Golan Benayehuda and Givat Yovav and I know you're familiar with that area in your military career I live in the Golan high and what we try right now Kalev we must see the whole picture the Iranians control the situation they control the battle in Gaza they control the attrition war and what they try lately is to remove Shias militias from Iraq to Syria and try to create a real threat to Israel from another from the Golan high that's what we see right now and I can imagine the next couple of days we're going to see a lot of launching of rockets from Syria by Hamas and the Shias militias from there or maybe trying to penetrate the Israeli border and attack the Israeli community that may happen and that's why the idea... So what has to be the idea for spawns we've seen it act operated southern Lebanon we know they've been these air strikes alleged to Israel but are there more serious actions Israel will have to step up that? On the strategic level the Israeli goals right now is to not initiate a war against the Hezbollah or the Iranians we have to defend the northern part and keep it as an attrition war again we're focused right now on Gaza because we must achieve a decisive victory against the Hamas so right now on the strategic level we have a real dilemma on the Israeli cabinet and we took the decision that right now we're going to be focused on Gaza and just defend our border in the north and the Golan Heights as well we're going to see in Israeli attacks over Syria if we will see that the Iranians increased militias in the Golan Heights and they try to escalate the situation there as well but the idea is ready for that and I'm sure we're going to see the attrition will keep going along the Lebanese border and the Golan Heights as well All right well they have been some casualties we'll be talking about those later we'll go up to our correspondent in the north in the meantime though and lots of diplomacy today especially there at the UN oh wait hold on we are now going to our correspondent in the north we're going to have a party for us and Robert we are getting air raid sirens in the southern Golan we haven't seen that part of the north so active so it's clearly we're seeing maybe some kind of message here being made by Syria or some of the forces in Syria that's correct this is to the east of the sea of Galilee in the southern area of the Golan it has been relatively quiet there this is just for our viewers to understand this is sort of south of the Syrian border like you say so this could be due to rocket fire emanating from inside Syria it's potentially could be long range launches from Lebanon or that seems maybe slightly less likely now this is not the first security incident to take place on the northern border today but about 2-3 hours ago there was a pretty pretty concentrated exchange of fire as Hezbollah units fired around 7 anti-tank missiles and a series of mortar rounds onto an Israeli base it was stationed at the top of the hill overlooking the border region Israeli forces responded with a huge volume of artillery fire in a fight that went on for at least 30-40 minutes we were there observing this and the Israeli military also made use of drones to target the Hezbollah units that were firing the missiles and the mortars and that was actually the second of two security incidents so it was that long extended fight but earlier in the day during the afternoon there was a small exchange a single launch of an anti-tank weapon from a community onto a community just to the north of that which is possibly a reconnaissance move by Hezbollah before the extended attack that we then witnessed in the afternoon so there is plenty happening here up on the north although it did seem quiet to begin with earlier in this day it has turned out very much not to be the case it is quiet all right well we'll see and we'll see what develops there out of that those air raid sirens in the southern Golan what set those off Robert Swift in the north of Israel then Lebanon border thank you for that let me go back to you all and because as I said before scenes at the United Nations today and exchanges, harsh exchanges never an easy time for Israel at the UN but I can't remember that kind of response by either a Israeli ambassador or official at the UN directed against the Secretary General personally It's over for Antonio Guterres as far as Israel is concerned I think we can assume he'll be persona non grata unless he does some real make some real effort to walk this back not to walk this back Kalev but to uproot it from the source and to really apologize short of that I think he'll simply be persona non grata for official Israel and for unofficial Israel for that matter and I think it doesn't matter which part of the political spectrum whether right or left I think there'll be consensus on that that this was a justification for the whatever his spokesperson said as Mike said it just simply doesn't hold up he was justifying the massacre he was justifying the killing of babies he was justifying the taking of 200 hostages he was justifying the taking of Holocaust survivors hostages that's what he said and when you say that you will become persona non grata not just to official Israel but across Israeli society and Kalev you're right to focus on this because people in Israel like to beat down the UN and it's understandable why but the UN isn't one thing the UN is many things I can just interject to note that until this point Antonio Guterres within the relative terms of the UN and past secretaries general was seen as somebody somewhat sympathetic to Israel and not only that but several secretaries general have been reasonably well received given the attitudes and the tension with the UN here in Israel and that's my point is that the UN isn't one thing the UN is many things right of course there's the Human Rights Council which is a world into itself and a subject unto itself but the UN is also a wide range of humanitarian agencies of peacekeeping forces with which Israel has various different types of relationships also agencies that have nothing to do with security right that have to do with health and food and technology and of course the office of the secretary general as well and the relationships with different parts of the UN on Israel's part are different and you're right the secretary general historically hasn't always been an office with which Israel has always had consistent tension but now it's different and again Antonio Guterres I think we can safely say from this moment persona non grata in Israel official Israel simply won't have anything to do with him and I think large parts of unofficial Israel across the political spectrum across the political spectrum won't have anything to do with them until we see some serious move in his part the ball is deep in his court I think I think secretary general lost this game because the humanitarian issues are going to be all over the war if you look like weeks ahead and he will have no credibility he'll have no credibility in Israel and anything he says should be secretary general that leave those efforts now we lost the Israeli side with his terrible words because he totally misunderstand the terrible attack that Israel had two and two and a half weeks ago well I want to just go back to the you have at Lipschitz the hostage released hostage you gave this press conference apparently today again has to be remembered it looks like Hamas plan to release her so maybe kept her treatment fairly better than maybe even some of the assages we don't know that her husband is still being held captive there so obviously she has to be careful about the words and there was criticism of the government today that they did not direct the situation in a way will help frame the message apparently was no involvement by government offices to in terms of this press conference yeah I think the reporting on that is all over the place there's involved look all well and good but at the end of the day this is a private person this is an individual citizen who's going to have the freedom to be able to go and say whatever she wants and I think the job then is to again put this all in the proper context to explain exactly what the context is and I do wonder if from the perspective and we have to have to ask the families how they feel about it but if from the perspective of the families if this gives them some comfort about what has awaited their loved ones in some way to give us some small sense of comfort I don't know about that because again even as we heard from her I think was her daughter they're saying there's no way we could determine what the circumstances of the other hostages some of them for example not being even be held by Hamas but being absolutely soldiers may well be different than the treatment of civilians for example so you're absolutely right I think that putting this in context is extremely important think the media crazy numbers the Hamas is trying to control the situation know who held other hostages and some of them are held by private people so this is one of the problems I'm telling you that the best brains of the Israeli intelligence are focused on getting information from because the numbers are crazy and we try this is our focus to know where they are of course that would be the key especially when we look at potential efforts to free them or how it may impact on a ground operation we'll talk more about that ground operation when we come back Kobe Moran I want to stay with us stay with us we do expect the IDF spokesperson to give his nightly briefing we'll bring you that live as it happens we'll be back in about 3 minutes here on I-24 News stay with the channel for more information on Israel's and its impact on the future and its investment in Israel Bonds it is the most powerful and direct way to stand with Israel visit israelbonds.com and invest now made for me a unique concept in Israel custom made men's fashion to your measurements made for me designer of all your events schedule your appointment I-24 News good evening ladies and gentlemen 1500 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand 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 get the inside on what's going on only on I-24 News the very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking more than 100 soldiers and civilians have been killed our families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity welcome back to this special broadcast on I-24 News the Israeli security agency better known as the Shin Beto Shabbat together with the Israel police have released footage from the interrogation of Hamas terrorists who were captured following their deadly rampage on October 7 the footage clearly shows how the Hamas operative was given explicit instructions to kill and kidnap civilians including the elderly women and children Middle East correspondent Ariel Osiron brings us the horrific testimonies of the terrorists the IDF shared with hundreds of foreign journalists body cam videos and pictures from Hamas's October 7 onslaught on southern Israel the Shin Bet and Israeli police shared footage from interrogations of Hamas terrorists from Gaza who participated in a destruction and mass murder in it they describe in detail how they were ordered to kill and kidnap women and children Mr. Al Faseel Mr. Hamad Al Majd Al Yaw one second Mr. Al Faseel Mr. Al Faseel what is the important thing that was after they killed them they kidnapped Farrza they killed and kidnapped him they killed him we know that we know that what is the important thing The detainees said in their investigations that they received orders to kidnap as many people as they could, specifically women and children, and to kill the rest. The room was closed. The door was closed. There was a sound inside. Two people entered. One of them was looking for the door. There was something on the side of the door. There was a man inside the door. The whole family entered. We entered the first door and the woman was there. The door was closed. What did you see when you saw the woman? I saw her in the bathroom but I couldn't see her. The dog went out in the street. What did you do? I took her to the police station. Yes. Where did you take her? I took her to the hospital. She was pregnant. Yes. I was surprised to see her. What did you do when you saw her? I didn't know. The door was closed. The door was open. They went out the door and they told the man to stay inside. There was a hole in the door. There was a chain inside. The door was locked. They opened the door. The dog was not prepared for this. The man took her to the hospital. They didn't let her go inside the door. The door was opened. They opened the door. There was a small piece of tape. They told the man to get inside. With many around the world denying the atrocities that were committed against innocent Israeli civilians, Israeli interrogators asked the detainees what Islam has to say about what they did. According to the Islamist religion, the Islamist religion says, come and kill me. No. No? Let me stop. These atrocities, you don't see how they kill civilians? The arrested Hamas terrorists point a blaming finger at their leadership, who seeks refuge abroad, while Gaza is laid to rubble. What do you do? We kill them. Who do you kill? Two Hamas terrorists. They are in the house and they want to kill us. Do you think so? Yes, that's what I think. My mother is in Qatar or Turkey. She speaks in the name of the Qasab and the Muslims. They want to kill us. They want to kill us. They want to kill us. They want to kill us. They want to kill us. Why kill us? You see, they are in Gaza. They are in Gaza. Who killed them? They are in Gaza. They are in Gaza. Quite a disconnect between what they say and what they did. Kobe Moromo, we are getting some information about what happened there in the Southern Gola patch. A few minutes ago, we had a few rockets that were launched from Syria, as I imagine, to the Golan Heights. There is no casualties in Israel. Let me tell you what happened in the last two and a half weeks in the northern front. We are actually facing a multi-front challenge right now. We have a fighting situation along the Lebanese border. We saw in the last two and a half weeks, the Hezbollah launch missiles all over the front. They penetrate Israel for Palestinian groups. They launch anti-tank weapons against our positions, our tanks, and our communities. And we evacuated over 60,000 people all over the border, including Kiryat Shmona, which is the capital of the Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee region. So the big question on the Israeli table is the Iranians and the Hezbollah are going to initiate a comprehensive war. As an expert, I'm telling you, I doubt why, because right now, in the last two and a half weeks, they lost a surprise. You know, we are at the readiness of the IDF in the communities and along the border is really high. The backup of the United States, the military present over the Lebanese war cost really deterred the Iranians. And when Nasrallah looked at the picture from Beirut from Gaza, he knows that if he is going to initiate a war against Israel, that's how Beirut is going to look like. But the most important thing, the Iranians has so much to lose in Lebanon. They build this crazy capability over 200,000 rockets and missiles to deter Israel to attack the nuclear facilities. And I don't think they're going to waste this amazing ability just for the Hamas. So the bottom line, maybe we'll see an escalation when Israel is going to operate their invasion over Gaza. I don't think the... You are the expert, but there was some of the same thinking or logic there about Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which is they've now got too much to lose to do this kind of attack. You're right. That's why the IDF is ready for this option. But if you ask me, I don't see the Iranians or a very tough enemy escalate the situation and losing so many capability that they took them decades to build this crazy capability across the border all over Lebanon. And they control Lebanon. They know that Israel is going to destroy totally all the missile sides, the accurate missiles, all the capability that they built since the Second Lebanon War. So that's why right now it's really low. And on the other hand, the IDF must be ready for any option. Right. This is the bottom line. But of course, something inadvertently can happen. I mean, what if so far we have been casualties? I think eight casualties are there. If there is a rocket that causes serious Israeli casualties, there are still some civilians in the north there. Israel will have to step off its attacks, won't it? Right. But right now the cabinet took the decision to be focused on Gaza and just defend the northern port. This is something very important. We're not going to initiate an attack, a ground forces attack right now. I think everybody in Israel has understand Kalev that our strategy for decades was totally wrong. The fact that we have a restrained policy along this border and allowed the Hezbollah again and again to attack and deploy was a terrible mistake. But we have to be smart enough to initiate a war against the Hezbollah on the right timing for Israel. All right. Let's go to the north now. We're not going to respond until Robert Swift to get what the latest is about that incident that we've just been talking about in the Southern Gulf on Rob. Yeah, so that's right. So just to update on that, it's understood that there was around five impacts in open areas. And it does appear at this stage that the fire has originated from Syria. Now the Israeli military is responding to that fire with artillery. If that was the case, and this will be a slight impact in the security incidents that took place earlier in the day as the two previous security incidents were attacks that emanated from Lebanese territory. So this will be the first one from Syria. All right. We'll have to follow this up, see how this develops. Robert Swift there in the north. And as I just thank you, Robert, and as I just mentioned a moment ago, while we have been focused on the personal tragedies around the hundreds killed or kidnapped in Southern Israel, there have been casualties in the northern part of Lebanon. Well, eight Israelis killed by cross-border fire or incursions from Hezbollah and other terror groups in south Lebanon. Seven soldiers, one civilian. Now the first of those fatalities came on October 9th. It was Lieutenant Colonel Alim Abdullah, Deputy Commander of the Baram Brigade, shot dead in a firefight with infiltrators on the Lebanese border. Alim from the village of Yanoujat served in the war. And his sacrifice also highlights the contribution of soldiers from the Druze community to the defense of Israel. Well, joining us now is Orami Saad. He's the cousin of the late Lieutenant Colonel Alim Abdullah, killed on the Lebanon border. And he joins us from Yanoujat. Rami, thank you for joining us. First of all, tell us a little about Alim. He sounds like a very special person. Oh, yeah, absolutely. He's so special. He was a very, first of all, as a human being, a great human being with a lot of values as a person. You could see him in every single event here in the family, in the extended family as well. You can see this person taking care of everything, helping everybody with a lot of and big values as a human being. It's really, it's a big loss for us as a family, all of us. So Rami, what could you tell us about, not just that day when he had to go to the north, but how he reacted to when the snooze first broke on October 7th, and he knew there was going to be trouble, not just in the south, but likely in the north too? Yeah. So first of all, I would like to say here, if Alim wasn't there and he wasn't react and respond according to what he was supposed to do, probably we would see what in the north of Israel, a case study, exactly what happened in the south. There's two settlements over there called Arabaramshi and they admit that both these terrorists were expecting to attack these two settlements over there. And the brave heart of Alim and as a commander, the way he was attacked all of these and stopped in his body, let's say. And today we hear the story from our first voice of a soldier that was there. He told us in these words, Alim stopped it in his body, this terror attack and prevent a big slattery in the north of Israel in these two settlements. At the time here in the communication that there is a terror cell in the north of Israel that attacked his colonel, a Alim officer. He immediately stepped in and start to fight them and he killed two of them and unfortunately, unfortunately, he was killed as well. Right, now, Rami, you know we're an international channel and I'm not sure, a lot of people have brought even understand the role of the Jewish community, especially the role it plays in the defense of Israel idea. Frankly, I'm not sure enough people in Israel appreciate that, but let's talk about that in the context of what Alim's life, not just what he did this weekend, but his life and in the Jewish community in the battle that Israel finds itself in now. Yeah, so thanks for raising this point. Yeah, the Jews is in where in minority in Israel. We are 120,000 people all over living here in Israel. We are serving the army and we are fully supporting Israel. We have a big faith in this country. We love this country and we, all of us, we all in with the country. And the same, everybody that we grow up on love the country, same Alim, he grew up. He was sure that he's going to serve the army and be an officer and this is exactly did what he want. And even here, it's a high level on progress over there as a lieutenant colonel. This is something that they describe so many Jews people and Jews guys that like to serve the military and be part and take care of this country same as the Jews. And so we are, we deeply feel and believe we are part of this country and we have a deep faith to protect it and serve in the army. Wherever we will ask to do that. Right, I have in the studio here reserves IDF Colonel Kobe Morom who served in the North and he wants to say something. He knew Alim. I knew Alim very well. I met him a few weeks ago on the border of Lebanon. He was a wonderful person and a great commander and he shows you the real and amazing commitment between the Jewish community and the Israeli society. In my career for 25 years, I had so many soldiers from the Jewish community and commander under my command. Amazing soldiers and commanders and it's keep going all the way. And I think we should appreciate that and Alim was really special and I'm so sorry for this loss. Well, Rami, you know, we say in our faith may his memory be a blessing. It certainly sounds that will be the case with Alim. Thank you for coming this evening and telling us about him. Thank you very much, sir. Okay, Rami said thank you. Well, that says a lot there to hear about the bravery and the courage and to a reminder, we shouldn't just tell stories about the victims that have unfortunately there's so many but also about the heroes. In this case of Alim and on October 7 in a terrible attack that we had, Kalev, we have so many commanders that were leading the fighting against the Hamas and we lost battalion commanders, brigade commanders during this battle on October 7 because as part of the values of the IDF the commanders in any rank leading the assault and leading the fighting against the Hamas. Right, and also many better when I should say there were some better wins in the south also. We've presented some of their stories who have been extremely heroic. I want to go back to diplomacy a bit. French President Emmanuel Macron today became the latest western leader to visit Israel in a show of support meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Herzog, other top officials as well as the families of French Israelis who have been killed or kidnapped by Hamas. Macron at one point even suggested that the same western alliance that worked together to take on and target ISIS should now be turned against Hamas. This was at a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Let's listen to those statements. The test for the west and for civilization is Hamas. If Hamas emerges victorious, we will all lose. Europe will be endangered. Everyone will be endangered. Civilization will be endangered. So if Hamas wins, if Hamas loses and is defeated, then the forces of civilization win. That is why this battle is not merely our own. It's Europe's battle. It's America's battle. It's civilization's battle. It's the battle for the heart and soul and the future of the Middle East and the Arab world. This is why France is prepared for the international coalition against ISIS, within which we are engaged for our operation in Iraq and Syria to also be able to fight against Hamas. I propose to our international partners I discussed it with you this morning that we can build a regional and international coalition to fight against the terrorist groups that threaten us all. Well, let's just go to the IDF briefing by Rear Admiral Daniel Higari. Phil, in the process of working again to quadrate as they're at the end of the road but you see that they're still ongoing. The goal of the IDF is to defend Hamas, Hamas terrorists are hiding in inside your home Gaza citizen. They're hiding in your street and we will not stop. We'll not leave from hunting them. So we urge them we urge you rather to leave the city of Gaza and to move south across the Gaza river. There, there's a massive humanitarian effort to with food, with medicine, with water there will be no fuel entering Gaza. Hamas still fuel from UNRWA they can return it so hospitals in the Gaza Strip can use it. The IDF met for today on the ground and was impressed by the preparations on the ground by the readiness of the forces today we saw a recording we heard a recording of one of the vile terrorists massacre Jews on Saturday and brought to his parents that he succeeded in his vile mission. The internal security agency brought this obtain that it's recording and we are debating among ourselves on each and every such recording or documentation whether to publish it but we need to show the world and we will continue to reveal to reveal to the world the whores of the massacre in the north IDF forces are protecting the area and our attacking part of terror is a war that does not involve fighting there is nothing to do with the Lebanese people with the country of Lebanon but rather chose to fight alongside Hamas ISIS we all updated the going back to school policy in the home front keep adhering to the home front command orders to make sure you do sometimes there are times or days or areas where there is no but we should not we should not lose our alertness we should allow normal life routine alongside the fighting alongside the war so far updated 222 families for the hostages I would like to address briefly the statement of Iqabat Liqshik who was released the only thing I wanted to do is to hug her when I saw her at the press conference neither one of us will be able to walk in her shoes and understand the scope and scale of the whore she went through an old woman who was kidnapped from her own bed in the kibbutz brutally kidnapped by terrorists being transferred to Gaza alongside other hostages and her husband is still there kidnapped in the Gaza Strip I wish her that she will be well, will get well and better soon and the IDF and I will do whatever we can to get her husband and all the other hostages a few words in English now Alright, that was IDF spokesperson, Ronald Daniel Higary also IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Alevi did speak himself earlier today addressing the question of the army's preparedness to launch a ground operation into Gaza here's some of what he had to say The IDF and the Southern Command are preparing high quality attack plans to achieve the goals of the war I want to make this clear the IDF is ready for ground operations and will take a decision together with the political echelon regarding the manner and timing of the next stage Well, Kobe, the question is he says the army is ready there's tactical, strategic considerations the question is what specifically are they and when will they be chipped First of all, I think what we had on October 7, it was a terrible failure from the intelligence point of view and the operational point of view and I think if we want to achieve our goals that the cabinet actually defined for the IDF we must operate there's no question about it we must operate the heavy heavy air strike because with all the respect to the heavy air strike the majority of the Hamas infrastructure is still operating the command center the missile side, the storages, everything so we must be there to destroy if we want in the end of the day destroy totally their military capability we must maneuver our troops and that's why we try to maneuver the civilians and do not allow the Hamas to use their people as a human shield the bottom line, I think Israel it's going to take a while it's going to take weeks at least but in the end of the day we must have a decisive victory because the thousands of people that used to live in those communities along the bottom will not return to their communities if the situation will be totally different and the decisive victory of Israel must be a message and a clear message to the Iranians or other players across the Middle East that's very important let's just go back to the comments by the French President Emmanuel Macron on saying about this regional force dealing with it which is maybe a step further than even Israel let's talk about that one before we get to Emmanuel Macron I think we have to pause for a minute on Daniel Higari who said a couple important things the idea of spokesperson the most important thing and I think the headline is no fuel going into the Gaza Strip the contention from Daniel Higari has Hamas stole the fuel, remember the 36,000 liters, the tweet that the UNRA relief agency put on and then deleted that whole story and he basically says Hamas should give it back there's enough fuel for the hospitals we don't need to be giving the fuel allowing the fuel to go through it's up to Hamas to be responsible in the first instance for the civilian needs of the Gaza Strip they put out photos of fuel tanks that they say Hamas is the supply of Hamas all well and good the problem is it's hard Kalev to see this argument holding water and being sustainable again we've had false deadlines from humanitarian workers in Gaza in the past I don't envy their position in so many ways but they are now saying that if there isn't fuel in X number of hours then the hospitals won't be able to function if there's not fuel the trucks won't be able to actually take the food and water that the people who evacuated to southern Gaza need I mean these are serious considerations that Israeli policymakers are going to have to confront and nobody is talking about sending flowers or even toys into the Gaza Strip but basic humanitarian nobody's talking about electricity for private residences but basic needs for people to get food, water, medicine and necessary medical care are simply going to have to be met and even if in principle the Israeli position is right the Hamas stole the fuel from the hospitals I mean imagine that I think that this position is not going to be particularly sustainable unfortunately we can't that's a good question but we do have to go for a break we're coming to the end of this hour of this broadcast thank you for joining us as your own ultimate please stay with us we'll be back in about three minutes at the top of the hour for more of this special broadcast on I-24 news so please stay with us mind is far more susceptible to damage than previously believed stress is power conferred upon something and when that power exceeds a certain level then something will break down at her lab in Hebrew universities Edmund and Lili Safra Center for Brain Sciences Dr. Sarek is proving just how permanent that damage is there's a major difference between our brain and other tissues in our body so muscle cells can be replaced blood cells are replaced on a daily basis but the nerve cells we have in our brain that's what we got born with and that's it for the rest of our lives we've examined recently what happens to a young mouse seven days old when it's stressed and a mouse that has been subjected to that type of stress will be an underdog forever what Professor Sarek has discovered is that it alters the physical brain sometimes permanently we analyze those genes and we found genes that are modified these physical stress reactions can actually cause degenerative brain disease when they fail to vanish you get diseases when they accumulate over time without being removed from the cells this is when you get damage permanent damage so not only do the effects of stress accumulate forever they can then pass to future generations we need to pay special effort to avoid stress being inflicted on the young ones it's much more dangerous to them 1500 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first hand 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 get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news welcome to or back to this special broadcast on i24 news I'm Khaled bin David now since October 7th of course we have been bringing you tragic stories about the victims of the Hamas attack on southern Israel but some amazing stories of heroism and survival have also emerged from that terrible day one of them is of a man who can only identify as Mickey because he is an officer in an elite commando unit of the Israel police and as we see in this report adapted from Israeli television Khan News on that morning when Hamas terrorists invaded his home on Kibbutz Nakhal Oz Mickey put his own very special set of skills to use making sure that he his wife and his young daughter get their ordeal alive it was a very very special set that now we are not walking with them you said you were going to kill them I was going to kill them I was going to kill them we meet each other and we know each other and we say no and so on we don't want to don't want to do anything and so on never the video goes on it is very something that we see from outside I can't// Downtown alright I see Ahh The video is to be careful and not to get hurt? No, I wasn't hurt. You weren't hurt? I wasn't hurt either. We're hurt. The wound on the neck and the wound is actually the one that was there in the picture. 6.30 in the morning, October 7th, in the middle of the night, they were shot when a bullet in the eye was shot, which was caused by a bullet wound. Their big shot was free, and the night was over, so friends were in the room. After that, they were forced to go to school and that they were in the wrong place. They came back home. 40 minutes later, we were ready to hear the sounds of the shooting. I thought it was a wild thing, something big. And it sometimes happens. And then you realize that the sounds start to get closer to you and you hear the sound. Suddenly, people are getting more and more on WhatsApp that there are people fighting in the house. You start to hear the sounds of the shooting of Arabs everywhere, the voices of the soldiers. The sound of the gunshots, the sound of their shots, and the shot is not found. And whoever is found to be armed, and if they don't, they'll shoot at him. And we, the Zadine, are here, and Hamas, and all their units. I went to the school to study, I told them to go to school, in the same class, and they didn't let us get in touch. It wasn't a nightmare. I felt something... something happening, and I was sure it was the army, I saw it. From the moment the gunshot was fired, his ten-shot was fired with a lot of bullets, as much as possible. I was actually in the gunshot, in the back, in the bottom of the room, and I realized that I needed more bullets. I had some kind of sling, my little one, on those days. I was in the house, in the living room. Suddenly, they started shooting the bullets, the shooting of the gun, and they started shooting one at a time. I ran to the front, to the other side of us. I threw a gun, and I found out that they really shot the gun, and they shot at me, and I saw three of them shooting. There were a lot of bullets on my head. These bullets, my head, my throat, they were so close, so close. I also remember their bullets, I remember the fire there, their bullets, and one of them, after a few seconds, another gun, on the other side of the house, started shooting. Same thing, I ran to the other side, the same wound, less shooting, and I started shooting. I started shooting again, and I heard the bullets, shooting, and they were shooting, and they were shooting, and the bullets were shooting, and they were shooting, RPG to the church. The church is closed, I also left the house, I understood what was happening, I threw a gun there, I was shot, I threw a gun between the soldiers there, to the church, and every time they came to the church, they were shooting at me, without a gun, without a gun, I was shot, someone entered, one or two were shot, and so we were shot, and I, Yair, didn't shoot. For those who were well aware, they know exactly where they are coming, to a place in the neighborhood, they looked for him, they wanted to take him to the church. They wanted me to be... drunk and run away, to help my medical self. You understand that? I now understand that, yes. Other than you? Yes, they're saving the house. She brought her mother, her mother-in-law, and told me that I was pregnant and that I had a baby. If I didn't have a baby, they would all be here. And then she brought her child. My child told me the same thing, but when I had a baby, then after two or three seconds she started crying. I said, I'm sorry, don't have a baby. I'm pregnant. My baby is at 10 or 12. Did she tell you that she was pregnant? She was pregnant and I heard her baby and her hysteria. I remember that I told her that I love her and that's why they took her. Did she tell you about her baby? She told me about her baby. Come with me! Come with me! Where do you know about her? Where do you know about her? Give me. There was another baby between 16 that came to us. Hello. Hello. Hello. What's up? I also realized that I had to open the door because it's a part of them. I think it's also a part of them that even there are people there. There's no dilemma. There's no dilemma, and also in Diabad, this child is pregnant. Is it a tumor? It's a tumor. Yes, it's a tumor. Luna, come here. Come here. Come here. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. Now I'm afraid of people, not you. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. I think it's a part of them that came to us. I don't know if it's a part of them that's afraid of it. It's the... It's the other side. Keep it up. I don't think it's... You're afraid of all the people? Yes. It's a part of them that came to us. And the other time I was in the middle of the road, and I opened the door, and I gave the door to open, but it didn't open. I was just looking at the door, and I saw how much it was empty. I realized that I had to keep fighting, and to get rid of the fear now, because it also didn't help me. Was it a tumor? Yes, it was a tumor. After an hour of fighting, a psychological war began there, mainly with one of them, the person who brought the mass of Hamas's murder to the hospital. And it made me realize that if I don't get in now, he will destroy the whole school, there will be no one here, not you, and not your wife, and not your child. I took the time, yes, to continue for a while, and I started to control him in the shower. I told him that I was ready to fight, I was ready to fight, only if he opened the door for me, that he wouldn't attack the woman and the child. And if so, I would also have to fight, I would have a little fight, I would have to fight for myself, I would have a little fight, I would have a fight, and I would have to ask him questions about Islam and the Qur'an, why do you do these things, and it's not something that... it's just... Does he hate you? He hates me. He says that we are in Islam, they don't respect women and not children, and they don't do these things, and the English language is good, it's good, it's good, it's also good that he cares about you, and gives you water, he knows you don't have water, so... You mean that he speaks in a very intelligent way, that he knows what he's doing, right? Every word he says, he knows what he's saying, he knows what he's saying. Like he's ready to fight for himself? Yes, yes, very, very, someone who's ready to do it and will do it as he needs it. At that moment, he said to me, he's a cop, he said to me, take your time, I've stopped talking to you, now I'm talking to you, and I'm starting to talk to you later, and what do you want me to talk to you later? And then I see, you're standing in his car, in the car, in the RPG, and I see him in everything, you see him standing in front of you, he starts talking, and I say, why are you so slow? I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say to you, and I'm starting to talk to you later, I remember that in the evening or in the evening, I've stopped talking to him, he said to me, I'm going to go and I'm leaving, so he said, I want you to leave, if you still have time, you'll send the code, you'll open the door, I'll be waiting in the code, I'm starting to talk to you later, to see if I'm leaving the outside, and then I say to him, I'm sure you'll see him, and the family, you'll see what you've opened to me, you'll see the RPG, you'll see why we're playing RPG. That evening, he said to me, you're right, I remember that he started to talk to me, he just opened the door, and threw a cigarette at me. Did you miss him? I missed him, and there, that's where it happened, that's where it happened. Can you tell us how many I've beaten you, how many you've beaten, in the end, when you're back in your own house, I've beaten at least between 14 and 15. Everyone who came to your house? Yes. So how many were in the kitchen, after all, if only you were alive, you wouldn't have beaten me, I'd have beaten you more and more, I'd have beaten you more and more, I'd have beaten you more and more. You don't hear much, do you believe you hear more? At least. Well, it's a big deal. It's a big deal, and a lot, and I'm hard to say it, because many of the families, the families, they didn't have the power to keep themselves safe. We had a lot, maybe a bit of a problem, I'm not a person who believes, but maybe in any case, but what if they didn't have it? It's a bit hard to say, wow, we've beaten him, because that's a lot, and I'm happy for him, I'm happy for the rest of his life. I can say a little thank you, but it's hard to say thank you for the fact that the house is so many families in Israel. I don't feel sorry for Gibor, it's hard to say thank you, I have friends who are proud of me, and they don't find me. You know, I went to my family in the middle of everything, I felt more... feelings, feelings from... emotions, feelings from them. No, a lot, everything, so I sit here, and... they don't. But it's hard, it's hard to say thank you, you know, at the time I knew that maybe they didn't eat, but... in the meantime, they're eating in the kitchen, all the family, even in the kitchen, which was not allowed to be cooked, in the middle of all the cooking. They're trying to make sure what they've passed in the kitchen. How, in the help of a large kitchen, it's necessary to clean, to clean, or to clean from the house, more than ten dishes, five of a kind, and the head. You said you wanted to go back to the kitchen, even from the kitchen, so... You can stay here, I'll take care of your family, after seven, but you want to go back, because... First of all, it gives you a sense of security, that we're coming, and we're giving you a hand, also to our area, and... it also has a lot of feelings of relief, really, relief, to bring back the hopes of our acquaintances, that just, just, just like that. It's possible to feel that it's a relief, right? Yes, it's a relief. It's a relief. The feeling of relief, relief, relief. The feeling of the state of Lebanon, in my opinion. It's a relief. It's a relief. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you for what you did. It's not a relief, right? It's not a relief, but it's a relief. Palestinian territories, just a word about that, Aitan, what an amazing story. One man with one gun, pistol, holding off for hours, at least a dozen heavily armed terrorists. As more as you listen to the stories, it's, you cannot accept or understand the depths of this tragedy. And on the other end, almost each event creates you heroes from children to women to such a guy that fight for their life, that didn't give up at all, that made all they they could do for their future. And that is something that is really gave, I think gave us few aspects to look for the present and the future now. To believe that they, I'm sorry, our goal is, is right. Secondly, is not to give up and to stand behind what we declare. And the third, we own it to those who passed away in such tragedy and for those who will come in the future, that the moment they open again their window in their places, they will not see any Hamas guy a few hundred meters from him on the border or any civilian from Gaza that moved from the fence and helped to murder them. And it's something you, Israel, that from 7th of October should adopt a different principle for its future existence. We own to those who passed away and we own it to our future generations. All right, that's I think well said and we heard it from that amazing man who that he was ready to go back into battle. I thought I want to go back to a discussion where the IDF spokesperson, we're Admiral Daniel Hogari say this evening talking about the issue of the humanitarian aid that is going in that the IDF that the Israeli government is allowed to go in but for example drew a line on the fuel, the import of fuel despite the fact there are calls certainly from within Gaza and certainly even in the international community saying, well, the hospitals will run out of fuel. And the IDF is pictured has put out photographs of fuel gasoline storage facilities that Hamas has. You dealt with these issues with your work with Kogat the agency that deals with the civilian population there. Yes. I can speak about it but with the different principles. Okay. When I was in duty as a Kogat we didn't face and we didn't imagine that we will face such murder and massacre as happened on the 7th of October. I think that I myself was the first one in 2010 to change the humanitarian policy in Gaza. I convinced Bibi Netanyahu and Eud Barag that time to try to bring Gaza and to adopt something that we did of course in West Bank that economy is security and lets us make the best efforts for the civilians that are living in Gaza and we created a project and we added water that come from Israel and we have plans. You know that if Gaza would adopt or take for its needs for the infrastructure and structure even 30% for what they were put in investing Gaza in money it would bring Gaza to a different way today but all the time all the years till the 7th of October the most of the money was taken for Hamas to build its forces it was really something that cheated Israel by it was planned and was taken out by Qatar because Qatar brought money in order to give the population on the other end Qatar give billions of dollars to create such murderer machine inside Gaza and now the humanitarian area wasn't immediately stated by the Israel that it will be now it will be closer nothing will be given then came the United States president the relations with Egypt and then we agreed to open a corridor of humane from crossing inside Gaza but besides one condition fuel is the fuel for the terrorism I support this decision not to allowed any drop of fuel to enter to Gaza why they to the 85 years woman which was released yesterday and she explain you where she was taken underground and you can imagine there is another country underground in Gaza that needs fuel that has electricity that has medical services that had everything to live and they are living there it means I cannot be the judge of the world why babies was murdering the knife while babies was killed by elders was taken and now I will say I'm going to help to the civilians as it was nothing happened no 30,000 liter of fuel was taken from UNR and that's something that could serve all the hospitals in Gaza especially with generators so I think that as we are on a stage that we are making a big pressure on water food and other kind of things in Gaza we cannot supply the oxygen that Hamas needs for his future defending itself while for the next step that is coming or to the strikes there are under strikes and every life inside the underground tunnels we need it and I support this kind of policy I will say we'll come back to you all because there is a bit of information that was released by the IDF just today the Shin Bet is your security agency and the IDF following the October 7th attack managed to locate a phone belonging to one of the murdered women that was you then used by one of the terrorists and on it was a recorded conversation between the terrorist and his family in the Gaza Strip which he brags about how proud he is of the massacre he carried out against the Jews the first time just this evening at that UN Security Council meeting we saw early let's take a listen Eitan we have talked here for many years over the incitement the indoctrination of young Palestinians to carry out to inspire them and enable them to carry out these kind of brutal attacks against women the elderly young children babies in the most brutal manner and I think that Fonko we see the mentality there that enabled them to do that Yes, I think that we have to understand that besides Hamas Gaza is the state of Hamas Gaza is adopted the principles of this cruel organization and I look at them as a state of murderers why? Who is this guy? This guy is something between 20 to 30 probably and you are dealing with this generation till the age of 30 that was brought up or educated under Hamas entity from 2007 it's almost 20 years look children were born before a little bit and after Hamas has changed its face and I'm not accept anything the population it's a part for this criminal and murderers and if I will come it was sound at the United Nations facilities I think by our ambassador there and when you listen to the speech of the United Nations Secretary General this guy came from Portugal was the head of the refugees what you do accept with such a place from the head of the world while above him standing a guy that is not worth a word when he say I can understand more or less in my words understand Hamas because they are under 57 years of occupation this is the answer to organization with murder children and then come the guy who took the key to be the secretary general of the United Nations from Portugal was prime minister was the head of the refugees branch in the United Nations this is anti-Semite he is talking like a criminal he should be punished by the states of the United Nations that have to stop his work this is a message to the world that all this place it's a big lie I mean of course the United Nations is not going to punish him that's the kind of talk I'm talking as I accept but there will be repercussions for him and maybe not just from Israel let's see okay we explain that I wonder how this is going to be the State Department is going to be asked about this their next briefing one after the other leaders from all the EU EU is not going I cannot point of them as the best friend of Israel concerning but after what happened the EU bloc with the United Nations should stand strongly not even in this region in the United Nations and said to this guy you are not have even the right to be in your place and how likely is that to happen look I don't think he's going to have to resign he's going to be persona non grata in Israel as I said earlier on in the broadcast across the political spectrum and I think Eitan's words give voice to that I actually think the impact of a tape like that though is much much deeper the two state solution how is an Israeli family raising children supposed to conceive of a state on the other side of the board there is a critical mass of people to think that way we are going out for a brief break we'll be back in three minutes please gentlemen Eitan I want to stay with us that's more coming up made for me a unique concept in Israel custom made men's fashion to your measurements made for me designer of all your events schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il made for me official dresser of i24 news good evening ladies and gentlemen is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want to do we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unicycle I started working in i24 news in 2013 that same year as part of the documentary series reportage inside I traveled to Argentina to interview the Fiscal Alberto Nisman who had determined in constitutional memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran signed by the former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner who was related to the attack to the AMIA in 1994 that left a salary of 85 dead and more than 100 injured this is the material with which we work daily on January 18, 2015 an impactant event happens the Fiscal Alberto Nisman is found dead in the bathroom of his apartment with a shot in the head and what everyone was wondering was a suicide or a murder the Supreme Argentine Court dictated that it was a murder the only solution is to bring them here and a detective what's behind this so interesting story a terrorist movement international conspiracies search for the truth one day we will know the truth in the last 7 years for the magazine News24 in Spanish that is broadcast on i24news I made more than 40 reports related to the issue Amian Nisman Iran a topic that has all the conditions for an international channel of news like i24news continue to investigate until one day the truth is clarified Welcome back to this special broadcast on i24news.io and I want to let you finish your point we're talking about diplomacy surrounding Israel's current situation its conflict with Hamas we saw at the UN Antonio Guterres the Secretary General getting slammed by Foreign Minister Ali Khan for the way he's framing the conflict and that attitude is so different for example the words we heard today from French President Emmanuel Macron visiting here in Israel Yeah, you're right Kalev, Guterres we spoke about, Macron I'll get to in a minute and those are the stories of the hour but I think we can't lose sight of something a lot deeper every leader who has come here I think without exception and certainly including Macron has basically said on the other side of the war and Macron said we need a real relaunch of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process it's easy for him to say and I think that really across the political spectrum I can't emphasize this enough across the political spectrum I think someone raising children in this country after listening to that tape from that Hamas murder on October 7 which we just played is going to have a very hard time conceiving of a two-state solution because what is a two-state solution there's an Israeli state on one side and there's a sovereign state with all the powers of the sovereign state on the other side and I'm the last person to say that there are 2 million people in Gaza who agree with and all identify with what that man said but I think it's a safe assumption that there's at least a critical mass of people in Gaza and maybe in the West Bank too who do identify with him at least in concentric circles not everyone is going to do what he did but many many more people will support it and agree with the sentiment and I think we have to ask real tough questions and anyone saying that to themselves especially in a position of power has to get inside the head of an Israeli parent and think of how that Israeli parent situation and is ready for a two-state solution or for that matter the one state solution that's talked about right the single state with the equality I think you have to really think hard about that and I think there have to be some real tough questions to be asked not a turn to Emmanuel Macron who did speak to that and all of that applies to what he said but he said something that's I think more interesting and more important and I think we played it earlier on suggesting this idea of an international coalition to fight Hamas right modeled on or maybe taken as is the coalition that fought ISIS essentially taking to its logical conclusion right the whole Israeli campaign over the last few weeks that Hamas is ISIS right well Hamas is ISIS let's fight Hamas the way ISIS was fought with the grand coalition it's an interesting idea and Israeli terms and out-of-the-box idea it flies against the face of a century of national security doctrine in Israel and pre-state Israel right the whole line Israel will defend itself by itself has become such a cliche that when we all tick it off our mental bingo cards when Netanyahu was speaking it doesn't even register to us because it's such a part of the Israeli DNA if you will and this really flies in the face of it and it's one of many signals that have really flown in the face of Israel's national security doctrine right the fact there are two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups parked outside well if Israel is defending itself why it's off why are they there right in the reported babysitting by the American military coming in to help planning the ground camp here to assist in some way with intelligence gathering and even planning of the ground invasion exactly and just to finish the thought this undermines or really flies in the face of decades if not a century of Israeli's national security doctrine it really brings into question after the war if that doctrine holds up let me just ask you a question how comfortable are you with the deepening certainly Israel welcomes the support but the way in the fact that always comes with a price whether in Israel on the ground helping out in some ways along with those naval forces first of all I'm trust and I know from the past our independence way of planning reacting sharing intelligence information etc we have to understand that after Israel joined to the Sandcum Central Command covers the Middle East which is on the other part of Europe we are talking about the burning area around us next to Iran very close to the Arab modern country that connected to Abraham agreement and everything is understood under the interest and United States doesn't leave the area I think that to see the United States is because one thing USA understands that this conflict this war in the north and took her to a regional conflict that will involve Russia China interest Iran of course our modern country etc I think this is the main reason on a very clear and right way of assess that has been that together with the United States if they are sending some people to share it information from my point of view it's okay but I still know the idea very very independence even too much about it and have all the freedom to decide what to do how to do and when to do so I prefer such way of cooperation and coordination because you have a sign also what happened with Yemen with the Houthis with the lantern of the missiles and the UAV that were on the way to the south another piece of evidence or my theory interesting I forgot that what is the meaning that we are in a regional conflict very relevant to that just this evening the Pentagon made a statement saying that since October 7th US troops have been attacked at least 10 times in Iraq and at least three times in Syria so clearly the US itself feels that they are part of this wide original conflict and there is another thing Kaleb that Iran is standing behind this regional plan that was planned very detailed to use Hamas as a proxy in the south preparing in the north and using it with she's militias to attack United States it's a regional attack that well organized and carried and leading by Iran at the end of the day I Kaleb I at least don't think that these US troops are going to do anything to deter the United States and in that moment of truth there's just not much leverage the Iranians ultimately have there is another element that you've looked at today there was a reporting in the Washington Post that US officials are drawing up I guess you can call them doomsday plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Americans from Israel and Lebanon we're looking at a kind of regional war so our correspondent on ultimate looks at these attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria that I just mentioned we have the hard numbers now and how they fit into this bigger picture the contest for America's role in the Middle East may be joined here on the border between Israel and Lebanon where each day brings the risk of wider war a war that could bring in American fighter planes a war that could lead to even targeting of American troops we are concerned about an increase in attacks by Iranian proxies in the region whether they be targeting US interest or whether they be targeting other interests in the region we hold Iran accountable for those attacks those attacks include attacks by Iranian allied militias on US troops in Iraq and Syria a warning by Iran of what could happen should the United States enter a war full scale what we're seeing is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region US interest in the Middle East of course go far beyond the militia attacks as this war has taken on not only regional but global stakes of stopping radical Islam of proving commitment to allies and so these pictures from Norfolk, Virginia a few days ago sailors setting out in their aircraft carrier strike group fulfilling the mission given by US President Joe Biden in the opening days of the war two aircraft carrier strike groups will be positioned in the eastern Mediterranean and Iran knows it making clear the real balance of power and another update coming out of Washington that's certainly relevant to all of these issues White House stating that US President Joe Biden spoke this evening with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman coordinating him reaffirming that the US supports Israel's right to defend itself and we have seen the public statements at least by the Saudis condemning Israel's operations in Gaza raising the issue of the civilians the Saudis are pledging 100 million in aid to the Gaza and Biden saying that the irony of course here the irony I would say of Saudi Arabia for so initially and maybe doing it because of concerns about public opinion in the Arab world condemning the Israel response to Hamas attacks is Hamas openly admitted that one of its motivations for launching this attack now was to torpedo the possibility of a normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia Yeah it's awkward by the way the Saudi readout of this call could be absolutely fascinating and I think we want to exactly to see how they what their version of what this call was could be absolutely fascinating look the idea again what the post war scenarios for Gaza are going to look like are still so up in the air but the idea of Saudi money coming in to Gaza strikes me as a potentially constructive step again maybe displaced in Qatar in a way but again there's so many wild cards I would like to that we just spoke about the attack on USA forces in some places among the Iraq and in Syria the USA didn't react to this attack till now and they know exactly who attacked them it means that the balance in the area is still keeping by the USA not to escalate secondly when you are talking about well let's be clear let's name the force behind those attacks which is Iran and clearly the Biden administration the Biden administration is still on one hand acting to thwart Iranian practices but being very careful President Biden keeps while he keeps warning these other parties in the Middle East being very careful and he's been criticized for it certainly by Republicans not to specifically mention Iran. Yes that United States meanwhile decided to contain these attacks and I believe that if it continues you will see a reaction towards the local she is organizations militias and later on to run secondly I agree very a lot with the effect that the moving head with Saudi Arabia towards a new agreement with the United States with normalization with Israel gave Iran a motivation and a backwind to push to move ahead this plan that was planned already for at least one or two years and I point at May 21 when was here the last escalation inside Jerusalem with Hamas that was recognized as area escalation I'm sure that at this point it was started and motivated by Iran to move ahead to prevent and to stop this activity with Saudi Arabia Iran felt very high recently concerning its achievements strategically with Russia in the Middle East coming close towards Saudi Arabia and cetera suddenly came United States step our movement towards Saudi Arabia and create something new and it was a panic and decided to move ahead its plan and it's very clear now the division between the wing of Tehran and the wing of the modern Arab countries United States Israel is also a result of it so when Israel is now in the front and we and I think that the West world understand that lose of Israel or not complete destroy Hamas capacities it will mean for them a red flag for their future and interest in the Middle East and in Europe as well. Well certainly what indication we've seen of Iranian proxies getting involved and trying to open up alternate fronts in this conflict with Hamas was just this evening when rockets apparently from were fired from southern Syria into the southern sides to rockets. Let's go to our Robert Swift correspondent in the north there because we're talking Robert about the broadening out of this conflict in other fronts dealing with Iranian proxies and certainly that was an indication of even maybe another potential front there in the south Golan in the southern Golan this evening. Indeed the fear there could be that the northern front could essentially expand eastward onto the Syrian border this is the scenario that obviously the IDF will have taken into consideration they understand the fact that because Bola as an ally to the Syrian government connected through the Iranian government they have to a degree a presence in Syria so it will not come as a total shock that fire is emanating from there as it does from the Lebanese border and the IDF will be prepared for that eventuality. Alright Robert Swift there in the north thank you. May I estimate that what happened in the Golanized was done by operatively or tactic by she's militias that well organized in the area of the south east of Syria and by the way you see that even during the war there are some attack that are blamed Israel on Damascus airport and so it means Syria is fulfilled also in this kind of war also a place where we can not to be surprised that we can will be attacked by such she's militias in the south east of Syria on the meeting border between Israel, Jordan and Syria as well I want to just shift from one Iranian proxy there in Syria all the way down to Yemen because there was a statement by a Pentagon spokesman very interesting this evening he's referring to those Houthi missiles fired from Yemen by the Houthi rebels who of course are sponsored from an arm by Iran last week in the direction of Israel they were intercepted by US in the Red Sea by US naval forces so a Pentagon spokesman this evening said that the Pentagon assessed that the cruise missiles fired last week by the Houthis had ranges in excess of 2,000 kilometers which means that they could reach Israel certainly could reach southern Israel places like for example a lot even the Bona. Yeah Israel's channel 14 reporting a few hours ago that the missile the assessments the missiles were in fact headed toward a lot toward a lot speculation that they were headed either toward the port which is a dual use target military and civilian and also Kalev assessment they may have been headed toward the hotel area where we should mention the propaganda thing where many of the residents of the Gaza border area I don't know have been relocated presumably to safety to a lot it's not a propaganda thing they're living there because they were they had to evacuate their communities because people in the people in the communities murdered and taken hostage on the part of the Houthi exactly no matter where you go even if you're far away from the Gaza border area even if you're Israel's most distant point from it you could still be a target that's right and apparently carried very heavy payloads much more so than the rockets used by Hamas for example and could have led to a mass casualty event again potentially including civilians and potentially including civilians who are survivors of the massacres I would like to add two points shortly once don't forget it was a stop on the middle of the way by the United States a process that were deployed but in Israel you have the same systems to defend the sky and all kind of threats and I may estimate that Israel would succeed also to destroy them but what is the symbol of this kind of thing we just spoke listen from a lot in the most southern point in Israel state till Metula the north part of the Israeli state around the Mediterranean when you are coming to Gaza there is a regional of terror surrounding us well planned by Iran and we came this is emphasized the fact that we are now fighting for our future a generation here in Israel it is I think the most beside Yom Kippur war after the establishment of Israel 48 I think is the main point now that will ensure our future exist here and we have to fight for it we have the capacities and above all we have the people who believe the right in their heart in their head and we will do it it is very difficult but besides the fact of Israel this is a risk for the entities in Egypt the entities in Jordan and entities in the Gulf gentlemen we are coming to the end of this particular broadcast I want to bring it back to the issue of the hostages because that is so crucial in the equation here and of course that in terms of the human suffering almost unimaginable how could for example want to even imagine the pain of parents who have had their young children kidnapped into Gaza one of those is Mayan Zin whose two young daughters Daphna and Ella were taken from Kibbutz who was killed by Hamas terrorists who also killed their father Mayan's ex-husband Noam and Mayan made a painful visit to near Oz after the attack and we join her in this report which is adapted to I-24 News from Israel's Channel 12 I have to go inside at the gate of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Mayan the mother of 15-year-old Daphna and 8-year-old Ella tries to enter she's trying to get an impression of what happened to them when they were kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza last week she learned that the father of her daughters, her ex-husband Noam Eliakim was found dead after he was murdered by the terrorists who broke into their home on October 7th his body was found a few hours after his wife and 17-year-old son were laid to rest side by side I was in my home in the Kibbutz I woke up from rocket alert sirens I then heard unusual gunshots which were right outside my window I immediately ran to the security room I called my mom I said to her, mom, do you also hear gunshots? it sounds really close are there terrorists? she told me, no and I said, mom, are you sure? I'm telling you, I can hear it it's outside my window they're here, we don't understand what was happening friends called me in the morning they asked me how the situation was in the Kibbutz if everything was okay 8 in the morning from that moment, I was on the phone non-stop with mom and noam and tome video calls, trying to see what was going on with them I spoke to them until half past 10 and then it was all over no one answered anymore a few hours passed and then I get a call STUV, there's a live feed from your mother's facebook live you're here what's your name in Israel I am from Israel it's called here there last hours were recorded in a video that is now part of the collective memory of the attack the horrific use of cameras and facebook live streams by the terrorists they don't want to believe us we're neighbors what do you know about them what do you know about them In an unprecedented act of cruelty, Hamas terrorists used 17-year-old Tomair to lure other families out of the security rooms and murdered them. Hello, open the door. Open the door. I just want to get the nachalos to my daughter's room. I want to see my little daughter's teddy bear, the big girl's dressing table. To see where they sat in the video, Daphna, Noam, Dikla, Ella, Tomair, I want to get there to the place from where my family was taken. They want to sleep at home and woke up in Gaza. What a nightmare, the place they should be safest for any person in the world. They were pulled out of their bed by terrorists, by the most brutal murderers, into hell, into horror. Her daughters, Daphna and Ella, are among the only victims documented alive inside Gaza. We miss them so much. It's hard for me to think that they're there. I don't know what's going on with them. If they're okay? What are they thinking? If they know anything at all? I will cross oceans to reach them. Hamas messed with the wrong mother. My girls are my life. On the way to Nakhaloz, we pass through the slaughter zones, the fields of death, and the place is still dangerous. We are stopped at the checkpoint. They fear fire of anti-tank missiles on the road. Even after the threat was removed, the soldiers received orders not to allow anyone through. The threat is too real. Excuse me, is there any chance you'll let me in? Who are you? I'm the mother of Daphna and Ella, who are kidnapped in Gaza. Wait a minute, please. Finally, the gate opens. But in front of the house, things get even more difficult. The soldier who assisted us wants to spare her the terrible sides and finds himself in a heartbreaking situation. I'm begging, please. You have to let me in. Mayan, I ask not. I beg of you. Don't enter. If it's hard for me, I'll turn my head. I'm a strong woman, really. If my daughter stood up to it, I will stand up to it, too. No, no, no. They did not see what I see now. Most of the members of this kibbutz, which was infiltrated by more than a hundred terrorists, are displaced from their homes and have yet to return. You want me to bring your daughter's clothes? Both Daphna's and Ella's, please. She fought to bring them to the world. Now, they are all she has left. The whole world has to see what they did here. Two little girls. My mother's pain there. Just a little reporting out of our, from our senior U.S. correspondent, Mike Wagenheim, who is in the United Nations HQ right now. He says he's being told off record by the office of the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who was condemned by the Israeli Foreign Minister today that Guterres still intends to meet with some of the families of the Israelis who have been brought there, Israelis whose family, whose family have family members taken hostage into Gaza. So the Secretary-General is still going to meet him. That should be a quite an interesting meeting, I would say the least. No one's going to judge the families for making whatever decision they make, but I do think that not only official Israel, but large parts of unofficial Israel will not meet him. Okay, Owen Altamann, Etan Dango, thank you for joining us. We're going out, but of course our coverage will continue with a special edition of Strictly Security, I believe, coming up in a few minutes. Thank you for joining us on my 24 years. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene, and we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us. We don't want to do it. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly, were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant, and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. It's a special edition of Strictly Security. We're covering the operation going on, the war here in Israel. We'll be with you for the next hour and a half with all the events in the south and the north. And obviously here in the studio, the story of the Israelis that were kidnapped to Gaza, those who were killed and the army getting ready to fight within Gaza. Our headlines for this hour on the 18th day of the war in Gaza, images of 85-year-old Yohavet Lifshitz and 80-year-old Nuit Cooper, two elderly Israeli hostages freed by Hamas, dominated the news cycle today, amplifying debate over Israel's ground operation and the question of the remaining hostages. Following last week's incident in which missiles for Yemen were fired towards Israel and intercepted by U.S. forces, we'll discuss the broader regional implications of this war and the possibility of a wider regional conflict. Any wave of Kharedi volunteers will take their place inside the Israeli defense forces. Hundreds of ultra-autodox men are asking to join the IDF ranks after years of absence from mandatory military service. And we'll catch up with our beloved IDF troops deployed, equipped and ready for the orders to drop in. Let's begin. Let's begin with what's going on in the north. We're joined by our correspondent Robert Swift. Robert put up up to date on the point of what's going on in there. Another delicate day, rockets being fired from Lebanon, Israel attacking in Lebanon. Tell us everything we need to know. So essentially, there's two major security events taking place in the north today. The most recent of these almost two hours ago was two rockets that were fired into the southern Golan Heights area. And the reason that this is significant is because these emanated from Syria, as opposed to much of the rest of the fire, which has tended to come from the Lebanese side of the border. There are fears that this ties into the concerns of a broader escalation of the conflict onto additional zones. And the IDF have responded to this rocket fire, which landed in open areas by firing back at the launch sites using artillery. Now, this was the smaller of the two events I want to talk about, with the first being an earlier event, which took place further to the west on the northern border. This was quite a heavy exchange of fire between Hezbollah forces and Israeli forces on the Israeli-Lebanese border. This contact was triggered by Hezbollah firing anti-tank weapons at an Israeli base. Hezbollah is understood to have fired up to seven, eight, nine anti-tank missiles, and to have backed this fire up with mortar fire. The Israeli military responded with heavy barrages of artillery, which lasted for 30, 40 minutes, and also used a drone of its own to fire health fire missiles onto the Hezbollah units that were firing these weapons systems. Well, but I want to ask you, you know, the common word or the common thought in Israel is that Hezbollah is not interested in fighting currently Israel in a full-scale war, but it's trying to keep Israel busy and to pay its support to what's going on in Gaza, to his Hamas brothers in Gaza, as much as we can refer to Sunnis and Shi'ites as brothers, but we live at the side currently. How do we know that those assessments are correct? Because we were surprised on October 7 in Gaza. How do we know we won't be surprised from the Lebanese border within a week or two when Israel is deeply involved or deployed in Gaza? Essentially, you know, you can never be sure with these things. That is the nasty truth behind intelligence. It's always just an assessment. But one of the main reasons that is the current thinking is because the best moment for Hezbollah to attack, if it were to have attacked, was at the same time as Hamas. The fact that they did not attack at that points to some degree to the fact that maybe Hezbollah doesn't want to be too much involved in this fight. And there are key reasons for them to attack Israel currently without going beyond a certain threshold. If they can continue skirmishes, as we've seen, even escalating these slightly, if they can do this, not only does it demonstrate their support for the Hamas cause, but it also ties in Israeli forces that could otherwise be down in the south. Well, but thanks so much for all the hard work you're doing up North and keep keep yourself safe. Thank you very much. The United States is well into preparations for a wider war in the Middle East with Washington Post's reporting officials are drawing up Doomsday plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Americans from both Israel and Lebanon. Senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman looks at another development attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria and how those fit into the bigger picture. The contest for America's role in the Middle East may be joined here on the border between Israel and Lebanon, where each day brings the risk of wider war, a war that could bring in American fighter planes, a war that could lead to even more targeting of American troops. We are concerned about an increase in attacks by Iranian proxies in the region, whether they be targeting U.S. interests or whether they be targeting other interests in the region. We hold Iran accountable for those attacks. Those attacks include attacks by Iranian allied militias on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, a warning by Iran of what could happen should the United States enter a war full scale. What we're seeing is a is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region. U.S. interests in the Middle East, of course, go far beyond the militia attacks, as this war has taken on not only regional but global stakes of stopping radical Islam, of proving commitment to allies. And so these pictures from Norfolk, Virginia, a few days ago, sailors setting out in their aircraft carrier strike group, fulfilling the mission given by U.S. President Joe Biden in the opening days of the war. Two aircraft carrier strike groups will be positioned in the eastern Mediterranean and Iran knows making clear the real balance of power. On to the southern front and the planned ground operation by the IDF in Gaza. I'd like to bring in our guests for this evening reserve IDF colonel Doron Avital, former commander of Sayot Matkal Special Forces. And by Zoom joins us Sayakov Perry, former head of Israeli Shin Bet. Thank you gentlemen, gentlemen, both for joining us today. Perry, I'd like to start with you looking at Gaza, which you know very well from your days at the Shin Bet and ever since, serving in the Israeli government and Knesset. How difficult will be for Israel to achieve the goal that the government set to bring down Hamas both militarily and as the ruler of Gaza? Well, it's not going to be an easy walk. It's quite complicated. And that's one of the reasons we are not coming in night or the day before that night. We have to prepare the ground. And the Israeli Air Force is doing a fantastic job in order to clean as much as you can the ground by bombing a vigorous headquarters, offices, and the adults' installations. The ground force will have to fight street by street, tunnel by tunnel, and knowing that the headquarters of the forces, the Hamas forces in Gaza are hiding tunnels under the city. So it's not going to be an easy task, but we can do it and we have to win. We have to eliminate this barbarian, the organization in order to let again our people come back to their privacy and the settlements near the Gaza border. Doron Avital here with me in the studio. So you heard Perry. We have to do it. We have to use ground forces because you can't win it from the air, especially when Hamas is deep in the tunnels. We've heard one of the ladies who was released today saying that she was dragged within the tunnels for kilometers. How difficult is going to be, how complicated job is, and how doable is the mission? I think a ground offensive is a challenge that we didn't meet in the last day. I'm not sure how long. And when I go even backward to Beirut and I'm a veteran of the Lebanon War, I think the mission here is, though it's within our perimeter, very close to us. It's a very high task. We are talking of a terrible infrastructure underground. And it is going to be a big challenge. And to complicate things even farther, of course, we have the hostage dilemma. Of course, even if we go to ground offensive and they're still hostage, there would be special forces in tandem with the division and brigades trying to locate in different localities and locate those hostages. But as it is, this is one of the hardest tasks the Israeli IDF ever encountered. So I'll get back to you to Antioch of Peri in a second, but I want to join in our defense correspondent Jonathan, joining us from the south. Good evening, Jonathan. Good evening, Joao. So let's begin with the incident that took place a couple of hours ago near the Kibbutz of Zikim, terrorists coming from Gaza by sea. A fight over there. Some of them were killed. Others escaped. Give us the details, please. Yes, so first we're on the beach of Ashkelon, the Marina of Ashkelon, a beautiful Marina. At this time of the year, it should be full of people, but of course it's empty. Zikim is about five miles to the south of us, and we see flares in the air every once in a while over there in the distance. As far as we understand, at least officially, this incident is not over yet. We've heard, and there maybe you can see these are flares in the air, meaning there's still search going on. Flares, of course, meant to lead the sky, especially in the night, of course. When it's dark, we see these flares in the air. That's where Zikim is located, as we said, roughly five miles to the south of us. As far as we understood, up to nine terrorists were able to get close to the Israeli shore in Zikim. Zikim is a site of an Israeli community and a base. Also, one of the places where terrorists infiltrated in that terrible morning of October 7th. As far as we understand, up to nine terrorists tried to get close to the beach, tried to infiltrate into Israel. Some of them were killed, possibly all of them. We do not know. We do not have official confirmation at this time. But this shows that even after two and a half weeks of constant pounding of Gaza, Hamas still has abilities. There are still elite units trying to infiltrate into Israel through the sea. That's not something for amateurs. These are professionals. They knew what they were doing. Were they all killed? Were they some of them caught? We do not know. We're waiting for confirmation from the army. And at least for now, and at least officially, this incident is not over yet. Jonathan, on the bigger scale, you've been traveling. As we speak, we have another terror alert not far from you about terrorists trying to enter Israel. So keep safe and look for that. But on the bigger picture, you've been visiting the forces, how the preparedness of them, the readiness to get inside Gaza. The forces are ready. The army is ready. And they said it loud and clear, even the chief of staff, Ertzi Alevi, said today, we are ready. The army is ready. The plan is ready. Now it's time for the political leadership to give the order, which is not given yet. It's perhaps also some kind of an answer to some politicians who said maybe the army has to be better prepared. So no, according to the chief of staff and according to the forces that we've been meeting, they are ready. They're willing to go in. Now it's time for the political leadership, which at least until now has not made the decision. Maybe they're thinking that it's better to pound from the air. And we do know that it is. It is taking a certain price from Hamas. But if you want to eradicate Hamas altogether, as was promised by so many people up in the political echelon, if you want to eradicate them all together, that cannot be done from the air. Yes. And as we said, there is a new alert about possible terror attack on the kibbutz of Zikim, which you've mentioned a couple of minutes ago. So Jonathan, if you have any more details, feel free to rejoin us. Thank you very much. I come, I get back to you, Doron of Ital. You've mentioned the issue of hostages 220, which is a huge number. Hamas has been releasing a couple yesterday, a couple a weekend. It can play with us and with the West forever. Exactly. I think the Hamas plays his hand very cleverly, and we have to really acknowledge this and know how to handle it, because it seems that all that every time we were thinking of the ground offensive, there's some, we have to postpone it in some context. Yesterday, they talked about 50 hostages being released in the end. There were only two. So it's an ongoing process. And also, we have the problem within the Israeli public in terms of this dilemma. So, yeah. Yaakov Perry, I want to talk to you about that issue of the hostages. You've been in charge of that issue for the Israeli government at the end of the 90s. You know the issue. 1995 to 2000. Yes, exactly. And at the time, the main issue was vis-à-vis Chizbala, with which you've negotiated a deal. The Prime Minister was the same Prime Minister at most of the time. Benjamin Netanyahu put us behind the scenes. How do abilities to reach a deal, if at all, bearing in mind that we're in a war and the armies prepare to go fighting in Gaza? You're absolutely right, you are, because it's a complicated issue. First of all, we are not talking directly to Hamas. We're using mid-people, middlemen, and the peace case, Qatar and Egypt, and it's not an easy task not to talk directly. Secondly, we understand that Hamas is playing his tricks. As Doron mentioned, they are making all kinds of manipulation. They're releasing two hostages, and after two or three days, they are demanding more supplies or more humanitarian aid, and releasing another two. And we will not be able to wait for long. We want to make a deal, bring back all the hostages, or at least a big part of them, and Hamas will charge a high price for releasing them, a price that I suppose Israel will be ready to pay when the demand will come. But Yakov, I want to ask you on that. Why should Hamas go for such a deal, knowing that once the deal is brokered, the next thing Israel will do is attack Gaza? So it can keep the hostages as a bulletproof vest? Absolutely. Hamas wants to delay the ground attack. And by releasing small drops of the hostages, Hamas thinks that it will prevent or at least delay the ground attack. And it's a dilemma, because the hostages are trying to convince the political arena that it's not safe to go in while we have 220 hostages in Gaza. And there are other voices that are asking Israel to go in to finalize the time calling the job to eliminate the Hamas. So it's a very big dilemma. And you have to add to it that also the United States is taking a position, trying to convince Israel not to hurry, or at least even not to go for the ground operation. So the political circles have to make a very, very difficult decision. I'm sure that the decision will go in to finalize the job and eliminate the Hamas, taking into consideration the fact that we will have still hostages on the ground. Yes. I want to ask you, Doron, there is this dispute in Israel that Yaakov Peri mentioned, should Israel wait and keep on pounding Gaza from the air and try to release as many hostages as possible? Or go in using the huge support that Israel gets from within, obviously. And from without, we've heard world leaders, even Macron today saying, fight them. Don't expand the war, but fight them, kill them, we're behind you. I think it's a dilemma. And I wouldn't want to give a verdict here instead of the decision makers, because then I would have to see the maps, to see the intel, to see what we have in our hands. Because also the operation as it is, this ground offensive is a very tricky operation. So I hope, and I feel, that the idea does have the right plan, the most creative plan possible, because we have to be creative here. Gaza has a few fronts, not only land fronts, and we have to think how to do it. And whether we could, based on the intelligence we have, and we appointed Nitzan Alon, a very qualified general, maybe one of the best generals we had in Special Forces, it was the deputy of mine, to this task. And if we could do a ground offensive that does take into account the possibility of on the ground releasing hostages in those localities, then this is a fair chance, and I would go for this operation, but we have to really weigh it seriously. And I hope the decision-making opening maps and not discussing it on panel. Yes, of course. Jacob, I go back to you, you were head of the Shin Bet of the Israeli Secret Service at the times when the Oslo Accord was signed exactly 30 years ago. What happened to the Gaza Strip? What happened to the Palestinians? How come our dreams or, I don't know, our wish to go for peace with the Palestinians and to make this area of the world a safe haven became some kind of an inferno with Hamas becoming worse than ISIS? I've visited there quite a few times in the past two and a half weeks. I've seen scenes and I've heard stories that are unimaginable. What happened to them? How did they become such a monster? Went wrong. Our idea that there will come a time to be able either to speak to or to live side by side is this organization failed completely. It's an intelligence failure, an operational failure and a technological failure. And we have to study from the beginning our thoughts and to check again all the intelligence we have gathered for years. They came out that they were wrong by thinking that the Hamas is not interested in a war or and what they are going doing is all kinds of maneuvers. It happens to be that the maneuver became a reality. They slaughtered, raped, burned. They were the worst and ugliest way you can even not imagine the whole population and they have done it without interfering. The army wasn't there, the intelligence wasn't there and they were free for hours. The first forces, the Israeli army, came into the ground. So we will have to sit on that and to understand what happened. And my idea is that we had the intelligence but we did it the right way. It should have been ready. Yes, don't you agree with that? I would say this is of course a failure in a magnitude unimaginable. Everybody understands it. It's a setback intelligence-wise and in every other also tactical forces, organization, everything. But of course it has every mistake like this sits on some bigger picture. And in the bigger picture let's first understand that in the last year we were preoccupied with the West Bank, Northern Samaria. The whole attention was there. And in general in the last 15 years, I think, instead of like working out with our alliances vis-a-vis Iran and the nuclear deal, we were trying to play it on by ourselves. So when you try to play it by yourself against a mighty empire with strength we have to admit like Iran without your alliance that now you call in, then your attention in your backyard is loosening up. So I think we have to really learn this gap between the way we consider ourselves as a single empire fighting the Iranian empire and now fighting- And furthermore, as you both touched, you and Yakov Peri, you know, we were getting prepared to fight the big empire of Iran. We were surprised deeply, hugely, by the weakest force in the area. I'm sure that Hezbollah and Iran are looking at it and they're amazed as well. I think they're in shock. I think they didn't imagine such a success and also this is one of the things that we have to gain back in the ground offensive. We have to show that the might of the Israeli army- The deterrence, the deterrence is a very tricky thing. I think not only our enemies also, our allies are in shock. The U.S. and the Europeans, they were thinking differently. We have to gain back this- And furthermore, Doron, our friends in the area. Of course. And I want you, Yakov Peri, to comment on that because the Middle East currently is being cut into two. The Iranian forces, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and our forces, the good ones, the Gulf countries, Egypt, Jordan and others who look at what's going on. And I'm sure they speak outside in favor of the Palestinians, but they pray for Israel to win because they're next. Well, we are in another border. And we'll have to study the whole issue from the beginning. And the truth is that in order to release the hostages, you have to use Qatar, which is a multi-Islamic country, Egypt, and the other states, which are not considered to be the best friends to Israel. Because we are not talking directly to Habas. Our mediators, Italian, Egyptian, others, they understand what this radical is about. Yakov Peri, we will thank you for that. Doron Avital, thank you as well. A short break. War with Hamas continues. We bring you first-hand 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. Get the inside scoop on what's going on only on I-24 News. A special edition of Strictly Security coming to you live here on I-24 News. Thank you for tuning in. We'll delve into the nuts and bolts of this unfolding drama in a moment, but first I'd like to turn to Israel's northern border once again and to our correspondent, Robert Swift. Robert, an update of yours on the situation over there up north. Sure, so just to remind our viewers that the major events taking place here in the north is two security incidents. One taking place in the Golan Heights where two rockets were fired into communities to the east of the Sea of Galilee. This is a significant moment because it's fire that has come from Syria. The last time there was fire from across the Syrian border was about two weeks ago when there was mortar fire. And the Israeli military has responded to this fire with artillery strikes. Elsewhere further to the west on the northern border, a few hours earlier there was a fairly significant exchange of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah units. Hezbollah attacking Israeli base using anti-tank weapons and mortar fire. And the Israeli military responding with a significant barrage of artillery of its own, as well as tank fire and fire from UAV, which was targeting the squads of Hezbollah fighters on the ground who were making use of those weapons systems. Yes, and you know we hear reports of an Israeli attack in Syria and obviously attacks in Lebanon, as you've mentioned. It seems like both borders are colliding with Israel. Do you feel or understand that what's going on in Syria is connected to what's going on in Lebanon? Look, there's actors that operate within Lebanon also operate within Syria and southern Syria. Hezbollah is one of those players, so it's entirely plausible that if they're going to be firing across the Lebanese border, they'll do the same from the Syrian border. The fact that that hasn't been as frequent, that that fire is relatively rare compared to the fire emanating from Lebanon, will make some people hope that that isn't going to expand in that regard. But it's certainly something the Israeli military has to be aware of, particularly due to the fact that there's an area in the north of around the Golan Heights and around the Kirishwona, where the three borders come together quite tightly. It's an area where all three of these borders overlap almost. Yes, Robert, thank you so much for this report. We move on, even before Hamas' horrific October 7 terror attacks, there was a significant concern regarding a looming regional conflict amplified by Iran and its proxies in the region. And since those deadly attacks, the option of the fighting spreading beyond the Gaza Strip and Israel's northern border has only increased amid this correspondent, Aril Ossaran, breaks down the different regional threats and danger in Israel. Hamas' surprise attack on October 7 took an unprecedented toll from Israel's southern communities, both in terms of scope and brutality. But it also threw Israel into a rapidly escalating downward spiral on its northern border and into West Bank, with the potential of turning into a regional conflict. And then on Thursday, this happened. The crew of the guided missile destroyer USS Carney operating in the northern Red Sea earlier today shot down three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. And we cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel. And so from ballistic missiles in Iran to drones from Gaza, rockets from Lebanon, or cruise missiles from Yemen, Israel is perhaps the most threatened country in the world. So what exactly is Israel up against from its various potential and current enemies? Let's start with the most immediate threat, Gaza. Palestinian terror groups mainly Hamas have 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 30,000 rockets and missiles, and dozens of attack drones. To the north in Lebanon, there's Hezbollah with 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 150,000 rockets and missiles, and 2,000 attack drones. Pro-Iranian militias in Syria have dozens of drones. While in Iraq, they hold dozens to hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones. The Houthis in Yemen, who've already thrown their towel in the fight, have hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones as well. And then there's the head of the octopus, Iran. Its national and paramilitary forces have over 3,000 ballistic missiles, some of which can reach Israel, and many thousands of attack drones. We have warned everyone that this conflict can turn into a regional battle if the aggression, brutality, killings, ongoing bloodshed, and destruction against our people in Gaza persist. So to zoom out for a wider look at the region and the main actors in this chess game, I sat down today with a senior researcher, Dr. Yolgozhansky, to get a sense of the bigger picture and the ways this local war can spread out. Here is our interview. Yolgozhansky, thanks as always for joining us. Thank you. So we're looking at a situation here in Israel, in the Middle East, from the Israeli angle most of the time. And I want to use your expertise to look at it from the Gulf angle, the way the Saudis, the Qataris, the Iranians are looking at it probably in Tehran. Everybody is very much happy of what's going on in Israel and around. I will start with the Arab world. If you ask me to summarize how the Middle East, the Arab Middle East is looking at this Israeli Hamas war, I would summarize it in one word, contradictions. There's many, many contradictions in almost every aspect. And let's begin. In one way, the Arab world, the Sunni Arab world will be called pragmatic, especially the Gulf states, have a deep interest for Israel to crush Hamas. They hide they don't say it up loud, of course, but in closed rooms they would love the IDF to fight until the last Israeli soldier and to bring Hamas to its knees. On the other hand, they don't want to be seen as collaborators of Israel. Another contradiction, as much as they want to crush Hamas, they have to show sympathy to the Palestinians and sometimes it goes hand in hand. As much as they want Israel to crush Hamas, they also want Iran and its axis not to win or not to gain achievement from this war. However, they want also to preserve their relations with Iran. So there's so much contradictions in what the Arab world is doing right now. So before we touch Iran itself, let's try to drill down. For example, let's take the Saudis of which we've spoke here a couple of months ago. The Saudis keep it very open that they want Israel to win, not because of our interests, but because of their interests probably looking at, as you say, Iran and the extreme Sunni world and the rivals even from Qatar and they want them to lose. Of course, all of the Arab Gulf States minus Qatar wants Israel to crush Hamas because Hamas represent the Muslim Brotherhood ideology of Islamic, of political Islam, which is an enemy, a threat to those country. They will not say it publicly. They will say it to me and to you in closed rooms. They want Israel to win. The problem is that what is Israel winning? How do you bring that? I think they have expectations, very high expectations. Perhaps the Israeli government also has higher expectations. I'm not sure the IDF can deliver those expectations. For Israel to do XYZ in Gaza, they sit very comfortably in their chairs. In one hand, they like Israel to crush Hamas, to bash Hamas as hard as they can. This is good for them. On the other hand, they criticize Israel publicly. So they enjoy both world. That's a problem that we might, at the end of the world, will need to figure out somehow. But Israel, looking, for example, staying with Saudi Arabia, has interest in Saudi Arabia. We've seen the efforts to bring the two countries together until a few weeks ago. But furthermore, we've seen the Houthis trying to hit Israel with some weaponry being blocked by the Americans and some other aides in the area and the Saudis play a role, play a role in that. They played a role according to the American officials. Some of the missiles were intercepted from Saudi territory. I think Hamas main, one of it, one of Hamas main interests in this October 7 attack on Israel was to block, to stop the normalization process between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Did he succeed in that? Or it's too close, too early to tell? First of all, it's too early to say. They stopped it, of course. There's war. One cannot negotiate doing war. I think Israel main goal is how to bring it back after the war with Hamas. So the biggest achievement or one of the biggest achievement that Israel can bring against Hamas is actually to trigger or to bring back the negotiation process with the Saudis. That will be a blow to Hamas and to Iran. And we need to do it. The problem is it will be in different terms on a different time frame, perhaps. So we need to look ahead. It depends also how long this campaign will last. If it's many months, it will be hard to restart the negotiation under the Biden administration with entering a campaign. You've spoken with four of Qatar, the Islamic Brotherhood. What do they want? Hamas, I'm sorry, Qatar, sleep of a tongue. Qatar is a big challenge for Israel. It's not a new challenge. The Israeli establishment, let's say, and I know I was a part of it, thinks of what to do with Qatar for many, many years. The Qatari dilemma, as I phrase it, I call it, will stay here after the war. Because as I see it right now, as we said early, that although other Arab countries want us to crush Hamas, they don't have an appetite to really be involved the day after in Gaza to perhaps give a substitute or another alternative to Hamas. So far, unfortunately, and I say it unfortunately, but it's a fact, Qatar is the only player that is willing and able to provide for the Palestinian in Gaza. It also means that it provides for Hamas. One cannot differentiate between the two right now. Unfortunately, the only thing that Israel can do, or the main thing that Israel can do, besides trying to pressure Hamas mainly through the U.S., is just to crush Hamas. Just to crush Hamas, if we want to change the equation, the way that Qatar is involved in Gaza, the way that we don't like it and we don't want it, the only way that we can really change reality is really to crush Hamas. If not the same reality that we saw before the war, we'll see after the war. If Hamas stays in power, perhaps weakened, but will stay in Gaza, Qatar will continue to try and play a role in providing Hamas and the citizens of Gaza with money. But before we reach the endgame, currently Hamas, Qatar is maybe the only efficient, effective go between Israel and Hamas when we have more than 200 hostages in Gaza. Absolutely, this is exactly the Qatar dilemma. Qatar in one hand serves many interests of Israel, but drill and hurt other interests of Israel. This is the Qatar dilemma that's not an easy dilemma. Perhaps a way out of it would be to use Qatar now during the war, release all the hostages and the kidnapped Israelis, but after the war and after we crush Hamas to deal differently with Qatar as we should. They have history of dealing, of doing such deals, of releasing hostages. They've been doing it in Africa, in the Middle East, and furthermore, how successful can they be in our case, which is very delicate, taking into consideration the hostility between Israel and Hamas, the current situation of war, and the amount of hostages, including 30 children, elderly women, pregnant women, et cetera, et cetera. And many Israelis holding dual citizenship, Europeans, Americans, and others. Unfortunately, Qatar is perhaps the most strong actor, external actors. I don't see other actors in the international community, in the regional community, that is more able than Qatar to do, because it has very good connections with all the sides, with Hamas, with Israel, with the US, with Egypt. Qatar is the only player that can do that and have the legitimacy of Hamas. It hosts its representatives in Doha. And the trust, it hosted before Taliban, it hosts everyone. This is Qatar. One of the, the other problem that that holds is Qatar enjoy very good relations with the US. You cannot really do anything against Qatar because then, how do you explain that to the Americans? Who holds their biggest air force base in the region, in Qatar? It's a very complicated dilemma, and I suggest to all of those Israelis who call, let's bring the war to Qatar, and let's call Qatar an enemy, and let's do this and that, to hold their horses, and let's think about that. This is much more complicated than we think. So if Israel thinks of, for example, a killing, targeted killing, Hamas leaders in Doha, that's out of order currently, or totally misplaced. I don't want to get into this. So let's speak about Iran. Each role, obviously Iran is very happy. It has been trying to hit Israel from each and every possible angle, and Hamas has achieved it bigger than anyone else, bigger than ever. They've invested so much in Hezbollah, and Hamas has done million times more. In one hand, if you sit in Israel in Riyadh or in Abu Dhabi, you see, you have an image of Iran, hegemonic inspiration in the region. This is exactly what myself and others, yourself and others talked about in the last few years, that Iran has proxies and can simultaneously get them to work against Israel, or attack Israel, from Yemen, from Iraq, from Syria, from Lebanon, and of course from Gaza, and perhaps in other places as well. And from Iran itself. And from Iran itself, what I think they didn't expect is what the U.S. is doing in the region to counterbalance Iran's effort. Also, and because of that, you see also Iran's limitation in the region. You saw the Houthis trying to do something, and then being intercepted by the U.S. and other forces. So you see also the emergence of regional architecture that is trying to block Iran. This is, it becomes, you have, a regional war. It started already to be a regional war. This is not just Gaza, Hamas, and Israel. This is regional. And perhaps it will take longer, and perhaps it will involve other players. And we need to take this into consideration. One of the first effects of that is the different pace that Israel is working and the U.S. is working. And the U.S. says to Israel, okay, please slowly. We need to take our time. We need to bring more forces. We need to build a regional architecture now because of this regional dimension to counter Iran. So it has negative effects, but also positive effects. I asked you, how do the Iranians see it? What's their endgame? Apart from wishing Israel will not exist, but what do they want to want? For example, do they want Hezbollah to get involved or not? Do they want their militias from Iraq to get involved to come to Syria and practically get involved? Do they want to see the Houthis firing at Israel every day? I mean, they have the ability. They have the connections. They have the influence. What do they want? We need to differentiate between Hezbollah and the other proxies. Hezbollah is the major thing, the major proxy that Iran has built for 40 years. I don't think Iran wants to throw Hezbollah into the conflict because it might mean losing Hezbollah. War with Hezbollah would be different, you know, better than everyone to the Israeli, to the civilian front, to the Israeli citizens. It's not Hamas. It's something 10 times bigger than Hamas. We need to take this into consideration. And I think Iran built Hamas for another reason. To serve as a deterrent might his Iran nuclear infrastructure would be hit by Israel or the U.S. So I don't think Iran has an interest right now to bring the entire capability of Hezbollah into the conflict because it also might mean U.S. and Israeli retaliation against Iran itself. I don't think Iran really wants right now a regional war. I don't think Iran is there. What it wants is a war of attrition against Israel to slowly and gradually weaker Israel, weakened Israel. This is what the Iranians want. And I think there are achieving this day by day. And Hamas, what Hamas did on October 7, huge surprise for Iran. Huge surprise for Iran. They didn't believe that Hamas can do that. And I think for now it's enough for them to irritate Israel from the south, from the north, from the east, from the west, perhaps. I don't think Iran wants to throw Hezbollah. But misunderstanding and miscommunication can happen any time. And things can happen. Even if the two sides, Israel and Hezbollah, doesn't want a full-scale war, it can happen. And if we go to that direction, should Israel stay in its immediate fronts currently the south, but it might be the north? Or should Israel go to practically the octopus's body and say, all links go to Iran? And Iran should pay a price not by its proxies, but practically in Iran? If it can happen, of course. I don't think Israel can really, and this is the truth. It's perhaps the sad truth. I don't think Israel can wage war in two, three fronts. I mean, Hezbollah and Hamas is more than enough for Israel. Hezbollah is a different story. I repeat that. I don't think Israel can. And of course, if Israel can, it doesn't have to be now. It can be later on. Iran should pay the price. Absolutely. I am in favor of this model or perception or that Iran should pay. Absolutely. Iran should pay, not necessarily now, maybe in the day after. So if we go a little bit further with that way of thinking, with that model, and you've mentioned the possibility of a regional war and not a limited war between Israel and Hamas, maybe it's in Israel's interests. Once we've paid such a huge price of 30 or 1,400 casualties and 200 hostages and such a huge damage and half of the country has been recruited for reserve. And the US is here and the UK is here and the world supporting. Maybe it's time for Israel to pay a heavy price in the north as well. But to get rid of all of its enemies, including Iran, to attack Iran wherever and however we can, maybe that should be the case despite of that reaching a very high level of original war and maybe a world war taking into consideration that the Russians are here as well. Theoretically, I might support that. Theoretically. Under certain circumstances, under those circumstances that we are right now, regionally, globally, and even internally in Israel, if you look at the Israeli politics, the fact that this government doesn't have any support from the Israeli public and rightly so, the fact that the US is here and actually stopping Israel from opening this front, the fact that the IDF has limitation on its war operation. It wants to focus on the south right now and not do other things. There's limitation on that alternative as much as I and perhaps others would like to see that. So if we sum all that up, if you were to advise to the Israeli government what would be the best under the very bad circumstances that our cards that are being given to us on the table, what's the best scenario looking from the Israeli angle for an end game? I'm not in any position to give advice, not to the military, not to the Israeli government. So where should we aim to beating Hamas, eliminating Hamas? I think that should be our goal, that Hamas will not exist as a ruler in Gaza. It's hard to listen. I hear all the talk from the government and higher political echelon from the military, they will crush them, will devastate them. I'm afraid that this is perhaps unachievable, not because the IDF cannot do that. Of course the IDF can do that, but the price of the economy, the society, will pay is not something that Israel, sadly, I'm saying this sadly, can bear right now.