 out to our correspondent Pierre Closh Handler. He is down at the entrance to Kfar Azza. Pierre, we just saw this report from the call from earlier inside the keyboards, Kfar Azza, just unbelievable to see what went on there. What's the situation down there? Well, it's a chaotic situation like in any war. We're trying to collect some testimonies from rescue workers, from the Zakao humanitarian organization and from soldiers. We've heard quite horrific testimonies. This is a fridge truck. That's for the victims. We've been told that there are about 200 bodies of civilians, Israeli civilians inside the keyboards. There are also something like 50 bodies of terrorists that are inside. We've seen two bodies of terrorists. They were with a white ribbon by the Israeli police because they might be booby trapped. Now, we are getting warnings also that some of the terrorists are maybe playing dead. Now, there are still clashes in the area. In Mefalzim, there was a cl- I were having some connectivity issues with R.P.A. Kloschandar, then Kfar Azza. And as he said, he says there's still clashes in that area, but the IDF's saying, though, they have removed all civilians from those dangerous areas. With us in studio, we have Lieutenant Colonel in the IDF reserves, Doron Avatar, the former commander of Special Forces. Doron, it's almost unimaginable to see what happened in that one community. It's not just there, we should of course know, just what happened in that one community of Kfar Azza. Now, the site are horrendous. I spoke with people that were attending this visit with the press and it's unimaginable. Nobody in Israel could have envisioned such a scenario only a few days ago. The possibility of such an attack and such a magnitude and this real massacre. Right in the butchery of children, obviously too young maybe to be taken hostage, just being killed apparently and babies mutilated on the spot. This is unimaginable, really. It requires really some strength to go through it and then make a cool decision about next how to dismantle this murderous organization which is called Hamas. Well, let's talk about that, because right as we're speaking, the security cabinet is meeting that an outspent from a defense minister, Skala, it seems to suggest we're going into maybe a new stage phase of the war. How do you see it now? So the first phase was of course to secure the perimeter, to secure the Otef Azza, the whole area. And I think it's secure door from time to time. You can find some intrusion, some gliders or people coming in the scheme in the north. So it's still, we have to be very careful. Right, the front is still active. Exactly. I'm stressing that what he just said is that there's no civilians being held hostage or in danger and on Israeli territory now. From time to time you have to be careful but the perimeter is secured and the break in the fence are secured with tanks and with soldiers and this is set. The next thing is of course, is the massive offensive of the air force which is going on all the time. And of course to dismantle the possibility of firing rockets. We had this Barada rocket only in the only midday and then lately and in Tel Aviv. So we have also to secure this. The next phase would be, and then we have the dilemma of the hostages was going on there and there was a general appointed to take care of the subject because we have to know what to do with that because it might affect the decision that will take next. I mean the common wisdom says we go to war on Hamas hostages later but this is part of the calculation that this cabinet would have to take. What does it mean to go for example in a grounding incursion into Gaza when this thing is not solved or there's some communication around this area? Gaza incursion can take two forms. It can take ground raids in and out, cutting the Gaza strip in twice as it was done in previous battles. Taking Gaza in general, this is a total end game. I'm not sure this is right now on the table but this might come out because it requires women casualties and it's a different kind of a ballgame. Is the idea ready? How long does it take to prepare for a more general grounding? I'm sure there's plans that were pre-plated and made ready but how long we know that the IDF when the space of 48 hours was able to assemble is something like 300,000 troops? The point is not to assemble the troops. You have to coordinate the forces. You have to have the plan. The forces are different forces coming at the reserve, not reserve. You have to coordinate an operation in a scale, a dramatic scale and you have to understand this is an army that got hit. I mean, the confidence of the commanders, they have to gain it back in order to... We should know many senior officers. You are the former commander of special forces. Many senior officers in different units of the special forces have been killed. Been killed in my unit. I don't want to say the numbers but the numbers are four. Right and those were people with tremendous experience who would pay a key role so I guess they're going to have to... This is part of the story. They have to be replaced and you have to have a very secured plan. What do you want to get and how to operate it because we don't want to fail again and we cannot allow ourselves to fail. So we have, of course, the upper hand in terms of the air force but we have to work out a meticulous plan and execute it carefully when we decide to act in terms of a ground invasion or ground incursion because this is a different game than strikes from the air. So this is one story that we have to secure. We have this situation in the north. We have skirmishers in the north and we have to see what to do there but in the meantime, I don't think Israel wants to escalate a new front but it has to respond if there are attacks. For sure. So in the north we have some advantage because there's no element of surprise. We are well prepared. The units are coordinated with their mission so we are well prepared in the north to establish some counter-offensive the moment we feel that a certain threshold is crossed by Hezbollah. Right now it seems that Hezbollah is very careful not to cross a threshold that will require us to act but this can change in one minute. Only yesterday to May 2, a lieutenant colonel got killed in a skirmish in flotation in the north. So the north is and we have this artillery exchange today so it's an issue. So we have to be careful there but be well prepared and release the might power that we have the moment we feel a threshold was crossed. So I feel in the north I feel this is the way the mindset of the commanders and this is where the cabinet would instruct them. The south is a big issue and the host of the issue is an issue. Right. Let me ask you now, there is a meeting, I said the security cabinet is meeting, it was just now reported in the last hour that after that meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu will meet with the former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz, now head of the opposition National Unity Party. There have been reports that they are close to forming an emergency unity war government in Israel that would include a special war cabinet of something like four, maybe four or five top officials headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu that would make decisions. How important is that in once about in making those decisions some of what you're talking about making those calculations to have that kind of. I think it's essential. I mean setting political consideration aside this is essential. It's essential to see two last chief of staff like Eisencourt and Benny Gantz in this cabinet and maybe other military. But Gatti Eisencourt another former IDF chief of staff the number two in Benny Gantz's party. And it's essential because there will have to be a war cabinet dedicated only to this and to eliminate from this cabinet. This was the requirement of Benny Gantz. Ministers like the Minister of the National Security, Benjamin because they are not relevant to the handling of this story. Surprisingly as it sounds. And I think they would succeed to establish such a cabinet because it's essential. There's no other way to conduct a war in this magnitude than if other fronts open up and we have also to watch out for the West Bank because provocation in the West Bank can really create a new havoc a new front. So this is all that. Well, I want to in reference to that I want to point out that Hamas released a call let's say for a Palestinian in the West Bank to come to the green line and make violent riots. They talked about Palestine in Israel meaning Israeli Arabs to come to Jerusalem and also caused unrest and disruptions and other Arab states, of course. Yeah, we should not forget that the West Bank until this terrible attack by Hamas the West Bank was the battlefield. So the elements the terrorist elements are there. They are ready. They are suppressed. We are closing the territory. Nobody can get in and out. But they are there and they have the willingness to fight and don't forget that they see the success of Hamas and they might participate as it's completely in the interest of Hamas to see Hamas operative operate in the West Bank and igniting escalation escalation with the some of those extreme right settlers. This can be a whole different front that we have to be very careful and look at. This one a cabinet war cabinet and the term is a war cabinet. It's a security cabinet. It's a war cabinet. We're in war and we have to have the best minds in this cabinet and without the interference of some elements of this old coalition that are irrelevant to the conducting of a war right now. Irrelevant completely, like Ben-Gvill. You have to be out of the equation. For me it's clear. And I think it's clear to Ben-Gun, it's clear to Eisencote, clear to everyone who would enter this cabinet because otherwise there's no way to do this war. I think this is the call of the day the call of the hour. And I'm sure this will be the decision that will take this also the demand of the public. The public wants to see leadership conducting this war. The public, we have to understand, feel that there's no, they don't see the leadership leading this war. All right, all right. Let's go, you mentioned today there was a firing in the North. Let's go to our correspondent, Ariel Osiron. He is in the city town of Naharia which is just south of the Israel-Lebanon border. Ariel, what is the situation up there in the North? A tense day and a day of fire across the border. Right Kalev, a second day in a row of exchange of fire across the border between Israeli forces and some incidents. It's yesterday there was a firefight with Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorists who managed to infiltrate the border killing three Israeli soldiers including a lieutenant colonel and injuring four additional soldiers there being treated in the hospital behind me right now. One in critical condition, one in moderate condition and two others injured lightly. But also today we're seeing exchange of fire. There was rocket launches 15 from southern Lebanon from the area of the city of Tire that was responded by artillery fire then two anti-tank missiles that Isballah just a few minutes ago claimed responsibility for fired at Israeli forces. There were no injuries in that incident but an IDF attack chopper struck the area of origin of that. Now we need to remember that while the IDF is vigilant and trying to avoid as you described any escalation here in the Northern border we need to remember the context that this is happening in. A few months ago the head of Isballah Nasrallah threatening two things. One, if Israel acts against the tent that it set up over the summer Isballah will retaliate, Israel struck the tent and if Israel kills any person, Lebanese, Palestinian, whoever on Lebanese territory, Isballah will respond, that happened too. So we need to see if indeed these responses that we're seeing by Isballah the perhaps tacit approval of rocket launch by Palestinian forces or the infiltration of Palestinian forces yesterday as well as the launch of two anti-tank missiles if that consists their response. I am not so sure. I imagine that the military also is asking that exact same question and that's why it is on very high alert all across the Lebanese border, the border here, as well as border communities are watching the events unfold vigilantly, especially in light of what has been transpiring or what transpired on Saturday since Saturday on the border communities in Gaza down south. All right. And then I'll just remind viewers, we are expecting the president Joe Biden speak in the coming hour, he was scheduled to speak. He did offer a, I would say an implicit warning to other players, namely his, we could assume Hisballah and Iran, not to get involved in this conflict. The US has moved its ships of its sixth fleet into close to the Syrian and Lebanese coast. We'll see if that acts as some kind of deterrent to those players. There is also a report now in the Wall Street Journal that Washington is deploying a second aircraft carrier to the region. And so the support by the US and Western allies, if you add to that the joint statement by Western leaders overnight. Indeed, the US is leading a significant stance of support also rhetorically, President Biden warning Hisballah and Iran from joining the, from using, taking the opportunity of this situation against Israel. He said that even before Netanyahu spoke with the public on Saturday. And if you add to that the active steps that are being taken, indeed a very significant act of show of support from the United States, one that is only continuing. All right. Daryl Osruan there in Nari in the north by the Lebanese border. Thank you for that. We saw at the beginning of the program and, for example, for Gaza, Israel's still trying to pick up the pieces of that horrible attack across the southern border communities on Saturday. And of course, there are still missing people four days after that Hamas surprise attack. Many Israelis are still hoping for some scrap of information about they're still unaccounted for family and friends. Now among the missing is 21-year-old Ovec RB from the town of Batiam, which is just south of here, who has not been seen or heard from since attending that music festival which was attacked by Hamas on Saturday morning and turned into a massacre. Well, joining us now is his sister, Bar Abib, and her friend, Renat Strasburg Bar. Thank you for joining us on I-24 News. First of all, let me just ask you about Ovec. What do you know if anything about even his last moments leading up to his disappearance on Saturday? Okay, thank you so much. First of all, I just have to correct you. This is Ilana, he's a mother. Oh, I'm sorry, okay. It's okay, it's okay, no problem. And I will be translated. Also, I'm a friend of the family and I was his teacher. So, Ilana, what did you learn when you came to Ovec, what did you learn? We heard about him on Saturday morning and it was six and a half in the morning. He was in a hurry. He was in a hurry and told him to get out of the place, get out of the place. He said, yes, we're getting there. By five or seven o'clock, something like that, they started to get out of the place, they were looking for him. Ovec was excited, really excited, really excited. He went to two places where he was with his head. When he got out of the place, they talked to us and they said that he just got out of the place. All right, I do want to ask me not to translate that for our viewers now. Of course. So, Ilana says that last contact with Ovec was at seven a.m. in the Saturday morning. We were talking four days ago. He called his brother, Snir, and he told him they are shooting on us, they are shooting on us. So we have to run away. They started, this was the last time that we heard from Ovec. And then they were running, he was running with his two friends and he was protecting them two girls from the party, protecting them. But while running away, he was shot. We know this from the girls who was with him in the car. And he was shot, wounded, and they got escaped from the car, but he was left inside the car and lasts in 20 minutes from the party area. All right, and let me ask you, have the family had any contact with authorities? The government's now appointed a former general, Gal Hirsch, to supposedly be in contact with the families, maybe provide them with any information, any contact with the authorities or government? And if not, what is her message to them? Thank you. I don't want to ask her that she could translate now, for Ovec. I want to, I want to, okay, I do want to ask her not, is she could translate now for Ovec? Of course, so Ilana obviously feels terrible being a mother that her child is missing for four days, and unfortunately, no one, no one, the people you mentioned, approach said nothing. It's all information that we get by ourselves. His brother went to a place where terrorists are still there, just to find his stuff, we found his phone and his clothes. The Tataif as the Shaiite from Sibar. This is the scarf that he was wearing at the party, but we have no information, just from people, friends and family were helping. So of course, she's asking for the government to do something, not just for us, but for all the missing people from this rave, and not only from this rave, we're talking about hundreds. Right, all right. Ilana Gabriela, we're not stressed, but thank you for joining us, and we hope for some news, and of course, even better than the safe return of Ophiq RB to his home. Thank you for joining us on my 24th. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you. Well, Daron, we've been hearing those stories, but still, still be hearing them four days in, and still no one from the authorities or the government has even made contact with, for example, the mother of that Ophiq RB. Many stories like this, I mean, this is really terrible. I mean, Gal here is right now to command and he would have a staff and headquarters to really create the contact with the families and see what's next. The question is what is a range of responsibilities. The question in what priority would be the hostage issue in the plans of the idea for forward, because the question is whether we are in war in one end, and on the other hand, we have to do any effort to bring them back. We're talking about 100, 130 people of them. Right. What is optimistic that it seems to me that Ophiq really is a hostage. Right. The scarf, they found some of the equipment. So let's hope something can be worked out. Right. And fast. But in the meantime, at least there should be some contact, some counseling offered to people like... I think it's part of the responsibility that Gal here took upon himself, of course. All right. Really escort them, the whole process, give them in the picture, bring them in the picture. They're terrible stories. This is not, of course, one of those terrible stories. Right. No, we've been hearing countless others and we've been bringing them out, Colonel DeRona. Lieutenant Colonel DeRona, I'll stay with us. We're gonna continue our special broadcast. I'll reiterate, we do expect US President Joe Biden to make comments relating to the situation in Gaza this evening. Reports of unconfirmed US military planes landing in Israel during the stay, perhaps bringing military equipment. Again, that is unconfirmed. And, of course, of the US boosting its forces in the Mediterranean. Stay with us. We'll be back with our special edition on I-24, as we write back. Israel is at war. Since the early hours of the morning, Israel has been facing infiltrations of terrorists, kidnapping of Israelis, and a barrage of thousands of rockets emanating from the Gaza Strip, the biggest and bloodiest attack in years. Tune in for our extensive and rolling coverage of the Hamas deadly attack on Israel. With reporters on the ground in depth analysis and most updated and accurate information, stay tuned with I-24 News. The Middle East is changing. Old alliances make way for new partnerships. Bigger threats lead to new relationships and shared goals, meaning new opportunities. We speak to those who know the inside story and are at the heart of the changes. Don't get caught up with the same old story. Find out what's happening in Middle East now. Middle East now on I-24 News. 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 I-24 News. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Strictly security, your weekly look into security, intelligence and strategic affairs. Our team brings the latest on the major international conflicts, analysis of the major security issues right here in the Middle East and around the globe. Saturdays, only on I-24 News. Welcome back to this special edition on I-24 News. Now, Israel is fighting this war against Hamas on an actual battlefield, but also in the virtual arena of media and public opinion. Now, to that end, Israel's foreign ministry has set up a team of social media influencers to disseminate the facts about this conflict and push back against the distortions and the outright lies that usually do target Israel when it is forced to defend themselves. Now, among this team is Noah Tishby. She's Israel's former special envoy for combating anti-Semitism and de-litimization of Israel. She's the author of the book Israel, A Simple Guide to the Most Mist-Understood Country on Earth, and she is also a producer and activist. And Noah, thank you for joining us. We're seeing even just today these horrific images of what Hamas terrorists did to innocent Israelis of all ages, even children coming out. The question is, is this information, is it getting out to the public? Is it being presented to them? We know what Israel it is, but what about, for example, in the United States? This information is starting to come out and what's even more important is that it's starting to resonate. One of the things that's the most heartbreaking about the situation is that we warned against it. We're all Israelis and we knew exactly what kind of barbarism we're dealing with and we knew exactly what these slogans of decolonize the Middle East mean in the reality. And this is what they mean. I have seen, as opposed to other conflicts, this war is so self-evidently horrific that I have seen news media for the better part. Reporting on it properly, we've seen the reporters falling apart. We're seeing tears on the air. Sadly, I think that we need to do as much as we can to put all of this material out there. Hamas is showing us their true faces and I hope that they just scored a goal for themselves by so blatantly showing us who they are. Right, yeah, that's true, maybe up to a point. But as you know, as this war goes on and Israel is forced to take action in the Gaza Strip and there are gonna be some hard images coming out of there too with Palestinian civilians that as in the past, we're going to see Israel become under assault in that international public opinion arena. So let me ask you how you are planning to deal with it. Let me, I'm sorry to... Go ahead. I'm sorry to cut you off, but it's not just that Israel's gonna come under assault. There has been PR conditions that have allowed for this to happen that have been going on for decades now. So what's been happening right now is the erosion of the standing of Israel in the world, much like the erosion of the standing of the Jew in the world that we have seen throughout history. So this is not surprising that it's happening at all. And of course the tides are gonna change again because Israel can do no right when it comes to international media, can do no right. But here's the thing, never again, means also never again are we gonna care about what people say about us. We need to take care of ourselves. Again, the Jewish people are confronted with the situation in which we just need to do the work and we're gonna do the work and we're going to win this in the battlefield and also in the media. And I'm doing as much as I can to help make that happen. Right now, in the entertainment world, we've seen differences of opinion, especially in Hollywood, in the liberal community there. This time we are seeing, for example, Barbara Streisand tweeted the support, the rock band YouTube made a statement from the stage. JK Rowling just retweeted our report of what happened in Farazah. But in general, do you think that that's a part of what you could be mobilized in terms to shape public opinion? For example, notable personalities, celebrity personalities. It's very important to mobilize those people. The people with a lot of followers and people with a lot of, they have a lot of power shaping public opinion. So I've always said that it's an important thing to do and now this is the first time that I'm seeing them actually jumping into action and putting themselves on the right side of history, frankly. But to be honest, again, it's not an easy, it's not a difficult thing to do. This is so self-evidently barbaric. If you're putting yourself in any other side, other than condemning this, you're on the wrong side of history and you will be judged forever. All right, Noah Tishby. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot of you in the coming days and weeks. But it could get ugly out there in the social media world as you know. Already ugly. Been ugly for a long time and now it's actually bloody. And actually bloody. Okay, Noah Tishby. I wanna say to everybody, everybody in Israel, be strong. Okay, thank you. Thank you for joining us on I-24 News now. Thank you. And the drone Israel, of course, in the past sometimes has, let's be honest, sometimes just public diplomacy efforts have fallen short of even its military prowess. It does seem as if the government is aware that it's gonna have to make this case. Right now, a lot of the pictures are telling the story like the reporting, for example, from Farazah. But we know that this wave of sympathy for Israel may not last very long. Yeah, the tide can change in a single moment, in a single image from Gaza. Media warfare is important and of course we have to put all the emphasis there and it's a battlefield. But in the end, we are not Israelis, we are not victims, we have to win in the battlefield and we have to prove ourselves as leaders in our region. So I think media warfare, but the battleground is key in the end. So sometimes we think, we are not winning in, we have to be very careful about this distinction. All right, let's just say the IDF spokesperson is gonna speak now. Let's see if we can do it. This is exactly what I mean. We should head the leadership of Hamas and dismantling Hamas completely and this would be the victory that in the end would get us the right positioning also in the media warfare. Those successes in hitting two key leaders of the Hamas right now, in the context of the... Right, right. He's referring to two senior figures in Hamas. Of course they were hiding to get the intelligence right and to hit them, this is Israel back. Israel in its old, good form and shape and we have to get back into position and do those things and dismantle Hamas completely. But Israel has done that in the past. In the past, yeah. Not on the extent where it disarms Hamas. Yeah, exactly. And the question is, does the IDF have the capability to, a goal that was stated all the way back when Hamas first took power to demilitarize the Gaza Strip. Is that a feasible goal, Daron? I would say it's a visible goal. It's a goal that is within the reach of the capabilities of the Israeli army. There's no question about that. The question is what are the prices? The question is what's the end game, okay? The question whether we dismantle Hamas completely, who takes over Hamas? It has to be with an eye to diplomacy, with an eye to Egypt, with an eye into the Palestinian Authority. How do we, in the end, succeed to demolish Hamas and bring some other command and control system to Gaza? And this is the great challenge and I think this, we have to do every military operation would have to be an eye to the end game of the story of Gaza. All right, let's go down to our Owen Altman, our senior correspondent, who is down at Barzillai Hospital in Ashkelon. Owen, we'll talk about the hospital itself in a minute. Let's start with Ashkelon because Hamas threatened to rain health fire on that city. And it did come under heavy rocket attack, especially in the afternoon hours of today. Yeah, Kalev, we were here when it happened. Sadly, we've all been through lots of rounds of these, but this was the loudest I've ever heard, right? Boom after boom after boom after boom, particularly the round at the five o'clock hour Kalev, where we're simply dozens. And there have been rounds since then. Frankly, I've lost track. Five, six, seven. We run through that door, you may see behind me into the hospital. The hospital, of course, the emergency room at least, Kalev, is itself fortified as you would imagine would be true in a city such as this one, just mere miles from the Gaza border, the city of perhaps 100,000 with a wonderful marina where normal times you can go and have a nice bite to eat and look out at the boats, beaches nearby, Philistine ruins, again, a city in all respects. And it was just so strange, Kalev, on the way in to see the thin glimmer of the Mediterranean Sea down the hill. Obviously the streets emptied of traffic, but just a beautiful day. And even looking out from here and seeing the dusk of the sunset and the contrast by what we saw this afternoon where, by the way, in addition to all of the booms that we heard and all of the sirens that we ran from, also visible from just next to the hospital itself was the smoke coming out of a building that suffered a direct hit. Thankfully, Kalev, no injuries here in Ashkelon from that direct hit and from others, but certainly a lot of booms, which are, of course, very disruptive to daily life to say the least and have their own psychological effect, although fortunately, of course, because of the iron dome system and its efficiency, so many of the rockets are shot out of the air that we don't suffer the casualties that we would otherwise. All right, let me just ask you now about the hospital, Barcelona Hospital, of course, something like, I think it's 26 now, we're up to 2600 wounded. That hospital in particular has brought really the heaviest load. It's the closest major hospital to the Gaza Strip. How is it coping while being under fire? Well, listen, there are a lot of people here. There are volunteers who have come out and tried to help. There are people supplying food to the medical staff. Look, it's been quieter here this afternoon. Of course, this is the quiet after, I don't want to call it the storm, but after what we saw in the days before, the hospital saying there were over 500 injured here, by the way, Kalev since the beginning of the war, more than 2800 injured, more than 500 of them still in Israeli hospitals, the vast majority having thankfully been released, or of course, in some cases, maybe not having survived. But at any event, you're right, this hospital bore the brunt of what has happened in the last few days because of its proximity to those Gaza border communities. But again, this city is still very, very much under fire. Again, we hurt it ourselves. We ran from the sirens ourselves, and I can't count how many times. All right, an ultiman there down in Ashglen at Baselah Hospital and take every precaution while you're there, that city coming under regular rocket attack. Owen, thank you for that. We do have an update. There was an incident near Kibbutz Re'im, which is one of those border communities on the Gaza Strip. Apparently there was a terrorist. He's still in the area. He was in a firefight with Israeli forces, and he has been killed. Most of the civilians in that area have been evacuated. And the idea of spokesman, we heard him earlier speaking, saying that possible there are still terrorists in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip individuals. But again, we don't have any situations that we know of Israelis being held captive or hostage now on Israeli territory. However, we are still, as we know, many, many people still missing and unaccounted for over the past few days. Among them are citizens, not just Israelis, citizens of at least 17 other countries, including at least 11 from the United States who hold US citizenship. Now, some of the families of that group held a press conference today in Tel Aviv, pleading for more information about their loved ones and also sending a message to the United States. Here's some of what they had to say. So we know that he was injured in a gun battle. I mean, they were all civilians at a music festival. They were fish in a barrel, sitting in this bomb shelter. Terrorists came to the door. They were throwing grenades in, shooting machine guns. And we know that Hirsch's arm from the elbow down was severed, was blown off, and that he tied a tourniquet around with his shirt. And Hamas came in after the gunfire settled down and said anyone who can walk, stand up and walk out, we are told that he was completely calm. I think he was probably in shock. And he got up and he walked out with five other people, young people from the music festival, two young women, three other young men. They were put on a pickup truck and driven away by Hamas. I wanna bring forward the responsibility that the Israeli government has to bring back all the hostages that are kept in hostage by the Hamas terrorists. While saying this, I want also to speak about the responsibility that the US administration, President Biden and the Secretary of State, Blinken, has for the lives of every US citizen that is out there and they're responsible to bring the US citizens back home safe and sound. Well, let's go now to New York and speak to our senior US correspondent, Mike Wagenheim and Mike. We just heard these US citizens saying, not just the Israeli government, which certainly has the major responsibility, but also that the United States also has a responsibility to its citizens that have our missing perhaps being held hostage in the Gaza Strip. We're expecting President Joe Biden to speak this evening when one is, if he's gonna address that particular issue. That's right. It'll certainly be a topic of discussion for Biden, who by the way, got off a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about 20 minutes or so ago, which has delayed his speech. Still no word when it will begin, but we learned from a US defense official earlier today from the Pentagon that hostage-free specialists, that free hostages from the United States have landed in Israel to support Israeli forces trying to free those hostages. The defense official was adamant that the US forces will not be quote unquote the boots on the ground, but will be there to support the Israelis with intelligence, with surveillance, with reconnaissance, and they apparently sent the best of the best. Not only will Sencom, the US Central Command, be involved as well as the Special Operations Command, but the JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command, who train for just these exercises. These are the folks that include the Navy SEALs and other divisions, the ones that carry out the bin Laden raid, these types of folks, those are the folks that Washington sent to guide Israel and help to secure the release of not only American hostages, but hostages that have been taken from countries around the world here during Hamas's brutal massacre and hostage-taking operation. Right, Mike, in another form of assistance, you might say military assistance that the US is providing is a show of naval force with its six fleet, destroyers and carriers off the coast of Syrian Lebanon. Clearly meant this warning to his baller and its patron, perhaps Iran, not to get involved in this conflict, though we have seen, as we did today, an exchange of fire across the Lebanese border. And again, one would imagine that President Biden is gonna have to try to make that particularly clear if he speaks tonight, reinforce that message. That's right, it's already been sent through indirect channels in the aftermath of the massacre over the weekend. Now it's been put out there more directly from White House and Defense Department officials. They have explicitly through indirect channels, but certainly making sure it filters through to the likes of Hezbollah, stay out of this. Don't get involved as America, as Israel tries to take apart Hamas, to try to rescue hostages that are in Gaza. You stick your nose in your business now. There'll be consequences to pay. And those just weren't off the record comments. Those are now on the record from senior officials. They have put that out there. And Hezbollah's on notice. The Houthi rebels, by the way, another proxy of Iran besides Hamas and Hezbollah essentially said today through a news agency that if Hezbollah is drawn in and if the US responds to Hezbollah, that the Houthi rebels in Yemen will fire upon Israel with drones, with missiles, whatever else they have. This, I think, is what officials were concerned about, international officials, regional officials, that this could really spill over into a broader conflict. And it's exactly why, I think, America is sending the message here that this needs to be insulated as much as possible. They are getting help from some channels, the United Arab Emirates, at the urging of the United States and other countries has sent a message to Syria to keep their noses out of it, have sent a message to other entities as well. So we're starting to see at least some backing from the Arab world, from the likes of the UAE and possibly other channels as well. All right, Mike Wagenheim in New York, thank you for that. I just wanna go now to Robert Swift, the correspondent who is at Iqilaf Hospital here in Tel Aviv. We just, there's just a report that Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip has threatened to fire rockets on the Tel Aviv area at nine o'clock local time. That's a little more than 10 minutes from now. Let's go. Do we have Robert Swift at Iqilaf Hospital? Robert? Yes, indeed, Caleb. So do you? We're at Iqilaf Hospital. Sorry, go on. What is the situation? What is Iqilaf dealing with? And is it ready and dealing with, again, perhaps we're gonna have a flurry of rockets or certainly sirens coming perhaps in the next few minutes? That's correct. There has been sirens and indeed some rockets throughout the day. We heard the interceptions overhead at least once. So taking place here today was a major blood donation drive as it's been taking place at hospitals all across the country, as well as at improvised centers in various communities. People coming together to do what they can to help donate blood, particularly those with O-type blood. Now, as I said, there was rockets which disrupted that process throughout the day, but that didn't seem to slow things down too much. Something that is worth noting is that it's now later in the evening and people are getting ready to go to bed. Disruptions caused by rockets and rocket alarms during the day is one thing, but it's a totally different matter for families who are preparing to go to sleep, putting their kids to bed, and they're also aware of the fact that during the middle of the night, they maybe won't come by the rockets. There are many families here in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in the country who are making slightly different adjustments to how they go to bed, whether it's not locked in the front door, whether it's packed in a bag, ready to go, or indeed sleeping with the kids in the same room as them, so that if that alarm does go off, they can either get up, get out of bed, and get into the bomb shelter, or, as is the case with many families, get out of their apartment, go down into the stairwell, or possibly down several flights of stairs, because that's the safest space that they have close to them. All right, Robert Swift of the Khilaf Hospital, thank you for that. And Duran, I wanted just a couple of points to make. First of all, we have this incident in the Kibbutz Re'im, clearly there are still individual Hamas terrorists on Israeli soil in that Gaza border area that are posing a real threat. Fortunately, no IDF forces were Israelis were killed in this incident, this evening. There's intrusion, also intrusion from the sea, we should expect them, there's always a loner that is still in the area, we have to expect that this area is not completely clear, we secured it, but still we have to be very careful and those attacks can happen as they did. Well, let's refer to some of the points that Mike Wagon and Mahai made there. The Houthi rebels, this is a new element. A new element, and we have seen Houthi rebels using long range drones and missiles attack as far as Iraq and attack US-linked forces in Iraq, so they could have the capability to strike at least certainly in the south of Israel. Exactly, a lot for example, this is a new element in the game, I think this is the context in which America plays its hand, of course we don't expect America to put boots on the ground, we don't need the Navy's seal, I thank them of course. We have all the capabilities to handle the elements in the south, in the north, and in the west bank. We are strong enough, we just have to get back, gain our forces again after this terrible setback. But if those elements, the Shiite elements in Yemen, Syria, in parts of Iraq still. Exactly, so here this is a play, the international play, the American play, this way the alliance with America and with NATO is so important for Israel and sometimes Israel is undermining this kind of alliance and it's a waking call for all of us. We are part of this coalition, coalition that America stands in the front of in Europe and in this context we have also to deal with those international affairs. But in the context of the three fronts that are ahead of us, Gaza, west bank and Hezbollah, we can handle it completely. The moment the decision will be made and the moment we'll see what's the intention of the other partners, for example, Hezbollah for sure. Well, some of the, behind all of these elementaries mentioned the Houthis, Hezbollah, the elements, Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, there still is one party, Iran. And President Biden in his very strong statement of support and implied warnings did not mention Iran by name. Is it time for him, maybe this evening, to make a clear warning to Tehran, a specific warning to not get involved itself or have its proxies outside of the immediate battlefield, be involved in this conflict? I mean, it's a question of war of words. I mean, it's clear to everybody that Iran is behind Hezbollah and this is the main proxy of Iran in the area and so the message is clear. We don't mention the name Tehran, it's clear. They shouldn't play their hands right now in this conflict, not Hezbollah and not those pro-Iranian militia in Syria. Okay, and I feel we are well prepared in the North. That's my feeling, okay? So this is one issue. The question of Iran in general is part of an international landscape and in some sense the Abraham Accords, the Saudi Initiative, the Indian route to coming to Europe. This is the move that America and us and our alliance in the region, including Egypt, Jordan, have to play against this axis of Iran. Right, and this offensive by Kharen Hamas specifically mentioned that part of the reason it launched this attack was to stop that process. In this studio, the moment the Saudi Initiative came up, we said there would be elements on the extreme of the Palestinian that would make any effort to try to disrupt this, we didn't think it's in this magnitude, but it was clear that this is not in their interest and they'll do whatever they can to do anything to break this initiative. It doesn't mean that in the long haul, the political consequences of this long war, we have to wait for a long war ahead of us, that in the long haul, the consequences of which would be, after dismantling the power of Hamas, that this Saudi Initiative can come back to the game and we can really build it as an axis that answers the Iranian axis. So we have to also look forward after we end this war, but the war will take time, it's a good, it's not a short war. It's not a short war. There was, we mentioned, Mike mentioned that Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with US President Joe Biden this evening, perhaps one of the reasons there was a delay in the planned address by President Biden. President Herzog, we should say, also spoke with a bipartisan US Senate delegation and he received a special assurances of support for foreign aid, a military aid for Israel from the US, which has been the whole question of sending foreign aid, especially military aid from the United States, especially in the context of Ukraine has been controversial, but it does seem that the US is prepared to provide that aid. Yeah, for sure. I think in terms of aid assistance and of course, playing the long landscape, we need the US, but I want to emphasize we are a country that can defend itself. Nobody expects boots on the ground for the American troops. It has to be clear to the world and for us, it's clear for sure. And in all three fronts, we can handle those fronts, but we have to get back from this terrible setback that really took us all by surprise in a magnitude that was unimaginable, but this is the time for us to gain our forces again, have a war cabinet and go to war. Right, there's this famous quote from Winston Churchill to the United States on the eve of World War II, you give us the tools, we'll finish the job and that obviously- So this is the story. All right, Lieutenant Colonel Daron Avital, thank you for joining us. We are gonna be going out for a brief break, but we'll be back at the top of the hour. I reiterate, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is threatening to strike the Tel Aviv area with rockets in the coming minutes. We will continue to broadcast here in the studio at the time and we are still waiting to see if President Biden, who was originally scheduled to speak in an hour, will make comments relating to the Israel Hamas conflict stay with us. We'll be back more with our continuing coverage as Israel fights for its life and the lives of its citizens against Hamas and the other terror groups on the Gaza Strip. We'll be right back. Israel is at war. Since the early hours of the morning, Israel has been facing infiltrations of terrorists, kidnapping of Israelis and a barrage of thousands of rockets emanating from the Gaza Strip, the biggest and bloodiest attack in years. Tune in for our extensive and rolling coverage of the Hamas deadly attack on Israel with reporters on the ground in depth analysis and most updated and accurate information. Stay tuned with I-24 News. We can take you there. Welcome to Israel Business Beats, your gateway to the captivating world of Israeli business and technology. Israel Business Beats, Sundays and Wednesdays, 9.30 p.m. GMT. Israel is at war. Since the early hours of the morning, Israel has been facing infiltrations of terrorists, kidnapping of Israelis and a barrage of thousands of rockets emanating from the Gaza Strip, the biggest and bloodiest attack in years. Tune in for our extensive and rolling coverage of the Hamas deadly attack on Israel with reporters on the ground in depth analysis and most updated and accurate information. Stay tuned with I-24 News. The manors here said at least 40 babies were killed. Some of them, their heads got off. He said he's never seen acts of brutality like this. Kashyat, Kashyat ambulance, Kashyat ambulance. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Khaled Dendavid. We're in day four of Israel's war against Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip. And the full scope of the atrocities that were perpetrated against Israelis in the Gaza border area has become apparent. Now the death count has risen now to over 1,000 with over 100 people being held hostage in Gaza. Now as Israel launched massive rounds of air strikes in Gaza targets, Hamas returned fire throughout the day with rocket fire in the south on the Tel Aviv area and as far north to towns in the lower Galilee. Rocket fire from Lebanon also joined that barrage hitting the town of Shlomi in the northwest Galilee. The IDF responded with artillery and tank fire and air strikes in southern Lebanon. Now US President Joe Biden who had implicitly warned his fellow in Iran not to get involved in the conflict is set to speak in the coming hour. He was scheduled to speak. If he does, we will carry that live. We do have reports that he did speak just a little over an hour ago with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that may have delayed that speech. As you saw in the clip, we saw the most shocking element of today was the revelation at Kibbutz, Kfar Azza, where a delegation of journalists, including our own Nicole Sedeck, was able to see the butchery of some 200 people, nearly a third of the community of Kfar Azza, many of the victims, young children, and even infants. While joining us in the studio, we have Eitan Dangot, a major general Eitan Dangot in the reserves, former military secretary to three Israeli defense ministers, former coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories, and Guy Azriel. I'm sorry, I'm getting a little distracted from the developments here and our own Guy Azriel. Let me first of all, we have an update on rocket attacks. Guy, in the last few minutes. Just over the past minutes, rocket alerts activated in Ashkelon and in the Gaza border communities. Of course, we've seen barrages of rockets on Tel Aviv, on Central Israel throughout the day, as well as the area of Ashkelon. And those communities, it comes after another escalation. Of course, in the north, 15 rockets fired out of Lebanon this evening, also an anti-tank missile fired towards IDF troops there. No injuries, and the IDF has responded, striking Hezbollah observation points. All right, well, we'll get to the north in a minute. But let's just start in the south, Eitan, especially the extent of the butchery that we've seen in places like Kfar Azar in Kibbutz, Barry Ovaraj, bodies found there. And the savagery, the barbaric savagery that we've heard, including the killing and even mutilation of young children here. I think that it's really a tragedy for Israel. It's a tragedy also for the world to understand with whom is dealing with this terror. We are dealing with this terror movement. And what is the threat? I think it brought Israel to the highest place that we are now fighting, like for our second independence war. Because the war has come to our apartments, to our places. You mentioned Kibbutz, Barry. I don't know tomorrow who will come back from Barry's families that are broken, that were cut, that were destroyed with all this kind of, even to say about them, animals. It's something that you cannot use because animal has its natural way and things. These people are not, I think, have the right to live anymore. Those who belong to Hamas also pour them. Secondly, it brought us to a stage of decision where we are going. And I think it was very clear what Israel declared. Israel declared it's going to be a war, not a short one, not a circle of a war that coming in a few days. We don't need any negotiators in this stage till we reach the main goal. And the main goal is to destroy it. The capacities, the infrastructure of Hamas, and destroy their activities as a terror movement. I didn't say we are going to take Gaza instead of Hamas. It doesn't matter. I think another thing is that we lost immediately the division between Hamas and the population of Gaza because this population participate as one of the main, the second main murderer as a group joining Hamas terrorists. They cross the fence without stopping, of course. And they were a part of this murderous war they did to small children and to the very old people, elders in these places. And now Israel is going, I think, to stabilize the first stage. That means moving out and killing those who are staying in Israel, stopping the first night we succeed to stop all the entries, at least most of the entries, from Gaza to Israel. Now we are dealing, maybe, with small in number. Well, we had an incident just this evening, just in the past for us at Kippitz-Raeim. There was a terrorist four days after the penetration of that fence. And it will take another one or two days because there are events in the depth of the area that are going towards southwest and its southeast and it's going towards area that the IDF is training. This is the west side of the Negev as a desert. Or they are still very close to some of the Kippitz-Raeim or Moshevim. But I think we are more and more closing. We have control on all the fence. The entries are covered by UAVs or by tanks or by other kind of elements. We are making back, bringing the technology for the fence, for the observation systems. And we have started the work in order to make the fence in a different way. I would say a bit of a day late on that daytime. It's not, I tell you, after such failure, such main failure, you need the time, according to priorities, what to do. And they enter here with hundreds of thousands of terrorists. And this is the problem. Secondly, at the same time, we are active in fire elements, fire arms, inside Gaza, in a different rules. There is no kind of divide between Hamas to the population we are using. And the third is, it's very important to say, 10 seconds, we destroyed the issue of humanitarian, no electricity, no water, no food, none of the kind of entries to support Gaza. Now it's a real closure. OK, let me guess, we're going to jump back down to our Pierre Klosschandler, who is in the south. Pierre, are you still in that area? We are nearby Kfarazza, but we're closer to Kibbutz Mefalzim right now. There was an infiltration attempt here earlier. Two terrorists were killed. We heard in Kfarazza also fighting is going on. This evening, two terrorists came into Kfarazza. One was armed with a knife, and he was killed immediately. The other fled toward the Gaza border. And there's always constant clashes between the Israeli army and terrorists who might have stayed here since Saturday hiding in the bushes. That makes the task of retrieving all the bodies in Kfarazza very difficult. And it's only one locality out of 20 that was wounded, massacred. In Kfarazza, you have 200 bodies according to the head of the operation of the Zaka humanitarian rescue organization. And he says that the sins are terrible, but the retrieving of the bodies is very difficult because of the constant fire, the constant clashes, and the rocket fire that we ourselves experienced. So the situation is it takes time to retrieve all those bodies. They are put in refrigerator trucks and sent to the forensic institute for identification. Some are barely identifiable because three and a half days after the start of the war, the bodies have rotten. And they say it's extremely difficult to take them and put them into plastic bags even. They're trying to clean the bodies. They wash the blood. They read the psalms. They put them in plastic bags, put them in refrigerator trucks, and then to the forensic institute. But before that, the sappers have to check that they're not booby trapped. It is a gruesome task, and it takes a lot of time. So that's the situation. And the situation is absolutely not safe. We've spoken also with reserve soldiers from the paratrooper units that was in the area. They don't even have flag jackets with ceramic plates. So they fight without flag jackets. And this is something that is incredible in an army which praises itself as being one of the best in the world. All right. Well, there have been some reports in the Hebrew media reporting on some complaints by reservists that they're not being properly outfitted, which is a situation that has happened in previous conflicts. I just want to ask you now, of course, the army had declared an evacuation of civilians from at least four kilometers from the Gaza border in those communities. Are the civilians all out there? I'm hearing car bahons. Looks like it's possibly civilian car behind you. Are there still civilians where you are, Pierre? Well, the civilians that are behind me came here to distribute some food and drinks and sweets to the soldiers. But the civilians in the communities along the border have left. Some of them have decided to stand the army as agreed. But the army has invested all these places. Now, in Zderot, it's a different story. You cannot evacuate 30-something thousand people. So some of them have voluntarily evacuated. The elderly, the handicapped, those who suffer from trauma are being evacuated. But the rest of the population remains in Zderot. But the villages are empty, most of them. Some special cases of residents who decided to stay are being allowed inside those communities where the army is. But the situation is absolutely not safe. So I believe that most 90% of the residents on the Kibbutz team have left. All right, well, OK. Well, as you said, a volatile, still situation down there. Pierre, I hope you take all necessary precautions to stay safe. Thank you for that. Now, as I said, US President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak this evening. We have not heard. The podium is now set up, so we expect him any minute. He did put out a message on Twitter or ex. The vice president and I sat down with our teams to receive a situation update on the terrorist attack in Israel and to direct the next steps. We connected with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss coordination to support Israel, deter hostile actors, and protect innocent people. There's also a report that in the last round of rocket fire aimed at southern Israel, 18 rockets were fired. But they all fell within the Gaza Strip. Eitan, that's an interesting thing, because it does suggest that these air strikes by the Israeli Air Force are having an effect, perhaps pushing the rocket firing units of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, perhaps pushing them deeper into the Gaza Strip. And it's impacting on their ability to fire rockets outside. It's not, I think, coming for rockets. And really, it is still the main problem, because they are using a rocket and launching them with a system that is controlled by a sensor from far from right. And it is also stored in houses, schools, and other kind of facilities that are using for the community. But the main goal of the strikes is to destroy Hamas' military infrastructure, the areas that they prepare this operation in Bet-Khanun, very close to the fence, three, four air kilometer from the road. Main neighborhood was completely destroyed when they organized the vehicles there and went out. The main center, the economical financial center, as the rich Hamas community people are living in Gaza town, Rimal neighborhood was destroyed completely. Right. And the death of at least two senior Hamas figures. Two senior Hamas, and now the reason we are centralized in order try to kill the main leadership of Hamas. But for the population, we are not working anymore with the humanitarian system that they give everyone a phone call, leave your home. We send them. The so-called knock on the roof. Knock on the roof. Instead of knock off the roof, there is a general statement that said, this and this neighborhood, in your place, there is Hamas activities. Get the time and leave their home. And they are moving for saving their life. Right. Moving southward in the Gaza. There are no points of moving southward in the Gaza. I don't know where they live, where direction, but they're all south, all towards the sea. But I am thinking about the families from Bari and Kfaraza. Tell me, Kalevi, can you estimate if they will return back to their places again? It's hard to imagine. So what was achieved by Hamas, and this is one of the things, they broke the settlement of Israel that worked agriculture till the last meter to the fence. And if you ask me now, as a former senior commander at the IDF and now civilian, I will do immediately a lot of efforts by the government in order to try to help those who would like to come back, to come in a way that the state will support them. Because what will be the next stage? The 10 kilometer leave? OK, that's jumping ahead, though, of course. We first have to, the operation will have to be carried out in the Gaza ship. We'll have plenty of time to talk about that. We did talk about the rocket fire in the north of Israel from the coming across the Lebanese border. Let's go to our aerial, also on our Middle East correspondent, who is in the town of Naharia on the Israel-Lebanon border. Ariel, we are still waiting on President Joe Biden. We see a podium set up in the White House, so we expect any minute. And some of his comments are going to be directed towards that activity that we've seen, even if it's implicitly, that we've seen today there in the north of Israel and, of course, across the Lebanese border into the south Lebanon. Indeed, Kalev, over the past few days, we've seen a similar dynamic play out here on the border. First, rocket barrages launched from southern Lebanon into Israel. Yesterday, that was claimed by Palestinians. And moments ago, the Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qasam brigades, their branch in Lebanon is claiming responsibility for launching 15 rockets towards Israeli northern border communities earlier today, saying that we took a step on the path to liberation and return with focused missile bombardment on the settlements of the Western Galilee. Though our resistance work will continue until the occupation and aggression are defeated. And in addition to that, today, as well as yesterday, we've also exchanged a fire with Hezbollah positions. Today, this included Hezbollah claiming responsibility for launching two anti-tank missiles towards Israeli forces. There were no injuries yesterday in the firefight with Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorists who managed to infiltrate the border with Israel. There were three Israeli soldiers killed, one Lieutenant Colonel, high-ranking commander, and four soldiers injured. Those four are still being treated in the Nahrirah hospital behind me. Right, and let's just take a note, American forces, naval forces, the Sixth Fleet, US destroyers and aircraft carriers taking a position off the coast of Lebanon and Syria are warning, but we'll have to see if President Biden can sort of reinforce the sort of implicit threats that he made already on Saturday to try to keep Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies out of this conflict. Indeed, Kalev, and not just any warships, but the USS Gerald Ford, the biggest aircraft carrier the US has to offer, that is already making its way eastward in the Mediterranean Sea. It's accompanied by a wide range of additional attack ships and also the Wall Street Journal reporting that the Biden administration is considering sending another aircraft carrier to the region to bolster even further the support that Washington has been giving Israel since Saturday morning, Al Jazeera reporting, citing a US official saying that that decision has not yet been made, but indeed we're seeing also rhetoric from Saturday as supportive as it can be, perhaps the most supportive Israel has seen in times like this. Even one can compare it to the support in the Yom Kippur War in the first days, what Israel has been receiving from Washington is indeed in the highest levels of support, also through words, threats, warnings to Hezbollah, to Iran, but also steps on the ground, or as of now, steps at sea. All right, Ari, I lost one there in Naharia, just south of the Lebanese border, thank you for that. And Guy, some reports, just in the last few minutes, apparently, as our reporter, Pierre Kloschen, said, still firing and some degree of combat in the south, and now some warnings of a different sort for some communities just north of Ashkelon. Yes, one event follows another one in Zikim, just south of Ashkelon, where we're hearing about an exchange of fire and active event there between Israeli forces and possible terrorists, and also just north of Ashkelon over the communities of Beir Ghanim and Nitzan, some suspected aerial threat there. When we're talking about drones, balloons, some kind of, not rockets, could you imagine? I wouldn't imagine this is a balloon, but rather a drone of some sort. Although, of course, we saw other aerial threats during the first invasion. We saw these motorized parachutes. It's difficult for me to believe that they made it this far north of Ashkelon. So a drone would be more probable. In any case, the residents there have been ordered to remain blocked up in their homes until they find out what exactly is that threat for now. These are the two ongoing events just around Ashkelon. It goes together with the ongoing events further down south, two terrorists that we know were eliminated next to Re'im. And if I can go back to Saturday, there is more information that comes in now about the planning of these terrorists. Well, according to some information, there's been up to 1,500 terrorists that infiltrated Israel during that time. 1,500 actually managed to cross the border. On 80 vehicles that have been found, with a lot of ammunition, explosives, RPGs. And what is perhaps most worrying and interesting in this sense is that they also carried very detailed maps of the area, very detailed planning of their attacks, including Air Force Base President Joe Biden. Let's go to the White House. It is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. Bloody hands of the terrorist organization Amos, a group whose purpose for being is to kill Jews. This was an act of sheer evil. More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered, I just feel slaughtered in Israel. Among them, at least 14 American citizens killed. Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach turning reports of babies being killed. Entire families slain. Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace, to celebrate peace. Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. Families hid their fear for hours and hours desperately trying to keep their children quiet to avoid drawing attention. And thousands of wounded, alive but carrying with them the bullet holes and the shrapnel wounds and the memory of what they endured. You all know these traumas never go away. There's still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones. Not knowing if they're alive or dead or hostages. Infants in their mother's arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors abducted and held hostage. Hostages whom Amos has now threatened to execute in violation of every code of human morality. It's a porn. The brutality of Amos, these bloodthirstiness brings to mind the worst rampages of ISIS. This is terrorism. But sadly, for the Jewish people, it's not new. This attack is brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by a millennia of anti-Semitism and genocide of the Jewish people. So in this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. And we will make sure as we have what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack. There's no justification for terrorism. There's no excuse. Amos does not stand for the Palestinian people's right to dignity and self-determination. The state of purpose is an annihilation of the state of Israel on the murder of Jewish people. They use Palestinian civilians as human shields. Amos offers nothing but terror and bloodshed with no regard to who pays the price. The loss of innocent life is heartbreaking. Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond and deed has a duty to respond to these vicious attacks. I just got off the phone with the third call with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and I told him, the United States experience with Israel is experiencing our response to be swift, decisive, and overwhelming. We also discussed how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law. Terrorists purposely target civilians, kill them. We uphold the laws of war, the law of war. It matters. There's a difference. Today, Americans across the country are praying for all those families that have been ripped apart. A lot of us know how it feels. It leaves a black hole in your chest when you lose family. Feeling like you're being sucked in. The anger, the pain. Sense of hopelessness. This is what they mean by a human tragedy. An atrocity on an appalling scale. We're gonna continue to stand united, supporting the people of Israel who are suffering unspeakable losses and opposing the hatred and violence of terrorism. My team has been in near constant communication with our Israeli partners and partners all across the region and the world. From the moment this crisis began, we're surging additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish Iron Dome. We're gonna make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens. My administration has consulted closely with Congress throughout this crisis. When Congress returns, we're gonna ask them to take urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners. This is not about party or politics. This is about the security of our world, the security of the United States of America. We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas. I've directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts. Because as president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world. The United States has also enhanced our military force posture in the region to strengthen our deterrence. The Department of Defense has moved the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean and bolstered our fighter aircraft presence. And we stand ready to move in additional assets as needed. Let me say again, to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word, don't, don't. Our hearts may be broken, but our resolve is clear. Yesterday, I also spoke with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and UK to discuss the latest developments with our European allies and coordinate our United response. This comes on top of days of steady engagement with partners across the region. We're also taking steps at home. In cities across the United States of America, police departments have stepped up, security around centers for Jewish life. The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation are working closely with state and local law enforcement and Jewish community partners to identify and disrupt any domestic threat that could emerge in connection with these horrific attacks. This is a moment for the United States to come together, to grieve with those who are mourning. Let's be real clear. There is no place for hate in America, not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against anybody. We reject, we reject what we reject is terrorism. We condemn the indiscriminate evil, just who we've always done. That's what America stands for. You know, just over 50 years ago, I was thinking about this morning, talking to the Secretary of State, the Vice President of my office. Over 50 years ago, as a young senator, I visited Israel for the first time as a newly elected senator. And I had a long, long trip of meeting with Golda Mayer in her office just before the Amkipur War. And I guess she could see the consternation of my face as she described what was being faced, they were facing. We walked outside in that sort of hallway outside her office to have some photos. She looked at me, all of a sudden said, would you like to have a photograph? And so I got up and followed her out. We're standing there silent, looking at the press. She could tell, I guess I was concerned. She leaned over and whispered to me, she said, don't worry, Senator Biden, we have a secret rep in here in Israel. My word is what she said, we have no place else to go. We have no place else to go. For 75 years, Israel has stood as the only guarantor of the security of Jewish people around the world so that atrocities of the past could never happen again. And let there be no doubt, the United States has Israel's back. We will make sure that Jewish and democratic state of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have. It's as simple as that. These atrocities have been sickening. Where is Israel? Let's make no mistake. Thank you. Mr. President, what was your reaction? We've just heard US President Joe Biden give a fairly extensive and emotional address on the situation in Israel, expressing strong support in a very personal manner for the state of Israel. Also talking about some concrete steps, saying, mentioning that US naval forces that have been sent to the Eastern Mediterranean, the US supplying US both with arms and sending specialists he didn't mention. The, as we know, at least 11 US citizens being held hostage in the Gaza Strip and said some US personnel, specialists in hostage situations have been sent to provide at the very least intelligence support to Israel's efforts to recover them. He also spoke about, was repeated his implied warnings to quote any country, any organization that seeks to take advantage of the situation, perhaps implicitly referring here to Iran and his baller specifically. He also talked about steps to protect Jewish institutions in the United States from possible harassment or attack. Gentlemen, a very emotional speech. I do wanna point out one interesting thing he did say though, which was he talked about how the US and Israel are stronger because they follow the rules of law, the rules of war, does not target civilians, perhaps a somewhat cautionary tone in that, maybe sort of setting a limit on what Israel's actions should be in Gaza. I wanna go to Mike Wagenheim in the United States, our senior US correspondent. Mike, your takeaway from President Biden's remarks, very emotional and extensive remarks there. Yeah, the democracy quote stuck out to me as well, Kalev. He said democracies are better when they follow the rule of law stronger when they follow the rule of law. Other than that, essentially a green light to Israel, and that speech, and I tend to nitpick with these speeches, that was about as pro-Israel speech as you could possibly get. I don't think there's anybody sitting in the prime minister's office or in the Kyrie that can really have any bones to pick with that speech. There was no mention of Iran specifically, but certainly a hinting in there that Iran and its proxies are to keep out of this particular conflict or else pay a price. That price not explicitly stated, but Biden was pretty adamant there, and he usually doesn't set those lines so clearly, at least in public. Outside of that, a note that Homeland Security and the FBI will do what they can, do what they must to protect American Jews, which I think was necessary to impart to a largely domestic audience that he was speaking with today. Obviously, when these conflicts happen between Israel and terror groups in Gaza, there is always spillover into the streets here in America, and it doesn't turn out well for Jews most of the time. So important to know that domestic agencies are on top of their game as well in these particular circumstances. Yes, you could feel Biden at times choking up, you could hear the anger and the dismay in his voice throughout that speech, talking about the atrocities and the crimes against humanity. Biden really 100% seems to be with Israel in every aspect of this upcoming operation. But I point out one interesting nuance. Also, Mike, he said he would call Congress, gets back into session, he would call them to arrange and see that they provide support, military support, for our quote, critical partners. He used a plural there. There has been talk about that maybe Israel, Israeli aid to Israel will be somehow tied with military aid to the Ukraine, which has been increasingly something of a partisan issue in Washington. You know, the funny you mentioned that is interesting. Just about 20 minutes ago, Jim Jordan, the congressman from Ohio, was one of the two front runners now for the speakership alongside Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Jordan made his way into the Capitol. He was asked by a reporter, are you going to tie Ukraine and Israel aid together? And this is not verbatim, but essentially what Jordan says here is, Israel is really important to get done. He kind of cast aside Ukraine in that. So whether those two items wound up getting tied together, there's so many variables at this point in time. It's obviously something that the White House is pushing for, but I don't feel that this is gonna be a deal breaker in the end if Congress has to separate the two issues. I can't see the White House objecting and making it a deal breaker. The aid will get through to Israel. It's a matter now of the politics involved in the speakership and how long anybody in the Senate may put a hold on a vote. We've seen the contrarians like Thomas Massey, like Rand Paul, who tend to put a hold on votes that involve a new foreign aid. So it might drag the process out a little bit. It'll get done in the end one way or another. All right, Mike Wagonheim there in New York City. Thank you for that. And I wanna ask you gentlemen, Aitan, your reactions to President Biden's speech. Is that everything that the Prime Minister would want? Is that a green light for Israel to do what it feel it must do in the Gaza Strip? I think it was very emotional speech that first and above all, give the Israeli nation, the people here, a great and warm support and youth. Secondly, I think it was very clear from Biden and I'm starting from another direction. He didn't mention Iran, but many of his messages was towards Iran. Those who would like to use the situation in creating damage to Israel, he say don't, don't. Two times he repeat about it. The third is that he gave Israel by speech in my opinion, legitimation to continue and to break Hamas because in my opinion, United States is looking at the issue with Hamas as a test case to what they are also facing around the Middle East in some other places. And if Hamas succeed, it will give a back wind to others, the kind of movements to continue. And above all, I think he covered the conflict that was personal, the conflict between him, to Bibi Netanyahu, he put everything on the side and he was escorted by the deputy of the president and he made before a discussion of Israel with the main figures for the United States. It doesn't matter to say anymore, United States is behind Israel and will support it. All right, now President Biden spoke about the atrocities committed by Hamas. That's something that we've been reporting on throughout the day, especially now. We have a clear picture of what went on in places like the Kibbutz, Kvaraza and Re'im. Let's speak to someone who's had to be dealing with that firsthand, Dov Maisel. He's the vice president of operations of United Hatsala. He joins us from southern Israel. Dov, tell us about your day and what you've seen there into your eyes there in the south and those communities we've just mentioned. So end of day four down here down south, we're just north of the roads based here in our recuperation station and restocking of ambulances here. It has been the toughest four days in my experience of over 35 years in EMS. The sites and the situations that we dealt with here over these past few days have been horrific. This is barbaric on levels that we can't even imagine, nothing that we've ever seen before. Right, and of course, you've been operating under conditions as medical professionals in almost like on war battleground conditions, still in situation, not just rocket attacks, but live fire in some of those places. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Since early Shabbat morning, our volunteers have been working on the ground in Kfarazah, in Bibi, throughout the region in all of these towns that were hit in this barbaric attack that really looks like what we were familiarized with ISIS videos, but in real life here, going along roads for kilometers with bodies and cars scattered along the sides of the roads burnt sites that I have never imagined in my life I would see here in Israel. And it's very tough, it's tough on thousands of our volunteers, paramedics, doctors, EMTs that really have seen everything throughout the years, but nothing on this scale. However, I will say that we saw the heroism come out from volunteers working under fire, bullets flying over their heads, missiles exploding and pulling out people saving lives, doing medical procedures under impossible conditions that even in my military experience back in other operations, I did not encounter myself, but lives were saved because of these amazing people. Right, and let me just ask you this, Hatsala, Zaka, Maghadev, Edadoum, but this is a several organizations involved, but given the scope of the tragedy here, are the resources in place, even when maybe the scene is calm in order to deal with the situation, the bodies, the identification, dealing with their loved ones who may want to see what happened to those people that the family and friends that were unfortunately killed and I won't even begin to describe what may have happened to them. It is very difficult and the numbers are staggering, they're unfathomable, these numbers. Over 1,000 people that were killed, you can imagine how many families this is, you can see the families at the beginning and the beginning of the first day, day and a half, you can see the families of those who survived on the side of the roads that were closed off, they could not enter those areas because they were not secure. And even now as we speak, not all of the areas are still secure. It's challenging, it's gonna be a process, it's not something that like we've seen before of a round of two, three days and we're done, this is gonna be a process, even just looking at the past four days, this is gonna be a mass operation, not even knowing what the days to come, will there be a ground operation? Will the Northern Front open up? Will the West Bank open up? We're preparing ourselves for all sorts of different scenarios in order to distribute our resources throughout the country and try and provide the best response in order to save as many lives possible. All right, Dhav Mezela of United Hatsala, the emergency medical service, thank you for joining us. And good luck down there in the south of Israel, Dhav. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, well, we're getting some reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may speak tonight. We don't know. Of course, Guy, there was early, it was reported that he would be meeting with Benny Gantz this evening to discuss the forming of a national unity government and a war cabinet that would include the Benny Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff and defense minister. Perhaps there might be some developments on that regard. Yes, Netanyahu, just publishing a photo of himself during the cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv and according to the report on Channel 12, also discussing scenarios of entering the Gaza Strip on the ground. Obviously, all of these issues will be discussed in that cabinet in which Benny Gantz will be part of. This is the plan Netanyahu said earlier today. He wants to move forward in the establishment of this unity government, the emergency government. It is not clear why that hasn't happened yet. Could have happened yesterday, should have happened earlier today. If all sides are so clear on the fact that they want to make this happen, there should be no obstacles. We even heard from Itamar Benvir from Netanyahu's other partners to the coalition that they support the establishment of this wider government, which is of course important because the state of Israel has been such so severely impacted by these events. The public support for a move when it comes to Gaza is so wide and the government needs to reflect that. Also needing the experience of Benny Gantz, Gadi Isinkot, two former IDF chiefs in the cabinet together with Defense Minister Yav Galant, although it should be mentioned as well that just as much as Netanyahu is at fault for creating this equation with Hamas for so many years, so has the defense establishment which all these senior officers were part of. Benny Gantz, Gadi Isinkot, Yav Galant, they have all been a part of this equation, of this reality of allowing Hamas to prosper in Gaza while separating it from the West Bank. Well, obviously that strategy has failed miserably as we saw. Right, but in the meantime, there is a war to be fought. The current security cabinet is a little lacking on members who have high military experience other than the Defense Minister Yav Galant so clearly having two former Chief of Staff. Even if yes, there's gonna be a reckoning of the entire defense establishment when this is done. But in the meantime, they do know the nuts and bolts of fighting a battle, fighting a war. Yeah, but I might tell you something in the opposite side. Concerning how to build the cabinet, it's very important from my experience to put in the cabinet expert in security issues from the political level, but also you need clever and balanced people as a civilians that will know to ask the questions. Unfortunately, the present government, there are two people who are making a great damage to Israel as a state by representing a small group, I mean to Smotrich and Benghvir. And beside it, I think there is a great delay by Bibi Netanyahu. He should call Gantz and meet Gats by himself, four eyes on Saturday evening and say, we will go to a unity government under four or five obstacles tomorrow. We'll see it, those and those. And Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisen-Gott, maybe even Lieberman, who has a lot of experience. A Victor Lieberman, the head of the Israeli panel. Yes, a lot of experience. Lapid depends on himself. I don't want to do that. With him, that's your experience, of course. Um, Lieberman? No, Lapid. Lapid. Okay, but I think I know, I think I have an eight-time means, is that the people who have sat in the cabinet at a time when it's been making decisions. And you bring a message to the Israeli nation, first time since government was established, that from now will be a government that represent 80% of the Israeli population. And maybe I surprise you, you see what the statements of Mahmoud Abbas, I don't see him inside this small group of the government, but I would invite him as well. Mansour Abbas. Mansour Abbas, we should have met, you met to the Israeli. I'm sorry, I'm so Mansour Abbas, inside as well. You're talking about inside a government, not inside this base security. This is the message also to the Israeli Arabs on the way they are looking. But let's leave it. Okay, but politically, you know, that's an impossibility. Bibi Netanyahu is under a great delay. And this issue I hope till tomorrow morning will be already correcting. All right, well, I don't know if that necessarily is to be the case, but Prime Minister Netanyahu, as we said before, reports that he might address that and he did meet, or he is meeting, I don't know if currently, with Benny Gantz to resolve that issue. He built his coalition much more rapidly than he made his government. Yareev Levine came to small trade and give them everything. He came to Ben-Vir, full-fill all the months. When we are going to such a break, such a long time to Israel, how can it be that we don't see the main figures that can lead Israel together as a key point? We are not already joined the government. It's something that is joined to the failure of what happened here. All right, well, hopefully that issue will be able to be resolved in the next day or two. Certainly, if the security cabinet now is weighing a ground operation or invasion into the Gaza Strip, most likely it will have to be with full political support, that an emergency, that a unity government would provide. Because as we know, that's likely to be a costly operation. I think it's a process. This operation, you have to assess each one or twice a day to see what are the circumstances of developing. And one end is going towards Gaza, but the other end is still looking or the other eye is looking towards the North issue. And according to it, you are managing to directing your forces and don't waste time. You have to beat in each moment Gaza. You have to destroy as small as you can, Gaza's infrastructure of Hamas and Jihad Islamic. And you have to bring it to a stage as soon as possible to bring it to prepare the next stage of the military operational plans and it will come. All right, there is a reaction immediately, at least from one figure in Israel to the speech we just heard by US President Joseph Biden. Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, tweeting just in the past few moments. On behalf of the entire people of Israel, thank you, President Joe Biden. You have shown once again, what a great friend you are of Israel, its people and the Jewish people as a whole. We are truly grateful. So across the board in Israeli media, a lot of praises for this speech of Biden, getting a lot of support, something perhaps for Israelis to be satisfied of in this very sad reality that we're in, just another small update. This security reality is not limited just to the Gaza Strip and to the North, the West Bank, an active scene, two terrorists were eliminated in the Northern West Bank in the Samaria area after attempting to shoot at Israeli soldiers. There's also been an attempted ramming attack in which the car, flat and IDF forces are searching for those perpetrators. Aetana, maybe they're stirring. Oh, hold on, I do wanna jump to the United States. I'd speak to Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League who joins us now, I believe from New York. Jonathan, are you with us? I'm with you, yes. Okay, well, first of all, I'll ask you about your reaction to President Biden's speech. But first I wanna ask you and bring up an interview you did with M&SBC, the sort of a liberal-oriented talk channel in which you were quite harsh about the way some, certainly some parts of the media there in the United States are covering the situation here. Yeah, well, look, first of all, thank you for having me on. I always like to be an I-24. I just wish we're under different circumstances. In this case, what I would say with respect to MSNBC and a number of other networks here. I mean, I don't think I was being emotional. I think I was being factual to see and to watch and to listen to the way they're covering this story, glorifying these barbarians and butchers by calling them fighters or militants that sanitizes their slaughter. And I think it's really revolting. And I think it's irresponsible. This wasn't an attack, which implies fight between parties. This was a massacre, right? Again, these weren't fighters. These were killers and the Israelis are not retaliating. But the idea is indeed responding. And language matters and the way the media frames these issues shapes the way the public understands the situation. And so the pictures, I mean, I see them now on the screen. They are so gruesome. They are so horrifying. Like I don't want my children watching television. And we know that children all over Israel are turning or their parents are removing their apps from their phones. TikTok and Instagram, we're afraid that they will see these images, let alone the videos to come. When the criminals and agents of death from Hamas broadcast the video of their hostages. So yeah, I am repulsed and revolted and I said it. And I ask the question like who's writing the scripts on these shows? Like who's in the back thinking, this is a good idea. So this is going to describe this as a cycle of violence. There is no such thing as a quote cycle of violence. These aren't like inevitable turns as if it were a rotation of the sun or the earth, I'm sorry, around the sun. This was a purposeful, vicious, violent attack by an organization that doesn't support a two-state solution but wants to push on all of us a final solution. And I think we've got to put it in those terms because if we're looking for words to describe this, indeed barbarians, butchers, murderers should be the words of choice. And the points of comparison here should be ISIS and Al Qaeda and the Taliban because that's what we're dealing with. All right, Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League. Thank you for joining us this evening. We're going to end this particular broadcast right now. Stay with us until I-24 News will be back with more of its continuing coverage in a few minutes. This particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year. Welcome to this special broadcast here on I-24 News as we continue our rolling coverage on day four of Israel's war against the vile Hamas terror group. Babies beheaded, elderly, burned alive, women raped and butchered. Not in black and white, not way back when. Now, we have the right to do the job. We have the right to do the job. We have the right to do the job. Not in black and white, not way back when. Now, this is part of what happened. In just one Israeli community of Karazah, by the cruel animals that's in the name of who knows what really, launched the most vicious attack the human mind can imagine, and then some were bringing new, documentation from inside the shedders. Meanwhile, the death count is rising. over 1,000 Israelis confirmed dead. And still, as we speak, over 100 of Israelis being held hostage captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel's Air Force, meanwhile, continues airstrikes on Hamas targets in the Strip, while massive rocket fire from south and north reaching Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and the Galilee and, of course, Israel's south. US President Joe Biden standing strong, tall, and firm by Israel, speaking to the world once again tonight, the second time since the beginning of the war, a remarkable speech at every enlightened human being, simply must watch. And Israelis, Israelis are crying and fighting, fighting and crying, and will do so until the very end. And we begin this broadcast by going down south to a scene that no Jew, no human, no one ever thought would be seen again. Harne Kvaltzedek was there in Kvaza in what is nothing other than a town of absolute massacre. Some very disturbing images are ahead, but images that needs to be shown and seen to try and understand what has what is happening here. Here in Kvaza, they continue to remove some of the Israeli bodies that were killed during the massacre Saturday morning. You can see, as four days later, they're still continuing to go through some of these houses in this very, very southern Israeli community and remove the Israeli citizens that were killed inside their homes, gunned down, stabbed, different grenades thrown off as well. As we're walking through this community, we're told that we have to stay away from certain areas, certain houses because there could still be mines in a minute, they could go off at any moment. So all of the Israeli soldiers who are down here want to make sure that we're staying safe as well, but as you walk through this community, which we've been doing, just to pan around and kind of give you an example of exactly where we are surrounded by all of these soldiers, many of them called from reserve duty, leaving their own families behind as well. You can see some of these houses that people were in. Meanwhile, the dead bodies of terrorists also continue to line the different grounds and parks in this surrounding area. Truly the scene of a massacre, as many of these people were just inside their homes, families, one of the commanders here said, at least 40 babies were killed. Some of them, their heads got off. He said he's never seen acts of brutality like this. And as I said, many of the soldiers were called from reserve duties coming down here to the scene of a massacre. None of them, knowing exactly where they were.