 Welcome to I-24 News, I'm Sivan Raveev and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Today is Day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas. The IDF continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza, with a new report suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas' underground terror tunnel system in Gaza, a move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of past passages and driving its operatives above ground. Sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip. The IDF announced the names of eight more soldiers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday, bringing the death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 113. Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg, the commander of the Golan-e-Burgates 13th Battalion, Major Oroi Meldassi, a company commander in the Golan-e-Burgates 13th Battalion, Major Moshe Avram Baron, a company commander in the Golan-e-Burgates 51st Battalion, Sergeant Achyad Ascal, a soldier in the Golan-e-Burgates 51st Battalion, Captain Liel Chayo, a platoon commander in the Golan-e-Burgates 51st Battalion, Major Ben Shelly, a company commander in the Israeli Air Force's elite helicopter-borne search and rescue unit 669, Sergeant First Class Ram Hacht, a soldier in unit 669, Staff Sergeant Oryayakov, a soldier in the Combat Engineering Corps' 614th Battalion. The IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded. The IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages, 28-year-old civilian Edin Zahalia, who was captured by Hamas on October 7th when attending the Nova Music Festival. And 36-year-old IDF warrant officer Ziv Dado, who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. 153 members were in favor, 10 against, including the United States, and 23 abstained. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas offices in Gaza, saying that if the United Nations wanted a real ceasefire, they should call Hamas. Take a listen. But you know what? I have an idea. If you want a real ceasefire, here is the right address. This is the phone number of Hamas' office in Gaza. You can all call plus 970-599-3765 and ask for Ichya Sinwad. Tell Hamas to put down their arms, turn themselves in and return our hostages. This will bring a complete ceasefire that will last forever. And joining us now on Israel's Northern Borders are I-24 News correspondent Zach Anders. Zach, what is the latest update on the Northern Border? Last night, there were three strikes originating in Syria. The IDF says this morning that they struck the sources of fire and that they belonged to the Syrian army. This was a major development in the overnight hours. We were not entirely sure who exactly was responsible. Of course, we had been covering the fact that Hezbollah has been operating in southern Syria for at least the last several days when the IDF struck a Hezbollah stealth operating in southern Syria. This is a major piece of news. Yesterday's launch from Syria was three separate apparent heavy rockets. Two of them fell inside Syrian territory. And the third fell the IDF said in an open area, so potentially could have fallen in northern Israel. That is yet to be confirmed, but a major development there in Syria. Now, Hezbollah said this week that they marked 100 losses on their end, but they do keep on fighting. It is somewhat remarkable to see Hezbollah be forthcoming with the numbers at this point in the state because they are far greater losses than what the Israelis have suffered here in the north. And they could be even greater. These are Hezbollah's own numbers, and they haven't been independently investigated by watchdogs in the United Nations. So it is a severe state of their forces in the south, but then again they have the strength of upwards of 80,000 plus soldiers that can be deployed or are at their disposal. So in the numbers game, this is significant in Lebanon, in southern Lebanon, for of course the families and the many people that are affected by this, the number of heroes that have been held in Lebanon over the last several weeks are sometimes a steady constant stream and they garner a lot of attention on social media, which keeps a lot of people in Lebanon aware of what's happening and understanding that this is a serious conflict for them as well. Zak Anders, thank you very much. Joining us now is Colonel and Reserves Dr. Moshe Elad, former coordinator to Palestinian Authority on Security Issues at the IDF and a lecturer at the Western Galilee Academic College and also with us here in studio is Gai Azriel, our I-24 News Senior Editor. Gai, I'll start with you. We're hearing of eight more soldiers announced dead last night in the ground operation. What do we know about this? It's a painful reminder of the heavy battles that are going on across the Gaza Strip. Israel knew very well when it entered this war, obviously forced, this war forced upon it with the Hamas onslaught that it is not going to be easy as the IDF troops are making their way through very difficult terrain in neighborhoods that are Hamas strongholds in many cases with tunnels and terrorists that are waiting for the Israeli troops in this case were seven of these troops have lost their lives. That was in the neighborhood of Sajaiah in the Kasbah there. That is the sort of fortified area in that neighborhood of Gaza City as the IDF continues to operate to eliminate Hamas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Well, that is the last major stronghold of Hamas. Yesterday, Ghulani Brigade who was operating there has located a suspicious building where fire was fired, shots were fired at the troops who advanced towards that area. Explosives have detonated, causing several injuries and fatalities already back then. The force then made its way into the structure itself. More explosions took place. The Israeli Sheshesh Tehshah 669 unit that's the rescue Air Force unit has attempted to rescue some of these troops. Two of the rescuers also lost their lives in that incident. Multiple explosions of detonations of explosives that were waiting for the Israeli troops obviously in a very complicated terrain and the results in this case were very sad. Seven troops lost their lives, several others also seriously wounded. All the terrorists were eliminated in this case and nonetheless a very painful result for the IDF. In another incident, an Israeli soldier was killed also in the northern part of the Gaza Strip yesterday and unfortunately we have to start the morning with these sad news of eight Israeli troops killed in one day, seven of them in one incident. Indeed a whole lot of losses for the IDF. Now joining us on Israel's southern border by Kibbutz Berries, our I-24 news correspondent Pierre Kloschendler. Here we heard the sirens in the southern communities earlier. What can you tell us about this? There was just a siren on a Kibbutz that has been evacuated after the October 7 massacre further south at around 20 kilometers from where we are and we don't have any reports of casualties or damage. And now the fighting in southern Gaza continues. What can you tell us about the ground operation at the moment? Well we hear a lot of intense artillery fire at some targets south of Gaza City probably on the Salahadin axis which is being fought for in that particular sector. The Salahadin axis that crosses the northern Gaza Strip to the southern Gaza Strip east of Gaza City has been used for the non-involved northern population of Gaza as a humanitarian axis in previous weeks. But now that section of the Salahadin axis which leads to Hanyunas is the focus of heavy fighting and we hear a lot of artillery shells outgoing missiles outgoing from the artillery and behind me you can't see it without a naked eye behind me is more or less the sector of the al-Azhar University which was already invested by the Israeli troops a week or two ago. But the axis itself is the focus of fighting as well as in the central refugee camps of Direl Balach, El Borej, Nusserat and inside Hanyunas the offensive is deepening. Inside Hanyunas the city is completely encircled and on the eastern outskirts of Hanyunas the IDF is announcing that it has almost full operational control over the communities of Abbasan, Bani Suheila but we're not there yet completely. Peter Kuleshendler in Israel's southern border. Thank you very much. And back in studio with me is Gai Israel. Gai we are also hearing as I said before that there's now a report about the IDF starting to pump water, sea water into tunnels, into the tunnel infrastructure, the terror infrastructure that Hamas is using underground. What do we know about that? Yes, obviously the tunnels were the main operational target of the IDF in this war. We're talking about tunnel infrastructure of hundreds of kilometers underground. The Hamas terror group has invested billions of dollars into these tunnels that pose a major risk obviously for the Israeli troops that are in there and Hamas has also been very well known for using tunnels that penetrated into Israel in several other cases. Israel has built since an underground facility to block those tunnels nonetheless. This is a major concern for Israel is it is trying to get to the heads of Hamas to eliminate the threat of these tunnels. One of the ideas that has been floated for quite a while was the idea of pumping sea water into these tunnels to dismantle them. And indeed yesterday, US President Joe Biden has basically confirmed those reports by saying that there are assertions being made that there's no hostages in any of these tunnels, but I don't know that as a fact, referring to the fact that this is indeed happening also a US official has told CNN that Israel indeed has begun to carefully test out flooding some of the Hamas Gaza tunnels with sea water on a limited basis to see if it will work to degrade them on a larger scale. This is a process that will take quite a long time. Nonetheless, if this turns out to be successful, it's a major achievement for Israel as obviously these tunnels are major threat as we also spoke about with the previous incident where those soldiers were killed yesterday. The idea is still checking whether there was a tunnel shaft in that building from which those terrorists came out of. If Israel is able to eliminate that threat, obviously the Hamas terrorists will have to make their way out of the tunnels being exposed to the Israeli troops. That would be a big advantage for Israel in this ground operation to eliminate the tunnels. It will be very, very interesting to see how that works, both in terms of the technicality of pumping those water and how they flood the tunnels and the impact that this has on the ground operation. Now, there were just sirens heard in the south once more and with us still is Moshe. We've heard guy here in studios speak about the tunnels and about the attempt to or the report that there is an attempt to flood them with sea water. We also know that the fighting is intensifying on the ground in southern Gaza and Hanunas and Jabalia and Sahaja'iyah in the last few days. What is the next step here? Well, Siobhan, the morning, we are at war. And at war, you cannot anticipate your exit point exactly. You may anticipate that it will take probably one more man, maybe more than that. However, I'll tell you this strategic plan that the IDF has informed us. First of all, we have to conquer all the street. It means coming up to Hanunas, conquering and controlling Hanunas. I'm not sure about Afiya because it's too close to Egypt, but definitely about Hanunas. This will take probably another month. Then we'll have to go for another phase, so-called the cleansing and the demilitarization, demilitarization of the street means going to every tunnel, going to every place in which Hamas is having his factories of rockets and, of course, arresting the rest of the terrorists that are still there that haven't been arrested yet. And we'll have definitely to find a way how to do that with a minimal loss of people because we are in trouble definitely now in losing people. It shows you how hard it is, how vicious are those events and how difficult is war in this area, which is highly dense with people. And it's never been easy, especially not today. Now, what is the method to navigate in such a populated, dense area, as you mentioned? You have to be very careful when you are fighting in this public type of area to put a line, which is very difficult, between innocent people and the terrorists. We know exactly that terrorists are hiding all the time, all the time. They have no special centers. They're hiding and shooting and launching their rockets from houses, from residential houses inside. So then you find kids and you may kill them and you may kill innocent people like women and old people. And this would probably bring Israel to a place that we never ask to be there, to find us on most media accused as cleansing the area or going to emigrate people from Gaza or killing just killing people. And this is not true because everybody knows that we are looking to uproot the terrorists from Gaza, not innocent people. But when you fight, this is what you get. And that is an extremely complicated mission, Guy. Yes, that same question was addressed yesterday to the IDF spokesman following that comment from US President Joe Biden yesterday saying that Israel is losing global support due to its, as he said, its so-called indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. Well, the IDF spokesman, Daniel Higari, had an answer to that, saying we hold close contact with the Americans and we operate in such a manner that does our best to operate, to separate the civilians who are not involved in terror from the terrorists. Maybe let's take a listen to what he had to say. We are conducting, engaging in close cooperation with the U.S., nearly daily conversation, including the commander of SENTCOM and the IDF chief of staff here with all the American officials, these conversations with all the top officials, including those who arrived here and will be arriving here in Israel in the near future. And these conversations are crucial because all of us are facing those threats in the Middle East. We are seeing what is happening with the Houthi activity, orchestrated or guided by Iran. We're seeing the activity of Iran elsewhere in Iraq and Syria. We're seeing the activity of Hezbollah, this regional discussion. This course we must conduct with our closest ally, the U.S. Yes, so obviously the American support for the Israeli ground operation is extremely important in various dimensions, of course. And Biden made that comment. Obviously, there is an issue of world support, and that operation does have its costs, as we see, both in the lives of Israeli soldiers and, of course, in the civilian toll, unfortunately, although we know that at least half of the casualties in Gaza are Hamas operatives. The IDF does not target civilians. And Israel makes it very clear that it is in close contact with Sankam, with American officials, about its operation, separating the civilians from the terrorists. Obviously, that is extremely difficult when you're dealing with such dense areas of population and terrorists. Having said that, Israel has informed the civilians to leave the northern parts of the Gaza Strip many weeks ago. It allowed them a safe passage, a humanitarian corridor into the southern part of the Gaza Strip into areas where Israel is not striking like the area of the Muassi and areas in Rafah. These are areas where it is safe for civilians to be in. And right now, where Israel is operating in such a close contact with the Hamas terrorists in the neighborhoods of Sajaya and other areas, obviously, there are, unfortunately, civilian casualties there. This is not the aim of the IDF. Quite the opposite, Israel both doesn't wish to harm civilians and also knows very well what are the international ramifications of doing so. Now, Moshe, what about the timeline for the fighting in face of the American pressure? Let me make a quick remark on that because it's very important. Look, America and Israel are closest friends. America is supporting Israel to sustain the war. However, America has political pressures from inside and outside. The red lights are flashing in every single Arab capital. So in Israel, it is not about political pressure, but about existence, the state, the ability to stay here and to deter your enemies. So this is what we have to explain and even not accept America's warnings and America's demands. We are in a real war, and at stake is our ability to deter our neighbors, our friends. Everybody is watching from Hezbollah to Iran and to Syria. And the end, the way we end the war in Gaza will definitely affect the entire area, beginning with Germany. Now, what about the timeline for the fighting? We're seeing a lot of American pressure. Does Israel have the time to accomplish these military goals? I guess if we will be able to get more, let's say, two months, just to make sure that we control the entire area that we'll be able to see if we can bring the hostages back and probably to put a hand on the terrorist, the major terrorist, this will be fine another month, another month and a half, probably two months will be great. But then we'll have to think how we finish the war, which means to make sure that nothing remains there that will remind us Hamas. No people, neither, you know, armament. We have to disarm this area, and this will take a lot. I mean, it will be probably together with some more countries that will like to maybe to accept our invitation to come and help us. That will be great. But first of all, we have to take Hamas out of the Gaza Strip. Now the U.S. is pressing Israel to open the Kerem Shalom crossing. What do we know about that, Hosea? Well, you know, this is a crossing that usually was open to the benefit of the people, you know? The people benefited from this because it was easy when they got all those merchandisers and everything that came from Israel. I understand what the Americans are looking to them. They would like to be very humane in this area, help the people that are innocent. And this is definitely understandable. However, you cannot do that while you are fighting. And I guess the Americans know this exactly. They had it in past wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq. You cannot do that now. If we'll open now, like, you know, it's kind of normalization. And we should sign to our enemies that we are back in normalization. People will start asking to go to work in Israel next day. And this is definitely something we'll have to stand, you know, on it and say no. Here, this is something that we are insisting on keeping it still closed. Just one word about the so-called American pressure. We heard several reports about the Americans demanding or asking Israel to end the fighting by the end of December or by the beginning of January. But when we hear those American officials with their own voices, including President Joe Biden this week, they are very clear the war ends when Israel eliminates Hamas. I think there is a very strong understanding between Israel and the U.S. about the need to do so and what it takes in order to do so. Obviously, there are many disagreements between the Americans and the Israeli government about what to do with Gaza the day after. Obviously, that is a very hot topic in the discussions. Obviously, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he would not allow Gaza to, again, become Fatahistan, the way he refers to it. Obviously, Fatah is the party that rules the Palestinian Authority. He has no interest in that, obviously, also Palestinian Authority that pays salaries to terrorists who kill Israelis. Obviously, there is a major problem there and not to speak about the incitement, et cetera, et cetera. Israel does not want the same Palestinian Authority to be in control of the Gaza Strip. The Americans have their differences. But when it comes to eliminating Hamas militarily, I think both Washington and Jerusalem do see eye to eye. And we did hear Netanyahu admit in a statement that there are some differences of opinions. Of course. Of course, this is what he was referring to the day after and not when it comes to the goal of eliminating Hamas. Obviously, there can be differences also about how it is done in terms of the extensive bombing, yes or no. Nonetheless, this is all the difference that we can talk about. Gaya Zriel and Dr. Moshe Elad, thank you very much for joining us here. That's all for this edition of I-24 News. We have rolling coverage providing you with the latest from Israel. We'll be back at the top of the hour for more news and updates. I'm Sivan Raveev. Thank you for watching. In a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. 24 Israel, bajo ataque. News 24 en español trae el análisis y la información de los acontecimientos de la guerra, espadas de hierro. Entrevistas exclusivas reportes desde la zona de guerra, la reacción de los países hispanoparlantes. News 24, el único medio en español que te mantiene informado y conectado con la comunidad latina en Israel. News 24, únicamente en I-24 News. Welcome to I-24 News. I'm Sivan Raveev and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Today's Day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas. The IDF continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza with a new report suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas's underground terror tunnel system in Gaza. A move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of past passages and driving its operatives above ground. Sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip. The IDF announced the names of eight more soldiers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday, bringing the death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 113. Lieutenant Colonel Toner Greenberg, the commander of the Goulani Brigades, 13th Battalion. Major Rui Maldassie, a company commander in the Goulani Brigades, 13th Battalion. Major Moshe Avram Baron, a company commander in the Goulani Brigades, 51st Battalion. Sergeant Achia Descal, a soldier in the Goulani Brigades, 51st Battalion. Captain Liel Chayo, a platoon commander in the Goulani Brigades, 51st Battalion. Major Ben Shelly, a company commander in the Israeli Air Force's elite helicopter-born search and rescue unit 669. Sergeant First Class Ram Hecht, a soldier in unit 669. Staff Sergeant Orya Yakov, a soldier in the Combat Engineering Corps, 614th Battalion. The IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded. The IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages, 28-year-old civilian Edin Zaharia, who was captured by Hamas on October 7th when attending the Nova Music Festival. And 36-year-old IDF warrant officer Ziv Dado, who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. 153 members were in favor, 10 against, including the United States, and 23 abstained. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas offices in Gaza, saying that if the United Nations wanted a real ceasefire, they should call Hamas. Take a listen. But you know what? I have an idea. If you want a real ceasefire, here is the right address. This is the phone number of Hamas' office in Gaza. You can all call plus 970-599-3765 and ask for Ichya Sinwall. Tell Hamas to put down their arms, turn themselves in and return our hostages. This will bring a complete ceasefire that will last forever. And joining us now in Israel's northern borders are I-24 News correspondent Zach Anders. Zach, what is the latest update on the northern border? Last night, there were three strikes originating in Syria. The IDF says this morning that they struck the sources of fire and that they belonged to the Syrian army. This was a major development in the overnight hours. We were not entirely sure who exactly was responsible. Of course, we had been covering the fact that Hezbollah has been operating in southern Syria for at least the last several days when the IDF struck Hezbollah's bell operating in southern Syria. This is a major piece of news. Yesterday's launch from Syria was three separate apparent heavy rockets. Two of them fell inside Syrian territory. And the third bell the IDF said in an open area, so potentially could have fallen in northern Israel. That is yet to be confirmed, but a major development there in Syria. Now, Hezbollah said this week that they marked 100 losses on their end, but they do keep on fighting. It is somewhat remarkable to see Hezbollah be forthcoming with the numbers at this point in the state because they are far greater losses than what the Israelis have suffered here in the north. And they could be even greater. These are Hezbollah's own numbers and they haven't been independently investigated by watchdogs in the United Nations. So it is a severe state of their forces in the south, but then again, they have the strength of upwards of 80,000 plus soldiers that can be deployed or are at their disposal. So in the numbers game, this is significant in Lebanon, in southern Lebanon, for of course the families and the many people that are affected by this. The number of feral's that have been held in Lebanon over the last several weeks are sometimes a steady constant stream and they garner a lot of attention on social media, which keeps a lot of people in Lebanon aware of what's happening and understanding that this is a serious conflict for them as well. Zach Anders, thank you very much. Joining us now is Colonel and Reserves Dr. Moshe Elad, former coordinator to Palestinian Authority on Security Issues at the IDF and a lecturer at the Western Gallery Academic College and also with us here in studio is Gai Azriel, our I-24 News Senior Editor. Gai, I'll start with you. We're hearing of eight more soldiers announced dead last night in the ground operation and what do we know about this? It's a painful reminder of the heavy battles that are going on across the Gaza Strip. Israel knew very well when it entered this war, obviously forced, this war forced upon it with the Hamas onslaught that it is not going to be easy as the IDF troops are making their way through very difficult terrain in neighborhoods that are Hamas strongholds in many cases with tunnels and terrorists that are waiting for the Israeli troops in this case were seven of these troops have lost their lives that was in the neighborhood of Sajaiah in the Kasbah there that is the sort of fortified area in that neighborhood of Gaza City as the IDF continues to operate to eliminate Hamas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Well, that is the last major stronghold of Hamas. Yesterday, Ghulani Brigade who was operating there has located a suspicious building where fire was fired, shots were fired at the troops who advanced towards that area. Explosives have detonated causing several injuries and fatalities already back then. The force then made its way into the structure itself. More explosions took place. The Israeli Shesh Shesh Tasha 669 unit that's the rescue Air Force unit has attempted to rescue some of these troops. Two of the rescuers also lost their lives in that incident multiple explosions of detonations of explosives that were waiting for the Israeli troops obviously in a very complicated terrain and the results in this case were very sad seven troops lost their lives. Several others also seriously wounded. All the terrorists were eliminated in this case and nonetheless a very painful result for the IDF in another incident and Israeli soldier was killed also in the northern part of the Gaza Strip yesterday. And unfortunately we have to start the morning with these sad news of eight Israeli troops killed in one day, seven of them in one incident. Indeed, a whole lot of losses for the IDF. Now joining us on Israel's southern border by Kibbutz Bayre is our I-24 news correspondent Pierre Kloschendler. Here we heard the sirens in the southern communities earlier. What can you tell us about this? There was just a siren on a Kibbutz that has been evacuated after the October 7 massacre further south at around 20 kilometers from where we are and we don't have any reports of casualties or damage. And now the fighting in southern Gaza continues. What can you tell us about the ground operation at the moment? Well, we hear a lot of intense artillery fire at some targets south of Gaza city probably on the Salahadin axis which is being fought for in that particular sector. The Salahadin axis that crosses the northern Gaza Strip to the southern Gaza Strip east of Gaza city has been used for the non-involved northern population of Gaza as a humanitarian axis in previous weeks. But now that section of the Salahadin axis which leads to Hanyunas is the focus of heavy fighting and we hear a lot of artillery shells outgoing, missiles outgoing from the artillery. And behind me, you can see it without a naked eye. Behind me is more or less the sector of the Al-Azhar University which was already invested by the Israeli troops a week or two ago. But the axis itself is the focus of fighting as well as in the central refugee camps of Direl Balagh, El Borej, Nusserat. And inside Hanyunas, the offensive is deepening. Outside Hanyunas, the city is completely encircled and on the eastern outskirts of Hanyunas the IDF is announcing that it has almost full operational control over the communities of Abbasan, Bani Suheila. But we're not there yet completely. Here, Kulash Endler in Israel's southern border. Thank you very much. And back in studio with me is guys, Riam. Guy, we are also hearing, as I said before, that there's now a report about the IDF starting to pump water, seawater into tunnels, into the tunnel infrastructure, the terror infrastructure that Hamas is using underground. What do we know about that? Yes, obviously the tunnels were the main operational target of the IDF in this war. We're talking about tunnel infrastructure of hundreds of kilometers underground. The Hamas group has invested billions of dollars into these tunnels that pose a major risk, obviously for the Israeli troops that are in there. And Hamas has also been very well known for using tunnels that penetrated into Israel in several other cases. Israel has built since an underground facility to block those tunnels. Nonetheless, this is a major concern for Israel. It is trying to get to the heads of Hamas to eliminate the threat of these tunnels. One of the ideas that has been floated for quite a while was the idea of pumping seawater into these tunnels to dismantle them. And indeed, yesterday, US President Joe Biden has basically confirmed those reports by saying that there are assertions being made that there's no hostages in any of these tunnels. But I don't know that as a fact, referring to the fact that this is indeed happening. Also, a US official has told CNN that Israel indeed has begun to carefully test out flooding some of the Hamas Gaza tunnels with seawater on a limited basis to see if it will work to degrade them on a larger scale. This is a process that will take quite a long time. Nonetheless, if this turns out to be successful, it's a major achievement for Israel as obviously these tunnels are a major threat, as we also spoke about with the previous incident where those soldiers were killed yesterday. The idea is still checking whether there was a tunnel shaft in that building from which those terrorists came out of. If Israel is able to eliminate that threat, obviously the Hamas terrorists will have to make their way out of the tunnels being exposed to the Israeli troops that would be a big advantage for Israel in this ground operation to eliminate the tunnels. It will be very, very interesting to see how that works both in terms of the technicality of pumping those water and how they flood the tunnels and the impact that this has on the ground operation. Now there were just sirens heard in the south once more and with us still is Moshe El Ad Moshe. We've heard guy here in studio speak about the tunnels and about the attempt to, or the report that there is an attempt to flood them with seawater. We also know that the fighting is intensifying on the ground in Southern Gaza and Hanyunas and Jabalia and Saja'iyah in the last few days. What is the next step here? Well, Siobhan, the morning, we are at war. And at war you cannot anticipate your exit point exactly. You may anticipate that it will take probably one more man, maybe more than that. However, I'll tell you this strategic plan that the IDF has enfolded us. First of all, we have to conquer all the street. It's coming up to Hanyunas, conquering and controlling Hanyunas. I'm not sure about Afiyah because it's too close to Egypt but definitely about Hanyunas. This will take probably another month. Then we'll have to go for another phase, so-called the cleansing and the demilitarization, demilitarization of the street. Means going to every tunnel, going to every place in which Hamas is having is factories of rockets and of course arresting the rest of the, there are still dead, they haven't been arrested yet. And we'll have definitely to find a way how to do that with a minimum loss of people because we are in trouble definitely now in losing people. It shows you how hard it is, how vicious are those events and how difficult is war in this area, which is highly dense with people and it's never been easy, especially not today. Now, what is the method to navigate in such a populated dense area, as you mentioned? You have to be very careful when you are fighting in this type of area to put a line which is very difficult between innocent people and the terrorists. We know exactly that terrorists are hiding all the time, all the time, they have no special centers. They're hiding and shooting and launching their rockets from houses, from residents, residential houses inside. So then you find kids and you may kill them and you may kill innocent people like women and old people and this would probably bring Israel to a place that we never asked to be there, to find us on most media accused as cleansing the area or going to emigrate people from Gaza or killing, just killing people. And this is not true because everybody knows that we are looking to uproot the terrorists from Gaza, not innocent people, but when you fight, this is what you get. And that is an extremely complicated mission, Guy. Yes, that same question was addressed yesterday to the IAF spokesman following that comment from US President Joe Biden yesterday, saying that Israel is losing global support due to its, as he said it, the so-called indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. Well, the IDF spokesman, Daniel Higari, had an answer to that saying we hold close contact with the Americans and we operate in such a manner that does our best to operate, to separate the civilians who are not involved in terror from the terrorists. Maybe let's take a listen to what he had to say. We are conducting, engaging in close cooperation with the US, nearly daily conversation, including the commander of SENTCOM and the IDF chief of staff here, with all the American officials, these conversations with all the top officials, including those who arrived here and will be arriving here in Israel in the near future. And these conversations are crucial because all of us are facing those threats in the Middle East. We are seeing what is happening with the Houthi activity orchestrated or guided by Iran. We're seeing the activity of Iran elsewhere in Iraq and Syria. We're seeing the activity of Hezbollah. This regional discussion discourse, we must conduct with our closest ally, the US. Yes, so obviously the American support for the Israeli ground operation is extremely important in various dimensions, of course. And Biden made that comment. Obviously there is an issue of world support and that operation does have its costs, as we see both in the lives of Israeli soldiers and of course in the civilian toll, unfortunately, although we know that at least half of the casualties in Gaza are Hamas operatives. The IDF does not target civilians and Israel makes it very clear that it is in close contact with Sancom, with American officials about its operation, separating the civilians from the terrorists. Obviously that is extremely difficult when you're dealing with such dense areas of population and terrorists. Having said that, Israel has informed the civilians to leave the northern parts of the Gaza Strip. Many weeks ago it allowed them a safe passage, a humanitarian corridor into the southern part of the Gaza Strip into areas where Israel is not striking, like the area of the Muassi and areas in Rafah. These are areas where it is safe for civilians to be in and right now where Israel is operating in such a close contact with the Hamas terrorists in the neighborhoods of Sajaiyah and other areas. Obviously there are, unfortunately, civilian casualties there. This is not the aim of the IDF. Quite the opposite, Israel both doesn't wish to harm civilians and also knows very well what are the international ramifications of doing so. Now Moshe, what about the timeline for the fighting in face of the American pressure? Let me make a quick remark on that because it's very important. Look, America and Israel are closest friends as America is supporting Israel to sustain the war. However, America has political pressures from inside and outside. You know, the lights, the red lights are flashing in every single Arab capital. So in Israel it is not about political pressure, but about existence. The state, the ability to stay here and to deter your enemies. So this is what we have to explain and even not, you know, accept America's warnings and America's, you know, demands. We are in a real war and at stake is our ability to deter our neighbors, our friends. Everybody is watching from Hezbollah to Iran and to Syria. And the end, the way we end the war in Gaza will definitely affect the entire area beginning with Lebanon. Now what about the timeline for the fighting? We're seeing a lot of American pressure. Does Israel have the time to accomplish these military goals? I guess if we will be able to get more, let's say two months, you know, just to make sure that we control the entire area and we'll be able to see if we can bring the hostages back and probably to put a hand on the terrorists, the major terrorists. This would be fine. Another month, another month and a half, probably two months, will be great. But then we'll have to think how we do the, we finish the war, the work, which means we'll make sure that nothing remained there that will remind us Hamas. No people, neither, you know, armament. We have to disarm this area. And this will take a lot. I mean, it will be probably together with some more countries that will like to, maybe to accept our invitation to come and help us. That will be great. But first of all, we have to take Hamas out of the Gaza Strip. Now the U.S. is pressing Israel to open the Kerem Shalom crossing. What do we know about that? We'll say. Well, you know, this is a crossing that usually was open to the benefit of the people, you know? The people benefited from this because it was easy when they got all those merchandisers and everything that came from Israel. I understand what the Americans are looking to do. They would like to be very humane in this area. They'll do people that are innocent. And this is definitely understandable. However, you cannot do that while you are fighting. And I guess the American knows it, knows this exactly. They had it in past wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq. You cannot do that now. If we'll open now the, like, you know, it's kind of normalization. And we shouldn't sign to our enemies that we are backing the organization. People will start asking to go to work in Israel next day. And this is definitely something we'll have to stand, you know, on it and say no. Here, this is something that we are insisting on keeping it still closed. Guy. Just one word about the so-called American pressure. We heard several reports about the Americans demanding or asking Israel to end the fighting by the end of December or by the beginning of January. But when we hear those American officials with their own voices, including President Joe Biden, this week, they are very clear the war ends when Israel eliminates Hamas. I think there is a very strong understanding between Israel and the US about the need to do so and what it takes in order to do so. Obviously, there are many disagreements between the Americans and the Israeli government about what to do with Gaza the day after. Obviously, that is a very hot topic in the discussions. Obviously, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he would not allow Gaza to, again, become fatahstan, the way he refers to it. Obviously, fatah is the party that rules the Palestinian Authority. There's no interest in that, obviously, also Palestinian Authority that pays salaries to terrorists who kill Israelis. Obviously, there is a major problem there. And not to speak about the incitement, et cetera, et cetera. Israel does not want the same Palestinian Authority to be in control of the Gaza Strip. The Americans have their differences. But when it comes to eliminating Hamas militarily, I think both Washington and Jerusalem do see eye to eye. And we did hear Netanyahu admit in a statement that there are some differences of opinions. Of course. Of course. This is what he was referring to the day after, and not when it comes to the goal of eliminating Hamas. Obviously, there can be differences also about how it is done in terms of the extensive bombing. Yes or no? Nonetheless, this is all the difference that we can talk about. Gaya Zriel and Dr. Moshe Elad, thank you very much for joining us here. That's all for this edition of I-24 News. We have rolling coverage providing you with the latest from Israel. We'll be back at the top of the hour for more news and updates. I'm Sivan Raveev. Thank you for watching. There are phrases that you know from where they come from. Look here. And the package for when. And loads that you already know where they go. On international loads, Altis, your people in R&D, access our website, loads.altis.com.b or select loads and type the number you want to place the load. In addition, they receive the double balance in loads of $8 or more. Altis, the global network of the Dominicans, is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines. But the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Come to I-24 News. I'm Sivan Raveev. And these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Today is day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas. The IDF continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza with a new report suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas' underground terror tunnel system in Gaza. A move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of passages and driving its operatives above ground. Sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip. The IDF announced the names of eight more soldiers killed and fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday, bringing the death toll on the ground offensive against Hamas to 113. Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg, Major Roy Mildasi, Major Moshe Avram Baron, Sergeant Achia Descal, Captain Liel Chayo, Major Ben Shelley, Sergeant First Class, Romhecht, Staff Sergeant Orya Yakov. The IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded. The IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages, 28-year-old civilian Edin Zakharya, who was captured by Hamas on October 7th when attending the Nova Music Festival. And 36-year-old IDF-worn officer Ziv Dado, who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. 153 members were in favor, 10 against, including the United States, and 23 abstained. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gila Derdan, held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas offices in Gaza, saying that if the United Nations wanted a real ceasefire, they should call Hamas. Take a listen. But you know what? I have an idea. If you want a real ceasefire, here is the right address. This is the phone number of Hamas' office in Gaza. You can all call plus 970-599-3765 and ask for Ichi-e-Sinwall. Tell Hamas to put down their arms, turn themselves in and return our hostages. This will bring a complete ceasefire that will last forever. And joining us now on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler. Pierre, we heard sirens in the southern communities earlier. What can you tell us about this? Well, there were two events of rocket launching toward the city of Sderot, which is a bit up north. What we know about the second salvo is that there were two interceptions, four rockets, one fell on an open field, and there's no reports of casualties, no damage. That's from the municipality of Sderot. And earlier on, just a few moments ago also, there was rocket fire in the communities that have been largely evacuated after the October 7 massacre facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip. And I think that this is more mortar fire than rocket fire. And mortar cannot be intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system. And yet, because these are staging grounds for the Israeli forces operating inside the Gaza Strip, it's obvious that the Hamas terror organization is trying to hit at those staging grounds. Now the fighting in southern Gaza continues. Can you tell us about the latest developments from the ground operation? We hear more than what we see right now. There's a lot of outgoing artillery shelling towards position in the Shejaya quarter where the eight soldiers were killed yesterday afternoon. And it's in this direction. And we saw some plumes of smoke earlier when the weather was a bit clear. But there is also intense fighting on the Salahadin axis in that particular sector. The Salahadin axis crosses the Gaza Strip from north to south, east of Gaza City. It's under full control in the northern part of Gaza City, but not in the southern part. And that leads to Hanunez and obviously they're intense fighting there. Pierre Kloschendler, thank you very much on Israel Southern border. Joining us now in studio is Rafael Hirushalmi, former senior intelligence officer at the IDF and security analyst. And also with us in studio is Gays Riel, our I-24 News senior editor. Thank you both for joining. Rafael, we now see the two hostages were found dead yesterday. It was announced their names. They were found dead in a tunnel in an operation. Same operation in which we know that Galmeir Eisenkott and Eyalmeir Berkowitz died in that operation. What do we know about this? We know that the tradition in Israel and the IDF is to try and save any soul that we can, even if it's risking the lives of our fighters. In this particular case, we are speaking of corpses of people who were dead, but we still do the job. It's a very dangerous, difficult mission task. And maybe here the price is a little too high compared to what could have been achieved. We see from the eight people who were killed, first of all, that the commander is always in the front in the IDF. That's why the commander of the battalion was killed. We see that they come from all over the place in Israel, that it is really the army of the people because these eight different soldiers are from all the walks of life in Israel. And we also see that even though we are controlling an area, it doesn't mean there is no danger left in that area, whether it's booby trap, whether it's the last snipers and ambushed terrorists. So that even in Zajaya, but even in Jebalah, we can still face, especially from the tunnels, this kind of danger. Once we sink, that we are in control. So this means, as we know very well, that after the main assault, the main offensive, even in Hanyunas, the Jebalah in Rafa, everywhere, it will take a long, long time to clean up the area so that they're really, really secure. And there will be a danger for our troops for a long, long time, including not fighting danger because the booby traps will still be there even if there are no fighters of the Hamas around. And that's what happened last night with the fear last night, which is a very big fear. And it's the wet dream, if I may call it that, of the Hamas of kidnapping an officer or a soldier of the IDF. Now you're asking. It's very important to stress that when we speak first about the first incident about retrieving those bodies, well, we're speaking about one of them, Edan Zaharyah, a female civilian. She was captured alive by Hamas terrorists at the music festival. And she was murdered at the hands of Hamas even after she was taken captive. She spoke on the phone to her father as the terrorists got hold of her. So we know she was taken alive, just another one of the Hamas atrocities, murdering innocent civilians captured in their hands. And in this case, very sadly, the IDF found that she was no longer alive. But obviously, the goal of the operation, one of the two main goals of the operation is to bring back the Israeli hostages. Unfortunately, many of them also lose their lives while in captivity in Hamas's hands. And of course, no Red Cross has visited the Israeli captives. And this is what happens, even if they're injured. Obviously, no one that takes care of them. As for the incident last night, very miserable incident in which seven Israeli soldiers were killed, as Rafael as I mentioned here, there was fear that the four of the initial troops that entered that compound, once no contact was made with them, there was fear that Hamas may have managed to capture them dead or alive. And after that was made clear, more forces war been called in to surround the building. And then eventually, we did see more fatalities, both from the rescue unit of the Israeli Air Force, both from an explosive and from live fire. And eventually, also the loss of the commander of the 13th battalion of the Ghilani Brigade. So we're seeing two separate incidents, the incident of an operation trying to rescue hostages. Unfortunately, two hostages were found dead in that incident. And a loss of several soldiers in a separate incident in northern Gaza. The fighting is intensifying deep into southern Gaza, and we see in Hanina, Sinjabalia, and Saja'iyah, these are very populated areas. And soldiers, IDF soldiers, are bound to hit booby traps and things could get complicated very quickly. Yes, the problem is you cannot strike everything from the air or by artillery. You do need to have the boots on the ground. You do need to penetrate inside the buildings. We've seen we have to penetrate even inside hospitals, I can you imagine. And of course, we have the whole underground problem, the tunnels. All this requires, unfortunately, the presence of the infantry, of the engineer's corps. These people have to operate physically, manually on the ground. It would be much better if we could just bomb the whole place out of existence. But we can't. You also have the problem of the presence of the Gazan Palestinian civilians. Some of them innocent, it's not all of them. Let's make sure it's once and for all. They are civilians, and they are innocent civilians. A lot of civilians are not innocent at all. In Gaza, they are civil servants of the Hamas. They are white-collar terrorists. They are people like the director of the Shiva Hospital who are working for the Hamas. So they're not innocent even though they are civilians. But still, there are people who are innocent civilians. So that complicates the matter even furthermore. And I think that it's very important to know that everything is documented. Every soldier has a camera on his helmet or on his chest. Every mortar that is shot, there is the time at which time it was shot. From where it was shot, where it landed, what damage it caused. Everything is documented, like the IDF spokesman said yesterday, answering the Biden administration and Joe Biden himself, we can show, we can prove to the world that we've done what we've done, how we've operated, and that we're operated in a legal and moral way. And unfortunately, I do have to update it. We have another fatality. And IDF colonel, it's Huck Ben-Bashat, also pronounced dead in that exact battle last night in the Gaza Strip. Thank you for that update. We'll be back to discussing here in studio. But joining us now on Israel's northern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Zach Anders. Zach, we're hearing of three rockets launched from Syria into Israel last night. What do we know about this? And we're seeing that two of those fell inside Syria with a third the IDF saying fell in open area. We are not entirely sure if this means that it did reach Israel, or if this projectile rocket, something else happened to it along the way. But two of those falling inside Syrian territory, the point of origin from where it was launched is still undetermined, at least unreleased information from the IDF. This question now being, was that in southern Syria, was it close to Israeli territory when it was launched, or was this much further inside the country? The IDF says that they struck positions of the Syrian army. That is a significant development here, because we know the factions such as Hezbollah operate in southern Syria and have the equipment, the means to fire on Israel from Syrian territory. But if it's the Syrian armed forces under Assad that are taking out actions against Israel, this is a significant escalation. Now Israel wants to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River. Tell us more about that. And this ties back to UNSC 1701. This is a security council vote over 10 years old after the 2006 Lebanon War. The international recognized agreement here is that Hezbollah would not operate between the Litani River and the southern border of Lebanon. That creates about a 30 mile buffer. Now that doesn't mean that militants for other soldiers wouldn't be in the area providing security situation in southern Lebanon. The LAF, Lebanon Armed Forces, would still be allowed to operate per this agreement, but it's specific to Hezbollah. Hezbollah would need to be north of this river, which is something that has not been abided by for a decade plus of this internationally recognized security council vote. So for the IDF, it seems like a clear goal to have Hezbollah push north of this river, either militarily or with the international pressure applied to make them abide by this agreement. Zach Anders, thank you very much. Now back in studio with me, Gai Azriel and Rafael Hirushalmi. Rafael, we are seeing pressure from the Americans, from the world in fact. And what does that say in terms of our timeline for the fighting? Do we have pressure to finish up in a matter of weeks like they say in a month? I think we're gonna have to resist the pressure and that's it, because right now with all due respect to Joe Biden and his administration and their support, they are sending the wrong signals to the enemy. The restraints that they are demanding, we have exerted from the start. I don't see the point of reminding us every five minutes not to escalate, to be careful collateral damage. I mean, we're doing it, we're doing the job. And this is very bad because psychologically the enemy interprets this as a weakness, as like a shyness to operate on the ground. I mean, American soldiers' interests were hit in Syria, in Iraq. And the Americans are not really fighting back. This is not right. In the Red Sea, the Houthis are actually threatening the world economy and maritime trade with not much action from the international community and the American fleet that present there in the Red Sea. So I think by now we have to make our own choices. Whatever is being said from Washington or anywhere else, it's what's being said in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that has to decide it's our country, our security, our citizens. If people don't want to come to the rescue, then we'll fight alone. It will be in the end. They will pay the price just as much as we do. Because if you look at the map today, you have to be blind not to see what is happening. What is happening? You cannot separate Houthis from Hezbollah, from Hamas, from the Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, from Tehran. You can't separate it. This is one thing, one huge monster, one axis of evil that's building up a united front of these extremist, Islamist organizations. So this huge machine of terror has to be fought on a global way. And the only thing we can say now is that where are the American troops, not in fighting with us, even in Gaza? Where are the French and the British troops? They should be fighting this fight with us, because it's not just the Hamas in Gaza now. That's the way past, 7th of October might be an Israeli problem. But now we're on a much huge problem. It's the whole Middle East could go collapse into chaos. And the world economy is threatened. So what are they talking about in Washington? They don't read the map. They don't see the same thing as the Israelis didn't see what was happening in the south of Israel and in Gaza. And they got surprised at the 7th of October. There will be a 7th of October for the world. Because they do not see the danger that's building up. And the Americans are worried about maybe the Russians, the Chinese will take over, have more influence in the Middle East. It's not that at all. It's just that the terror, the global terror, is gaining ground day after day. They see that they can allow themselves to be emboldened, because they can just try. They shoot missiles. They shoot rockets. They hijack ships in the Red Sea. I mean, what is this? This is a circus. And this is how the main power of the world is keeping order and safety for the world and for itself, for the United States of America themselves. They are completely in the wrong right now. They should have doubled their support for Israel. We sang them for their support. They have to do twice more. They have to give us more weapons, more money, more support. And they have to fight with us. Guy, what do you think? Yes, and I'm just adding to what Rafael said here. Well, the IDF spokesman, Danny Hagarri, was asked just about that yesterday in his daily briefing about that so-called indiscriminate bombing that President Joe Biden spoke about. And the response of Hagarri is that we are holding daily conversations with SENTCOM, with the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. Let's take a listen to what Hagarri had to say. We are. Conducting, engaging in close cooperation with the US, nearly daily conversation, including the commander of SENTCOM and the IDF Chief of Staff here. With all the American officials, these conversations with all the top officials, including those who arrived here and will be arriving here in Israel in the near future. And these conversations are crucial because all of us are facing those threats in the Middle East. We are seeing what is happening with the Houthi activity orchestrated or guided by Iran. We're seeing the activity of Iran elsewhere in Iraq and Syria. We're seeing the activity of Hezbollah. This regional discussion, this course, we must conduct with our closest ally in the US. And I think what we heard from Hagarri is even more chilling this morning after we hear of the death of eight Israeli soldiers and officers in that very sad incident in Sajaya. The IDF is not bombing indiscriminately. If it did so, it would have just bombed the entire neighborhood there. It risked the lives of those Israeli troops entering that building, working door to door, really risking their lives for this goal of eliminating Hamas and saving Israeli hostages, but also not indiscriminately hitting Gazan civilians. And we saw the very sad results of that, the fact that the IDF is being so careful. And we lost eight very precious Israeli soldiers and officers last night. I want to ask Rafael about what's happening in Jenin. We see that there's a lot of IDF activity now in Jenin. Can you tell me about that? Yes, it's an activity that's been going on for more than 24 hours. It's a very spectacular operation. It's, of course, with only speak of the north and the south. We tend to forget the importance of the work done by the central command of the IDF. They're doing a fantastic job. And last night was an entry into Jenin with a lot of vehicles and troops. And you have it all. You have a terrorist who are eliminated, terrorists who are captured, weapons that were captured, common centers that were found and destroyed, even tunnels. Because there are also tunnels in Jenin. This is like a fashion in the Palestinian terrorist world to dig tunnels. So we also found tunnels there. And this was a very, very daring operation. We don't have casualties. So this is amazing, very dangerous. And we've had, since the beginning of this war, arrested hundreds and hundreds of terrorists, a lot of them mostly from Hamas. From these terrorists, we gather a lot of information also to continue this operation of cleaning up the West Bank. And hopefully, we can also clean that up. And then the day after, we'll include West Bank and Gaza for a better situation. And that's Jenin in the West Bank. Thank you very much, Rafael Hiroshalmi and Gaia Azriel. Reintegrating into society after being in Hamas captivity in Gaza for 49 days is a challenge that should be handled gently. As the weeks after the release progress, the psychological condition and traumas of these hostages are becoming more evident. Members of the Aloni Cunio family, Danielle and Sharon, along with three-year-old twins, Emma and Yuli, and five-year-old Emilia, were released in November. And now their loved ones are speaking out on the daily struggles they face. Hannah Rifkin has more in this report. The weeks following the Aloni Cunio families released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip come with the slow revelation of trauma lingering in both sisters, Sharon and Danielle, as well as their young daughters. Alio, my baby. I told Emilia that we are going to see Auntie Sharon to welcome her back from captivity. And I noticed that she is slightly sort of thinking to herself. And after a few seconds, she asked, will we be walking through the tunnels? And then it's like a punch in the stomach. You understand that although the girl is handling herself pretty well, these fears still exist in her. Yes, I tell you, it's like a box of a betina. Just one small taste of hell, as recollections of the hostages include food scarcity, darkness, little to no medical assistance, and more. The fear they fight to shake is security. They were scared that Hamas could come and harm them here in Israel. And it took them, both Danielle and Sharon, some time until they were able to let go of this feeling that if they may say something to the media or say anything, Hamas will get them and kill them. Terrified as they were, they had to shield their young girls from what horrors they could. From what Danielle recounted, she invented stories to calm Amelia down. One day they were overground and they told them, we are now going underground. Amelia was frightened. Why? Where are they taking us? And Danielle was telling me that she invented a narrative that those were the good guys who took them underground so as not to cause them harm and to protect them. And Amelia calmed down, thinking it wasn't a bad thing. It reminded me of the film, Life is Beautiful, where they made up a narrative so that the boy would not realize the tragedy occurring in front of them. Sharon told her parents that she and the girls were together with her husband who is still in captivity for most of the time. And horrifying details of their kidnapping are now revealed. Emma was in Sharon's arms and they ripped her away. Sharon shouted and resisted. They pointed a gun at her and said, if you're not silent, we will shoot you. It was inside another hiding place inside a hospital. And there she suddenly hears a child crying and she says to her husband, this is Emma's cry. This ordeal of a little girl kept away from her mother for 10 days. It's an abuse of a mother's heart and trying to describe it would be beyond any imagination. It means killing a mother's soul. Despite a long path ahead, sisters Danielle and Sharon are doing everything they can to restore normalcy. That's all for this edition of I-24 News. We have rolling coverage providing you with the latest from Israel. We'll be back at the top of the hour for more news and updates. Be sure to follow us on our website, I-24News.tv and across our social media platforms. I'm Sivan Raveev. Thank you for watching. A state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. I-24 News, I'm Sivan Raveev and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Today is day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas. The IDF continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza with a new report suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas's underground terror tunnel system in Gaza, a move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of passages and driving its operatives above ground. Sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip. The IDF announced the names of eight more soldiers killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday, bringing the death toll on the ground offensive against Hamas to 113. Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg, Major Rui Meldassi, Major Moshe Avram Baron, Sergeant Achyad Askal, Captain Liel Chayo, Major Ben Shelley, Sergeant First Class, Romhecht, Staff Sergeant Orya Yakov. The IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded. The IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages, 28-year-old civilian Eddin Zakharia, who was captured by Hamas on October 7th when attending the Nova Music Festival, and 36-year-old IDF-worn officer Ziv Dado, who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. 153 members were in favor, 10 against, including the United States, and 23 abstained. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas offices in Gaza, saying that if the United Nations wanted a real ceasefire, they should call Hamas. Take a listen. But you know what? I have an idea. If you want a real ceasefire, here is the right address. This is the phone number of Hamas' office in Gaza. You can all call plus 970-599-3765. And ask for Iqya Sinwall. Tell Hamas to put down their arms, turn themselves in, and return our hostages. This will bring a complete ceasefire that will last forever. And joining us now on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler. Pierre, we heard sirens in the southern communities earlier. What can you tell us about this? Well, there were two events of rocket launching toward the city of Zderot, which is a bit up north. What we know about the second salvo is that there were four, two interceptions, four rockets, one fell on an open field, and there's no reports of casualties, no damage. That's from the municipality of Zderot. And earlier on, just a few moments ago also, there was rocket fire in the communities that have been largely evacuated after the October 7 massacre, facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip. And I think that this is more mortar fire than rocket fire, and mortar cannot be intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system. And yet, because these are staging grounds for the Israeli forces operating inside the Gaza Strip, it's obvious that the Hamas terror organization is trying to hit at those staging grounds. Now, the fighting in southern Gaza continues. Can you tell us about the latest developments from the ground operation? We hear more than what we see right now. There's a lot of outgoing artillery shelling towards position in the Shejaya quarter where the eight soldiers were killed yesterday afternoon, and it's in this direction. And we saw some plumes of smoke earlier when the weather was a bit clear. But there is also intense fighting on the Salahadin access in that particular sector. The Salahadin access crosses the Gaza Strip from north to south, east of Gaza City. It's under full control in the northern part of Gaza City, but not in the southern part. And that leads to Hanunas, and obviously they're intense fighting there. Pierre Kloschendler, thank you very much on Israel Southern border. Joining us now in studio is Rafael Yerushalmi, former senior intelligence officer at the IDF and security analyst, and also with us in studio is Gai Israel, our I-24 News senior editor. Thank you both for joining. Rafael, we now see that two hostages were found dead yesterday. It was announced their names. They were found dead in a tunnel in an operation, same operation in which we know that Galmeir Eisencote and Eyalmeir Berkowitz died in that operation. What do we know about this? We know that the tradition in Israel and the IDF is to try and save any soul that we can, even if it's risking the lives of our fighters. In this particular case, we are speaking of corpses of people who were dead, but we still do the job. It's a very dangerous, difficult mission task, and maybe here the price is a little too high compared to what could have been achieved. We see from the eight people who were killed, first of all, that the commander is always in the front in the IDF. That's why the commander of the battalion was killed. We see that they come from all over the place in Israel, that it is really the army of the people, because these eight different soldiers are from all the walks of life in Israel. And we also see that even though we are controlling an area, it doesn't mean there is no danger left in that area, whether it's booby trap, whether it's the last snipers and ambushed terrorists, so that even in Zajaya, but even in Jebalia, we can still face, especially from the tunnels, this kind of danger. And once we think that we are in control, so this means, as we know very well, that after the main assault, the main offensive, even in Chanyunas, the El Balach, in Rafa, everywhere, it will take a long, long time to clean up the area so that they are really, really secure, and there will be a danger for our troops for a long, long time, including not fighting danger, because so the booby traps will still be there, even if there are no fighters of the Hamas around, and that's what happened last night with the fear last night, which is a very big fear, and it's the wet dream, if I may call it that, of the Hamas of kidnapping an officer or a soldier of the IDF. Now you're... It's very important to stress that when we speak first about the first incident about retrieving those bodies, well, we're speaking about one of them, Edna Zaharia, a female civilian. She was captured alive by Hamas terrorists at the music festival, and she was murdered at the hands of Hamas, even after she was taken captive. She spoke on the phone to her father as the terrorists got hold of her, so we know she was taken alive, just another one of the Hamas atrocities, murdering innocent civilians captured in their hands, and in this case, very sadly, the IDF found that she was no longer alive, but obviously the goal of the operation, one of the two main goals of the operation is to bring back the Israeli hostages. Unfortunately, many of them also lose their lives while in captivity in Hamas's hands, and of course, no Red Cross has visited the Israeli captives, and this is what happens, even if they're injured, obviously, no one that takes care of them. As for the incident last night, very miserable incident in which seven Israeli soldiers were killed, as Rafael mentioned here, there was fear that the four of the initial troops that entered that compound, once no contact was made with them, there was fear that Hamas may have managed to capture them dead or alive, and after that, it was made clear more forces were being called in to surround the building, and then eventually we did see more fatalities both from the rescue unit of the Israeli Air Force, both from an explosive and from live fire, and eventually also the loss of the commander of the 13 battalion of the Ghilani Brigade. So we're seeing two separate incidents, the incident of an operation trying to rescue hostages. Unfortunately, two hostages were found dead in that incident, and a loss of several soldiers in a separate incident in northern Gaza. The fighting is intensifying deep into southern Gaza, Rafael, and we see in Hanina, Sinjabalia, and Saja'iyah, these are very populated areas, and soldiers, IDF soldiers, are bound to hit booby traps, and things could get complicated very quickly. Yes, the problem is you cannot strike everything from the air or by artillery. You do need to have the boots on the ground, you do need to penetrate inside the buildings. We've seen who have to penetrate even inside hospitals, can you imagine? And of course, we have the whole underground problem, the tunnels. All this requires, unfortunately, the presence of the infantry, of the engineer's corps. These people have to operate physically, manually on the ground. It would be much better if we could just bomb the whole place out of existence, but we can't. You also have the problem of the presence of Ghazan Palestinian civilians. Some of them innocent, you know, it's not all of them. Let's make sure it's clear once and for all. They are civilians and they are innocent civilians. A lot of civilians are not innocent at all. In Gaza, they are civil servants of the Hamas. They are white-collar terrorists. They are people like the director of the Shiva Hospital who are working for the Hamas. So they're not innocent even though they are civilians. But still, there are people who are innocent civilians. So that complicates the matter even furthermore. And I think that it's very important to know that everything is documented. Every soldier has a camera on his helmet or on his chest. Every mortar that is shot, there is the time at which time it was shot. From where it was shot, where it landed, what damage it caused. Everything is documented. Like the IDF spokesman said yesterday, answering the Biden administration and Joe Biden himself, we can show, we can prove to the world that we've done what we've done, how we've operated, and that we're operated in a legal and moral way. And unfortunately, I do have to update it. We have another fatality, an IDF colonel. It's Huck Ben Bashat also pronounced dead in that exact battle last night in the Gaza Strip. Thank you for that update. We'll be back to discussing here in studio, but joining us now on Israel's northern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Zach Anders. Zach, we're hearing of three rockets launched from Syria into Israel last night. What do we know about this? And we're seeing that two of those fell inside Syria with a third the IDF saying fell in an open area. We are not entirely sure if this means that it did reach Israel or if this projectile rocket, something else happened to it along the way, but two of those falling inside Syrian territory, the point of origin from where it was launched is still undetermined, at least unreleased information from the IDF. This question now being, was that in southern Syria, was it close to Israeli territory when it was launched, or was this much further inside the country? The IDF says that they struck positions of the Syrian army. That is a significant development here because we know the factions such as Hezbollah operate in southern Syria and have the equipment, the means to fire on Israel from Syrian territory, but if it's the Syrian armed forces under Assad that are taking out actions against Israel, this is a significant escalation. Now Israel wants to push Hezbollah north of the Littani River. Tell us more about that. And this ties back to UNSC 1701. This is a security council vote over 10 years old after the 2006 Lebanon War. The UN International recognized agreement here is that Hezbollah would not operate between the Littani River and the southern border of Lebanon. That creates about a 30 mile buffer. Now that doesn't mean that militants for other soldiers wouldn't be in the area providing security situation in southern Lebanon. The LAF, Lebanon Armed Forces, would still be allowed to operate per this agreement, but it's specific to Hezbollah. Hezbollah would need to be north of this river, which is something that has not been abided by for a decade plus of this internationally recognized security council vote. So for the IDF, it seems like a clear goal to have Hezbollah push north of this river, either militarily or with the international pressure applied to make them abide by this agreement. Zach Anders, thank you very much. Now back in studio with me, Gai Azriel and Rafael Hirushalmi. Rafael, we are seeing pressure from the Americans, from the world in fact. And what does that say in terms of our timeline for the fighting? Do we have pressure to finish up in a matter of weeks like they say in a month? I think we're gonna have to resist that pressure and that's it, because right now, with all due respect to Joe Biden and his administration and their support, they are sending the wrong signals to the enemy. The restraints that they are demanding, we have exerted from the start. I don't see the point of reminding us every five minutes not to escalate, to be careful collateral damage. I mean, we're doing, we're doing the job. And this is very bad because psychologically, the enemy interprets this as a weakness, as like a shyness to operate on the ground. I mean, American soldiers' interests were hit in Syria, in Iraq, and the Americans are not really fighting back. This is not right. In the Red Sea, the Houthis are actually threatening the world economy and maritime trade with not much action from the international community and the American fleet that present there in the Red Sea. So I think by now, we have to make our own choices. Whatever is being said from Washington or anywhere else, it's what's being said in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that has to decide it's our country, our security, our citizens. If people don't want to come to the rescue, then we'll fight alone. It will be in the end, they will pay the price just as much as we do, because if you look at the map today, you have to be blind not to see what is happening. What is happening? You cannot separate Houthis from Hezbollah, from Hamas, from the Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, from Tehran. You can't separate it. This is one thing, one huge monster, one axis of evil that's building up a united front of these extremist Islamist organizations. So this huge machine of terror has to be fought on a global way. And the only thing we can say now is that where are the American troops not then fighting with us, even in Gaza? Where are the French and the British troops? They should be fighting, they fight with us because it's not just the Hamas in Gaza now. That's way past 7th of October might be an Israeli problem, but now we're on a much huge problem. It's the whole Middle East could go collapse into chaos and the world economy is threatened. So what are they talking about in Washington? They don't read the map, they don't see, it's the same thing as the Israelis didn't see what was happening in the south of Israel and in Gaza, and they got surprised at the 7th of October, there will be a 7th of October for the world because they do not see the danger that's building up and the Americans are worried about maybe the Russians, the Chinese will take over, have more influence in the Middle East, it's not that at all. It's just that the terror, the global terror is gaining ground day after day. They see that they can allow themselves, that they're being emboldened because they can just strike, they shoot missiles, they shoot rockets, they hijack ships in the Red Sea. I mean, what is this? This is a circus. And this is how the main power of the world is keeping order and safety for the world and for itself, for the United States of America themselves. They're completely in the wrong right now. You should have doubled their support for Israel. We sang them for their support, they have to do twice more. They have to give us more weapons, more money, more support, and they have to fight with us. Gai, what do you think? Yes, well, I'm just adding to what Rafael said here. Well, we, the IDF spokesman, Danny Hagarri, was asked just about that yesterday in his daily briefing about that so-called indiscriminate bombing that President Joe Biden spoke about. And the response of Hagarri is that we are holding daily conversations with SENTCOM, with the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. Let's take a listen to what Hagarri had to say. We are conducting, engaging, in close cooperation with the U.S., nearly daily conversation, including the commander of SENTCOM and the IDF Chief of Staff here, with all the American officials, these conversations with all the top officials, including those who arrived here and will be arriving here in Israel in the near future. And these conversations are crucial because all of us are facing those threats in the Middle East. We are seeing what is happening with the Houthi activity orchestrated or guided by Iran. We're seeing the activity of Iran elsewhere, in Iraq, in Syria. We're seeing the activity of Hezbollah. This regional discussion, this course, we must conduct with our closest ally, the U.S. And I think what we heard from Hagarri is even more chilling this morning after we hear of the death of eight Israeli soldiers and officers in that very sad incident in Sajaya. The IDF is not bombing indiscriminately. If it did so, it would have just bombed the entire neighborhood there. It risked the lives of those Israeli troops entering that building, working door to door, really risking their lives for this goal of eliminating Hamas and saving Israeli hostages, but also not indiscriminately hitting Ghazan civilians. And we saw the very sad results of that, the fact that the IDF is being so careful and we lost eight very precious Israeli soldiers and officers last night. I want to ask Rafael about what's happening in Jenin. We see that there's a lot of IDF activity now in Jenin. Can you tell me about that? Yes, it's an activity that's been going on for more than 24 hours. It's a very spectacular operation. It's of course with only speak of the north and the south. We tend to forget the importance of the work done by the central command of the IDF. They're doing a fantastic job. And last night was an entry into Jenin with a lot of vehicles and troops. And you have it all. You have a terrorist who are eliminated, terrorists who are captured, weapons that were captured, common centers that were found and destroyed, even tunnels, because there are also tunnels in Jenin. This is like a fashion in the Palestinian terrorist world to dig tunnels. So we also found tunnels there. And this was a very, very daring operation. We don't have casualties, so this is amazing. Very dangerous. And we've had, since the beginning of this war, arrested hundreds and hundreds of terrorists, a lot of them mostly from Hamas. From these terrorists, we gather a lot of information also to continue this operation of cleaning up the West Bank. Hopefully, we can also clean that up. Then the day after, we'll include West Bank and Gaza for a better situation. And that's Jenin in the West Bank. Thank you very much, Rafael, Yorushal, me and Gaia Azriel. Reintegrating into society after being in Hamas captivity in Gaza for 49 days is a challenge that should be handled gently. As the weeks after the release progress, the psychological condition and traumas of these hostages are becoming more evident. Members of the Aloni, Kunyo family, Danielle and Sharon, along with three-year-old twins, Emma and Yuli and five-year-old Emilia, were released in November, and now their loved ones are speaking out on the daily struggles they face. Hannah Rifkin has more in this report. The weeks following the Aloni, Kunyo families released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip come with the slow revelation of trauma lingering in both sisters Sharon and Danielle, as well as their young daughters. I told Emilia that we are going to see Auntie Sharon to welcome her back from captivity. And I noticed that she is slightly sort of thinking to herself. And after a few seconds, she asked, will we be walking through the tunnels? And then it's like a punch in the stomach. You understand that although the girl is handling herself pretty well, these fears still exist in her. Just one small taste of hell, as recollections of the hostages include food scarcity, darkness, little to no medical assistance, and more. The fear they fight to shake is security. They were scared that Hamas could come and harm them, here in Israel. And it took them, both Danielle and Sharon, some time until they were able to let go of this feeling, that if they may say something to the media or say anything, Hamas will get them and kill them. Terrified as they were, they had to shield their young girls from what horrors they could. From what Danielle recounted, she invented stories to calm Emilia down. One day they were overground, and they told them, we are now going underground. Emilia was frightened. Why? Where are they taking us? And Danielle was telling me that she invented a narrative that those were the good guys who took them underground, so as not to cause them harm and to protect them. And Emilia calmed down, thinking it wasn't a bad thing. It reminded me of the film, Life is Beautiful, where they made up a narrative so that the boy would not realize the tragedy occurring in front of them. Sharon told her parents that she and the girls were together with her husband, who is still in captivity for most of the time, and horrifying details of their kidnapping are now revealed. Emma was in Sharon's arms, and they ripped her away. Sharon shouted and resisted. They pointed a gun at her and said, if you're not silent, we will shoot you. It was inside another hiding place inside a hospital. And there she suddenly hears a child crying, and she says to her husband, this is Emma's cry. This ordeal of a little girl kept away from her mother for 10 days. It's an abuse of a mother's heart, and trying to describe it would be beyond any imagination. It means killing a mother's soul. Despite a long path ahead, sisters Danielle and Sharon are doing everything they can to restore normalcy. That's all for this edition of I-24 News. We have rolling coverage, providing you with the latest from Israel. We'll be back at the top of the hour for more news and updates. Be sure to follow us on our website, i24news.tv, and across our social media platforms. I'm Siobhan Revive. Thank you for watching. Date of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. The I-24 News, I'm Siobhan Revive, and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Today is day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas. The idea of continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza, with a new report suggesting it has started a new war. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but we have no idea where is she as our soldiers. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers. Suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas' underground terror tunnel, system in Gaza, a move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of passages and driving its operatives above ground. Sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities, as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip. The IDF announced the names of 10 more soldiers and officers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday, bringing the death toll and the ground offensive against Hamas to 115. Colonel Itzhak bin Basat. Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg. Major Rui Mildasi. Major Moshe Avran Baron. Sergeant Akhia Daskal. Captain Liel Chayo. Major Ben Shelley. Sergeant First Class. Rom Hecht. Staff Sergeant. Oriya Yakov. And Sergeant Irana Loni. The IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded. The IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages, 28-year-old civilian Edan Zacharia, who was captured by Hamas on October 7th when attending the Nova Music Festival. And 36-year-old IDF warrant officer Ziv Dado, who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. 153 members were in favor, 10 against, including the United States, and 23 abstained. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Jordan, held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas officers in Gaza, saying that if UN member nations wanted a real ceasefire, they should call Hamas. Take a listen. But you know what? I have an idea. If you want a real ceasefire, here is the right address. This is the phone number of Hamas's office in Gaza. You can all call 770-599-3765 and ask for Ichya Sinwall. Tell Hamas to put down their arms, turn themselves in, and return our hostages. This will bring a complete ceasefire that will last forever. And joining us now on Israel's northern borders are I-24 news correspondent Zach Anders. Zach, we know that three rockets were launched from Syria last night. What can you tell us about this? We're still working to put together some of the details surrounding this what appears to be a heavy rocket launch from Syria. The question being where in Syria did this take place because the IDF says that they struck positions belonging to the Syrian army, which is a significant development with the Syrian army under the direction of the Assad regime. The IDF says that it fell inside the Syrian territory and was protected. The type of rocket or projectile is still unknown. Two of these are said to have fallen inside Syrian territory. With a third, the IDF says falling in an open area, which does not exclude that it fell inside Israeli territory. However, that has not yet been confirmed. Both strikes employing the use of Israeli fighter jets as they struck positions in the sovereign territory of both Syria and Lebanon. This, of course, has been something that's not necessarily new. We've seen over the last week strikes in Syria eliminating what the IDF says was a senior Hezbollah commander, a field commander on the ground operating to utilize Hezbollah forces in the Syrian faction that has also been firing on Israel. But it is, again, significant to see this northern front, the northern border expand beyond Lebanon into Syria with basically one long front along this entire territory, both with other factions not just Hezbollah, Hamas also has a small cell operating in southern Lebanon as well. The IDF continues to fire on all of these targets, not really distinguishing between who's responsible, but detecting the source or the origin of the fire where these rockets originate, sometimes even mortar fire, and these ATGMs that are fired by the personnel, the anti-tank guided missiles that require soldiers on the ground to arm and fire the rocket, the weapon. Zach Anders, thank you very much. The northern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Pierre Kluchendler. Pierre, we heard sirens in the south earlier. What can you tell us about this? There were sirens about an hour ago, but for the past hour there's been a lull in the rocket fire. There were sirens and rocket strikes over the city of Zderot. Four rockets, three or two intercepted, the rest fell in an open field and there's no damage, no casualties and early around there were also rocket fires in the communities facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip, a bit south of where we are, but also there are no reports of casualties, no damage. Now, Pierre, we see you down south in the rain. The weather is certainly not in the favor of the IDF. What can you tell us about the fighting in these kind of conditions? I don't think it's in favor of the IDF nor of the Hamas terrorists, and definitely not of the displaced Palestinian population because the conditions are dire in Gaza. Obviously, no electricity, no way to warm up. Very scarcely you have water wells Chejaïa, which was the site of the most, of the heaviest fighting yesterday in which 10 soldiers were killed is a field of rooms basically with just a few buildings that are half damaged that are still standing and fighting in the rubble is also extremely difficult for the IDF because rubbles in a sense allow the Hamas terrorists to move undiscovered unidentified and it's very difficult close range combat that has been occurring there. We've seen earlier artillery fire targeting Chejaïa the takeover of the city has not been, is not done yet. Jebalia also heavy fighting in the most dense refugee camp of the Gaza Strip on the northern outskirts of Gaza city and in the sector where we are south of Gaza city heavy fighting also and you can hear the outgoing artillery shells pounding the Salah Hadid axis which in this particular sector is still fought for by the IDF while the northern sector of that axis has been under full Israeli control. Now the population is being urged to move west of Hanouness and direct itself to the central refugee camp of Direl Balach and then from there move to another humanitarian axis which is along the coastal which is the coastal road of the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean seashore and move to the dedicated safe humanitarian zone but that takes time and at the same time the northern population is also urged to use the Salah Hadid axis which is in that sector under Israeli control and move to the west of Gaza city where there is also the Arun Arashid axis to move south and in the meantime also there is a pause in the fighting for four hours in the Al-Shabura refugee camp in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, Rafah. Thank you very much Pierre Kloschendler on Israel Southern border Joining us now in studio is retired colonel Dr. former deputy head of assessment at the Israeli military intelligence and former foreign policy advisor to prime minister Yitzhak Erbein also with us in studio is Guy Azrael our I-24 news senior editor thank you very much both of you for joining Jack we're seeing Pierre down south in the rain the weather conditions are it's winter now it has become winter it's raining it's muddy it's cold how does this impact the situation when the army is trained to fight in the winter and in the summer I mean there's no different there are two main seasons here and I as far as remember the Ghoulani brigade for instance from China very close there's a winter training and there's a summer training winter training, summer training and this is how it is led in those fighting units of course it is different when you're fighting in mud but the same obstacle for your enemy also they find the same problem facing you the advantage of Israel is the fact that we have more fire parts and then if we don't want to advance with the infantry then we can do it with tanks we can do it with artillery and of course the air force continues slamming and shelling the positions of the terrorists which in my view Jair and Jabalia will be the two camps that will be certainly by next week the fight there will be over of course I mean we must we must be ready to hear unfortunately the somber news like we had this yesterday night about falling soldiers because most of them will be we have to be very careful vigilant of the ambushes around us Thank you Jacques we'll be back to discuss more in studio but joining us now is Danny Ayelon, former Israeli ambassador to the US and chairman of Silver Road Capital Thank you for joining us Danny The US President Joe Biden criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his coalition and warned that Israel was losing global support now this is some fierce criticism of Netanyahu and the coalition Yes because actually you cannot hold a stick on both hands on the one hand really ask for American political support so we can go full force and do what we need to do on the ground without international pressure and at the same time tell the the president that you do not accept his vision for the Middle East or for Gaza or for a two-state solution I'm not saying that you have to say that you agree with everything but at least show some kind of a vision in any case it's not the wives right now to to really fight with the Americans or dissent with them on things which are totally theoretical nobody thinks even the American president does not think that the Palestinian state is around the corner we are talking about years maybe generations to come so I think here diplomacy has to be smarter in the sense of what you say and also in what you do not say so I would really urge the Israeli government to be much more accommodating to the American declarations so that the operations on the ground can continue unhindered. Now Netanyahu admitted in a statement that there are some differences in opinion yes of course and they are legitimate but what the Americans are saying is you cannot just say no to everything you don't agree with one idea we have offer another one but if Israel does not make its own decisions and charge its own future others will do it for us so this is where there is some yokia on the Israeli government and what the Americans are concerned with and I think this is also what President Biden meant when he said that Netanyahu should change his government is that what dictates today Israeli government's policies or none thereof is little politics and not global interest and strategic interest of Israel we know that the two extreme parties on the right Smotrich and Benvere they do not want ever to see a Palestinian authority they want to annex the entire Judean Samaria and also the West Bank and things like that of course cannot go well with the Americans but even the talks about maybe future Palestinian Authority rule over Gaza upgraded one of course these current one cannot have the capabilities but even the talks about some political future really upsets Smotrich and Benvere to the extent that they threaten to topple the government this is what Biden is so frustrated with that little politicking is really ruling over or trumping the real strategic decisions and benefits for the state of Israel which is also by the way the Americans we are very well synchronized when it comes to our interest here in the Middle East for Israel and the United States Well certainly when it comes to the war it's highly likely that even if the government would have different members in it like Yair Lapid like we have Benny Gantz in it in this reality the war would probably continue with any member Oh absolutely one thing has to be certain I think this is also what the Americans understand and I hope this is what they hear from the opposition here in Israel that when it comes to the elimination of Hamas we are all speaking in one voice it's all our existential interest so this is why I cannot understand why should we descend over some things which will come or not come in the future in order to really get all the support we need for the target at hand which is the elimination of Hamas we should also be smart enough in a diplomatic way to think about how we synchronize our plans with the Americans we don't need the international community we only need the Americans and in diplomacy you don't say no in diplomacy you say yes but and this is what I'm missing this more I would say judicious diplomatic conduct by our government now on a different topic the United Nations General Assembly convened last night and voted for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza we saw 153 countries voted in favor only 10 against what does this mean this is not binding of course it's not binding this is another kind of a Palestinian provocation they have the numbers what we call the automatic majority we have 22 Arab countries which would vote anyway the Palestinians won they are part and parcel of the larger group OIC which is the organization of Islamic countries and the street also control about 50 more countries which are dependent either on Arab oil or some Arab money this is like a kangaroo court there is no more authority to it fortunately also there is no enforcement ability there all we have to focus and I go back to the last topic about all we need is to keep the eye on the ball and that is the White House the United States of America and in the United States of America you also hear different voices which is a pluralistic system just like ours you have leaks you have different agencies you have Secretary of State you have the Department of State you have the National Security Council you may have leaks in the papers but there is only one decision made by Biden and Biden is a president with a huge experience on foreign affairs, on security issues and he is totally with us and this is what matters and not the UN and we know that the U.S. did veto in favor of Israel at the Security Council Daniel Jalon, thank you thank you very much for this important input and back in studio with us, Jacques Neria and Guy Azriel I do want to address some of the comments made there obviously the cooperation with the Americans is extremely important the U.S. support both with arms and international support something that Israel greatly respects and thanks the Americans for but as was mentioned here in studio earlier today as well this is not just an Israeli problem when we deal with Hamas when we deal with Islamist movements like Hamas Iranian proxies around the world in the Middle East this is not just an Israeli problem this is something that the Americans need to understand also something that is very important with all due respect to the Americans at the end of the day as we saw it is the Israelis that pay for the existence of Hamas with the blood of 1200 Israelis that were slaughtered on that Saturday and if the day after the war brings back another Hamas-like entity well that's something that the Israeli government should accept but beyond that the Israeli public will not be able to accept no Israelis will go back to their borders to their communities to their kibbutzes if we are seeing the same leadership there in Gaza and this is where Israel does differ with the Americans because the Palestinian Authority continues to pay salaries to terrorists who slaughter Israelis so if the thinking does not change the Israeli public will not accept that reality once again the Americans need to understand that they may agree, they may disagree but it's regardless of political affiliation of the Prime Minister, of the government this is not just the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it is also a government with Gadi Eisencourt, with Benny Gantz all of them know very well what is the situation like the fact that also in the West Bank the Palestinian Authority has almost zero control over the terror that emanates from its territory and it encourages those attacks yet to see the condemnation of the Palestinian President to the slaughter that we had here on October 7th and that is a main problem, you can look away and you can say the Fatah movement is not as extreme as Hamas well that experience failed multiple times it failed also unfortunately with the Oslo Accords when those weapons that were given to Fatah were used to kill Israelis once again it is no coincidence therefore that Israel does not trust the Palestinians be it Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to have full security control over that area and that they will protect Israeli interest and do whatever it takes so that Israeli civilians and soldiers are not being slaughtered as we saw on October 7th that disagreement is going to stay there but what the Israeli government is committed to is to the safety of the people of Israel and that commitment was violated on October 7th it cannot be violated again Jacques, what do you think? I have a little bit different opinion basically I believe that by January 10th the main battle in Gaza would be ended because the Americans would tell us that's enough you have killed enough Palestinians unintentionally unintentionally but I mean the war is ended and you have to withdraw from the Gaza border this is what the Americans and let us take care of what's happening there this is why Netanyahu has understood that and he understands that this is what's going to happen in the next weeks and this is why he's talking right now to his base Netanyahu has shaken hands with the Arafat he has shaken hands with Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinians he has signed the agreement made mistakes as well we should admit that that doesn't make it right to do it again but he doesn't admit it he thinks that the only it's not about him it's about what's right for he thinks that he's the only one that can prevent the establishment of the Palestinians because from my experience with the Americans you don't treat them I mean bluntly and openly there's a conversation between Clinton and Rabin about after the massacre in Hebron and the question was how do we continue and the American proposed something and Rabin would say no and then the president the American president would say what would you propose and then again what is your suggestion and this kind of questions is exactly the kind of negotiations and talk that we have with the American administration we cannot just ignore the American administration we cannot ignore the fact that we got 14 billion dollars from the American administration we cannot forget the fact that we are out of shells and we need 14,000 shells now in order to replenish our our tanks I mean we have to remember where we stand of course we are we shouldn't bow completely and we should look after our interests but yes we have to look around us and understand that there's only one ally and this ally counts very much yes enough we didn't discuss this the incident of last night I was going to ask you this right now we are seeing a lot of loss in terms of IDF soldier their lives in operations in separate incidents tell us about the incident from last night this is perhaps the greatest loss of the IDF since the start of the ground operation losing Col. Itzhak Ben-Basat is the head of the Gulani Brigades commander's team and that is the most senior IDF officer to be killed in the ground operation he is the fourth IDF Col. to be killed since the start of this war three others were killed on the first day I think the IDF will have to learn a lot from what transpired there yesterday at around 30pm local time Gulani troops together with armed forces have located live fire in Sajayia in the Kasbah there they were met with explosives where four of the troops lost contact the forces outside did not know their whereabouts their well-being the forces were sent in including those senior officers and of course also the commander of the Gulani Brigades 13th Battalion who also lost his life in that battle in addition to rescue forces of the Air Force the 669 unit two of its fighters also lost their lives overall nine Israeli fatalities soldiers and officers killed in that incident I think the IDF will look very closely into how things transpired whether it was perhaps preferable to use the Air Force in that incident before the troops even entered many of the compounds are loaded with explosives and this is the trap that unfortunately the Gulani forces have fallen into and once part of the force was already injured inside you had to pull in more and more forces to get them out of there also there was fear that they will be abducted by the terrorists and that's where things got very complicated resulting in even more lost this kind of incident just tells you that there was a mistake in the behavior of the Israeli forces definitely I mean we shouldn't have had 10 officers and soldiers killed because I mean we know that we are fighting an urban war we have to be very vigilant we have to be very careful and not to rush because a force was surrounded and ambushed you don't send people immediately of course there is a lot of courage in what those officers did but basically this was a mistake it should have been taken and treated otherwise certainly in light of all the experience that we have since the beginning of this war now that is a great tool for the IDF we are seeing a lot of loss last night since the ground operation began and from the dead you can understand that most of them are officers meaning that this is the kind of of how you lead your soldiers you go first and then after all the others come after you certainly that is all for this edition of I-24 News we have rolling coverage providing you with the latest from Israel I'm Sivan Raveev, thank you for watching in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where she is our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well I-24 News I'm Sivan Raveev and these are the coming to you live from Tel Aviv today is day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas the IDF continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza with a new report suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas's underground terror tunnel system in Gaza a move aimed at destroying the sub-terrain network of passages and driving its operatives above ground sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip the IDF announced the names of 10 more soldiers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday bringing the death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 115 Colonel Itzhak Ben Basat Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg Major Rui Mildasi Major Moshe Avran Baron Sergeant Achia Descal Captain Liel Chayo Major Ben Shelley Sergeant First Class Rom Hecht Staff Sergeant Orya Yakov and Sergeant Irana Loni the IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded the IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages 28-year-old civilian Eden Zakharia who was captured by Hamas on October 7th when attending the Nova Music Festival and 36-year-old IDF warrant officer Ziv Dado who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas 153 members were in favor 10 against including the United States and 23 abstained Israel's ambassador to the UN Gila Derdan held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas officers in Gaza saying that if UN member nations wanted a real ceasefire they should call Hamas Take a listen But you know what? I have an idea if you want a real ceasefire here is the right address This is the phone number of Hamas's office in Gaza You can all call plus 970-599-3765 and ask for Ikhia Sinwal Tell Hamas to put down their arms turn themselves in and return our hostages This will bring a complete ceasefire that will last forever And joining us now on Israel's Northern Borders are I-24 news correspondent Zach Anders Zach, we know that three rockets were launched from Syria to Israel last night. What can you tell us about this? We're still working to put together some of the details surrounding this what appears to be a heavy rocket launch from Syria The question being where in Syria did this take place because the IDF says that they struck positions with the Syrian army which is a significant development with the Syrian army under the direction of the Assad regime Three rocket launches were detected The type of rocket or projectile is still unknown Two of these are said to have fallen inside Syrian territory with a third, the IDF says falling in an open area which does not exclude that it fell inside has been confirmed Yesterday, the IDF says they also struck multiple positions belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon So both strikes employing the use of Israeli fighter jets as they struck positions in the sovereign territory of both Syria and Lebanon This, of course, has been something that's not necessarily new We've seen over the last week strikes in Syria eliminating Hezbollah commander, a field commander on the ground operating to utilize Hezbollah forces in a southern Syrian faction that has also been firing on Israel But it is, again, significant to see this northern front, the northern border expand beyond Lebanon into Syria with basically one long front along this entire territory Other factions, not just Hezbollah Hamas also has a small cell operating in southern Lebanon as well The IDF continues to fire on all of these targets not really distinguishing between who's responsible but detecting the source or the origin of the fire where these rockets originate sometimes even mortar fire and these ATGMs that are fired by the personnel the anti-tank guided missiles that require soldiers on the ground to arm and fire the rocket, the weapon Zach Andrews, thank you very much Joining us now on Israel's southern border is our I-24's correspondent Pierre Klochendler Pierre, we heard sirens in the south earlier What can you tell us about this? There were sirens about an hour ago but for the past hour there's been a lull in the rocket fire There were sirens and rocket strikes over the city of Zderot four rockets three or two intercepted the rest fell in an open field and there's no damage no casualties and early around there were also rocket fires in the communities facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip a bit south of where we are but also there are no reports of casualties, no damage No Pierre, we see you down south in the rain the weather is certainly not in the favor of the IDF What can you tell us about the fighting in these kind of conditions? I don't think it's in favor of neither the IDF nor of the Hamas terrorists and definitely not of the displaced Palestinian population because the conditions are dire in Gaza obviously no electricity no way to warm up very scarcely you have to tell us which was the site of the most of the heaviest fighting yesterday in which 10 soldiers were killed is a field of rooms basically with just a few buildings that are half damaged that are still standing and fighting in the rubble is also extremely difficult for the IDF because rubbles in a sense allow the Hamas terrorists to move undiscovered and identified and it's a very difficult close range combat that has been occurring there we've seen earlier artillery fire targeting the takeover of the city has not been done yet Jebalia also heavy fighting in the most dense refugee camp of the Gaza Strip on the northern outskirts of Gaza city and in the sector where we are south of Gaza city heavy fighting also and you can hear the outgoing artillery shells pounding the Salahadin axis which in this particular sector is still fought for by the IDF while the northern sector of that axis has been under full Israeli control now the population has been urged to move west of Hanyunas and direct itself to the central refugee camp of Direl Balach and then from there move to another humanitarian axis which is along the coastal which is the coastal road of the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean seashore and move to the dedicated safe humanitarian zone but that takes time and at the same time the northern population is also urged to use the Salahadin axis which is in that sector under Israeli control and move to the west of Gaza city where there is also the Arun Rashid axis to move south and in the meantime also there is a pose in the fighting for four hours in the Alshabura refugee camp in the southern most city of the Gaza Strip Rafa Thank you very much, Pierre Kloschendler on Israel's southern border Joining us now in the studio is retired colonel Dr. Jacques Neria, former deputy head of assessment at the Israeli military intelligence and former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin also with us in the studio is Guy Azrael our I-24 News Senior Editor Thank you very much, both of you for joining Jacques we're seeing Pierre down south in the rain the weather conditions are going to winter now it has become winter, it's raining it's muddy, it's cold how does this impact the situation? Well you know an army is trained to fight in the winter and in the summer I mean there's no difference there are two main seasons here and as far as I remember the Golani Brigade for instance which I know from very close there's winter training and there's summer training, winter training in those fighting units of course it is different when you're fighting in mud but the same obstacle is right for your enemy also I mean they find the same problem facing you advancing the advantage of Israel is the fact that we have more fire parts and then if we don't want to advance with the infantry then we can do it with tanks we can do it with artillery and of course the war continues slamming and shelling the positions of the terrorists which in my view that Sadzahir and Jabalia will be the two camps that will be certainly by next week the fight there will be over of course I mean we must be ready to hear unfortunately the somber news like we had yesterday night about the war in soldiers because most of them will be we have to be very careful and vigilant of the ambushes around us thank you Jacques we'll be back to discuss more in studio but joining us now in is Danny Ayalon former Israeli ambassador to the US and chairman of silver road capital thank you for joining us Danny the US President Joe Biden criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his coalition and warned that Israel was losing global support now this is some fierce criticism of Netanyahu and the coalition yes because actually you cannot hold a stick on both ends on the one hand really ask for American political support so we can go full force and do what we need to on the ground without international pressure and at the same time tell the president that he do not accept his vision for the Middle East or for Gaza or for a two-state solution I'm not saying that you have to say that you agree with everything but at least show some kind of a vision in any case it's not too wise right now to really fight with the Americans or dissent with them on things which are totally theoretical nobody thinks even the American president does not think that the Palestinian state is around the corner we are talking about years maybe generations to come so I think here diplomacy has to be smarter in the sense of what you say and also in what you do not say so I would really urge the Israeli government to be much more accommodating to the American declarations so that the operations on the ground can continue unhindered Netanyahu admitted in a statement that there are some differences in opinion yes of course and they are legitimate but what the Americans are saying is you cannot just say no to everything you don't agree with one idea we have offer another one but if Israel does not make its own decisions and charge its own future others will do it for us so this is where there is some yoke on the Israeli government and what the Americans are concerned with and I think this is also what the President Biden meant where he said that Netanyahu should change his government is that what dictates today Israeli government's policies or none thereof is little politics and not global interest and strategic interest of Israel we know that the two extreme parties on the right Smotrich and Ben Vier they do not want ever to see a Palestinian Authority they want to annex the entire Judean Samaria and also the West Bank things like that of course cannot go well with the Americans but even the talks about maybe future Palestinian Authority rule over Gaza upgraded one of course this current one cannot, doesn't have the capabilities but even the talks about some political future really upsets Smotrich and Ben Vier to the extent that they threaten to topple the government and I think this is what Biden is so frustrated with that little politics is really ruling over or trumping the real strategic decisions and benefits for the state of Israel which is also by the way the Americans we are very well synchronized when it comes to our interest here in the Middle East or Israel and the United States well certainly when it comes to the war it's highly likely that even if a government would have different members in it like like we have Benny Gantz in it, in this reality the war would probably continue with any member oh absolutely one thing has to be certain I think this is also what the Americans understand and I hope this is what they hear from the opposition here in Israel when it comes to the elimination of Hamas we are all speaking in one voice it's all our existential interest so this is why I cannot understand why should we descend over some things which will come or not come in the future in order to really get all the support we need for the target at hand which is the elimination of Hamas we should also be smart enough in a diplomatic way to think about how we synchronize our plans with the Americans we don't need the international community we only need the Americans and in diplomacy you don't say no in diplomacy you say yes but and this is what I'm missing this more I would say judicious diplomatic by our government now on a different topic the United Nations General Assembly convened last night and voted for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza we saw 153 countries voted in favor only 10 against what does this mean this is not binding of course it's not binding this is another kind of a Palestinian provocation they have the numbers what we call the automatic majority we have big countries which would anyway the Palestinians they are part and parcel of the larger group of the OIC which is the organization of Islamic countries 537 and 537 also controlled about 50 more countries which are dependent either on Arab oil or some Arab money this is like a kangaroo court and there is no more authority to it there is no enforcement ability there all we have to focus tonight go back to the last topic that you have asked me about all we need is to keep the eye on the ball the White House the United States of America and in the United States of America you also hear different voices which is a pluralistic system just like ours you have leaks you have the Department of State you have the National Security Council you may have leaks in the papers but there is only one decision made in the United States and this is Joe Biden and Biden is a president with a huge experience on foreign affairs, on security issues and he is totally with us and this is what matters and not the UN and we know that the U.S. did veto in favor of Israel at the Security Council Daniel Yadon thank you thank you very much for this important input and back in studio with us I do want to address some of the comments made there obviously the cooperation with the Americans is extremely important the U.S. support both with arms and international support something that Israel greatly respects and thanks the Americans for but as was mentioned here in studio earlier today as well this is not just an Israeli problem when we deal with Hamas with Islamist movements like Hamas, Iranian proxies around the world in the Middle East this is not just an Israeli problem and that is something that the Americans need to understand also something that is very important is that with all due respect to the Americans at the end of the day as we saw it is the Israelis that pay for the existence of Hamas with the blood with the blood of 1200 Israelis that were slaughtered on that Saturday if the day after the war brings back another Hamas-like entity well that is something that the Israeli government will not be able to accept but beyond that the Israeli public will not be able to accept no Israelis will go back to their borders to their communities to their kibbutzes if we are seeing the same leadership there in Gaza and this is where Israel does differ with the Americans because the Palestinian authority continues to pay salaries pay who slaughter Israelis so if the thinking does not change the Israeli public will not accept that reality once again the Americans need to understand that they may agree, they may disagree but it's regardless of political affiliation of the prime minister of the government this is not just the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it is also a government with Gadi Eisencourt, with Benny Gantz all of them know very well what is the situation like the fact that also in the West Bank it has almost zero control over the terror that emanates from its territory and it encourages those attacks we have yet to see the condemnation of Palestinian president to the slaughter that we had here on October 7th and that is a main problem you can look away and you can say okay well we'll bring you know the Fatah movement is not as extreme as Hamas, well that experience failed multiple times it failed also unfortunately with the Oslo Accords when those weapons that were given to Fatah were used to kill Israelis once again it is no coincidence therefore that Israel does not trust the Palestinians be it Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to have full security control over that area and that they will protect Israeli interest and do whatever it takes so that Israeli civilians and soldiers are not being slaughtered as we saw on October 7th that disagreement is going to stay there but what the Israeli government is committed to is to the safety of the people of Israel and that commitment was violated on October 7th it cannot be violated again Jacques what do you think? Well I have a little bit different opinion basically I believe that by January 10th the main battle in Gaza would be ended because the Americans would tell us that's enough, you have killed enough Palestinians unintentionally yeah unintentionally but the war is ended and you have to withdraw east of the Gaza border this is what the Americans and let us take care of what's happening there this is why Netanyahu understood that and he understood that this is what's going to happen in the next weeks and this is why he's talking right now to his base I mean Netanyahu has shaken hands with Tahrifat he has shaken hands with Mahmoud Abbas he has handed over Hebron to the Palestinians he has signed the agreement made mistakes as well we should admit that it doesn't make it right to do it again but he doesn't admit it and he thinks that he is the only one it doesn't matter whether he admits it or not it's not about him it's about what's right for the Israeli community he thinks that he is the only one that can prevent the establishment of the Palestinians because from my experience with the Americans you don't treat them bluntly and openly I remember the conversation between Clinton and Rabin about after the massacre in Hebron and the question was how do we continue and the American proposed something and Rabin would say no and then the president the American president would say and then again what is your suggestion and this kind of questions is exactly the kind of negotiations and talk that we have with the American administration we cannot just ignore the American administration we cannot ignore the fact that we got 14 billion dollars from the American administration we cannot forget the fact that we are out of shells and we need 14,000 shells now in order to replenish our tanks and remember where we stand of course we are we shouldn't bow completely and we should look after our interests but yes we have to take care to look around us and understand that there is only one ally and this ally counts very much Yes and we didn't discuss this the incident of last night I was going to ask you this right now we are seeing a lot of loss in terms of IDF soldiers in operations, in separate incidents tell us about the incident from last night this is perhaps the greatest loss of the IDF since the start of the ground operation losing Col. Itzhak Ben-Basat is the head of the Gulani Brigades Commanders Team and that is the most senior IDF officer to be killed in the ground operation he is the fourth IDF Col. to be killed since the start of this war three others were killed on the first day I think the IDF will have to learn a lot from what transpired there yesterday around 4.30pm local time Gulani troops together with armed forces have located live fire in the Kasbah there they were met with explosives where four of the troops were lost contact the forces outside did not know their whereabouts their well-being more forces were sent in including those senior officers and of course also the commander of the Gulani Brigades 13th Battalion Tomer Greenberg who also lost his life in that battle in addition to rescue forces of the Air Force the 669 unit two of its fighters also lost their lives overall nine Israeli fatalities soldiers and officers killed in that incident I think the IDF will look very closely into how things transpired where there it was perhaps preferable to use the Air Force in that incident before the troops even entered the many of the compounds are loaded with explosives and this is the trap that unfortunately the Gulani forces have fallen into and once part of the force was already injured inside you had to pull in more and more forces to get them out of there also there was fear that they will be abducted by the terrorists and that's where things got very complicated resulting in even more loss this kind of incident just tells you that there was a mistake in the behavior of the Israeli forces we shouldn't have had 10 officers and soldiers killed because we know that we are fighting an urban war we have to be very vigilant we have to be very careful and not to rush because a force was surrounded and ambushed you don't send people immediately of course there's a lot of courage in what those officers did but basically this was a mistake that had been taken and treated otherwise certainly in light of all the experience that we have had since the beginning of this war now that is a great toll for the IDF we are seeing a lot of loss last night since the ground operation began and from the the dead you can understand that most of them are officers meaning that this is the kind of how you lead your soldiers you go first and then all the others come after you thank you very much that's all for this edition of I-24 News we have rolling coverage providing you with the latest from Israel I'm Sivan Raveev, thank you for watching I-24 News I'm Sivan Raveev and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv today is day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas the IDF continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza with a new report suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas's underground terror tunnel system in Gaza a move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of passages and driving its operatives above ground sirens were heard this morning while southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip the IDF announced the names of 10 more soldiers and officers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday bringing the death toll on the ground offensive against Hamas to 115 Colonel Itzhak Ben Basat Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Grimberg Major Rui Mildassi Major Moshe Avram Baron Sergeant Achia Descal Captain Liel Chayo Major Ben Shelley Sergeant First Class Sergeant Oria Yaakov Sergeant Eran Aloni The IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded The IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages 28-year-old civilian Edan Zakharya who was captured by Hamas on October 7 when attending the Nova Musical Festival and 36-year-old IDF warrant officer Ziv Dado who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas 153 members were in favor 10 against including the United States and 23 abstained Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gila Derdan held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas offices in Gaza saying that if the UN wanted a real ceasefire they should call Hamas Joining us now on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent Pierre Klushendler There are some serious weather conditions currently in Israel and in Gaza We see you out there with the umbrella in the rain It's rainy and cold Tell us how this can impact the troops and also the humanitarian situation in Gaza Well, first of all, I think it might slow down the operation to a certain extent although you just heard maybe the outgoing of an artillery shell pounding the area which is behind me which is basically the two sectors of the south-eastern outskirts of Gaza City where 10 soldiers were killed yesterday afternoon after a three-hour battle and the Salahadin axis which part of it is used as a humanitarian axis and the other part which is behind me four kilometers away from where we are and which is leading to the city which could be the make or break of Hamas in the coming weeks maybe In any case, the weather doesn't help because of the sanitary conditions the asphalt has been destroyed by Israeli tanks so soldiers are fighting in the mud in the ruins of Sajahiyah for instance, in Hanoon as the terrain is different it's less urban, more farming land so you imagine tanks rolling in the mud that could also cause a problem or bulldozer denies in deep mud that could also cause a problem but I think that the most urgent problem is for the non-involved Palestinian population 80% or maybe over 80% according to UN sources of the Gaza total population of 2.2 million inhabitants have moved to the south of the Gaza Strip to half of the territory of the Gaza Strip instead of 360 square kilometers now the population is crammed into 180 square kilometers that means that the conditions are very difficult the people are either being hosted at their family in the southern Gaza Strip or in tents you imagine the tents because of the wind and the rain could easily be destroyed and collapse on the families the sanitary conditions are terrible there is scarcity of water resources there's no electricity so no way to heat the people and as a result that also adds to the dire predicament of the population the movement of the troops of the IDF because of the attempt, the effort not to harm the non-involved population Pierre Kloschendler thank you very much on Israel's southern border joining us now in studio is Yaakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish news syndicate and military and strategic affairs analyst at the Miriam Institute Yaakov thank you for joining us here we're seeing Pierre out there in the rain we see pretty dire conditions in Gaza what can you tell us about the situation well in terms of the humanitarian situation you know there is an enormous effort underway the IDF and Kogat the coordinator of government activities in the territories has multiple control rooms in which they're keeping a live real-time updates on the situation and that means that food levels, water levels medicine all of that stuff is being tracked in real-time and there is enormous cooperation despite you know the various sort of diplomatic disputes between the IDF, the international aid agencies, Egypt the United States, there's a whole host of forces that are at play here keeping aid coming in in massive quantities into the Gaza Strip into these humanitarian zones so I wouldn't say that those civilians have nothing of course their situation is difficult and it was made very difficult by Hamas's decision to go to war with the global effort which the IDF is playing a central part in in making those conditions as tolerable as possible we're seeing that the IDF has taken a serious toll last night's incident has resulted in several soldiers dying nine to be exact what do we know about this right in Shadjia and what happened there was that some last minute alerts caused the Italian commander and his company commanders and several soldiers to enter a very very dangerous situation in which they tragically lost much of the advantage that the IDF has when it's fighting in these areas they didn't have the air support they didn't have the artillery, the firepower they had to go in and fight barrel against barrel against Hamas terrorists in asymmetrical warfare and this is exactly the kind of situation that the IDF has been fighting for years for soldiers and they fell in the defense of Israel as heroes it is a very dark and sad day for the state of Israel but these are the kinds of situations that unfortunately will also occur during this war the IDF will not always be able to bring to bear its tactical and operational advantages that prevent many of these things from happening on a wider scale because the IDF is going further in Syria exactly and that's why we have to steal ourselves the IDF will always try to give its field commanders and soldiers the advantage, in other words try as much as possible to avoid this kind of barrel on barrel type of a firefight and to give them the advantage of air power of fire power from artillery of tanks using armor but sometimes because of the scope of this war there are going to be situations that are against barrel against barrel and that's when that advantage is gone and these are the most dangerous moments for the soldiers on the ground and they're going to unfortunately repeat but I'm sure the IDF will try to minimize those situations as much as possible now these areas are certainly dense and populated we'll be back to you in a moment joining us now on Israel's northern border is our I-24 news correspondent Zach Anders Zach it's been rather quiet in the north for now it could be due to Israel's deterrence well we're not seeing any red alerts this morning it has been relatively quiet but that's not to say that there hasn't been activity inside Lebanon and southern Lebanon media is reporting now the aftermath of some heavier strikes from yesterday by the IDF showing extensive damage in some communities in southern Lebanon where apparently Hezbollah was operating and firing earlier there were four strikes yesterday we have not noticed any today that's not to say there hasn't been just none that have been available to report on just yet the weather up here is cloudy and rainy and a bit blustery so this not necessarily plays into either's advantage or disadvantage these are modern armies with modern equipment still Hezbollah with ground forces and the movement that they use sometimes in personal vehicles it would perhaps play into a scenario or situation where they might wait for better conditions because they are more reliant on visibility for their ATGMs these personnel launched pieces of equipment their weapons sometimes need that line of sight to be able to fire on Israeli positions whereas the Israelis have some of the the advantage of the high range equipment some infrared technology with their surveillance balloons and the drones so they aren't necessarily dependent on the conditions as Hezbollah would be but we have seen these strikes in Syria in the last 24 hours as well with apparently the Syrian army involving itself with rocket launches three last night around 7 o'clock 8 o'clock two of them fell in Syria one of them the IDF says fell in Syria it's still unclear if that means it fell in Israeli territory or if this was intercepted a lot still left to be seen there from yesterday's activity in Syria now Israel wants to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River tell us more about that that's the great challenge here the IDF and the Defense Minister Galant telling the community leaders here the mayors of some of these towns that tell Hezbollah pushed back beyond this river which is about 30 miles worth of land between the river and the southern border of Lebanon to eliminate Hezbollah operating in this space and abiding by this UN SC 1701 a security council vote that's over 10 years old to be able to make that the reality here will take weeks months maybe even longer especially with the potential that does that turn into a full-scale engagement well if it does then Hezbollah has over 80,000 fighters at its disposal and Iranian supplied equipment this would be a tremendous campaign and would take a lot of time the better route for all involved is the international route applying pressure to Hezbollah to Iran to Lebanon to get them to abide by this agreement that would be of course a tremendous challenge as well to go the diplomatic route either way this goal of pushing Hezbollah back beyond the river would be one that's a very, very long timeline Zach Anders thank you very much on Israel's northern border and back in studio with me is Jacob Lapin Jacob we're hearing a reporter up in the north discuss this how likely is Hezbollah to accept these kind of requests, demands to move beyond the Likani River? Very unlikely and I think that the main reason for that is that southern Lebanon is the heartland of Hezbollah and these 200 you know or so Shiite villages that's not only the base of Hezbollah the political base it's also the source of many of its terrorist soldiers if we can call them that manpower and it's also created the sort of shadow states in southern Lebanon where it provides them with social services and subsidizes their fuel and food and medical services so there's a whole shadow Hezbollah state in southern Lebanon and so they're not going to give up on it and Israel is not going to give up on its demand for a buffer zone on the border because we are in a new reality and Israel cannot tolerate the presence of death squads Hezbollah red one death squads on the border as we've had you know on the southern border until now so that means that there's a collision course the scope of that collision the timing those are all still shrouded in mystery we could be looking at you know some sort of intermediate escalation we could be looking at eventual full-scale war it's just not clear at this time but the collision course based on these two things that I've just described looks to be pretty unavoidable but the diplomatic space that is currently playing out I think that serves interest because it's interested in prioritizing on the completion of its war in Gaza at least the high intensity phase of it once the lion's share of that mission is accomplished a lot more military resources will be freed up to go north and to turn the military's attention fully to the north so that actually serves Israel's interest to give diplomacy a chance on the off chance you know it could surprise us but I wouldn't hold that you know wouldn't hold my breath now shifting to the back to the south we know that two hostages were found dead in a tunnel yesterday it was announced their names what do we know about these operations in tunnels trying to rescue hostages dead or alive so you know when targeted intelligence when very specific intelligence comes in like this and the idea of we'll launch an operation and these are very complicated things getting soldiers and special operators into bunkers into you know underground infrastructure they have to be secured in a perimeter and the soldiers they were making up that perimeter they're the ones who were killed in that operation so it's a very complicated operation to conduct but it's all based on intelligence once the intelligence comes in then the planters can start the tactical planters can start figuring out how to insert the forces how to secure them to go in and then to go out and I think we'll be seeing plenty of those going forward but again all of it is based on on intelligence there's no way that these things will be happening just sort of blindly on the off chance that they may find something because obviously you know they're risking a lot of lives here in these operations so it's intelligence it's tactical capability and it's building a perimeter all very dangerous but all very much based on solid intelligence and we saw that the bodies of these two individuals were retrieved they were and we do know that in that operation we had two of the soldiers Galmey Reisenkot and Eyalmey Berkowitz who died in that operation do we know about any other types of initiatives to return the hostages publicly we just know that the idea is committed to doing that in any way that it can I see three main ways that it can do this one is the established route of negotiations with Hamas via Qatar via the Hamas leadership and then back to Mohamed Def in the tunnels who authorized these deals that may happen again it may not the second way I could see it happening is through much more localized negotiations in other words once the Hamas leadership starts crumbling we could get into a situation where Israel is conducting local talks with hostage holders offering them possibly safe passage in exchange for releasing hostages and the more the Hamas leadership crumbles I think the more that becomes likely and the third is rescue operations attempted rescue operations if intelligence comes in and it seems feasible then they will be attempted if not if it will be deemed too dangerous they won't be but those are the three main ways that I could see Israel continuing to attempt to rescue its remaining hostages Yaakov Lapin thank you very much very important input four-year-old Abigail Idan saw both her parents murdered on October 7th two months before she was kidnapped by Hamas in Toghaza she was released in November and went home to her two older siblings who hid in a closet for 14 hours during the massacre now Abigail's remaining family grapples with their joy of having her home and yet their great grief as these three little kids will now grow up orphaned without any of their parents more in this report adapted from Channel 12 a lawyer came yesterday and she said to give it to Abigail she penetrated her heart that's all for Abigail Mikhael and Amalia my son has much more Carmel Abigail's grandfather no longer finds a place where all the gifts he's received from people he doesn't know the embrace of love and perhaps an attempt to compensate for collective feelings of guilt how a mischievous girl only four years old found herself a prisoner of Hamas for 51 days immediately after her parents were murdered how is the family after Abigail returned very short joy I thought it would be celebrations and parties and something like that I think after an hour we realized it was not that at all in the end there are three children without parents how was Abigail when she came back mostly shocked from all the faces from all this happening around her really shocked it was also late you know and to arrive at the end of the day is to go through a journey your removal from the place of the kidnapping and the crossings and the border and all the time you see the terrorists again and she just arrived already broken and didn't speak at all for the first hour she wants to drink grape juice and eat pretzels mostly requests from someone who suddenly realizes that maybe she's no longer in captivity and he can't even ask Abigail didn't approach me didn't look in my direction didn't speak fine another day will come and the kiss and the hug will come how did Michael and Amelia Abigail's siblings react they knew Abigail was in Gaza and suddenly she came back to them I think they're feeling joy there was joy but it's still not the same they have a deep sadness so it was really one very happy moment that they came together and now the confrontation what will happen from here time will do its thing a month before Abigail's release we accompanied the families of Smodar and Roy to a family meeting trying to embrace Michael and Amelia to give a feeling of family why don't you call me Smodar's family are coming here and our family with Roy's children we have a meeting with everyone first time since it happened yes no one there was able to forget what happened to these children on the black Sabbath the unimaginable fact that 9 year old Michael 6 year old Amelia and 4 year old Abigail saw their parents murder before their eyes when the alarm started Smodar was with Michael and Amelia in the safe room Roy, who works as a winet photographer still had time to go out to the balcony with Abigail in his arms to photograph the terrorists approaching the kibbutz on paragliders infiltrating right in front of the house you've been with Roy and Smodar's children for the last month yes how is it it's not easy what they saw it's not easy for them it's certainly not easy for us the horrors they saw I don't know if any of us would have emerged the same from such a situation never mind children aged 6 and 9 it's very very tough that Saturday after their parents were murdered Abigail ran outside Michael and Amelia ran back into their house they hid in the yellow closet in the safe room with the body of their mother Smodar lying right next to them with 14 hours they hid heard gunshots and waited in the inferno while the family tried to reassure them from afar I picked up the phone to Roy Roy didn't answer so that's the agreement between us if he doesn't answer he's taking pictures so I called Smodar to ask what happened Michael the 9 year old grandson answered I told him I want mom he said mom's dead and dad's dead outside I asked where's your sister Amelia he told me with me where's Abigail he said she's not at home in short a Holocaust I was completely shocked I was trying to think of how to help how did the children sound in those moments listen they were just brave Michael answered the phones at first and 6 year old Amalia she was my contact person she spoke I'm in the safe room everything is fine we're in the closet don't open the door for anyone it won't open they answered yes and no and good at this time Michael and Amelia did not know how Abigail was doing Avichai the neighbor across the street was the last to see her before she was kidnapped with Hagar his wife she was white as a sheet but covered in blood drenched in blood and I knew I knew it wasn't her blood I tossed her over to my wife and went back until 12 o'clock one I was still optimistic sure that the army would come and take them out and we saw it was not happening and it's not happening and time was passing and moving on we were already past midnight and still every hour I spoke with them and I heard that they're already starting they're already dropping and it's already going to be hard there inside this closet and you know they're alone and no agency can help you not the police and not the emergency services not the IDF only our connections the civilians ran the war at 7 in the evening after I involved a friend we managed to reach the team located in Kfar Azar the military took Michael and Amelia under fire outside the kibbutz and a meat came to pick them up how was this meeting it was very difficult very hard I let a friend drive I sat in the back with them even though they had such a long journey they didn't fall asleep they were close to me the whole way and just told me what happened and what happened and what will happen and how it will happen and this was a journey they probably ran to Madar's sister her husband Zuli and their three children who lived right next to them in Kfar Azar they will probably stay with us with the family with my wife this is a very natural environment for them they grew up with these children of course the whole family is involved from all sides there's everyone's cooperation here because in the end there is a common goal that these children will have the best possible future there's deep sadness for Micheal very deep sadness he knows everything that happened he was always alone a child who grew up in all these circumstances a nine year old boy has already gone through more wars than people in the whole world goes through Amalia is more open but there's also sadness in her eyes how is Avigam in her everyday life when you look at her she is happy she's so little maybe maybe she'll get through it somehow Avigail had her fourth birthday in captivity yes I don't know if she knew that will you mention it we did something small modest cake and here and there like that at the simplest level there is maybe next year do they understand that Roy and Smodar will not return yes after what they saw there's no way it's not ambiguous what do they mostly talk about toys one moment and then about mom and dad and then they come back and fight about nonsense with the cousins in the end they are children they have happy parts and they have sad parts and they have difficult parts I call it a roller coaster there is a discourse around everything of what happened, how it happened we give them some of the space that we need to vent and we need crying and we need this but in the end we always face forwards we'll give them everything they need that's for sure but we won't be able to give them the security let them go abroad live in a place that will be good for them I want them to grow up to understand that this is not their country it's not safe to live in the state of Israel that's all for this edition of I-24 news providing you with the latest from Israel we'll be back at the top of the hour for more news and updates be sure to follow us on our website I-24 news.tv and across our social media platforms I'm Sivana Raveve thank you for watching is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well I-24 news. I'm Sivana Raveve and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv today is day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas the IDF continues its battle on the ground in southern Gaza with a new report suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas' underground terror tunnel system in Gaza a move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of passages and driving its operatives above ground sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip the names of ten more soldiers and officers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday bringing the death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 115 Colonel Ikschak Ben-Vassat Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg Major Roy Mildassi Major Moshe Avram Baron Sergeant Achia Descal Captain Liel Chayo Major Ben Shelly Sergeant First Class Staff Sergeant Orya Yakov and Sergeant Iran Aloni the three soldiers were seriously wounded the IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages, 28-year-old civilian Edin Zakharya who was captured by Hamas on October 7th when attending the Nova Musical Festival and 36-year-old IDF warrant officer Ziv Dado who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas 153 members were in favor 10 against including the United States and 23 abstained Israel's ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan held up a sign with a phone number of Hamas officers in Gaza saying that if the UN wanted a real ceasefire they should call Hamas Joining us now on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent Pierre Kloshendler Pierre, there are some serious weather conditions currently in Israel and in Gaza with the umbrella in the rain it's rainy and cold tell us how this can impact the troops and also the humanitarian situation in Gaza well first of all I think it might slow down the operation to a certain extent although you just heard maybe the outgoing of an artillery shell pounding the area which is behind me which is basically the two sectors of Shejayan the southeastern outskirts of Gaza city where the soldiers were killed yesterday afternoon after a three hour battle and the Salahadin axis which part of it is used as a humanitarian axis and the other part which is behind me four kilometers away from where we are and which is leading to the city which could be the make or break of Hamas in the coming weeks maybe in any case the weather doesn't help because of the sanitary conditions the asphalt has been destroyed by Israeli tanks so soldiers are fighting in the mud in the ruins of Sajahiyah for instance in Hanoon as the terrain is different it's less urban more farming land so you imagine tanks rolling on mud that could also cause a problem but I think that the most urgent problem is for the non-involved Palestinian population 80% or maybe over 80% according to UN sources of the Gaza total population of 2.2 million inhabitants have moved to the south of the Gaza Strip to half of the territory of the Gaza Strip to half of the territory of the Gaza Strip instead of 360 square kilometers now the population is crammed into 180 square kilometers that means that the conditions are very difficult the people are either being hosted at their family in the southern Gaza Strip or in tents you imagine the tents and then the rain could easily be destroyed and collapse on the families the sanitary conditions are terrible there is scarcity of water resources there's no electricity so no way to heat the people and as a result that also adds to the dire predicament of the population and to the movement of the troops of the IDF we attempt the effort not to harm the non-involved population Pierre Kloschendler thank you very much on Israel's southern border joining us now in studio is Jakob Lapin military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish News Syndicate and military and strategic affairs analyst at the Miriam Institute we're seeing Pierre out there in the rain we see pretty dire conditions in Gaza what can you tell us about the situation in terms of the humanitarian situation there is an enormous effort underway the IDF and Kogat the coordinator of government activities in the territories has multiple control rooms in which they're keeping a live real-time updates on the situation and that means that food levels water levels medicine all of that stuff is being tracked in real-time and there is enormous cooperation despite the various diplomatic disputes between the IDF the international aid agencies Egypt the United States there's a whole host of forces that are at play here keeping aid coming in in massive quantities into the Gaza Strip into these humanitarian zones so I wouldn't say that those civilians have nothing of course their situation is difficult and it was made very difficult by Hamas decision to go to war but there is a global effort which the IDF is playing a central part in the negotiations as tolerable as possible we're seeing that the IDF has taken a serious toll last night's incident has resulted in several soldiers dying nine to be exact what do we know about this right in Shajia and what happened there was that some last-minute alerts caused the battalion commander and his company commanders to enter a very very dangerous situation in which they tragically lost much of the advantage that the IDF has when it's fighting in these areas they didn't have the air support they didn't have the artillery the firepower they had to go in and fight barrel against barrel against Hamas terrorists in asymmetrical warfare and this is exactly the kind of situation that is the most dangerous for soldiers and they fell in the defense of Israel as heroes it is a very dark and sad day for the state of Israel but these are the kinds of situations that unfortunately will also occur during this war the IDF will not always be able to bring to bear its tactical and operational advantages that prevent many of these things from happening on a wider scale because the IDF is going further into southern Gaza in Hanimah, in Jabalia in Shajia exactly and that's why we have to steal ourselves the IDF will always try to give its field commanders and soldiers the advantage in other words try as much as possible to avoid this kind of barrel on barrel type of a firefight and to give them the advantage of air power of firepower from artillery of tanks using armor but sometimes because of the scope of this war there are going to be situations where soldiers and Hamas terrorists are facing off barrel against barrel and that's when that advantage is gone these are the most dangerous moments for the soldiers on the ground and they're going to unfortunately repeat but I'm sure the IDF will try to minimize those situations as much as possible now these areas are certainly dense and populated we'll be back to you in a moment joining us now on Israel's northern border is our I-24 news correspondent Zach Anders Zach it's been rather quiet in the north for now could it be due to Israel's deterrence well we're not seeing any red alerts this morning it has been relatively quiet but that's not to say that there hasn't been activity inside Lebanon southern Lebanon media is reporting now the aftermath of some heavier strikes from yesterday by the IDF showing extensive damage in some communities in southern Lebanon where apparently Hezbollah was operating and firing earlier there were four strikes yesterday we have not noticed any today that's not to say there hasn't been just none that have been available to report on just yet the weather up here is cloudy and rainy and a bit blustery so this not necessarily plays into either's advantage or disadvantage these are modern armies with modern equipment still Hezbollah with ground forces and the movement that they use sometimes in personal vehicles it would perhaps play into a scenario or a situation where they might wait for better conditions because they are more reliant on visibility for their ATGM these personnel launched pieces of equipment their weapons sometimes need that line of sight to be able to fire on Israeli positions whereas the Israelis have some of the advantage of the high range equipment some infrared technology with their surveillance balloons and the drones so they aren't necessarily dependent on the conditions as Hezbollah would be but we have seen these strikes in Syria in the last 24 hours as well with apparently the Syrian army involving itself with rocket launches three last night around seven o'clock eight o'clock two of them fell in Syria one of them the IDF says fell in open area it's still unclear if that means it fell in Israeli territory or if this is accepted a lot still left to be seen there from yesterday's activity in Syria now Israel wants to push Hezbollah north of the Litany river tell us more about that that's the great challenge here the IDF and the Defense Minister Galant telling the community leaders here the mayors of some of these towns that until Hezbollah is pushed back beyond this river which is about 30 miles worth of land between the river and the southern border of Lebanon to eliminate Hezbollah operating in this space and abiding by this UN SC 1701 a security council vote that's over 10 years old to be able to make that the reality here will take weeks, months maybe even longer especially with the potential that does that turn into an offensive operation does this turn into a full scale engagement well if it does then Hezbollah has over 1,000 fighters at its disposal and Iranian supplied equipment this would be a tremendous campaign and would take a lot of time the better route for all involved is the international route applying pressure to Hezbollah to Iran to Lebanon to get them to abide by this agreement that would be of course a tremendous challenge as well to go the diplomatic route either way this goal of pushing Hezbollah back beyond the river would be one that's a very, very long timeline Zach Anders thank you very much on Israel's northern border and back in studio with me is Yakov Lapin Yakov we're hearing a reporter up in the north discuss this how likely is Hezbollah to accept these kind of requests demands to move beyond the Likani River very unlikely and I think that the main reason for that is that southern Lebanon is the heartland of Hezbollah and these 200 or so Shiite villages that's not only the base of Hezbollah the political base it's also the source of many of its terrorist soldiers if we can call them that manpower and it's also created the shadow states in southern Lebanon where it provides them with social services so there's a whole shadow Hezbollah state in southern Lebanon and so they're not going to give up on it and Israel is not going to give up on its demand for a buffer zone on the border because we are in a new reality and Israel cannot tolerate the presence of death squads Hezbollah red one death squads on the border as we've had on the southern border until now so that means that there's a collision course the scope of that collision the timing those are all still shrouded in mystery we could be looking at some sort of intermediate escalation we could be looking at eventual full-scale war it's just not clear at this time but the collision course based on these two things that I've just described looks to be pretty unavoidable but the diplomatic space that is currently playing out I think that serves Israel's interest because it's interested in prioritizing on the completion of its war in Gaza at least the high-intensity phase of it once the lion's share of that mission is accomplished a lot more military resources will be freed up to go north and to turn the military's attention fully to the north so that actually serves Israel's interest to give diplomacy a chance on the off chance you know it could surprise us but I wouldn't hold that you know wouldn't hold my breath now shifting to the back to the south we know that two hostages were found dead in a tunnel yesterday it was announced their names what do we know about these operations in tunnels trying to rescue hostages dead or alive so you know when targeted intelligence when very specific intelligence comes in like this and the idea of we'll launch an operation and these are very complicated things getting soldiers and special operators into bunkers into you know underground infrastructure they have to be secured in a perimeter and the soldiers that were making up that perimeter they're the ones who were killed in that operation so it's a very complicated operation to to conduct but it's all based on intelligence once the intelligence comes in then the planners can start the tactical planners can start figuring out how to insert the forces how to secure them to go in and then to go out and I think we'll be seeing plenty of those going forward but again all of it is based on intelligence there's no way these things will be happening just sort of blindly on the off chance that they may find something because obviously you know they're risking a lot of lives here in these operations so it's intelligence it's tactical capability and it's building a perimeter all very dangerous but all very much based on solid intelligence and we saw that the bodies of these two individuals were retrieved they were and we do know that in that operation we had two of the soldiers Galmey Reisenkot and Eyalmey Berkowitz who died in that operation do we know about any other types of initiatives to return the hostages? Publicly we just know that the IDF is committed to doing that in any way that it can I see three main ways that it can do this one is the established route of negotiations with Hamas via Qatar via the Hamas leadership and then back to Yehissibwar and Muhammed Def and the Tunnels who authorized these deals and that may happen again it may not the second way I could see it happening is through much more localized negotiations in other words once the Hamas leadership starts crumbling we could get into a situation where Israel is conducting local talks with hostage holders offering them possibly safe passage in exchange for releasing hostages and the more the Hamas leadership crumbles I think the more that becomes likely and the third is rescue operations if intelligence comes in and it seems feasible then they will be attempted if not if it will be deemed too dangerous they won't be but those are the three main ways that I could see Israel continuing to attempt to rescue its remaining hostages. Thank you very much. Four-year-old Abigail Idan saw both her parents murdered on October 7th moments before she was kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza. She was released in November and went home to her siblings who hid in a closet for 14 hours during the massacre. Now Abigail's remaining family grapples with their joy of having her home and yet their great grief as these three little kids will now grow up orphaned without any of their parents more in this report adapted from Channel 12. A lawyer came yesterday he said it's my granddaughters she said to give it to Avigal she penetrated her heart that's all for Avigal Michael and Amalia Masan has much more. Carmel, Avigal's grandfather no longer finds a place for all the gifts he's received from people he doesn't know the embrace of love and perhaps an attempt to compensate for collective feelings of guilt how a mischievous girl only four years old found herself a prisoner of Hamas for 51 days immediately after her parents were murdered. How is the family after Avigal returned? Very short joy I thought it would be celebrations and parties and something like that I think after an hour we realized it was not that at all in the end there are three children without parents How was Avigal when she came back? Mostly shocked from all the faces from all this happening around her really shocked it was also late you know and to arrive at the end of the day is to go through a journey your removal from the place of the kidnapping and the crossings and the border and all the time you see the terrorists again and she just arrived already broken and didn't speak at all for the first hour she wants to drink grape juice and eat pretzels mostly requests from someone who suddenly realizes that maybe she's no longer in captivity and can ask Avigal didn't approach me her direction didn't speak fine another day will come and the kiss and the hug will come How did Michael and Amelia Avigal's siblings react? They knew Avigal was in Gaza and suddenly she came back to them I think they're feeling joy there was joy but it's still not the same they have a deep sadness So it was really one very happy moment that they came together and now the confrontation what will happen from here time will do its thing A month before Avigal's release we accompanied the families of Smodar and Roy to a family meeting trying to embrace Michael and Amelia to give a feeling of family why don't you call me Smodar's family are coming here and our family with Roy's children we have a meeting with everyone first time since it happened yes no one there was able to forget what happened to these children on the black Sabbath the unimaginable fact that 9 year old Michael 6 year old Amalia and 4 year old Avigal saw their parents murder before their eyes when the alarm started Smodar was with Michael and Amalia in the safe room Roy who works as a winet photographer still had time to go out to the balcony with Avigal in his arms to photograph the terrorists approaching the Kibbutz on paragliders infiltrating right in front of the house you've been with Roy and Smodar's children for the last month yes how is it not easy it's not easy what they saw it's certainly not easy for us the horrors they saw I don't know if any of us would have emerged the same from such a situation 6 and 9 it's very very tough that Saturday after their parents were murdered Avigal ran outside Michael and Amalia ran back into their house they hid in the yellow closet in the safe room with the body of their mother Smodar lying right next to them 14 hours they hid heard gunshots and waited in the inferno while the family tried to reassure them from afar I picked up the phone to Roy Roy didn't answer so that's the agreement between us if he doesn't answer he's taking pictures so I called Smodar to ask what happened Michael the 9 year old grandson answered I told him I want mom he said mom's dead and dad's dead outside I asked where's your sister Amalia he told me with me he said she's not at home in short a Holocaust I was completely shocked I was trying to think of how to help how did the children sound in those moments listen they were just brave Michael answered the phones at first then he stopped and 6 year old Amalia she was my contact person she spoke I'm in the safe room everything is fine we're in the closet don't open the door for anyone it won't open I answered yes and no and good at this time Michael and Amalia did not know how Avigel was doing Avigai the neighbor across the street was the last to see her before she was kidnapped with Hagar his wife she was white as a sheet but covered in blood drenched in blood and I knew I knew it wasn't her blood I tossed her over to my wife and went back until 12 o'clock one optimistic sure that the army would come and take them out and we saw it was not happening and it's not happening and time was passing and moving on we were already past midnight and still every hour I spoke with them and I heard that they're already starting the mood is already dropping and it's already going to be hard there inside this closet and you know they're alone and no agency can help you not the police and not the emergency services IDF only our connections the civilians ran the war at 7 in the evening after I involved a friend we managed to reach the team located in Kfar Azar the military took Michael and Amalia under fire outside the Kibbutz and a meat came to pick them up how was this meeting it was very difficult very hard I let a friend and a wife I sat in the back with them even though they had such a long journey they didn't fall asleep they were close to me the whole way and just told me what happened and what happened and what will happen and how it will happen and this was a journey a difficult journey since they've been with Leeron Smedar's sister her husband Zuli and their three children who lived right next to them this is a very natural environment for them they grew up with these children of course the whole family is involved from all sides there is everyone's cooperation here because in the end there is a common goal that these children will have the best possible future there's deep sadness for Michael very deep sadness he knows everything that happened he was always alone a child who grew up in all these circumstances a nine year old boy has already gone through more wars than people in the whole world go through Amalia is more open but there's also sadness in her eyes how is Avigale in her everyday life when you look at her she is happy she's so little maybe she'll get through it somehow Avigale had her fourth birthday in captivity yes, I don't know if she knew that will you mention it we did something small modest, cake and here and there like that at the simplest level there is maybe next year do they understand that Roy and Smedar will not return yes, after what they saw there's no way it's not ambiguous what do they mostly talk about toys one moment and then about mum and dad and then they come back and fight about nonsense with the cousins in the end they are children they have happy parts and they have sad parts and they have difficult parts I call it a roller coaster there is a discourse around everything of what happened, how it happened and why it happened I mean we give them some of the space we need to vent and we need crying and we need this but in the end we always face forwards we'll give them everything they need but we won't be able to give them the security let them go abroad live in a place that will be good for them I want them to grow up to understand that this is not their country it's not safe to live in the state of Israel that's all for this edition of I-24 News we have rolling coverage providing you with the latest from Israel we'll be back at the top of the hour for more news and updates be sure to follow us on our website I-24 News Bell TV and across our social media platforms I'm Sivana Rave thank you for watching Israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where she is our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well the I-24 News I'm Sivana Rave and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv today is day 68 of Israel's war with Hamas the IDF continues its battle on the ground reports suggesting it has started pumping seawater into Hamas's underground terror tunnel system in Gaza a move aimed at destroying the subterrain network of passages and driving its operatives above ground sirens were heard this morning in Israel's southern communities as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip the IDF announced the names of 10 more soldiers and officers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday bringing the death toll in the ground defensive against Hamas to 115 Colonel Itzhak bin Basat Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenbill Major Roy Meldasi Major Moshe Avram Baron Sergeant Akhiyad Askal Captain Liel Chayo Major Ben Shelley Sergeant First Class Rom Hecht Staff Sergeant Orya Yaakov and Sergeant Iran Aloni the IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded the IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages 28-year-old civilian Eddin Zakharia who was captured by Hamas on October 7 when attending the Nova Music Festival and 36-year-old IDF Warrant Officer Ziv Dado who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas 153 members were in favor 10 against including the United States and 23 abstained Israel's ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas officers in Gaza saying that if UN member nations wanted a real ceasefire they should call Hamas Joining us now on Israel's northern border is our I-24 News correspondent Zak Anders Zak we're seeing Hezbollah activity on and off fire and then several long hours of quiet How does this impact the soldiers and the civilians who are still there? With the weather being as it is that does not deter any of the activity they have a superior advantage with their drones and observation balloons to be able to cut through the clouds thick fog but for Hezbollah operating in the south they don't have the same advanced equipment they have the numbers they have the Iranian supplied weapons but they can't necessarily operate without that line of sight so with reduced visibility and reduced distance perhaps that plays into why we have not seen any strikes this afternoon of course the weather doesn't determine if they're going to be launching heavy rockets or mortars that wouldn't play a factor but for some of the personnel on the ground as they encroach on northern Israeli territory and then launch those ATGMs the anti-tank guided missiles those personnel do need to see what they're firing at so perhaps the reduction in activity we've seen this morning could play into that it's hard to say we have seen several Hezbollah strikes in the last 24 hours four strikes on Israeli positions the Israelis say no injuries no one was hurt but there was damage to several structures buildings in communities that have been evacuated here this evacuation order is probably going to stand in place for several more weeks at least that's the word that's being passed down by the Israeli Defense Minister as he meets with the mayors and leaders of the communities here and urges patients for those residents that have had to have been evacuated now we heard of three rockets that were launched from Syria into Israel last night what do we know about this and that's a major development with three of those coming from apparently the Syrian army because the IDF says that is who they retaliated against Syrian army positions led by Assad somewhere inside Syria it's unclear whether this was southern Syria near Israeli territory if it was somewhere else you'll remember in the last two hours we saw explosions in Damascus and Syrian officials saying that they shot down intercepted missiles that were intending Syrian targets it's also a little bit conflicting with some of the information that comes out of southern Syria as to who entirely is responsible or what actors are at play we've seen Hezbollah itself not just in southern Lebanon but in southern Syria as well the IDF eliminated a senior Hezbollah official a commander a field commander in the last few days in southern Syria operating a smaller cell there so it is a serious development because this is one of the outline events where the IDF says directly that they're targeting the Syrian army and Syrian army positions Zach Anders in the north thank you very much joining us in studio now is Lieutenant Colonel Serves Doron Avital former commander of special forces in the IDF also joining us is our I-24 new senior editor Gai Israel thank you both for coming in now Doron we see that nine soldiers were announced dead in this specific incident last night two of the names were just released earlier in addition to the seven that were released earlier what do we know about this incidence first of all it's a reminder to the Israeli society of the price of waging a war the price is heavy those are ten soldiers two of them from an air force unit that is a rescue operation unit 669 and the rest are Golanee brigade a regiment commander regiment 14 a colonel who was once a regiment commander in Golanee this is a heavy toll there were some kind of booby traps and then a rescue operation trying to rescue the soldiers the commitment of the IDF commanders to their own troops when they're in fire really proved itself in the field but the price is high ten killed and commanders to three commanders of companies this is a heavy toll for Golanee the same brigade that had this heavy fighting in 2014 in color of defense exactly in the same place so reminder of the toll that we have to pay in war in Sadia that's the area in Gaza yes a very heavy toll an IDF colonel the most senior Israeli officer to be losing his life in those battles on the ground battles in Sadia it's Hakeb Basad is the head of the Golanee brigade commander's team he's the fourth colonel to have died since October 7th the three others have died on the initial Hamas onslaught in the first battles he died together the commander of the Golanee 13 battalion Tomer Greenberg these are heavy losses for the IDF I think Doron knows better than all of us including our viewers how this event like this will be investigated how things maybe could have been done better certainly in the future a situation in which the forces were met with explosives were trapped inside some sort of a compound and then the forces that came to the rescue both the Air Force unit and the senior commanders that surrounded the compound were all eventually hit by additional explosives as they made their way to the rescue of the initial force the forces outside have lost contact with the first four fighters who entered the compound that they may have been abducted or their bodies and therefore reinforcement was sent very brave men needless to say that going to the line of fire meeting these terrorists face to face in an unknown terrain in a compound that we know there was a tunnel shaft there as well too many unknowns in this sort of environment and these troops are the head of the spear those who fight to clean up the northern part of the Gaza Strip from the Hamas forces as the IDF tries to eliminate Hamas military capability we saw very well unfortunately what Hamas did on October 7th what Hamas has been doing for so many years launching rockets and attacks on Israelis for so many years it is goal to stop that threat to eliminate Hamas and unfortunately it comes with a very heavy price nonetheless the IDF will have to investigate how to prevent this sort of incidents this sort of casualties we can also see a different incident right now on our screens and this is face to face a brave soldier that enters a home he encounters two terrorists that are in the house a grenade is being thrown at him he's being injured by the grenade nonetheless continues to fight and eliminates the following terrorists there inside that home this is the sort of face to face battles that we see what we're seeing on screen right now is footage that was released showing an IDF soldier actually confronting terrorists actually going in being wounded as Guy said and continuing to kill on additional terrorists the footage was from his body camera and that's how we received it and it was released can you talk to us about that sort of activity going door to door trying to eliminate terrorists there's no substitute for boots on the ground in this kind of a war if people think that you can do it by using only air power it won't work then you see soldiers fighting door to door in the same techniques that even 10, 20, 30, 40 years in the Lebanon war soldiers in this capacity are using it's necessary it's essential the price is high but you have to continue for sure we have to be very careful in terms of the booby traps and the way they succeeded to secure themselves those Hamas terrorists I think the lesson will be learn the battlefield is always chaotic dynamic you all the time learn new lessons in terms of as you confront the enemy and I think we learn we are getting better this is out there what can we do this is life in the battlefield now we are seeing booby traps as we've said and we know that there are many tunnels now there's this report saying that those tunnels will be flooded with seawater we know about that first of all we are using a vast array of technology in terms of the tunnels can be drones can be robotics can be dogs can vision equipment and of course this idea of pumping water seawater into the tunnel which is you have to monitor it see how it works try it and see what's the scope that you can use it whether you can use it in order to chase them out the Hamas terrorists and wait for them when they come out so this is part of the technology that was practiced and the army was actually trained in doing and using those techniques in the last 10 years and this even Herzi Alevi said that he thinks it might work so we have to see how the effect of this technique the idea of trying to be creative obviously the threat of the tunnels is is serious is one that is one of the goals of this operation to eliminate that sort of threat as we saw also in the incident with with Colani the idea of flooding the the tunnels has been floating for quite a while and as we heard from President Biden yesterday basically confirming that report in a way because he says he does as far as he understands there are no hostages in the tunnels that are being flooded and this is also a long process it's I think it's a gradual process the idea is to cause those Hamas operatives to come out of the tunnels and where it'll be much easier for the Israeli troops to confront them obviously they're hiding there waiting for the right moment we're still looking for those very senior Hamas officials, Yresin and Muhammad Def etc it is believed that they are hiding in a tunnel somewhere and the idea is trying to flush them out going back to what Biden said that he hopes that there are no hostages in those tunnels we know that hostages were hidden and are hidden in underground tunnels how can we assure so we have all those other technologies like drones that run into the tunnels robotics vision equipment this is like sophisticated technology that once by the way was used only with special forces and now it's employed by infantry on the ground and this technology also the engineering corps is using this technology is you use it in order to secure that you don't have hostages there and only then you would use you explode the pier you explode the tunnel or you use those new technique with the seawater and we know that two hostages were found that in one of those tunnels this shows you this has to do with intelligence that we gather this is one of the thing this was one of our greatest hopes when we enter this campaign that as Hamas is being defeated and there's a wedge between the civilians and the Hamas terrorists we can get a more and more intelligence about the way about of the senior commanders and our hostages and I think once you can use this intelligence in order to employ special forces to rescue hostages in this case to rescue the bodies of our hostages you use it we didn't succeed in one occasion but we might succeed in the in the future this is this is a part of the what we are hoping we can achieve for example in Hanyunis if we'll find the location of hostages and we have the right intel maybe a rescue operation on the ground please stay with us we'll be back to discuss some more of this but joining us now on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent Pia, can you give us the latest update on the ground down south I think that the operation is probably slowing down due to the terrible weather it's going rain over the Gaza Strip and on the border so as a result of that we hear less artillery fire at this point the visibility is very bad so although these artillery guns are guided but we don't hear many many echoes of the fighting inside the Gaza Strip what we know is that there are three main focal points in this ground offensive right now and these are the same for the past 10 days also it's the Jebalyage refugee camp which is on the north outskirts of Gaza city the Shejaya border which is in the southeast outskirts of Gaza city but what we hear from the incident yesterday the tragic incident for the IDF in which 10 soldiers were killed in the old city of Shejaya it seems that there are also terrorists in other neighbourhoods of Gaza city such as because we know from the first briefing of the IDF on the soldiers that were involved in the clash yesterday in the deadly clash many terrorists came in support of those that were in Shejaya from the Tufa neighbourhood in another sector the center south sector of the Gaza Strip around Hanunas also heavy fighting we've seen earlier from that sector the artillery on the Salahadin axis which is main axis to lead to the Hanunas city where the IDF believes that the political and military leadership of Hamas is originated and might have 6 shelter there because the population might be the most loyal to these leaders and the fighting from the air is also on the central refugee camps of Direl Balach Nusserat El Borej and also in the southern most city of the Gaza Strip in Rafah where there is also bombing and at the same time a humanitarian pose in the fighting in the Alshabura refugee camp of Rafah which is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pierre Klischender thank you very much down on Israel's southern border and back in studio with us are the Rona Vittal and Gaisryen we're seeing such serious heavy rain we heard as we saw it that surely impacts the fighting on the ground weather is always one constituent of warfare and this can complicate things also for us through that in the north it might work to our advantage in the far distances with Hezbollah but here in this condensed area of Gaza it complicates the working of the army so we have to be much more careful it also adds up to the Unitarian problems or the possible catastrophe that might be created in the south which is also something we have to take note of and try to work it out so the winter coming new element of the warfare and we'll have to take it into account depending on what kind of winter is expecting to come now we know that we're seeing IDF activity and Klisch is also in Genine in the west bank what do we know about that well the Genine the last year or so there was a sort of a mini war in the northern Samaria and this was a tough operation with many units entering and we saw the the footage we have to keep the west bank contained because we don't want the front of the west bank erupting this would be the worst thing for us right now and I think we pull a lot of force in preventing arrest, in finding terrorists in trying to contain them northern Samaria is a problem with problems in Chavron the west bank is all the time bubbling we have to try to keep it as calm as possible yes we're hearing reports from the Palestinians out of Genine this morning in one of the eastern neighborhoods of the city IDF troops there are encircling that neighborhood closing off the entrances we know there are clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops there and it comes of course after on Tuesday four Palestinian terrorists were killed by a drone strike after during an Israeli activity their arrest trade the militants have hurled explosives on these Israeli troops eventually were eliminated by a drone another concern for Israel on that front thank you very much Doron Avikal and Gazrael we're now off Tkibbutz Bayri one of the communities devastated on October 7th this Tkibbutz is home to the country's largest printing works which was largely spared by the terrorists and was able to get back to work rather quickly a report by Debra Ben Ayun with photography by Dean Byron Boyn Igal Shitrit has lived and worked in Bayri for several decades but on October 7th everything changed those are the members of the Tkibbutz that used to work in the print and were murdered part of the modern 90 people that were murdered on the 7th of October of Saturday we have here people that I know for more than 40 years part of them are from my class in the Tkibbutz part of them I worked with for over 25 years at the bottom we have the picture of Yossi Sharabi which is he is abducted with his brother Ely Sharabi and the last person to be added to this wall is Saar Baruch may he rest in peace we heard about it on Saturday Igal Shitrit's former classmates include Gil Buyum who was murdered with his son and Oron Birah who was killed with his wife and two children including his daughter Tair also an employee of the company in all almost 90 people from Kibbutz Bayri were killed including children but barely a week after the October 7th massacres the printing works resumed its activities I want to tell you something about he comes to work every day from Yama Melach to Bayri he just the last person that was added to the wall is Saar Baruch he is his grandson his wife was murdered on the Saturday the 7th his other grandson was murdered on the Saturday of the 7th of October and it comes every day to work this is a story of of strength of belief of everything that means Kibbutz Bayri or Tfuz Bayri look at this person, it's amazing Natasha Cohen also works at the printing works she and her family have lived on Kibbutz Bayri for 32 years on October 7th when the numerous rocket alerts began to sound around 6.30 am her husband was out walking the dog we heard a motorcycle and I looked at my husband I said to him, oh dear it must be from the party they probably ran in a way to look for shelter, tell them to come in so he went right up to the fence and I had a look and as it came by I was busy trying to calm my dog down so I didn't see them because the fence is about this time and then he said to me it's terrorists it's a motorcycle with machine guns and I looked at him and I thought I said you couldn't fathom terrorists it sounds crazy rockets we used to not terrorists Natasha and her family were very lucky because she lives only a few meters from the attacked neighbourhood and the terrorists saw her husband Natasha's family had to stay in the safe room from 7 am until 11 pm that horrible feeling of sitting in your safety room when friends are shouting for help and screaming to help and you got this useless feeling you can't do anything about it just reading the messages and trying to call for help and we were waiting for the army to come in time goes by when you realise the army is not coming in and your friends are shouting for help and there's nothing you can do you realise there's a big problem because if the army is not here something's definitely gone wrong several employees of the printing works accounting department were murdered on October 7th Natasha who was in charge of the kibbutz finances resumed her work at the printing works a few weeks ago first remotely and then a few days ago on site having decided to move back I didn't think I'd ever come back to Berry thinking to myself I would come back to a place where I wouldn't feel safe again but within a very short time after that you start getting angry and you think they've taken everything, they've ripped everything under your feet taking your security, your friends family members taking my home away from me as well because we were basically fugitives in our own country and I think it was the anger of the humiliation of me not having my own home and them trying to take that from me as well is what it made me decide to come back the print house started to work on the second week I think second week after the October 7th because of two things two main things, one it's vital for us for us all it's a show of normalcy in a time that there's no normalcy we don't even have the language to describe what happened to us after the 7th of October what you see here it's not less than amazing beyond the strength and resilience as I said before it's a beacon most of the employees that are working on day to day they're not from the kibbutz now they're from all over the area and they come on daily basis because it's it's part of their lives it's part of our second home the berri printing works founded in 1950 is the largest in Israel it employs 350 people it is here that a huge number of official documents including credit cards checkbooks and drivers licenses are printed for the whole country miraculously the printing works was hardly touched by the terrorists however bullet holes can be seen here and there especially on windows but also on this TV set further along the kibbutz's pathways are destroyed houses as far as the eye can see among them eagles on October 7th he was not there with emotion he shows us what's left of what he calls his fortress this is our home most of us plan to come back when it's available other people won't be able to come back emotionally this home suffered on the 7th of October suffered a lot and I believe from this suffering will have growth a hope imprinted in every kibbutz resident that's all for this edition thank you for watching Israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she we are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well only on I-24 News the rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip the IDF announced the names of 10 more soldiers and officers killed fighting in the Gaza Strip yesterday bringing the death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 115 Colonel Itzhak bin Basat Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenbill Major Roy Meldassie Major Moshe Avram Baron Sergeant Achia Descal Captain Liel Chayo Major Ben Shelley Sergeant First Class Rom Hecht Sergeant Kov and Sergeant Iran Aloni the IDF also reported another three soldiers were seriously wounded the IDF recovered the bodies of two hostages 28-year-old civilian Eddin Zaharia who was captured by Hamas on October 7 when attending the Nova Music Festival and 36-year-old IDF warren officer Ziv Dado who was killed during the onslaught and was declared until now a fallen soldier held by a terror group the UN General Assembly was unbinding resolution yesterday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas 153 members were in favor 10 against including the United States and 23 abstained Israel's ambassador to the UN Gila Derdan held up a sign with the phone number of Hamas officers in Gaza saying that if UN member nations wanted a real ceasefire they should call Hamas Joining us now on Israel's northern border is our I-24 news correspondent Zak Anders who is on and off fire and several long hours of quiet how does this impact the soldiers and the civilians who are still there well with the weather being as it is that does not deter any of the activity for the IDF they have a superior advantage with their drones and observation balloons to be able to cut through the clouds, the fog but for Hezbollah operating in the south they don't have the same advanced equipment they have the numbers they have in supply weapons but they can't necessarily operate without that line of sight so with reduced visibility and reduced distance perhaps that plays into why we have not seen any strikes this afternoon of course the weather doesn't determine if you're going to be launching heavy rockets or mortars that wouldn't play a factor but for some of the personnel on the ground as they encroach on northern Israeli territory and then launch those ATGMs the anti-tank guided missiles personnel do need to see what they're firing at so perhaps the reduction in activity we've seen this morning could play into that it's hard to say we have seen several Hezbollah strikes in the last 24 hours at least four strikes on Israeli positions the Israelis say no injuries no one was hurt but there was damage to several structures, buildings and communities that have been evacuated here this evacuation order is probably going to stand in place for several more weeks at least that's the word that's being passed down by the Israeli defense minister as he meets with the mayors and leaders of the communities here and urges patients for those residents that have had to have been evacuated now we heard of three rockets that were launched from Syria into Israel last night what do we know about this and that's a major development with three of those coming from apparently the Syrian army because the IDF says that is who they retaliated against Syrian army positions led by Assad somewhere inside Syria it's unclear whether this was southern Syria near Israeli territory if it was somewhere else you'll remember in the last 72 hours we saw explosions in Damascus and Syrian officials saying that they shot down intercepted missiles that were intending Syrian targets it's also a little bit conflicting with some of the information of southern Syria as to who entirely is responsible or what actors are at play we've seen Hezbollah itself not just in southern Lebanon but in southern Syria as well the IDF eliminated a senior Hezbollah official a commander a field commander in the last few days in southern Syria operating a smaller cell there so it is a serious development because this is one of the online events where the IDF says directly that they're targeting the Syrian army and Syrian army positions Zach Anders in the north thank you very much joining us in studio now is Lieutenant Colonel and reserve Doron Avital former commander of special forces in the IDF also joining us is our I-24 news senior editor Gaisriel thank you both for coming in now Doron we see that nine soldiers were announced dead in this specific incident last night two of the names were just released earlier in addition to the seven that were released earlier what do we know about this incident first of all it's a reminder to this valley society of the price of waging a war the price is heavy the total is heavy those are ten soldiers as two of them from an Air Force unit that is a rescue operation unit 669 and the rest are Golani brigade a regiment commander 13 a colonel who was once a regiment commander in the Golani this is a heavy toll there was some kind of a booby traps and then a rescue operation trying to rescue the soldiers the commitment of the IDF commanders to their own troops when they are in fire really proved itself in the field but the price is high then killed and commanders to three commanders of companies this is a heavy toll for Golani brigade that had this heavy fighting in 2014 in colour of defence of the operation exactly in the same place so reminder of the toll that we have to pay in war in Sajeyi that's the area in Ghazan, Guy yes a very heavy toll an IDF colonel the most senior Israeli officer to be losing his life in those battles on the ground battles in Sajeyi it's Huck Ben Bassat is the head of the commander's team he's the fourth colonel to have died since October 7 the three others have died on the initial Hamas onslaught in the first battles he died together with the commander of the Golani's 13 battalion Tomer Greenberg these are heavy losses for the IDF I think Daron knows better than all of us including our viewers in this event like this will be investigated how things maybe could have been done better certainly in the future a situation in which the forces were met with explosives were trapped inside some sort of a compound and then the forces that came to the rescue both the Air Force unit and the senior commanders that surrounded the compound were all eventually hit by additional explosives as they made their way to the rescue of the initial force the forces outside have lost contact with the first four fighters who entered the compound there was fear that they may have been abducted or their bodies and therefore reinforcement was sent very brave men needless to say that going to the line of fire these terrorists face to face in an unknown terrain in a compound that we know there was a tunnel shaft there as well too many unknowns in this sort of environment and these troops are the head of the spear those who fight to clean up the northern part of the Gaza Strip from the Hamas forces as the IDF tries to eliminate Hamas's military capability we saw very well unfortunately what Hamas did on October 7th what Hamas has been doing for so many years launching rockets and attacks on Israelis for so many years as well as made it his goal its goal to stop that threat to eliminate Hamas and unfortunately it comes with a very heavy price and nonetheless the IDF will have to investigate how to prevent this sort of incidents this sort of casualties we also see a different incident right now on our screens and this is face to face a brave soldier that enters a home he encounters two terrorists there in the house and a grenade is being thrown at him he's being injured by the grenade nonetheless continues to fight and eliminates the following terrorists there inside that home this is the sort of face to face the battles that we see what we're seeing on screen right now is footage that was released showing an IDF soldier actually confronting terrorists actually going in being wounded as Guy said and continuing to kill on additional terrorists the footage was from his body camera and that's how we received it and it was released can you talk to us about that sort of activity going door to door trying to eliminate terrorists there's no substitute for boots on the ground in this kind of a warfare people think that you can do it by using only air power it won't work and you see soldiers fighting door to door in the same techniques that even 10, 20, 30, 40 years in the Lebanon war soldiers in this capacity are using it's necessary it's essential the price is high but you have to continue for sure we have to be very careful in terms of the booby traps and the way they succeeded to secure themselves Hamas terrorists I think the lesson will be learned the battlefield is always chaotic dynamic you all of the time learn new lessons in terms of as you confront the enemy and I think we learn we are getting better but the prices are there what can we do this is life in the battlefield now we are seeing booby traps as we've said and we know that there are many tunnels now there's this report saying that those tunnels will be flooded with seawater what do we know about that we're seeing a vast array of technology in terms of the tunnels it can be drones, it can be robotics it can be dogs, it can be vision equipment and of course this idea of pumping seawater into the tunnels which is you have to monitor it, see how it works try it and see what's the scope that you can use it whether you can use it in order to chase them out Hamas terrorists and wait for them when they come out the technology that was practiced and the army was actually trained in using those techniques in the last 10 years and this thing even Herzi Alevi said that he thinks it might work so we have to see how the effect of this technique the idea of trying to be creative obviously the threat of the tunnels is serious is one that is one of the goals of this operation to eliminate that sort of threat as we saw also in the incident with Colani the idea of flooding the the tunnels has been floating for quite a while and as we heard from President Biden yesterday basically confirming that report in a way because he says he does as far as he understands there are no hostages in the tunnels that are being flooded and this is also a long process I think it's a gradual process the idea is to cause those Hamas operatives to come out of the tunnels where it will be much easier for the Israeli troops to confront them obviously they're hiding there waiting for the right moment we're still looking for those very senior Hamas officials Mohamed Def etc it is believed that they are hiding in a tunnel somewhere and the idea is trying to flush them out going back to what Biden said that he hopes that there are no hostages in those tunnels we know that hostages were hidden and are hidden in underground tunnels how can we assure? So we have all those other technologies like drones that run into the tunnels robotics, vision equipment this is like it's very sophisticated technology that once by the way was used only with special forces and now it's employed by infantry on the ground and this technology so the engineering corps is using this technology you use it in order to secure that you don't have hostages there and only then you would use you explode the pier, you explode the tunnel or you use this new technique with the sea water And we know that two hostages were found in one of those tunnels This shows you, this has to do with the intelligence that we gather this was one of our greatest hopes when we enter this campaign that as Hamas is being defeated there is a wedge between the civilians and the Hamas terrorists we can gather more and more intelligence about the way about the center commanders and our hostages and I think once you can use this intelligence in order to employ special forces to rescue hostages in this case to rescue the bodies of our hostages you use it we didn't succeed in one occasion but we might succeed in the future this is part of what we are hoping we can achieve during Hanunez if we'll find the location of hostages and we have the right intel maybe a rescue operation on the ground Please stay with us we'll be back to discuss some more of this but joining us now on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Pierre Kluchender Pierre, can you give us the latest update on the ground down south I think that the operation is probably slowing down due to the terrible weather it's going rain over the Gaza Strip and on the border so as a result of that we hear less artillery fire at this point the visibility is very bad so although these artillery systems are guided we don't hear many many echoes of the fighting inside the Gaza Strip what we know is that there are three main focal points in this ground offensive right now and these are the same for the past 10 days also it's the Jebalyage refugee camp which is on the north outskirts of Gaza city the Shejaya border which is in the southeast outskirts of Gaza city but what we hear from the incident yesterday the tragic incident for the IDF in which 10 soldiers were killed in the old city of Shejaya it seems that there are also terrorists in other neighborhoods of Gaza city such as Aldaraj Tufa because we know from the first briefing of the IDF on the soldiers that were involved in the clash yesterday in the deadly clash many terrorists came in support of those that were in Shejaya from the Tufa neighborhood in another sector the center south sector of the Gaza Strip around Hanyunas also heavy fighting we've seen earlier from that sector the pounding of the artillery on the Salahadin axis which is main axis to lead to the Hanyunas city where the IDF believes that the political and military leadership of Hamas is originated and might have 6 shelters there because the population might be the most loyal to these leaders now the fighting from the air is also on the central refugee camps of Direl Balak, Mouserat El-Borej and also in the southern most city of the Gaza Strip in Rafah where there is also bombing and at the same time a humanitarian pose in the fighting in the Al-Shabura refugee camp of Rafah which is for 4 hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pierre Klushenler thank you very much down on Israel's southern border and back in studio with us are Dolon Avital and Gaysri and we're seeing such serious heavy rain and we saw it that surely impacts the fighting on the ground where there is always one constituent of warfare and this can complicate things also for us because of vision and sight through that in the north it might work to our advantage in the far distances with Hezbollah but here in this condensed area of Gaza it complicates the working of the army so we have to be much more careful about the humanitarian problems or the possible catastrophe that might be created in the south which is also something we have to take note of and try to work it out so the winter coming is a new element of the warfare and we'll have to take it into account depending on what kind of winter is expecting to come now we know that we're seeing IDF activity and clashes also in Genine in the West Bank how do we know about that? Well, the Genine in the last year there was a sort of a mini war in the northern Samaria and this was a tough operation with many units entering and we saw the footage we have to keep the West Bank contained because we don't want the front of the West Bank erupting this would be the worst thing for us right now and I think we pulled a lot of force in preventing arrests, in finding terrorists to contain them northern Samaria is a problem with problems in Chavon the West Bank is all the time bubbling we have to try to keep it as calm as possible Yes, we're hearing reports from the Palestinians out of Genine this morning in one of the eastern neighborhoods of the city IDF troops there are encircling that neighborhood closing off the entrances we know there are clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops there and it comes, of course, after on Tuesday four Palestinian terrorists were killed by a drone strike during an Israeli activity their arrest, trade those militants have hurled explosives on the Israeli troops eventually were eliminated by a drone Another concern for Israel on that front Thank you very much, Doron Avikal and Ghazrael We're now off to Kibbutz-Baeri one of the communities devastated on October 7th this Kibbutz is home to the country's largest printing works, which was largely spared by the terrorists and was able to get back to work rather quickly a report by Debra Ben Ayun with photography by Dean Barenboim Igal Shitrit has lived and worked in Bari for several decades but on October 7th everything changed those are the members of the Kibbutz that used to work in the print and were murdered part of the modern 90 people that were murdered on the 7th of October of Saturday we have here people that I know for more than 40 years part of them are from my class in the Kibbutz part of them I worked with for over 25 years at the bottom we have the picture of Yossi Sharabi which he is abducted with his brother Eli Sharabi and the last person to be added to this wall is Saar Baruch may he rest in peace we heard about it on Saturday Igal Shitrit's former classmates include Gil Buyum who was murdered with his son and Oron Birra who was killed with his wife and two children including his daughter Tahir also an employee of the company in all almost 90 people who were killed including children but barely a week after the October 7th massacres the printing works resumed its activities I want to tell you something about Itzhak Bachar he is 80 years old he comes to work every day from Yama Melach to Be'eri he just the last person that was added to the wall is Saar Baruch he is his grandson he was murdered on the Saturday the 7th his other grandson was murdered on the Saturday of the 7th of October and Itzhak comes every day to work this is a story of of strength of belief of everything that means Kibbutz Be'eri Otfuz Be'eri look at this person it's amazing she also works at the printing works she and her family have lived on Kibbutz Be'eri for 32 years on October 7th when the numerous rocket alerts began to sound around 6.30 am her husband was out walking the dog within minutes we heard a motorcycle and I looked at my husband I said to him oh dear it must be from the party they probably ran in a way to look for shelter tell them to come in and as it came by I was busy trying to calm my dog down so I didn't see them because of the fences you know about this and then he said to me it's terrorists I saw two terrorists on a motorcycle with machine guns and I looked at him and I said you know you couldn't fathom terrorists it sounds crazy you know who rockets we used to terrorists Natasha and her family were very lucky because she lives only a few meters from the attack neighborhood and the terrorists saw her husband Natasha's family had to stay in the safe room from 7 am until 11 pm that horrible feeling of sitting in your safety room when friends are shouting for help and screaming to help and you got this useless feeling you can't do anything about it just reading the messages and trying to call for help and we were waiting for the army to come in time goes by when you realize the army is not coming in and your friends are shouting for help and there's nothing you can do you realize there's a big problem because if the army is not here something's definitely gone wrong several employees of the printing works accounting department were murdered on October 7th Natasha who was in charge of the kibbutz finances took a look at the printing works a few weeks ago first remotely and then a few days ago on site having decided to move back I didn't think I'd ever come back to Berry thinking to myself how could I ever come back to a place where I wouldn't feel safe again but within a very short time after that you start getting angry and you think they've taken everything they've ripped everything under your feet you know taken your security your friends family members taking my home away from me as well because we were basically fugitives in our own country and I think it was the anger of you know the humiliation of me not having my own home and them trying to take that from me as well is what made me decide to come back the print house started to work on the second week I think second week after the October 7th because of two things two main things one it's vital for us for us all it's a show of normalcy in a time that there's no normalcy we don't even have the language to describe what happened to us after the 7th of October what you see here it's not less than amazing beyond the strength and resilience as I said before it's a beacon most of the employees are working on day to day they're not from the kibbutz now they're from all over the area and they come on daily basis because it's a it's part of their lives it's their second home the Berri printing works founded in 1950 is the largest in Israel it employs 350 people it is here that a huge number of official documents including credit cards checkbooks and drivers licenses are printed for the whole country miraculously the printing works was hardly touched by the terrorists however bullet holes can be seen here and there especially on windows but also on this TV set a little further along the kibbutz's pathways are destroyed houses as far as the eye can see among them eagles on October 7th he was not there with emotion he shows us what's left of what he calls his fortress this home most of us plan to come back when it's to be available other people won't be able to come back emotionally this home