 Made For Me, a unique concept in Israel. Custom made men's fashion to your measurements. Made For Me, designer of all your events. Schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il. Made For Me, official dresser of I-24 News. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. You're watching I-24 News. We're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 20 of Israel's war with Hamas and in the last hour, a heavy barrage of rockets fired from Gaza at Central Israel and Tel Aviv. No casualties reported. There was another barrage earlier in the day at lunchtime and one of those rockets did hit a building in the city of Petah Tikvah. It caused a fire in a residential home. No reports, thankfully, of any casualties and the IDF continues to pound Gaza, claiming today to have killed more than one senior Hamas commander in charge of rocket fire from the town of Han-Yumis. And another one, the deputy head of Hamas intelligence directorate, Shadi Baroud. He is accused of planning the October 7 attacks in conjunction with the Hamas leader, Yat-Yat Sinwar. Well, diplomatic moves underway in New York. The Jordan and Mauritius have together called an emergency meeting to talk about the situation in Gaza. We know that the Israeli envoy to the UN spoke a few moments ago. We'll hear from him in just a moment. And several Arab countries, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have accused Israel of carrying out collective punishments in Gaza as Israel carries out heavy airstrikes on Gaza in order to destroy the Hamas infrastructure. We've also been hearing from the families of some of the 224, at least, hostages who are being held in Gaza. 20 days now, they have been there. Men, women, children, elderly people, entire families. Very difficult stories, heartbreaking stories coming from people there. And also a lot of anger at the government. People say they're not getting enough information. So a lot going on tonight. Let me introduce our guest for you. Dr. Michael Oren is the former Israeli ambassador to the United States and the former deputy Israeli Prime Minister. I'm also joined by Professor Uzzi Rabi. He's the director of the Mushri Diane Center for Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University. So thank you to you both. Thank you for being with us. So it's the agonizing dilemma for Israel, isn't it? With 224, at least, hostages being held in Gaza. At the same time, a military objective to destroy Hamas in its entirety. It is the worst possible dilemma you can imagine. There's actually no good option here. There's only horrible and more horrible. And it's true. And the issue would be this. Every day that passes and Hamas releases, drop by drop, hostages, the pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire. Right now, it's been called a pause by the White House. But the difference between a pause and a ceasefire is not a huge difference. And a pause can definitely bleed into a ceasefire. A ceasefire is basically a defeat for Israel and a victory for Hamas. It means Hamas gets away literally with murdering 1,400s of our families. Even if it was a temporary pause in fighting. Well, a pause would be a temporary, but it doesn't matter. I think the pause would then be one pause then another pause before you have a ceasefire. And ceasefire means defeat for Israel, victory for Hamas. It means Israel cannot restore security to its borders. It cannot send the people back to the south part of the country. I'm not sure they're feeling so comfortable here in Jaffa either. And it means Israel cannot restore its deterrence power in the region. It means that we cannot begin the process of rebuilding the people's faith in the state, because that covenant has been greatly impaired by this. It would be, in short, a disaster for the state of Israel. And so basically, by taking time they're taking and letting Hamas play that game, Hamas is actually turning the entire state of Israel, if not much of the world, into a hostage. This is the new hostage crisis. And I think Israelis are very anxious to know why we're waiting so long. I'm an historian, and I remember the Six-Day War. The waiting period went for three weeks, and that is remembered as a great trauma by the people of Israel. We're now into the third week of waiting here. And I don't know if the outcome's going to be like the Six-Day War, but the waiting itself is very costly. Uzi Rami, I've heard some military analysts say that actually the delay is working in Israel's favor, because the fuel is running low. Hamas needs that fuel to keep the air conditioning running in its tunnels. All the while, Israel is preparing the ground for an invasion. What do you think of that? Well, I think that this is quite the situation. I'm not actually, I do not think that time is the main, I would say, item here, but a follow-up and more to Michael said, Israel should be keenly aware as to not lose the keys of the rhythm and let Hamas actually dictate the rhythm, which is this is actually the situation now. Israel should just build up kind of a timetable by which to have several days in order to see whether we can glean kind of, you know, let us say a kind of a solution to part, or whatever, kidnappers or hostages being brought back. But the thing is that this ground attack should be carried out in the coming days. I don't think that we have, you know, kind of a limited span of time span. In terms of international sympathy, or in terms of? Both, both, both, because I think that, you know, we know that with the ground attack actually being carried out, a lot of this international public opinion that, you know, unprecedentedly supports Israel would be one way or the other, you know, not be there as was the case before. And the other thing is we are going actually also to witness sort of a tsunami when it comes to Arab states, even those who hold kind of a peace treaty with Israel, especially Jordan and Egypt, and see actually where the absurd is. You just mentioned Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates, actually denouncing Israel. Well, let me tell you one thing. Those states, at least when it comes to leadership, they are keenly aware of how dangerous Muslim brothers actually movement is. They just actually outload them in their country. But basically, you know, they have to just be politically correct, make sure that they are. But they have signaled they want the Abraham Accords to continue. Yeah, definitely. I mean, this is something we have to do. If Hamas is doomed, if Hamas is well-defeated, if the message is being sent to the Middle East, we are getting back to this course of normalization through Israel and Saudi Arabia, because this is a game changer in the geopolitical architecture of the Middle East. So I hope that this would be the case. But, you know, from this point, it seemed farfetched. But I hope that it would be materialized. All right, we'll pick up on that in a moment. But staying with international diplomacy, let's head to the UN headquarters in New York, where that special meeting is underway. Our senior US correspondent, Mike Wagenheim, is with us. Mike, I understand the Israeli envoy, Gilad Erdogan, spoke a short while ago. Indeed, Lauren spoke quite passionately as well. You could hear Erdogan's voice breaking at times as he described the atrocities that took place on October 7th, actually played a video of a Thailand worker in Israel, who was nearly decapitated by Hamas assailant. Also, the Israeli staff in the General Assembly Hall left papers at the desk of every country's representative that had a QR code so that they could view the atrocities themselves on their phone, just in case there was any doubt left at this point in time, though there shouldn't be. Erdogan spoke about the resolution that's been put forward by the Jordanians at the General Assembly, which will be voted on tomorrow afternoon or evening. And question why Hamas's name didn't appear once in that resolution, why there's no condemnation, why is there only moving forward, why is there only pressure put on Israel at this point to halt all hostilities without being able to dismantle Hamas's terrorist infrastructure and take out its leadership in Gaza. Said that the Jordanians and those backing the resolution expect you, and he was addressing the Assembly Hall, said expect you to be puppets. They expect you to just believe whatever it is they've written down on the resolution. He encouraged everyone to actually do the research, do the homework, see the situations for themselves, and understand that the resolution, he said, which was supposedly supposed to bring peace, would only bring more terror by essentially condoning Hamas's terrorist acts rather than condemning them and essentially encouraging them to do it once again as soon as they were able to rehabilitate their resources. Erdogan speaking earlier on today as did the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, the Iranian foreign minister made the trip to New York, Osan Amir Abdul Hanian, and he spoke very critically about not only Israel, but the United States and its role in the Middle East. He basically said to the US that the Middle East is Iran's territory to stay out if they don't want further trouble and want Iran to get involved in the conflict here between Israel and Hamas. Yeah, he's just jetted in from Moscow, I believe the Iranian foreign minister. But Mike, this is the latest in a series of attempts by the UN Security Council to pass resolutions on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. All have failed so far. That's right, the meeting today is taking place just down the hall in the General Assembly and resolutions that are passed out of the GA are non-binding. They're very symbolic and we get an opportunity to see how all 193 member states vote and kind of get a lay of the land as to how crisis may carry forward in the international community. But here behind me in the Security Council chambers, four resolutions have been tabled in the last week, eight, nine days now. All four of them have failed in one fashion or another. Russia has put forward two resolutions. Both of them failed to garner their requisite nine votes out of the 15 member council. Brazil's resolution last week vetoed by the United States because it did not explicitly condemn Hamas and the United States resolution yesterday was vetoed by Russia. Russia saying that it essentially would do nothing to bring about peace going forward since it did not call for a ceasefire, only calling for a humanitarian pauses to allow aid to flow through into Gaza. So the Security Council as usual here as we've seen now for quite some time, unable to unify and unable to really do anything of substance to halt a global crisis. And Mike, just real quick, there's a lot about the Palestinians in Gaza in these resolutions. Anything at all about the hostages who are still being held, the 224 plus people being held in Gaza? Well, all of the resolutions, both in the Security Council, now in the General Assembly, have all called for the immediate release of hostages. That really hasn't been an issue among any of them. There have been vast differences in terms of ceasefire versus pauses in terms of whether the evacuation order for northern Gaza should be rescinded by the Israelis, a different language here and there. But the hostages, the immediate release of the hostages has been the one constant through all of the resolutions so far. But again, Security Council has passed nothing in the General Assembly resolution. If it passes and it almost certainly will tomorrow is non-binding. All right, Mike, thanks a lot. Mike Wagenheim there is at UN headquarters in New York. So let's pick up then on international diplomacy. We just heard there that yet another UN Security Council resolution expected to fail. There's clearly no consensus. One side calling for a ceasefire. The United States standing firmly with Israel and saying, not putting the pressure on Israel to do that right now. That's the crucial wedge. And we're very much dependent on that American veto. It is really what's standing right now. You can't say it's between defeat and victory. But if there's a UN decision, a UN Security Council decision to impose a ceasefire, that means we'll be operating under that. We're beyond the page. We were in the fall of 1949 when the UN imposed a ceasefire on us at the end of our war of independence. And the Ben-Gurion gave his famous reply, Um Shmoom. Who cares about the UN? They're in New York. We're here. We're going to continue kicking the Egyptian army out of the mega. You remember this? Um Shmoom, we're not there anymore because a Security Council resolution has international law force. It can be used as a basis for sanctions and blockades against us. It's precisely what Hamas wants. Hamas wants that resolution because Hamas knows he can't destroy us with all its rockets and drones, whatever they're going to throw at us. They can't destroy us. What they can do is create a situation where we fire back. They get to kill our people. Then we kill their people. They're using it as a human shield. And then that creates diplomatic. And they're killing their own people, reports of these as well. But here it creates bad press, OK? Horrible pictures coming out of Gaza. And every night I'm interviewing at the international press, I see these bad pictures that are now dominating the screen. And then that becomes upheaval in the streets, protests on the streets. That puts pressures on these governments, particularly in Europe. And those governments are eventually going to vote for ceasefire. And that means victory. So that means then if we defy the ceasefire, then we have an international court that is going to deny us the right to defend ourselves. Our international courts are going to deny us a sanction on us. And that's precisely what Hamas wants. Odi. Well, listen, Hamas is to threaten people in Gaza not to cross what they call Vadi Gaza, which is the valley of Gaza, and go to the south. Why he needs them there? Because he's going to capitalize on their suffering, so as Michael said. And now, actually, what they are doing is to gather tens of thousands of Gazans around Shifa, which is the hospital, where actually the entrance to the metro Gaza, so to speak. It's in northern Gaza. North and still northern. And all these neighborhoods, but Lahia and cities, on the way to Gaza City, are being evacuated, actually, out of 1.1 million people. I think that 750,000, actually, were moving to the south. But the remaining are being threatened by Hamas. Or they are supporters of Hamas. And here I would, via Israel, actually, would come with something that has to do with international laws. If these guys actually have committed crimes against humanity, well, maybe we could have a different set of laws. Israeli speaking or internationally speaking that would be implemented in order, actually, to come and act that Israel, and I'm sorry for putting it in that blunt way, cannot go back home without full victory as the target and the destination was defined by the leaders of this country. And I tell you why. We have in Israel nowadays more than 250,000 people displaced. People came from the south and the north to the heart of Israel. It is kind of a small perimeter from Hedera to Hedera, as we said, on the whole system of what an Israel is. And this is why I think that this time, I even would put it in kind of a very cruel way. Israel is in a corraless. This is something we have to achieve this time. On top of that, this would be the right message to be sent to Hezbollah and other troublemakers in the region because we still have some other chapters, actually, next in line. All right. Thank you, Uzi. Thank you, Professor Rabi. We're going to go to the south. Rob Swift is in Stelot. Rob, what's happening? So at the minute, for the, it's been kind of quiet-ish by Gaza border standards for about the last hour. There's been no launches since the last one that we described, which was the third launch we've seen here in the last four hours. That was just over an hour ago. But I say quiet. And by that, I mean, there's still continuous artillery falling behind me. The Israeli military has continued to applying the pressure that is applying to the Gaza Strip. And the question is kind of what is the focus of this? Because this is a heavier bombardment of artillery than we've seen in recent days, I think, since the start of the war. So the fact that this escalated artillery barrage is coming after the operation, the raid that went into Gaza in the early hours of last night. That in itself is interesting and may be an indication that the IDF is planning something. On the other hand, it might not be. It could just be that the IDF are continuing to ratchet up the pressure that they're putting on Hamas. We've heard earlier that they've killed yet another senior commander in Hamas by killing the deputy head of Hamas intelligence in an airstrike earlier this evening. So it could be one of these two things. About the limited ground invasions into Gaza last night, what exactly happened? What is the purpose of those missions? Is it to get information, kind of a reconnaissance mission? What do you think? How do you read it? Well, to put this in context, there have been raids previously. I think there's been at least two previous raids into the Gaza Strip since the start of hostilities here. Those two previous raids were using special forces who were backed up by tanks. This raid yesterday was more of an infantry base as opposed to special forces. So we were talking about larger numbers of troops and much more tanks on the ground. So this is a larger scale raid. And it's understood that the purpose, the objective of these missions, was different as well. The previous raids were intelligence gathering focused on the hostages. Some of them retrieved bodies of fallen Israelis. Whereas the operation last night is understood this was much more about hitting Hamas positions, hitting their defensive infrastructure. And that makes it appear as to be more of a shaping operation, preparing the ground, possibly, essentially for the Israeli military to increase its presence and to go into Gaza, if that is what they do and tend to do next. All right, Rob. Thanks very much. Robert Swift there in Sterot in the south of Israel. And just some news coming in in the last few minutes. The IDF says it's carried out another drone strike on Hezbollah cell in Lebanon. So just a reminder that Israel is on high alert at its northern border as well as the situation in Gaza. Well, let's get back to a diplomacy. We just heard that there another UN resolution expected to fail tonight. One put forward by Jordan, which does not mention Hamas, but does call on Israel to cease fighting in Gaza. We've also had comments from Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He's expressed his strong support for Hamas, saying it's wrong to call them terrorists because they are, in fact, Mujahedin who are defending their lands. Erdogan has also lashed out that the West, he says that Western countries deem Muslim lives as worth less. Well, for more on that, we can go to Istanbul. We're joined by journalist Ayla Jean Yakli. Thank you for being with us, Ayla Jean. And I mean, Saudi Arabia has condemned Hamas calling their actions on Islamic. And this is a country that doesn't even officially have relations with Israel. Turkey has for many years been an economic partner with Israel, even though there has been a difficult relationship between President Erdogan and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Why is he coming out so strongly in favor of Hamas? It is interesting. He had taken a much more restrained tone in the previous weeks. But now he's thrown down the gauntlet. He made his strongest defense yet of Hamas, calling them, as you said, Mujahedin, or a liberation group fighting for Palestinian lands. This could spell the end of a reset in relations with Israel that Erdogan has sought now for years. He has said he's canceling a visit that he had planned to make to Israel. So it is an interesting change in tone. It could jeopardize a role that Erdogan has sought to carve out for himself as a potential mediator between Hamas and Israel. But it also might be, domestic issues might be at play here as well. A lot of his supporters are very impassioned about the Palestinian cause. This weekend on Saturday, he is going to attend and address a massive rally in Istanbul in support of Palestinian rights. So it might be his domestic audience as much as it is the foreign that he's interested in persuading now. Well, a domestic audience, quite, but there's a poll out by Metropole, which says that 34% of Turks would like Ankara to stay neutral in the war. Ayla, I'm sorry to interrupt you. We've got the Israeli defense minister. Please stay with us. We'll be back with you in a moment. Here's Yoav Galan speaking now. Good evening. We are in decisive moments. This is a war on the home and we shall prevail. It's either we or them. October 7th, Hamas opened a war. This is a war against the citizens of Israel, against small children, women, holocaust survivors. This is a war against civilian settlements, a war of murder, of rape, of abduction, of looting. This is a war which is designated in order to deter us in order to negate the will of the citizens of Israel to live here, but we shall prevail in this war. I know it because I saw on October 7th and on the 8th the soldiers of the IDF as well as the citizens fighting. I saw the citizens defending with valor their children, the soldiers storming to the fire. I saw the girls' commanders taking grenades from the bodies of the terrorists and throwing them on them. I saw fallen dead and the commanders personally leading the war from room to roof, from village to village in their effort. They stopped the advancement of the enemies also into the depth of the state of Israel and severed their capability to harm additional citizens. Immediately after that, 24 hours later, we went to attack, to offense. This is a lethal, fatal, accurate attack. It is by air, by sea, and by land. It hits the bunkers, the tunnels, the piers, and the blockades, and the media, and the terrorists, those who are on land, and those who are directing it. And this war is accurate, fatal, and strong. I know that it is our duty to win this war. This is the non-written contract between the government in Israel and the public. And my duty as Minister of Defense, as one who is responsible for the defense, to lead to the situation that we prevail and that the citizens of Israel will be able to continue to live here quietly, peacefully, as they deserve. We shoot with fire, and we create a continuation for the war. Additional stages will come. We are preparing them, and we shall implement them. I am determined to bring about victory. The managing of this war is in the Ministry of Defense with our best people, IDF, the Shabak, the Mossad, all the bodies of coordination, people in the home front, the Ministry of Defense in the civilian home front, the coordination, vis-a-vis all the other bodies, the issue of the abducted, of the hostages, and also the MIAs. In the Ministry of Defense, I see only one target to bring about the victory of the State of Israel on this evil and bad enemy, the evil, the pure evil, the Hamas, that ISIS organization of Gaza. And another thing happened in this war, something we've never seen before. We have more than 200 hostages and missing persons, and unfortunately, we lost some 1,400 citizens and soldiers in battle. As a father, as a grandfather, as a son of Holocaust survivors, I understand, and I feel the pain of this heavy price of those who fell in battle. I am determined, together with the entire Ministry of Defense, to make every effort possible in order to bring back the hostages to their families. This is my supreme duty, side by side, for a full victory in battle. Such an event did not happen to the State of Israel in its 75 years of existence. What's going to happen in the next 75 years depends, to a great extent, in the achievement that we will have in this battle. And therefore, I'm saying to you, we have no other choice. And we shall win, because there's no other choice. It's either us or them. Thank you, if anybody has questions. Is there a need for land maneuver? Is it not going to risk the bringing back of the abducted? And what's the price that Israel will have to pay? Is there a deadline for such a deal? Also, we heard you and the Prime Minister, and he said that you are working together as one decisive force. What about your relationship with the Prime Minister? I will answer the first question, and I'll say it loud and clear. Our target is victory in war and bringing back the abducted. The maneuver is going to come. It's going to happen. Quite soon, when we have the right conditions in order to hit the Hamas, and after we complete our mission with fire, when it happens, you will see it, and you will understand the power of it. Mr. Minister, a month before this vicious attack, the heads of the state that, in case Iran is going to hit Israelis, the price will be heavy for Iran as well. Is this still at hand? What's the red line there? We are waging a war in the southern region against Hamas. We are ready for any development in the north, Hezbollah, but together with that, we do not have an interest to expand the war. If it happens, we will know what to do. Our force is already, so is the air force for attack. Mr. Minister, does Israel have a deadline? How long you can wait with this maneuver? And what about return of the abducted? And what about the relationship between your ministry and the Prime Minister? I think it's really handled properly between you. The maneuver will begin when the conditions will be right. It's very complex. The forces are ready. I visit them almost daily. I meet the combatants and the armored cars and engineering, the artillery, the soldiers by sea, by land, they're all ready. And we will operate them and we will ask them, what about your questions regarding the relationship? We are working together. We have only one target to win the war, and I'm convinced that we shall do that with joint forces. Thank you very much, Minister. If Hamas will be ready to release scores of hostages, it will Israel be able to transfer fuel to them. I'm not going to deal with any details of this kind. One thing is clear. We have a target. We have a goal. I only rely on the State of Israel and the IDF. I'm sure the IDF will perform its mission. It is ready, and we will make every effort possible to bring back the hostages, the MIAs, the abducted, earlier the better. So Nisar, if you think the only committee, the commission that can investigate this is a State Independent Commission and not any other commission, I suggest to all of us to be concentrated in the mission, which is at hand. For me, as a Minister of Defense, this is the largest mission I've ever done and that I will ever do in my life. My target is one, to win this war, and I'll say one more thing. It is good for all of us to be on front and not reverse. We'll talk about reverse after we win. Minister of Defense, the Prime Minister of Qatar said that there's an advance in the deal to bring back the hostages. Do you think Qatar is legitimate, although it supports Hamas? And can you confirm that there's a certain chance to bring back women, children, et cetera? What's important to me is the victory in bringing back the MIAs and the hostages. That's what we're doing, and we will do. I rely on the state of Israel and the IDF, the people who are mobilized, thousands of people all over the country, who are dealing with the missing and the abducted. And for me, any channel is possible. The target is what's important. Minister, we spoke a lot about the civil sector, and it's important, the home front. Do you see things that you have to deal with quickly so that the functioning of the home front yachts not your ministry, but maybe other ministers should make decisions? How to deal with the civilian front, the home front? It's natural that when a state, by surprise, enters war, the first bodies that are awakened are the IDF and the securities, and Shabbat and the Mossad. With the others, it's happening as well. The director general of my ministry are concentrating and coordinating the effort to support the civilians and the communities, the places that were hit, and the state of Israel with all its power is going to go into the process. And I rely that these things are going to happen. We are the bridge to the continuation of the activities of the government. This is our task, and I support all of the ministries. I wanted to know. It's now 20 days for the war. All right, that's the Defense Minister. Yoav Galan there answering questions to reporters. And he says, this is the biggest mission. He's ever carried out in his life. And he has one goal, and that is to destroy Hamas and bring back the hostages. Professor Elisir Rabi and Dr. Michael Orr are still with us in the studio. And just give me your initial reaction to that speech by the Defense Minister. Did we hear anything new? Well, I think that I accept the notions of, as I said before, Israel must be actually an ultimate winner in that battle. I would rather actually hear the Defense Minister speaking not only on the contribution or the high contribution of the Defense Ministry and the IDF. It is kind of a, you know, we have a new government. It's sort of a very, very blessed coalition. It is symbolizing actually the united efforts of all the society and other organs of Israel. And I'd rather actually hear more about we and not me if I may put it that way. You'll agree with that one. I agree with Uzi. I think it's a very disturbing speech. I know you all have gone very well. We were in Knesset together. I consider him a friend. So I'm going to be very hesitant to criticize him. But a very disturbing speech on a couple of levels. First of all, a couple of days ago he was saying he takes responsibility. He understands the ramifications of the failure here. That's gone. And in part of it, it was very, you know, pugilistic, very militant, which is fine. But I don't understand actually the purpose of the speech. But I think that Uzi's right. There was no government in this speech. There was no prime minister. You may not like the prime minister. A lot of people are not like in the prime minister. But he still is the prime minister of Israel. And he's running this war. If you listen to speech, the person who's running this war is Yov Ghan and the ministry. And where are all the other ministries involved? Do you think that will unsettle people in Israel? That's interesting. None of the reporters asked about it. I think they went over their heads, frankly. To me, it was glaring. And as a country that's trying to broadcast to the world security and unity and democracy and good government, I think it's a very problematic speech. And I'll see if anybody else picks up on it. Uzi, can I just get a word from you on this report? A senior Hamas official has told the Associated Press that it expected stronger intervention from Hezbollah. Gazi Hamad said he appreciates what Hezbollah has done so far. But we expect more, that's his words. Well, I mean, I would say, actually, having heard a kind of an interview that was given by Khaled Mashal to Al-Arabiya or Al-Jazeera, sorry. And he was very, very frustrated about not only Arabs not coming, actually, and becoming very supportive of Hamas, but he actually pointed to Hezbollah, by which to say that they disappointed him. And you can learn from that, that the working assumption Hamas actually was holding from the beginning is that if he performs well against Israel, and there is even a partial success. There was a huge success, actually, in their eyes. All other fronts are going to be experienced sort of a flare-up. This is actually the vision of multi-front conflict. Hamas was pretty sure that this would be the scenario. What he got till now is the opposite, almost the opposite. Because what Hezbollah is coming up in the North is kind of a very, very limited war. The war on Galilee, tit-for-tat, yeah. It's not what, actually, Hamas was hoping for. And this is something that Hamas let everybody know how frustrated he is. And this is something that should be taken. I have a question for you. There was a report in the papers today that said that there was like a smoking gun. They found that Iran had been training 500 Hamas. It's no surprise to us, but it's out in the center. So isn't the Hamas' complaint actually directed not at Hezbollah, but at Iran? Yeah, it's, you know. It doesn't maybe disagree in advance. Maybe there was some type of agreement that we're going to do this in the South, and you're going to do this in the North. No, you know, I agree with you. Iran is so cynical. Iran is actually is led by Persians. They hate Arabs and the capitalists of their weakness. If you would name the proxies all over the place, Houthis, Hezbollah, Husha Chabi in Iraq, all of them are Arabs. And they are being capitalized on by Iran in order actually to have this hegemony. Hezbollah is Shia. Hezbollah is Shia. Hamas is Sunni. But each one of them actually has its own, you know, this is kind of a player in the Iranian chessboard. Hamas sits back to back to Israel. This is why he is worthwhile actually for Iran. And this is why Iran supports. Iran, in my opinion, didn't plan the attack. But Iran gave Hamas kind of an idea that that kind of a flare up with Israel is more than welcome, especially as we heard about the normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. And this was kind of a neck by which to hamper all these normalization efforts and prevent the creation of that kind of an axis of good guys against Iran, which will isolate Iran as an economy. And yet we hear the Abraham Accords are very much still on. Hold that thought for me if you would, obviously. Sure. Because in the last few days, Israel's released video footage from the interrogations of seven Hamas terrorists who were captured after they burst into Israel on October 7. In the videos, the men admit to having been instructed to murder, torture, and maim as many civilians as possible. You can take a listen to one of them now. Well, my next guest knows a great deal about those kinds of interrogations. Thomas Ropel is a retired FBI special agent. He's now the professor of criminal justice at Vanguard University. Thank you very much indeed for being with us. And first of all, when you listen to the accounts from those men, how can we be sure that they are telling the truth? What clues do you get that they're telling the truth? Laura, thank you for having me. I want to see the thoughts and prayers from us here in Southern California, here at Vanguard University. A lot of our students, there's a lot of prayers here. It's Christian University. They're with you all over there. So first off, I want to say that. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a great question, Laura. And it actually feeds into what the defense minister was just talking about is the ongoing operations over there and the possible ground attack is what these interrogations are actually focusing on is getting intelligence that could be actionable for the IDF when that ground attack occurs. One of the most important things is the accuracy of that intelligence. And there are many ways to actually determine whether or not they're telling the truth. The old-school mentality was nonverbal behavior if they look as if they're nervous or they're deceptive, that their eyes are moving in certain directions, then they may be lying. That has been debunked over the last 10 to 12 years through some psychological research and science. So really the way to determine if a detainee is telling, is providing accurate information is going in with some information. The interrogation team, having done their preparation and planning and homework, coming in with information that they can validate, they can corroborate. Additionally, during the interrogation, what should be happening and I'm sure is there with the IDF is their teams are assessing that information real time and determining if that detainee is a truth teller or being deceptive. And then what will happen, Laura, is that interrogator will then kind of change direction throughout that interrogation if they determine that the information is inaccurate. They will use different psychological methodology to get on track. Well, I was gonna ask you, I mean, what kind of tactics will the interrogators be using? What are the tactics to try and get as much as information as possible from a captive? There's a researcher named Alderit Varai. He's out of University of Portsmouth in England. He has been studying deception for about 20 years and the US government and several of the European nations have utilized his methodology, his research. Basically, there's several different ways other than using information you already know. The hardest interrogation is when you're getting new information, there's no way to validate it. So one of the techniques, Laura, is after you spend an hour or two hours with a detainee, you'll go back to revisit a story that he has talked about. Maybe that's a situation that some of these have discussed videos about certain raids that they were conducting. You'll go back, ask them to retell the story and maybe in a reverse order. And then you may give them a piece of paper, ask them to sketch out a sketch of what they saw when they were there. What this does is it gives you an ability to assess whether or not they're telling the truth because you're going to increase their cognitive load a little bit, put a little bit of small anxiety on them. And then what they may do, Laura, is they may trip up a little bit. And then as an interrogator, you can actually use that to assess that truth-telling. Oh, okay. And when you see these videos, I mean, as an expert, what is your assessment of the men we're looking at there? Do you think they're hardened terrorists or are they just lowly criminals who got caught up in the violence? People who perhaps did it for money, we've heard reports about that as well. I mean, how would you characterize them? A great question. I watched the video several times. It appears, and this is going off my experience being an Afghanistan, Iraq, and working with Hamas terrorists myself in the past is, it appears there's at least one individual who's a commander. What we look at is their demeanor, their command presence, how they carry themselves, how they speak, their age could be a factor. So what I see from the videos that I was given the opportunity to view was primarily one commander, and it appeared as if the others were maybe lower level individuals. Hard to tell for sure what their motivation was if they have an extremist ideology, or if they're actually doing this on behalf of criminal activity or making money. But I will say that one of the key points for the interrogation team and the interrogators is to pick away at that ideology and find out exactly why these individuals, that gentleman right there was the commander. Yeah, so try to pick away why they're in the position they are, and that really helps kind of mold that as you're moving through that process. So hard to tell, but at least one commander, the others seem like they may have been lower level type operatives who, by the way, have access to some very important information that could mold and assist that ground attack that may be coming up in days or weeks. Wow, fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing your insight and your experience with us. Thomas Raphael, former FBI agent. Thank you. My pleasure, thank you. Well, the White House in the last hour has condemned what it called the grotesque displays of anti-Semitism on college campuses, and we have seen visible signs of anti-Semitic hate on university campuses in the United States. In recent days there has also been a worldwide spike in anti-Semitic attacks, most notably in France, the United Kingdom, also Germany and other European countries as well. But to talk about the situation specifically in the US universities, we're joined now by Frida Cohen. She's the co-founder of Enough Is Enough. Thanks very much for being with us, Frida. Tell us what is going on and what do you make of that statement from the White House? First, I want to say thank you for having me regarding the statement from the White House. It is absolutely true. What we've been seeing on college campus since October 7th has been absolutely horrifying to say the least, but I do want to just point out that this isn't something new, it's just not something that the public was really speaking about, but it is things that Jewish students have been seeing and facing for a long time. Obviously not to this extreme, but it's definitely been present. And Frida, I mean, people will say, where is the line between expressing support for Palestinian civilians who are undoubtedly suffering the effects of a visuals war with Hamas and being anti-Semitic, intimidating Jewish students, making them feel unsafe on campus. So just to give a little context on that, I think the first week, it was kind of an information war where people were asking questions and trying to understand what the actual time it was in Israel and in Gaza, but it slowly became not even relevant to what's actually happening to people that are actually living on the grounds there. And it quickly just became a fight against Jews and against Israel and not even for the Palestinians. People don't really understand what the climate is. They're not really asking the right questions, I would say, and not really trying to do enough research that's unbiased to figure out what's happening. Just to speak about a few examples, this morning, I believe it was outside of NYU, there were hostage posters and the other side put it as a presser. These are innocent civilians that were massacred and taken out of their homes. And there's no right or wrong there. This fight is against Hamas. It's not against innocent Palestinian people. Everyone that's Jewish and everyone that's fighting for Israel knows that. We wish no death upon anyone. And it's honestly very disappointing to see that these are what students are. Frieda, if you can still hear me, Frieda? All right, we've got a bit of a technical glitch. So that's a shame, that was Frieda Koh in there. The co-founder of, oh, Frieda, you're back with us. I just wanted to, if you can still hear me. No, technical problem, sorry about that. All right, okay, Frieda, if you can still hear me. I mean, we've had this message from the White House, a strong condemnation of grotesque anti-Semitism by students on campuses. Do you think that will change something? Because the university deans, the university leadership have been criticized for now for just not doing enough to protect their Jewish students. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I don't think they're doing that at all. I think they need to be, there needs to be a zero tolerance policy on both ends. Things like what happened to Union yesterday. I mean, students inside of the library, the state of protest. All right, Frieda, we're gonna let you go. We can't hear you that well, Frieda, but you certainly made your point. Good luck to you, Frieda. Thank you very much, Frieda Koh in there. Let's hope things change on the university campuses soon. We try and kind of bring in a positive aspect to all of this every day. And it's not just the soldiers and reservists in Israel. The whole country is very much on a war footing. And we can meet one of the many people who are using their skills, their initiative and really their hearts to help out this war effort. Yulia Fedorov is with us in the studio. And you're the founder of Letters to the Front. Is that right? Tell us what you're doing and how that's helping the war. First of all, thank you for having me here. And yeah, so Letters to the Front lines, it's basically an initiative that I began a couple weeks ago when I was trying to figure out a way to help with the situation going on. Like I wanted to use the resources that I had and the skills that I had. So basically I came up with the idea of developing a website where people can submit letters that would be to soldiers and mainly from abroad. So this is from outside Israel? So what kind of countries are we talking about? So actually a wide range of countries. I was very surprised with how many people reached out from abroad. I got letters from Egypt, from Spain, those soldiers as well. Very surprising actually, from Egypt, from Spain, from Germany, France, other basically countries all over the world. And I was surprised even to see some of them, as I mentioned, Egypt. But they're all really supportive and they all kind of show not even support only from a Jewish perspective. There's a lot of people who are not Jewish who wrote in letters. And I think it was really nice to see that this is something that everybody is here to help. Like I want soldiers to be able to receive these letters and think that somebody who is outside of Israel cares about me and cares about this country. And at the same time, I want to give people who are outside of Israel the chance to feel involved and feel like they're making a difference in someone's life, even if it's in such a small way. So is it men, women, children who are writing the letters mainly? Mainly women. I've got a lot of letters from women. Some of them are very flirty a little bit, which is actually... We've all seen the soldiers in the uniforms. Exactly, exactly. But I think honestly, any letters that bring in a little bit of humor and that are a little bit flirty, fun, it puts a smile on people's faces. I know from personal experience, writing letters to soldiers, when I would get a message from them saying, like, thank you, this made me smile. This is like a, you know, it made us all laugh a little bit. So just bringing a little bit of joy in people's lives. It's a bit of a lost art, isn't it? We used to like the tweets and the text messages and everything, you know, actually sitting down and writing a message is a real act of care, isn't it? It takes time and it takes some thoughts. Exactly, yeah. Like when I sit down to write these letters, honestly, my handwriting is not the best, but I like to add like little, you know, details, little drawings, like things like that. I add the country where the person wrote it from. So just things that make it look like it's really genuinely a handwritten letter that was written with care and that was written with like, you know, putting somebody's words into this format that someone would read and just feel like it's a personalized message to them. And if people want to participate, how can they reach you? So they can go to letterstothefrontlines.com and on that webpage, there's basically a little form that they can fill out. So with their name, their letter, and if they want to add any extra details to the letter, you know, like their Instagram or anything, they're free to do so. It's like a, it's kind of like an open, you know, it's an open space for people to, whether they want to write something heartwarming, funny or like encouraging, that's their space where they can do that. Oh, well, it sounds like a wonderful initiative and I'm sure it's bringing a lot of comfort to their elders as they wait, as we all do for that ground offensive in regards of you, Yulia Fedorov. Thank you very much. And that is important, isn't it? The feeling for people in Israel that they're not alone, that they do have supporters around the world. Listen, for all the failings on the governmental level, the Israeli society has proven to be the most extraordinary, united, activist society in the world. It's amazing. I'm working with several NGOs that reach out to the families of the hostages and the missing. It is immense. I visited the headquarters for the hostage families today in downtown Tel Aviv. What's going on there? It's really unparalleled what the society is capable of doing and your initiative is just part of it. It's just great. It's terrific. Really, thank you. Keep up the wonderful work. And Uzi, I mean, we know it was no secret the country was very, very divided. Just a few weeks ago, it feels like an eternity ago, but the country was divided. Have you ever seen the country so united and so resilient? Well, I mean, I would use that opportunity just to talk about the way the others, the bad guys Hamas and Hezbollah thought about Israel. This is basically was one of their basic working assumptions. Israel is getting weaker. You know, we are getting back to this speech which was given by Hassan As-Salallah. Israel is a bunch of immigrants. I mean, it's a very, very artificial creature. And I daresay that one of the motivations behind Hamas' actually action is the feeling half millennialistic that Israel is getting weaker and now they are going actually to just inflict the last blow on Israel. The fascinating thing here, as Michael said, is that Israeli society proved to be very resilient. And this is something that actually, this is our advantage, as Golda Mayer said in 1973. I think it puts a kiss on Joe Biden. We know that story. We know that. We know that. We all know that story. And let's hope with the good, prepare for the worse. But I mean, we shall prevail, I think. You shall prevail. All right. Nice note to end on. Professor Uzi Rabi, Dr. Michael Arendt. Thank you so much. Thank you all of you very much. So thanks to you for watching. And do stay with us on I-24 News. We are live from Tel Aviv. Caleb Bender Veed. We'll be here next with all the latest for you. Lots to talk about. Stay tuned. Is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking. Within 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us, we don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unicycle. You know, my son is happy guy. Our biggest strategic partner also has its needs and talks to us about them. And we make considerations together as necessary. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Caleb Bender Veed. It is day 20 of Israel's war against Hamas. Following last night's temporary IDF, we're going to talk about Israel's war against Hamas. We're going to talk about Israel's war against Hamas. Following last night's temporary IDF ground incursion into Gaza to strike at Hamas sites and operatives, the Israeli military resumed its air campaign on the Strip, killing a top intelligence operative of the terror group. Hamas also continued its rocket fire into south and central Israel with most of those volleys intercepted or landing in open areas. Meanwhile, Israeli diplomats with US support waged a war of words with Palestinian representatives and their supporters at the United Nations. Israel's defense ministry is now reportedly extending the evacuation of some 200,000 residents from communities bordering Gaza and Lebanon at least until the end of this year as the conflict increasingly looks like it will continue into the next year. Today, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and now a member of the war cabinet, spoke about last night's IDF incursion into Gaza. Here's some of his comments. Aside from the strategies in defense and attack, we are promoting the continuation of the campaign and the readiness to step up the attacks against Hamas and on all fronts as needed. The maneuver is only one stage in a long-term process that includes security, political and social aspects that will take years. The campaign will soon ramp up with greater force. Well, for more, let's go to the northern border and our correspondent, Hamd El-Salchout. Hamd El-Salchout, I use that term relatively quiet day up there in the north, but clearly the IDF is preparing for some serious action, possible action from Hezbollah and the other groups across the border. That's right. We've been hearing Israeli military fighter jets overhead all day, drones buzzing in the distance today. The Israeli military striking targets inside of Lebanon that caused fires that broke out and the smoke is actually still in the air here. There's a bit of haze because of the black plumes of smoke that really engulfed northern Israel because of the exchanges of fire. Now, an interesting little tidbit in the development of this conflict, a senior member of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ghazi Hamad, speaking to the Associated Press, saying that he's hoping Hezbollah's response will be larger because of the shared values that the groups have together. Now, Hamas operating out of southern Lebanon has also fired rockets toward southern Israel. We saw that last week in the form of 20 different projectiles that were fired, the Iron Dome, intercepting a lot of those, but some of them actually making direct hits in these communities that have been evacuated. The Israeli military is saying that if Hezbollah chooses to escalate this conflict, they will strike with all of their might. This is a sentiment we've been hearing for weeks since the war began on October 7th. We've been hearing it from the Israeli Prime Minister, from the former Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, and from the current one as well. So there's a lot of different rhetoric that is surrounding the continued escalations along the border, but one thing is clear, and that will be the Israeli response to anything that comes into its territory. Alright, Hamdas al-Khut there in the north by the Lebanon border. Thank you for that. With us in studio, there's our idea of Colonel Itamar Yar, the former deputy head of the Israel National Security Council and director of commanders for Israel Security. Itamar, thanks for joining us again. Let me just follow up on a comment that Hamda made, which was a senior Hamas operative commander saying, we hope Hezbollah's response will be significant. This coming after that meeting in Beirut between Hassan Nasrallah and leaders of Hamas and Palestine in Islamic jihad, hoping is that with something less of certainty as if Hamas is putting out public and maybe trying to even exert perhaps a little pressure on Hezbollah to step up its response. Yes, it's not a surprise. I think that everybody expected that after 20 days of fighting in the south, Hezbollah would have taken any actions that will be serious actions other than something symbolic as they have done during the last few days. And I'm sure that the Hamas didn't expect that this will be the Hezbollah behavior. But we need to make it clear. Hezbollah will act according to the Hezbollah interests. And Hezbollah interests are combined with Iran interests. And I believe that they have a clear look on what is happening in the south. Perhaps they expected us to be inside Gaza. A few days ago already. And they also consider what they see. It's not clear to them what exactly is the Israeli strategy. One thing is clear to everybody. The surprise that we had in the south will not repeat itself in the north. And this is one of the elements that Hezbollah take by consideration because there is a difference between acting as Hezbollah when we are caught by surprise and going into a battle with us after 20 days of preparations. And the Hezbollah and mainly everybody in Lebanon understand that once the Hezbollah will open a front, Lebanon as a whole will suffer. To not be limited only to the line along the Israeli border and the results after many years that Israel prepared itself for such a thing will be absolutely different. Well, let's talk about the Israeli strategy because we saw, I guess you could call it an incursion into northern Gaza by Israeli forces including reportedly Israeli ground forces supposedly hitting targets there. Military Hamas targets maybe a tunnel looking for personnel. And then Israel pulling back after a few hours. Is this the strategy moving forward? Should we expect more of these sort of limited incursions before we get a major ground operation? It's not strategy, it's tactics. A tactic. The strategy was made clear by the Israeli government that we would like to get rid of the Hamas control of the population and the territory of Gaza and at the same time to make sure that everybody that was kidnapped by the Hamas will come back, those two elements. Let's talk about the tactic. Can we expect more of these tactical incursions? The answer is yes. And the reason for these kind of actions are several. Collecting information and intelligence, leaving some elements on the ground when they came out, sending a message to the Israeli public, we are serious and we are going in, sending a message to the Lebanese and to the Palestinians in Gaza and to the Hamas and in the meantime to use the last action to change the situation on the ground in a limited scale in that area that we went into. Right. Well, I think you said one of the goals was also to, as a way of encouraging the whatever remaining civilian population there in the north to move to the south as Israel has, as the IDF has repeatedly urged the civilian population in northern Gaza, Gaza city to do so. Of course, we know Hamas is trying to prevent this. In fact, the IDF today released an audio recording of a military intelligence officer of Hamas, a military intelligence officer speaking to a Gaza, excuse me, an IDF military intelligence officer speaking to a Gaza resident who describes how Hamas is stopping Palestinians from evacuating from the northern part of the Gaza Strip even to the extent of shooting at them. As we said, the IDF has repeatedly called for civilians to leave the northern part of the Strip ahead of a possible ground operation. The man says, the Gaza resident says, Hamas is blocking roads, sending people back home. Let's take a listen to part of that phone call. Mohammad. Hello. How are you? I'm fine. I'm fine. Your IDF has repeatedly called for civilians to leave the northern part of the Gaza Strip. What? The northern part of the Gaza Strip. I've called for you to leave the northern part of the Gaza Strip. You can talk to me, please. You need to leave the northern part of Gaza. Sir, where are the ground uds? Hamas? Where? They are far. Where then? Why? It's true. Where have you been? Manюšara offers a trace to me. You've been? Yes. How are you going to leave the unfamiliar parts of Gaza? We're busy with им international transactions, but we haveTON, Actually, assuring people that we see the extent that Hamas considers that whatever civilian population is remaining in the North as basically a strategic asset as human shields to be used to try to offset or maybe even increase civilian casualties in that part of Gaza. Again, it's not a surprise. Right. Hamas have caused similar things to civilians in Gaza in the past, and they're doing everything to try to serve their interests, and it's clear that their interest is that the civilian population from the North of Gaza will not go to the South of Gaza. So it's some kind of a game if I may use this kind of word between us that tried to convince the population to go to the South, and Hamas that tried to convince or to stop them physically not to do it. Right. I mentioned there was a top Hamas intelligence officer. I think the deputy had the intelligence killed today. Two other senior commanders, one involved in the Khan Yunis area. How much does this degrade Hamas' ability to respond or to defend against an upcoming larger operation? Look, there is some kind of importance in it, in operational terms, but I think that the most important element of it is the message to the other commanders in the Hamas and to the other activists or terrorists in the Hamas. Look, your time is over. If you will be involved in any kind of activity, you will end your life in a similar way. This is, I think, the main reason to do it. Of course, it's effect the operational capability of the organization. When you get rid of the head of any kind of organization or activity, the whole plane will look different, the capability will look different, and you need to remember. Once you get a report that somebody was killed, he was not killed by a rifle. He was killed by a few tons of ammunition, and it means that the damage to the whole area that he was there is huge as well. It's not only the person himself, but it can be the headquarter, it can be the communication center that he was there here, or even the tunnel that he tried to go out or in or something like that. All right. Well, let's go now to the south, our correspondent, Robert Swift is in the border town of Estero. Then Robert, another day of fire in the south there, fortunately most of the civilians being evacuated, but Hamas continues to lob rockets nevertheless there, and perhaps also to some degree out of frustration after that ground incursion last night. Yeah. Yeah, I think it is a combination of those factors. We've been here for maybe about five hours, and the fire behind us, Gaza's behind me, the fire behind us has been pretty much nonstop. For the first few hours it was mostly Israeli artillery fire into Gaza, but in the last maybe hour or two I would say we've been hearing more and more aircraft overhead. I can hear fire jets above me now, and the Israeli military has said it has conducted several attacks against commanders in Hamas. It's announced several of those in the last couple of hours, including the killing of Hamas's deputy intelligence chief and also a battalion commander and his immediate headquarters staff. So Israel is putting up, is increasing the pressure of the attacks it's applying here, possibly in connection with that operation that you mentioned. During this time, it's worth noting that there has been several launches. The last launch from Gaza was about two hours ago when a barrage of rockets was fired towards Tel Aviv and the cities around there. That's one of three launches of rockets that we've seen whilst we've been here. And just to give you a bit of context, we're sort of to the northeast of Gaza, and we're essentially in the flight path between Gaza City and the Israeli coastal communities, Tel Aviv and all the cities around there. So whenever there's launches, either of rockets or of drones, most of them are flying over here, over our heads, and that's why we've been seeing interceptions and such like. And I'll just show you a little bit of debris that's on the ground here to give you an idea of some of what's taking place. This debris which is here on the ground, you see it's in two parts. This is essentially what's left over from a drone that's at some point being launched. This part here appears to possibly be a motor part of the engine or something like this. It's not entirely clear. And then there's a second part, a casing, which looks like it's part of the body. This is all taking place here. As you say, as during the following the operation that took place last night, and this appears to be Israel possibly taking another step towards the ground incursion, the minute it's unclear when this is going to happen, and obviously Israel will do everything it can to make it even more unclear to Hamas when that operation will begin. But the increased attacks this evening as well as the operation which took place last night where tanks and infantry went in and attacked Hamas positions, those may be hints that Israel is getting a little bit closer to launching the ground operation that everybody is fixated upon. Alright, Robert Swift down in Steroz. But let me pose that question to you. Is that an indication that Israel is moving closer to ground or operational? Maybe that's just a tactic that they want, for example, Hamas, to believe. Israel is not going closer to it. It's already going on. Everything that we see is first elements of ground activity. The scale, the exact element, the exact time, the exact force using that tactic or another one, this is part of the operation itself. But it's not, we don't need to expect that somebody like in football will say... But isn't there is, I mean, keeping over 360,000 troops in position there, isn't that a fact that doesn't time way into that? There's a certain point at which you have to start utilizing these troops just out of just a certain degree of supply and exhaustion they may be experiencing. The fact that so many soldiers and officers are waiting is not a reason, is not a good enough reason to send them into Gaza. They will be sent step by step into Gaza only those and only when the operational needs will say we need them. And perhaps some of them will not go into Gaza along the whole operation. The whole operation is going element by element. The first elements that include airstrikes, what we saw last evening, and the intelligence gathering, many, many elements are done already. And the whole operation is made by different elements. It's not, as I said, like in horse race, that you have a sign that everybody is running into. It will not look like that. Alright, so we should temper our expectations a little bit. And I'm going to stay with us. We're going to look at a community called Kibbutz Cholit, which actually began life in 1978. As a small community established by the IDS pioneering Nachow branch in the Sinai Peninsula, when Israel still had control of it. You were one of the founders. We have one of the founders of Kibbutz Cholit there. And as you know, it was forced to relocate north of the Egyptian border near Gaza after the signing of the Camp David Accords. But it was unfortunately no more secure in Israeli territory coming under attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7th. Our defense correspondent Jonathan Reggib got a first look at the scene there today and he filed this report. So we were meant to be now on a tour of the community of Cholit, one of the southernmost communities along the Gaza border. But a few minutes into the tour we were ordered to quickly board the bus and leave as alerts of possible rocket attack came to the army and we were quickly ordered to leave. In a few minutes we did the spin in Cholit. We saw the same horrible images seen in other communities. Homes burnt completely. Windows shattered. The big mess is still around. Three weeks after this war began, nearly three weeks after that a terrible Saturday morning, one home tells a horrible story. A family of five people was found in the safe room of, burned alive and in the kitchen, in the table kitchen, there was a birthday cake. That family was celebrating a birthday on that October 7th. And as they ran into the safe room to get protection from the incoming rockets, terrorists found them and burned the home alive. On the same day they were celebrating a birthday. In Cholit, representatives from the army were here to say, this may have happened once. This will never, ever happen again. Well, I think what we see here is what we see in so many of these southern communities in Israel. We can imagine what people's lives were like on the morning of the 7th of October because we see tables with coffee cups, with newspapers, we see children's toys, we see people living their life on a Saturday morning and we also see the horror. We understand exactly what happened in this community. The murder, the beheading, the rape, the killing, the abductions, everything is there before us. We are still seeing Zaka, the people who pick up body parts working two and a half weeks later. So the carnage in this community has in so many other southern communities. It's there for us to see and it is utterly horrifying. This is a story of just one community, where 13 people were murdered, 11 Israelis, and two foreign workers. Just like all the other communities, now months, maybe years to rebuild and be the same as it was before. Jonathan Regevike with the Four News. And Amor, I didn't know we were asking our guests, who would be one of the founders of that community. Your emotions when you heard what happened here, when you see what happened there? There were some tremendous examples of bravery by some of the residents there in repelling the attack. But what do you feel when you see this? I thought a lot about the differences between what had happened two and a half weeks ago here and September 11 in the States. And I think that there is a huge difference because in September 11, it was an airplane. It went into a building and then another one and so on. It was not personally. What we saw in the south of Israel is that people, in this case Hamas activists and terrorists, went and saw people in front of them and they saw human people in front of them and not only killed them, but killed them in a way that is the most crucial way that you can think of. Something that makes the whole story much more difficult. Dealing with the specific kibbutz, it's not really the case because when you have so many people in so many places, I feel sorry, this is the word, for each one of these individuals, I speak about those that were kidnapped, those that were killed and also those that survived because their life will look absolutely different as well. And it's going to be just a tremendous burden for these people to rebuild some of these communities that have been so decimated and to feel the security. But I think that for the whole Israel population, it will be an event that will not change the life of the Israelis in general for many years. I heard a figure a week ago of an expert that said that he believed that 900,000 Israelis will have to get professional support in the coming months and years. For sure, for sure. That'll be a big story. Stay with us. You mentioned the hostages, and that's where we have to keep our focus, of course. And we said earlier, the IDF today did confirm that at least 224 hostages are being held captive in Gaza. That's confirmed, I should say, and it may well be greater. Among them is 25-year-old Rani Krivoi who was at the Nova Music Festival working as a sound engineer when he was apparently taken captive by Hamas Terras. Well, joining us now is Ego Krivoi, his brother. He joins us from the town of Karmiel. First of all, Ego, tell us about your brother. Tell us about Rani. What kind of person he was. Thank you for having me. So, my brother is 25-years-old, young, full of life, like to go to music festivals around the world, and have a lot to live. And that's what happened at the 7th of October. Well, tell us what you know about what happened to him because I understand there was some contact with him during the event. Yes. There was a contact with my brother up until 10.40 am. Between the friends, he was there with him in the festival because they were together up until 10, and they somehow, while they were running, they split up and they kept contacting one another via WhatsApp messages until 10.40 when he started writing in the messages that they can hear them, that they close, and eventually there was no communication with him. And his friends tried to call him a couple of times, and eventually somebody picked up the phone and spoke Arabic. And they got the spoke and hung up the phone. And that was the last contact with him. All right, so hearing that Arabic on his phone indicates to you that he was kidnapped, possibly. Have you been contacted by the authorities, by the army, to say that they have any information on your brother, or at least confirming that they believe that he was taken alive into the Gaza Strip? Yes, so it took them five days, which in that time, me, my family and friends were trying to gather some evidence, calling people and trying to find what happened to him. But eventually, Thursday, the army contact us and gave us the message that he most likely kidnapped in Gaza. And it did not provide us any evidence of how they got to this conclusion. Right, let me ask you, we're an international channel, so we're broadcasting as you, but also all around the world. So I want to give you the platform to what is your message to the government here, but also to the international community concerning your brother and his fate. I think I can speak for myself and the other families that we want my government to do everything possible to bring them home. They're civilians, and this is outrageous, and it must be the first priority. It was their fault and they have to bring them back. I understand. Also, the international community, I hope they will continue to make pressure on Qatar, Hamas deals to do something to bring them back. All right, Igor Kruvoi, thank you for joining us. And of course, most of all, we wish a safe return back home for your brother, Rani. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. It am always heartbreaking to hear those stories, but there was an element here that the authorities, as you heard, have to take into account in terms of their timing, the conditions. And we've seen how Hamas is able to use the hostages to use the release of them, or offer news of them today. More reports of Qatar claiming that there's a ceasefire for a couple of days. There could be a deal for all of the hostages to be returned. So that is an element, definitely, that the IDF and certainly the government here has to take into account. There's no doubt. And everybody, all the officials have said that bringing the hostages back is the top priority of the state of Israel. Having said that, it doesn't mean that the operations, the military operations, need to wait until this will happen. Part of the aim of the operation is to push the Hezbollah in a way that will convince him that if they would like to survive in any way, they need to release these people. So it's a combination. But I will add something more. There is no doubt that the Hamas tried to play a very sophisticated, some kind of psychological war against the state of Israel. It's not a surprise. It's not a secret. Mr. Hania have given an interview a few days ago and said one of our main aim is to try to hit the Israeli society. And the best way to do it is by having these people on the table for as long as they can. And I will add something else. Look, the whole issue of these people is so sensitive that I believe that everybody that knows something about what is happening. Negotiations, deals, opportunities, international involvement and so on. Those that speak and much about it know nothing. And those that are really involved will say nothing until something really will happen. So I think we need to remember that it is on the table, on the top priority. But we need to see what is happening, hoping that it will end in a way that all of them will be released. All right. Well, and speaking of the hostages, I want to go to our correspondent Bach 11th, who is out in Tel Aviv. And Bach, you were at an event today that was focused on the hostages and on their situation there. Kalev, it's almost impossible no matter where you walk, not just in Tel Aviv, but in the country right now to not have that on the very forefront of your mind. Many of these families, of the relatives, of friends, of hostages, of those that have been taken captive by Hamas into the Gaza Strip are making sure their voices are heard, whether it's placing placards all over traffic lights, whether it's handing out ribbons, whether it's turning areas like the Serona market into makeshift sort of memorials, vigils are set up everywhere. Even pictures are now appearing, as you would see once upon a time, even in movies, on milk cartons, on bottles of milk that are being handed out about those that are missing and kidnapped. Tonight was slightly different because tonight they gave a presser where they spoke a lot of these families and friends and relatives of those that have been held hostage in the Gaza Strip and said that they feel that their patience is running out. They want their family, they want their relatives, they want those that are missing home now, not tomorrow and not when this war ends immediately. I'm going to move out of the way just so you can see because we are standing at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and obviously there's been a fortune of displays here but one in particular being this gigantic Shabbat table that has 224 seats. Some of them are baby seats that you can see at the very end of the table but every single one of them represents one of the hostages that has been taken. All of their family, all of their friends have been advocating on their behalf making sure to speak to international press, to national press, to go all over social media. It needs to be kept on the public consciousness that there are still people missing. There are still, and again, we have to remind the world and that's exactly what they're doing as well. These are not military officials. These are not officers. We're talking about civilians. We're talking about mothers, children, toddlers, the elderly and men that weren't even in uniform that were out enjoying a party so they're very much putting that focus there but also pressuring the government and the international community as well. They don't want to have to wait anymore. A lot of these people have not got answers as to whether their family is in fact 100% being held in the Gaza Strip. Some of them have seen them on videos but others have just been told they haven't been accounted as part of the dead and they're missing so it's more likely that they are taken captive. We spoke to a few people here that shared the same sentiment, the same story but many of them putting through that they don't want to wait anymore. This war cannot continue until the hostages are home safely and really trying to amp up the pressure both at home and abroad to make sure the whole world is listening and gets involved in making sure that civilians come back to Israel safely. Alright, Bach 11th all there at outside the Tel Aviv Museum and indeed those who have seen it have said that that's a very moving exhibit to a sharp reminder of those who are still missing in Gaza Bacchia. Thank you for that. Inamara, I hate to come back to it but yes as she mentioned there is going to be pressure, growing pressure on the government to move forward in some manner even though of course nobody in Israel wants to see the IDF go in at a point at which it's not prepared given the fact the possibility of serious casualties among the IDF if they go in while Hamas's fighting ability has not been sufficiently degraded. Look, we are in war and we understand that going into Gaza means that some soldiers will lose their lives but we speak about civilians. You know many people all over the world are speaking about humanitarian crisis within Gaza. We speak about humanitarian crisis within Israel and what you just saw in the report that we just so describing this humanitarian crisis 224 people that are kidnapped as the lady have said kids, babies, there are 30 children among these 224 people not to speak about pregnant people about older people and so on this is a humanitarian crisis. How exactly to solve it? It's not so easy to solve it because there are different interests and the Hamas know and we understand it that in many ways having at least some of these people with them will be some kind of an insurance life insurance for the Hamas people at least they believe that this is the case something that will mean I hope not but perhaps that even after we see a deal any kind of deal I'm not so sure that we will not find ourselves later in a situation when the Hamas will let us know that they still have some other people that are within their places we just see the treatment that our people got. Right, we can't even show we of course not even showing the worst of what we have of course for the sensitivities of the families and the loved ones. It's complicated, it's tough it's not easy and to be very sensitive I'm happy that I am not the Israeli Prime Minister these days because the decisions that you need to take mainly dealing with the hostages are very very tough decisions. Alright, we are waiting for the IDF spokesperson we are at Daniel Higari to speak but I wonder if I can go first I want to go to this piece of footage that we have we spoke about holi there is of course another kibbutz that suffered even more devastating kibbutz, Berry which was devastated here we have Colonel Golan Vah a well-known figure he's commanded the IDF special search and rescue unit on missions not only in Israel he's also led them abroad in such countries as Turkey he is now leading that effort in those communities that have been devastated down south by Hamas terrorists here he is in a clip that was just released today giving eyewitness account to a specific atrocity that we reported here on I-24 news we found the way that we have just walked we found 20 victims all dead but when we got to this house I saw something I never faced before it was a woman lying here a woman lying here it was still burning so she could be recognized she was shot in the back and she was protecting a baby a baby small baby I don't know exactly one or two years and the baby was decapitated I carried the baby in my own hands and of course this has been a point of contentious some people trying to like Kreen Rania of Jordan giving an interview where she tried to downplay the atrocities that took place there down south including this behavior towards towards babies that's been reported let's say we're about Jordan okay let's Jordan is in a very very difficult situation these days you need to bear in mind more than 70% of the Jordanians are from Palestinian origin the queen herself is an ex-Palestinian but the situation in Jordan is is crucial only to show you how complicated is the situation there is that you know that there are thousands of Iraqis that in the last few days try to go from Iraq into Jordan aiming to reach the Israeli border and to try to attack the Israelis the Jordanians stopped all of them as a response to that this morning a convoy that goes from Iraq into Jordan almost every day with fuel from Iraq into Jordan was stopped by these people these Iraqis and had to go back something that will in a short time will cause a crisis in Jordan so the the policy of Jordan is affected by that and they try to find a way in one way to send a message to the Jordanian people that they feel sorry for what is happening to the Palestinian in Gaza but in the same time to make sure that the Jordanian interest will get the right respond in the end of the day cooperation between Israel and Jordan is crucial for Israel but it's crucial for the Jordanians because the Hamas is a threat for the Jordanians hold on we're going to Daniel Hagar the idea of spokesman I think we are at the third week for the war in Gaza we are continuing massive attacks by air by sea and focusing on eliminating senior Hamas leaders the IDF and Shabak eliminated two senior Hamas leaders the deputy department of intelligence of Hamas who was involved personally close to Sinwar in planning the massacre of October 7 together with him we killed the commander of the west these are the senior tactic leaders that took a major part in the murderous massacre together with him we killed the top echelon with another regiment which is a center regiment to vis-à-vis the Kibbutz Kfar-Aza it also took part in the murderous attack we're continuing to kill and to chase all the commanders that took part the IDF continues today like last night in land invasion in start the strip in order to do away with terrorists to clean the area to clean positions so that we will be ready for the next stages of the war the forces in those entries will continue in the next few days as well the home front the home front information is updated every day I talked about the event yesterday in Rishon and how important it is for the citizens to be protected areas there is a routine we manage it within the war we organize it together with the municipalities just to look at the directives we keep updating them but not to be complacent the Hamas has more rockets there'll be changes there'll be more launching close and far we will update you and of course the alert system is working very well I updated this morning the abducted that we inform 224 families of the abducted this number changes according to intelligence there are a few foreign citizens from far away countries it takes us time to update today we added two people but it depends on the intelligence that we have in identifying the people the missing people countries help us later to create a picture and then we update the families and the public we continue to invest our efforts with the supreme preference of returning the hostages we have definite targets but we need time, resilience and patience questions thank you Brigadier General Gari Israel is ready to give some sort of we just heard the rear admiral Daniel Gari there no real new information just reiterating some of the same points basically in a more that you've made in the studio here yeah I think that there is nothing crucial to inform something that was not said earlier it means that the operation is going on step by step and as we said already the kidnaps people hostages are on the table they are a very important element on the decision making table of the military itself and on the politician table as well it's not so easy well I want to jump now to the U.N. Security and United Nations headquarters after the U.N. Security Council yesterday failed to agree on a resolution regarding the Israel Hamas war it was a standoff there between the U.S. and Russia which had proposed competing in very different statements that discussion on the conflict moved today to the U.N. General Assembly which is holding an emergency session senior U.S. correspondent Mike for the U.N. General Assembly now that's right two very different venues the Security Council dealing with 15 members including the five permanent superpowers and then you have over in the General Assembly all 193 members of the United Nations get to cast a vote here at the Security Council it's binding international law whatever passes through and nothing is passed through on this subject over at the General Assembly but it gives us a lay of the land it gives us an idea of where each country stands on this particular issue and who they stand with. Giladir Don the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations addressing the General Assembly earlier on this morning giving an impassioned speeches voice cracking several times as he highlighted the atrocities that took place on October 7th in great detail even played a video of one of the attacks a Thai agricultural worker nearly being decapitated by a Hamas assailant the Israeli staff put down papers at the desks of each of the General Assembly representatives with a QR code you could scan it and it see for yourself as he said you don't have to believe him see for yourself the atrocities that were carried out that day and what Air Don stressed throughout that address today was in Jordan's resolution which calls for a humanitarian ceasefire which calls for the release of the hostages which calls for unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza which calls for the revocation the rescission of the Israeli evacuation order of northern Gaza and a few other things as well what Air Don stressed is it leaves out Hamas altogether it leaves out any mention of what led up to this current conflict it essentially let's Hamas get away with for more terror he urged members of the General Assembly not to vote forward the Jordanian Foreign Minister took the stage some time later and said you know you can not back you can back Israel on this but essentially they're going to do what they want to do anyway since it's a non-binding resolution here is Giladour Don the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations earlier today addressing the General Assembly I'm not sure we have that do we have that snow okay we're going to it if this organization wants to maintain any shred of legitimacy it is imperative that you please distinguish representatives no longer play along with this farce of anti-Israel double standards vote against this biased resolution stand on the right side of history don't stand with the genocidal jihadist committed to your destruction rise above internal political considerations and do what is moral and right Mr. President Israel will not stop fighting for the truth even if we remain the sole voice of reason in these holes Israel will continue combating the genocidal terrorist committed to our destruction and no trust until Hamas is obliterated and our hostages are returned home and we will bring them Mike the UNGA which of course passed the infamous Zionism is racism resolution looks like this is going down the same path probably most likely today Mike Wagenheim there at the UN thank you for that I mentioned earlier Kibbutz Berry in the south which has tragically become synonymous with the atrocities that Hamas terrorists are committed in southern Israel on October 7th now more than two weeks later the Kibbutz is in ruins but some of its residents are already trying to pick up the pieces on Middle East correspondent Arie Orson visited Berry and filed this report Kibbutz Berry once a peaceful paradise now a small community in ruins notorious for the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists I've been here in 7 October my name is Orielin I'm 30 years old we for many decades have been here in the front line mainly for a peaceful purpose to be here together this is what I was willing but at the end they didn't want it what they did want and this is what I'm going to tell you now it's what actually happened in the reality that I see in my own eyes all is the son of the former regional council head Haim Yelin like all the survivors of the October 7th attacks he was evacuated to a hotel but he's back to guide foreign journalists who came to the Kibbutz and on that horrific day Ol was hiding in the safe room along with his wife, his parents and their two dogs if you want afterwards we can go and I can show you the stories inside the shelters when they kill, torture and these things that they are inscrutable to the humanity in civilians regular people and I tell you the time privilege regarding Haim Law 3 of my carton and Haim Privilege this community they are all of survivors this is what we feel walking through the small pathways of the Kibbutz feels like entering a war zone small and quaint homes bombarded or destroyed children's toys lying around while maintained lawns of grass up by the tracks of an armored vehicle perhaps a tank the smell of death fills the air this is just one of hundreds of homes that remain either completely demolished or burned to the ground after the October 7th rampage Kibbutz Berry is the biggest Kibbutz in the area until October 7th there were 1200 residents now following the attack 130 were killed and an unknown number are missing and the Kibbutz is left with lines and lines of homes just like these homes over here that are a sad monument to the vibrant life that used to be here all walks us through the destroyed home of the Bachar family like many households in Berry suffered a devastating tragedy what they did in here they break the door you can see it and then they burn all the house when they burn the house they open the gas they put inside a tire to make a flame and they hope that the people will run away and they can catch them what has actually happened that the people didn't and they hide in the shelter let's get inside and we show you what happens in the shelter then he takes us to the safe room where the Bachars, two parents of a boy and a girl were hiding they put wet towels on the floor to keep the smoke from entering as a group of five or six terrorists broke into the house and began shooting at the safe room and you see all of this blood at 12 years old what she needed, she needed to protect her family and 12 years old put a tourniquet in each one of them that she don't have a tourniquet she need to immunize to stop the bleeding so what happened to the Bachar family here so Carmel, 15 years old is died and murdered by the terrorist of ISIS and Hamas Dana Bachar, bless her memory died as well murdered by the terrorist of ISIS and Hamas Avida Bachar, the father he lost his leg and he injured badly Adar Bachar, that she is the 12 years old she injured as well but she saved her father at 12 years old outside the house all tells us about his own experience in the shelter when he and his wife thought that this was their end too she told me, oh, if they coming for us you have just a kitchen knife please kill me before and you know what I will say to her yes, because I know what they aim to come what they aim to do to torture maybe they will rape her and after that they will tear her apart and then kill her this is the reality and if we are not going to face with the reality or the world will not face with the reality it will come back to everyone in the world that's it like many of the residents of these devastated border communities old says he hopes to one day return to but only after a clear after Hamas as long as there is still a threat from Gaza they will not return he says but not all of Berry was destroyed that day just nine days after Hamas's horrific attack the local printing factory which emerged unscathed was up and running again even as bodies were still being pulled out from the destroyed homes actually this is amazing the CEO Ben my friend his mother also murdered and and this is the biggest print factory in the Middle East not just in Israel and let's say that it's not for profit what we are doing now it's to serve the community and yes this is establishment and a statement that we are going to move on if you are going to help us and we will do whatever we can to do it on that cursed day of October 7th hell opened its mouth and swallowed Berry and the nearby Kibbutzim 50 of its residents still unaccounted for the rest of the survivors who have temporarily relocated as a community to the Dead Sea are starting to pick up the pieces a much needed sign of resilience in a place that suffered so much pain and devastation Hit Amor Israel is fighting the Hamas when I hear the international representatives they speak about a fight between Israel and the Palestinians and it's not the case certainly and we see what kind of enemy Hamas is there but also what kind of resiliency those people down in the south who have suffered this unbelievable thing and yet as we heard about some of them went back already it's just remarkable all right thank you for joining us on this hour of this special broadcast but do stay with us we are going out for a brief break just a few minutes we will be back at the top of the hour with more of this special broadcast here on I-24 News as we come to the approach the end of day 20 of Israel's war against Hamas stay with us we'll be right back it's no surprise the transition to parental it can be transformative for anyone with a new baby but what kind of mark is it leaving on the brains of new parents there are dramatic physiological, hormonal and neuronal changes in the body and the brain that accompanies parenthood much like the changes that happen in the brain when picking up any new skill like learning a new language or mastering a new musical instrument the brain also changes when becoming a parent it's what scientists call experience-induced brain plasticity and professor Adi Mizrahi at the Hebrew University's Edmund and Lilly Safre's centre for brain sciences the region of the brain called the amygdala it becomes more sensitive in the mothers when they hear baby sounds in short all these senses get a boost to help a mother interact with her baby smell and sound to very strong stimuli are the areas professor Mizrahi is focused on in his lab but does fatherhood have the same impact on the brain and bodies of men like the testosterone which is the male hormone which is correlated with male-like behaviours like aggressiveness and things of that sort it goes down when the male becomes parents as professor Mizrahi says each and every one of us has a parent or two parents most of us will become parents one day and as any new parent knows having a baby provides opportunities for enrichment, learning experiences known to transform the adult brain 100 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on I-24 News welcome to or back to this special broadcast on I-24 News I'm Khaled Ben-Divide and we are now in day 20 of Israel's war against Hamas well following last night temporary IDF ground incursion into Gaza to strike at Hamas sites in operatives the Israeli military resumed its air campaign on the strip killing a top intelligence operative of the terror group Hamas also continued its war to fight into south and central Israel with most of those volleys intercepted or landing in open areas Israeli diplomats with US support meanwhile waging war of words with Palestinian representatives and their supporters at the United Nations General Assembly today Israel's defense ministry now reportedly extending the evacuation of some 200,000 residents from communities bordering Gaza and Lebanon at least until the end of the year as this conflict increasingly looks like it will continue on into the next year today former defense minister and now member of the war cabinet spoke about last night's IDF incursion into Gaza here is some of his comments aside from the strategies in defense and attack we are promoting the continuation of the campaign and the readiness to step up the attacks against Hamas and on all fronts as needed the manoeuvre is only one stage in a long-term process that includes security political and social aspects that will take years the campaign will soon ramp up with greater force now the massacre that was perpetrated by Hamas terrorists took the lives of at least 260 attendees of the nova music festival along with dozens more there who were kidnapped into Gaza among those who died there are stories of heroic individuals who risked their lives to save those of others sometimes unfortunately at the cost of their own among them is the 22-year-old Israeli Arab Awad Dawash who was working as a paramedic at the festival and was apparently killed while treating the wounds of those who were injured joining us in studio is Kazim Khalil cousin of the Israeli paramedic Awad Dawash as I just said we're also here with Israel's former ambassador First of all, tell us Kazim about Awad what kind of person he was before that I'm going to tell you about Awad I just want to tell you what happened in Saturday and Saturday of October because I wake up in the morning so my sister called me and she said that my cousin Awad he was at the festival music so all of the family we tried to call him but he didn't answer unfortunately so on the same day night I just went to the hospitals all the hospital in Israel and I just looking for him so I went one of the hospital in the east of Israel so I met someone randomly and I asked him if he was at the festival music and he said yes so I show him my cousin picture if he saw him or just to tell me anything about him if he saw him or talk to him so his face is down so I tell him please just tell me what happened so he said that he saw that Awad shoot twice I was shocked I told him are you sure he said yes so I just go out from the emergency which was shot twice so I go out from the emergency room to cry I said how I can tell my aunt how can I tell my family about this in news because they call me and they tell me please look for him in any hospital so four days later I call our sister and I'm talking with her on phone and she say that the army come inside the home so I know what that mean so when the army come inside and I just heard my aunt she screaming in Arabic and she say no Awad and her screaming like to the sky and I just know that it's happened so Awad was one of the best cousin that I've met he was very smile he like to help others by the way he help the Jews there he work there before Hamas come and everyone his friend ask him after the alarm alert he ask him to walk away he ask him let's go walk away and he ignored he say no I will stay here to help other to treat the wounded he say I want to help people off so and then after 20 minutes Hamas ISIS came and kill everyone so I just want to say until the others until the word that Hamas is ISIS they don't have different between anyone they just came to kill anyone and they don't care so this is the real story and they are not Muslim let's talk about that because people I think maybe in international channel not enough people even abroad understand how many of the victims there were Arabs there there were Jews there were Bedouins who also gave their lives trying to save others honestly my cousin who is the only Arab that was as paramedic there but I can't tell you it's not official that at least the Hamas killed at least 40 Arab people so yeah this is the number Bedouins and other people from the area they killed soldiers like a Bedouin soldier so Islam ashamed of them I can't tell you and our family is still in shock because Awad he is just a child he is 22 years old by the way he chose to be a paramedic and he loved his job and by the way I came here with Jonathan Samarano I see that a different individual kidnapped I just want to tell you he is one of my best friend by the way his father I'm just talking with his father like my father because we are very good friends and he is also he is hostages in Gaza they talk to him so I don't know how can I tell you about what they did for many or hundreds or thousands of families here in Israel they just destroyed hundreds of the families of Israel here I'm so sad I'm so angry I want to give you a chance because you know we are watched in Israel and you can say what you want to say to the authorities here in the government but we are also an international channel we are broadcast through the world we are watched closely in the region here in the Middle East so I want to know what you perhaps will have to say about this to the international community and also to the region because we are being watched so I want to tell all the world maybe they don't know that in Israel there is two there is two million people in Arabs in Israel including Muslim, Christian and Druze we are a minority here we live side by side the Jewish people here we work side by side with Jewish people and by the way the Arab people in Israel get high position in polis and hospitals the best doctors I think in Israel they are Arabs so I just want to talk about the hypocrisy the Arab leader around the world yesterday we yesterday we heard the queen Rania of Jordan she said there is no proof with all my respect you are the queen every child here in Israel every child know to go to the telegram groups and to see the proof so I say the atrocities that were committed terrible atrocities the hypocrisy from the royal family in Jordan and I told the queen Rania honestly I wrote her a comment because if you look to her instagram you can see that she has become the spoken woman of Hamas what kind of response do you get when you do that when you put yourself out there in Arabic I presume what kind of response are you getting first of all they hate Israel but I try to talk to them and tell them the truth I said that Hamas cut the head of people Hamas raped Hamas burned people alive they don't believe so I in Jordan do you remember when ISIS they burned a Jordanian pilot his name is Muad Al-Qasasbi so one of the first countries earned the word that the called Jordan and we give them help because Israel so shem on we didn't say can condemn everything what happened here in Israel but at least till the truth to be a leader we have to be brave and I think they are not brave the Arab leaders they have to be ashamed and by the way this is only show us that Israel have to be with the best and the best weapon here in this area because we need they support they just disappear but I can't tell you that Israel will save the world from Hamas ISIS and we didn't need any support but our allies I think they know that and they show all the videos that really it's so it's a dystic terrorist I think listen I think that what happened here in Israel it was very difficult we are very we are very shocked here in Israel and I think and I can't say it now here in Arabic say it I will say a couple of words to the Hamas go ahead a couple of words this is tell us what you said I said that Hamas the game is over they have only the last days in this life because they have to die I think every Hamas leader must die we can't side by side with Gaza if they believe in Hamas or they have Hamas leader first of all we have to destroy or this a bad a bad machine that's called Hamas ISIS can I jump in say a word first of all I spent my days with people wearing these t-shirts at the headquarters of the of the families of the kidnapped people and you hear really horrible stories and you come to a very simple conclusion just to continue what our friend said if you care about the future of the Palestinian people then Hamas is not your ally Hamas is your enemy they do not care about Palestine that is not their objective their objective just like ISIS it's radical Islam at any cost I do see, I don't know if you call that a meme on social media a lot this sort of illustration it says free Gaza from Hamas I think Hamas, I'm sorry the Gaza people inside of Gaza they must believe that I'm talking with people in Comet, in Arabic and I tell all of them you are not our enemy and we promise I promise you that you will thankful as well after we will destroy Hamas they will feel free they will feel the freedom Hamas, ISIS by the way he's one of the he's the biggest employer there in Gaza so when you are poor you have to bring food to your children and you have no employer there in Gaza so you have to work there you have to work with Gaza by the way especially our people can fake the facts but they can fake the history and the history say that when Israel left Gaza in 2007 what we did what we get from Gaza we get rockets, we get Hamas so what Hamas did also they killed the Fatih people right in 2007 yeah they killed the Fatih people we knew that Hamas is ISIS so as I said in Arabic Hamas so I wish and I really I wish for our, my cousin because he's not die for free they destroy his family and I'm sitting in the village and she cry every day and Hamas they said we are hero you're not hero right Kazim first of all we join in the morning of your family for Awad as we say in the Jewish faith may his memory be a blessing and it certainly sounds like it will we wish the best for your family we wish the safe return for Jonathan Jonathan Samarano and we thank you so much for coming here and sharing your story Kazim thank you for coming thank you for that thank you well we spoke about another music festival of course the communities along the Gaza border were also decimated in this attack one of them is Kibbutz Kisufim founded in 1951 by new immigrants from North and South America over the years it's proximity to the Gaza border and it's called security situations but nothing like October 7 when the residents of this small village of a few hundred found themselves fighting for their lives against rampaging terrorists in this report adapted from Israel's Channel 12 news we see how some of the survivors of that battle are returning to their shattered community to literally pick up the pieces of their former lives they also placed explosives on children's bags here I ask you not to touch anything that isn't really needed right now we've suffered enough losses here we have enough people dead I really want you all to get out of here alive on the ground in Kibbutz Kisufim a group of 20 members are returning for the first time to what was once their paradise to collect leftover equipment to map the damages a paradise that turned into hell this is my grandmother's home I will not go there if you may it's hard very hard incomprehensible I still can't digest the fact that I'm here and she's not we were here a lot now I'm here and she isn't around she was taken away from us she was murdered pure murder when she comes in Shashi examines the damage to her house on the kitchen table she finds a letter left by IDF soldiers who stayed there during the fighting dear Shaked family thank you very much for your contribution to the country by making your home here a society in our country in hope for quiet days soon of the country that we know and protect hello is this just a bad nightmare this is not my they're setting the neighbor's house on fire here we woke up at 6.25 a.m. by the vibration of the rocket fire alert on my phone and it went on and on then came sounds that we're not used to something about the feeling it was different from the last 20 years when did you realize this is something else when I heard gunshots the time is now 141 power has gone out I'm afraid that terrorists will get into our house as well don't worry my love dad has a gun we sat in the security room until half past six in the evening after seven hours troops entered the Kibbutz for seven hours the person who led the battle in the Kibbutz was the deputy commander of our emergency team the emergency team that day was small three close friends Ronnie the commander on the 7th of October the alarm rang it looked like an ordinary incident of rocket fire as far as you can call this reality ordinary Shai immediately joined his friend Saar Saar took one, I took the other Saar took two more what do you mean by two I mean they were no longer able to threaten the safety of our community to mislead the terrorists Shai breaks his house window and spreads ketchup on it to believe that this house was already massacre they continue fighting trying to join Ronnie I encountered a very massive force of Hamas terrorists and it's only the two of you two of us, me and Saar as far as we are concerned Ronnie is unaccounted for he is either kidnapped or killed I have two security rooms in this house in one of them my two daughters were sleeping and in the other room two more children I moved the two girls to the other room closed the door on them and sat here at the kitchen counter I took out the first terrorist here I shot him with the M16 then I had a malfunction so I took out the gun and fired several bullets at the other terrorist he fell to the ground almost instantly one of them was thrown at me through this window it exploded I was hit with shrapnel I realized my time was running out I ran to the security room and held on to the door I locked it with my left hand and stood against it they went into Eliminator throwing grenades and explosives inside the house I didn't move from the door I fought them to keep it shut and they came over and each time they pushed the door to break in they pushed with force and then with more force but my hand was locked in it did not move even an inch and they also shot at me through the door in the process in my mind I pictured them breaking in and you stood against and just held on what's going through your mind that they will not take them away and the terrorists were unable to penetrate and thus Ronny's children were saved thanks to his bravery and resilience Batsar Margolis, a member of the emergency team was killed after a fierce battle with the terrorists who was murdered along with nine other members of the Kibbutz and six Thai nationals who worked there this week the members went from house to house to collect memories the meaning of the name Kisufim in Hebrew is longing a word that reflects so much of what they all feel today I remember the look in my son Eric's eyes at night when he cries he says I can't it's weighing on my mind why did all the people I love had to die he bangs his head and cries I answered that I understand with him and it hurts me too and he says but mom that nothing would happen to us you promised us that this was not going to happen so now how am I going to believe you when you say it won't happen again Kibbutz Kisufim it's hard to always react to these stories Danny it's hard I do want to go back to this young man Khalil this young Israeli Arab I'm sorry Chazim who was here in the studio apparently a noted influencer and he's been on some of the TV programs here I don't want to say he's not at all in his outspokenness he's not typical perhaps of the Israeli Arab community maybe he represents quite a lot of people who think like that aren't willing to put themselves out and speak out like that I'm sure he gets a lot of flak for that there's no doubt especially if he's strongly present on social media he's also very exposed so there is something very courageous in doing this but you know he's somebody who represents a reality of certainly the vast majority of Israeli Arabs who are part of Israeli society who have problems who have difficulties I'm the last one to say that there are not still challenges for this community and that Israel still doesn't have a long way to go to integrate them completely in society but most of them I'm sure feel that they are part of this country and are in shock maybe share of the shock of just what Hamas showed itself capable of doing including two fellow Arabs without discrimination you know when it becomes personal there's no more convincing argument than if you feel it and he lost people he loved he knows families who lost people and he's advocating for a friend who is kidnapped in Gaza yeah there's also the other side of it certainly but you know I'm involved in a number of Israeli Palestinian non-profits who do collaboration on environmental issues and stuff usual days and we have WhatsApp groups that are still functioning some of the friends are in Gaza and you have to admit that their descriptions of what is going on there are unpleasant and you feel for them and I have colleagues from journalism and their families so on the other hand it's quite natural that you feel for your own more strongly than you do for others especially if you're involved in some manner in what is going on be it journalistically or otherwise you tend to have a little bit of a tunnel vision but I think it's important to see the broader picture and to understand as you said earlier on this program that this is a war against Hamas it's not a war against Palestinians it's not a war against Gaza and that in the end of the day as our friend just said in Gaza they might be happy to get rid of Hamas if that happens right for sure and it's interesting he referenced this interview with the tyranny of Jordan Keefe it made a lot of waves whitewash crimes of Hamas as unpleasant as this may sound I noticed during this conflict and you're probably aware of it that each side has a certain vision of the conflict and it is fed by the media sources that it favors so you see the story in a manner that is yours in a sense I'm not trying to excuse what Queen Rania did because I think that she is in a position to verify it but that's the truth alright Daniel Shek Ambassador Daniel Shek stay with us we're going out for a brief break we'll be back in just three minutes with more of this special broadcast made for me a unique concept in Israel custom made men's fashion to your measurements made for me designer of all your events schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il made for me official dresser of I-24 news good evening ladies and gentlemen to be in a state of war this is a very active scene we need to get in the car as we're talking more than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped tell us we don't want to do we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity welcome back to this special broadcast on I-24 news well the Israel Hamas conflict is held over to I guess you could say other battlegrounds these include university campuses in the United States pro-Palestinian initiatives and rallies at schools such as Harvard, Columbia, U-Pen and NYU among many others along with the perceived failure of school administrations to properly act when those tip over the line into anti-Israel incitement and outright anti-Semitism has unnerved Jewish students and many Jewish alumni of those schools last night saw a reportedly serious incident at the campus of Cooper Union part of the City College of New York system when staff reportedly locked a group of identifiably Jewish students inside the school library to protect them from demonstrators at a pro-Palestinian rally outside now footage on social media shows the students inside the library where the protest is bang on the doors trying to get in the Jewish students say they felt threatened after 30 minutes police came in and evacuated them well joining us now for more is Amit Ankawa she is the regional manager tri-state campus regional manager of the group stand with us which has been one of the most active on the U.S. campuses in dealing with these issues Amit joins us she's in Israel right now in Hedera but for those who don't know tri-state area that would be New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Amit and I know you went to Marist college up in upstate New York I myself went to NYU which is right next to Cooper Union literally next door and I tell you it is just shocking to see something like that happen in downtown Manhattan at NYU I mean I'm sorry at Cooper Union absolutely thank you so much for having me just a correction tri-state is New York Connecticut, New Jersey I've been away from there for too long go ahead it's always important to clarify with the tri-state so I have had the pleasure of being the senior tri-state campus manager here at stand with us for the past two and a half years and what we are seeing in college campuses and the anti-Semitism you show the footage yourself has absolutely been the worst really I don't say that lightly we are witnessing really the worst anti-Semitism on college campuses we've ever seen our students are watching firsthand intensified calls for violence mass anti-Israel demonstrations dangerous rhetoric in classrooms and students and faculty justifying this massacre and even celebrating it and even calling for days of resistance what we hear from the page is from Cooper Union just yesterday this is from a walk out a national walk out that students decided to do nationally this is not the only campus where this took place and it's not the only campus where students have felt harassed and unsafe students in Cooper Union as you can see they were trapped in the library with students banging on the doors through glass windows I've spoken that I spent yesterday as you said I'm in Israel I was up until 4 am just speaking with students making sure they're safe making sure that they're okay and they're supported and making sure they have the tools to approach the situation and speaking to the administration about this as we're seeing a really big lack of response tell us about the tools what tools to stand with us say that these students should have should be given to deal with this kind of situation definitely we're seeing days that are just unprecedented and stand with us we're a global organization we're an international, non-partisan educational organization that supports Israel and fights anti-Semitism we provide resources and programs to support Israel advocacy right now we have been getting a massive volume of reports of incidents within classrooms with their professors some that are happening on the campus grounds and some that are vandalisms posters of hostages hostages that students are putting up on campus and the tools here stand with us we have our incredible legal team our center for combating anti-Semitism our research and strategy team and campus managers like me spread around throughout the entire country and also globally to support students to make sure they're feeling heard and to connect them with resources that are helpful right now what we're doing a lot of what our legal team is doing on the pressure on campus administrations to condemn these attacks and to provide support and safety for these students who do not feel safe on their campus right now so we welcome everyone to report incidents that they see on campus so they can get the support that they need get connected to people even last night I was speaking with students and speaking with the mayor's office and the NYPD to make sure that students get in contact with those groups because otherwise they were trapped in the library and feeling like they have no one to communicate to you know even when they're trying to go to their campus securities and stuff like that we should note that New York's governor Kathy Hokel spoke out about this incident the Manhattan borough president well let's talk about the political side of it because some of these schools are public state city college Cooper Union is part of the city college of New York it's funded by taxpayers so ultimately this is a taxpayer money so there's a political element here that has to be also addressed by political leaders that are you students are scared to proudly identify as pro-israel design is Israel you're even Jewish on their campuses these are students and you know the students who are standing up they are standing up for what they believe in despite those fears and it is the administration's responsibility to ensure that you know they have the right to free speech as well as a safe learning environment for all of these students and we should expect university leaders to serve as a moral role models in condemning Hamas's massacre kidnapping rocket launching condemning anti-semitism on their campus and you know we really call on campus alumni and we call on the community to you know to help us put that pressure on administration and help us support the students as best that we can unfortunately this has become a political situation where we're talking about students who are being violently attacked cases of violence on their campus just for identifying as Jewish, Israeli or pro-Israel I'm glad you are framing this free speech because if a student feels that he cannot proclaim himself a supporter of Israel or a Zionist on a campus not being intimidated even being physically intimidated then that itself is a hampering of free speech Amit Ankara now finish your point Amit go ahead no I just definitely we're seeing students who are not scared to go to campus and I just want to really emphasize that the students who I talked to in the library and you know students not just in that campus I'm going to be a student at NYU you know you're alma mater, students at my alma mater at Marist College are feeling unsafe and they're not going to classes they're going home because they don't feel supported on their campus the way that they should be so it's really important to speak out for your Jewish community and make sure to check in on your Jewish students and your Israelis and all these campuses around the country Sure of course Amit Ankara stand with us thank you for joining us on I-24 News thank you so much for having me thank you and still with us the former Israeli Ambassador of France a political comment Daniel Shekin we're talking about America here so I can just imagine the situation in some of these some European countries where the sentiments about Israel and actions by some anti-Israel be far left far right even in the Muslim communities can be even more severe although as always it's the noisiest groups that make the headlines they're not necessarily the largest I think that by and large public opinion even in Europe is still reasonably on the side of Israel and I just have to add of course it's okay to be pro-Palestinian if you're a student or that but what does that have to do with being on the side of war criminals people who commit massacres who commit war crimes these atrocities I can't even enumerate them over and over again it has nothing to do with it I said this earlier if you want a Palestine to have a future then Hamas is your enemy it's not your ally well you know smart kids can do stupid things it's a simplistic view to say we are for Palestine so we support Hamas right then there was some disappointment at some sort of US progressive circles among surely Jews that there was a coming to downplaying the atrocities here tearing down the pictures of hostages absolutely rightly so the indignation well you mentioned support for Europe there are some countries unfortunately that are much less supportive of course Israelis see the war against Hamas as a fight for its homeland but in Moscow and Beijing for example the conflict is viewed differently more as part of their contest for global preeminence with the United States our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman looks at the Russian and Chinese positions on the war and some of the tough questions that these pose for Israel what America is for they are against Russia and China keeping on with their policy of taking sides with Israel's opponents on Wednesday Russia coming to the United Nations Security Council with a resolution on the war that got only China's vote and two others the Russian resolution voted upon today sought to tie Israel's hands preventing us from eliminating a threat of existence would Moscow or Beijing be given a right to self defense if faced with the same threat I believe so the positions at the UN Security Council highlight just how much this war has become a great power struggle what started as a set of horrific local massacres kicked up the threat of a regional war and brought on Russia and China who saw an opening to take aim at the war here Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking from Tehran the US is one of the leaders of those who are already intervening which is manifested in the deployment of two aircraft carrier groups the more such proactive measures are taken by any state the greater the risk and danger of conflict escalation for Israel a key question going forward how to relate to Russia and China Israel has tried to boost economic ties pushing going as far as it can without angering the United States and on Russia Israel is famously tiptoed around the war in Ukraine with the familiar arguments about keeping freedom of action in the skies of Syria and protecting the Jewish community in Russia itself now Israel needs America's support and the support of the political center across the West while Russia and China are explicitly siding with Israel's opponents pushing Israel ever more into Washington's arms and I should note that Israel expressing issuing a critical statement about Russia in particular because of the role at the UN for example and elsewhere it's public comments but also pushing this basically anti-Israeli resolution at the UN at this time and then Mr. Ambassador Owen poses the question how does this government have an Israeli government which as he said courted China in the sense of turning to it maybe even economically and maybe even diplomatically seeing it as I'm talking about the maybe the past the past prime that's now government seeing China as a counterbalance to criticism from for example the European Union on some of its Palestinian policies and of course Russia having to deal sort of being very cautious in criticizing Russia over Ukraine because of different concerns that it has strategic concerns with Syria and etc so where does that leave the Israel going forward with these two superpowers well with these two superpowers there's probably it's going nowhere China is certainly a lost case I can tell you that we try to just raise interest in the with China for the fate of the abducted people as we do with many other countries and we got nowhere with the embassy here Owen correctly says though that the European he calls it the European center or the European mainstream is different I mean the mainstream is still on side is still understanding even there is if there is criticism of Israeli behavior here and there like in the words of President Macron or other leaders and it might the shift might continue there is a fundamental understanding that this is a situation where Israel was attacked in a ferocious way by an organization that has acted in such I mean the magnitude of the cruelty and the brutality is such that there is an understanding that Israel is responding here not everyone is happy with the way Israel is responding or will respond in the future but there is this basic understanding which you don't find either in Russia or in China right at least not in the public state I was just saying Russia's garneted further hosting Hamas leaders yeah there yeah and you know Israel might need to continue to be cautious in its statements on Russia because there are other interests in play and diplomacy is not you know it's not a single issue game there are things to weigh into the considerations and there's no point in having an open fight with Russia I mean there's nothing to gain here but certainly I think Israel can maybe up the tone about Russia at least by a chance or two right for sure I also just want to mention because I think it's interesting in terms of the challenges Israel's facing the statement released in support of Qatar the other day by the national security adviser which took I think some many people are back Qatar a major funder it's a political sport of Hamas but it is playing a role in the hostage negotiations but for certain considerations Israel is publicly praising it which I barely ever well you know I have a slightly one track mind on the issue of abducted people and if that is what it takes then that is what it takes I have no problem at all with that if the Qataris choose rather than being the villains and the collaborators with the perpetrators and they prefer to be the heroes of the story in resolving the tragedy for 224 families and abducted people then you know whatever works if Israeli cabinet ministers or other personalities have to praise them publicly so be it I have no problem with that all right now you mentioned France when which certainly in the past and previous governments have been certainly is always critical of Israel's policies of the people who have been atone a shift in tone at the top from French president Emmanuel Macron who was quick to come here and support Israel with certain limitations causing humanitarian pauses but also in France itself there is some popular support for example in Paris today at the foot of the Eiffel tower 30 strollers were placed filled not with children but with large photographs not kidnapped and showing the faces of the child hostages held in Gaza now this memorial was set up primarily by the what's called the representative council of Jewish institutions of France also known as Creef here's what Jonathan Arfi president of Creef had to say today so we decided to put here in Paris in front of the Eiffel tower and in Nice and Marseilles in the south of France 30 strollers with the pictures of the 30 children Israeli children hostages of Hamas our goal is to raise the level of public awareness regarding the situation of these children it is not acceptable to have hostages and it is even more unacceptable to have children hostages of Hamas we demand that it has to be a priority of the French diplomacy it has to be a priority of all western countries in order to get you get them free encouraging to see that let's keep in mind Paris is a city with a very large Muslim population and a very large Jewish community I met with Jonathan and the other people of the Creef they were in Israel just a couple of days ago and we spoke about these issues and there are other shows of solidarity and support I just got a message during the show that on certain fronts of buildings of city halls of the various districts of Paris there is a they show images of of all the 224 abducted people or at least as many as photos exist so there are there are organizations and groups that want to attract attention from the Parisian or the French public and there is help given from French politicians the mayors they have to agree to that and clearly and even when I saw the list of of the city halls they're not necessarily the districts where there is a large Jewish population so it's sort of a general show of support I hope it continues now you mentioned your own volunteer work and there is a group called Yedidim which is the biggest volunteer organization in Israel that consists of over 60,000 volunteers now since the start of the Israel Hamas war this group has focused on helping out displace residents, organizations even military units Uri Shepira has more on that effort in this report this small school in the central city of Petach Tikva has become the temporary headquarters of Yedidim the Hebrew word for friends and to the biggest volunteer organization in Israel the organization is known mostly for helping cars stuck on the road but now does much more we are acting on three main levels the first level concerns the people's spirit we are organizing barbecues and military bases we are taking care of the families we even do their laundry the second level is helping the public we fix security rooms the third level is the front we understand what they lack and we supply them with everything they need I-24 News joined a team on their daily mission our first stop is in a makeshift military base near the southern city of Ufaqim a group of reserve soldiers are asking for ratchet straps look I don't try to find out why things are missing here but as someone who serves for two years in this unit whenever I need something I can turn to Yedidim organization the second stop is in Bersheva where the team joins another group of volunteers on their way to fix the window of a security room one member of the Bersheva team tells us about his experience on October 7th starting from 5 p.m. Saturday we started to help the forces to collect the bodies from the party at Reim I was there until Monday morning in the organization's warehouse we see a variety of objects donated to soldiers and civilians from simple shirts to drones worth thousands of dollars this is perhaps another example of the rare spirit of giving, helping and caring in the Israeli society today Danny so encouraging to see just the way Israeli society has mobilized in this way the other side of that is some saying it's in a way some out of necessity because of the government's slowness or some argue failure to step into this and act quicker to deal with these situations really both it's true that there have been criticism about the ability of the government to respond quickly enough to the numerous crises and needs that arose but I think it's actually wonderful to see how Israeli civil society which was in the middle of a terrible internal crisis suddenly everything is forgotten and the people who so to speak were not going to defend Israel are on the front line and the people in the home front don't ask if you're for the judicial reform or against the judicial reform if you roll up your sleeves and you come and you want to help there's always something you can do and I did do it for the displaced people and we try to support the families of the kidnapped and other people just go to cook meals for people it's heartwarming unfortunately under so tragic circumstances for sure now I want to turn back to the north of the country as the threats from his baller get the harsher and rocket fire slowly unfortunately becomes a constant part of life in northern Israel the Ziv medical center in the Galilee town of Safat is preparing for worst case scenarios Joe Brown has more on how the hospital is preparing now for a possible wartime scenario rocket proof missile proof withstand biological and chemical attacks in just 10 days these rooms went from bare concrete to a functioning ICU in the Israeli north unfortunately being in this neighborhood close to an active border both with Lebanon and with Syria requires the hospital to be on high alert around the clock preparing for war is part of our activity we do exercises with the home front command the northern command and the police during the 2006 war with Hezbollah the Ziv medical center was the first line of treatment for the wounded back then the hospital suffered direct missile hits but since then the lessons have been learned then from the moment the state of emergency was declared and war was declared the main element of our work was to ensure that patients and staff were in a safe place that's why we reexamined all our activities now what could be closed we temporarily closed and we moved the rest of the activity to protected complexes Israeli medics are not alone American surgeons have arrived to help with the war effort it's incredible the amount of preparation they have the way they've moved the emergency cases downstairs the surgical stuff is all basically hidden from hidden from bad exposure with the danger foreseen this hospital is working around the clock to make sure it can be avoided let's hope none of that is needed I just want to we're coming to the end of this program there's an item in the Washington Post saying the United States and Qatar have agreed to revisit the Gulf States association with Hamas after resolution of the international hostage crisis it's not known whether that could involve Hamas leaders exiting Qatar of course Qatar also hosting a major US base playing all sides and maybe that won't become viable after this incident after this current situation wait and see ambassador Daniel Shack thank you for joining us and thank you for joining us on this special broadcast on the news as we move towards the end of day 20 of the Israel Hamas war stay with us though for our continuing coverage we'll be back at the top of the hour I think thank you for joining us is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want to do we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity hello hello hello this week on news 24 Israel under attack news 24 in spanish brings the analysis and information of the events of the war interviews exclusive reports from the war zone the reaction of the spanish-speaking countries news 24 the only medium in spanish that keeps you informed and connected news 24 only in i24 news the american red wolf is the most endangered wolf in the entire world and the american red wolf is the only wolf that is only native to the united states and in that regards they should be a national treasure so it is a privilege to be able to provide their medical care and it's very important for people to be aware of the species and want to understand them so that they can be protected in the wild and not extinct so this special broadcast here on i24 news as we continue our rolling coverage day 20 of the war in israel and impossible crossroads really 20 days of grief 20 days of anger 20 days of resilience 20 days of readiness israel and israelis have been to hell and back but during those 20 days over 224 of us babies grandmothers fathers or brothers and sisters for 20 days being held somewhere in the Gaza Strip by Nazi Hamas terrorists and they don't know how much their loved ones are fighting to get them back they don't know if and when and who is coming to get them and at the same time all of Israel's enemies and there are many closely watching the jihadists let it be Hamas or Hezbollah let's call them Iran proxies they wanted to be 1947 to kill us or make it so horrible so we run away so today day 20 the main question remains are the two objectives of the war releasing the hostages eliminating Hamas sizes and either or the answer might be both but as it seems perhaps not at the same time here's a member of the war cabinet and former defense minister and chief of staff aside from the strategies in defense and attack we are promoting the continuation of the campaign and the readiness to step up the attacks against Hamas and on all fronts as needed the maneuver is only one stage in a long term process that includes security, political and social aspects that will take years the campaign will soon ramp up with greater force and as we speak yet another barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip towards southern and central Israel all across the area including some here Sirens in Tel Aviv an active scene this term that we got used to in the entire country an active scene very much so joining us now in studio defense and government commentator Mr. Amir Oran and Mr. Oran thank you so much for joining us pleasure to have you in studio as per always it feels or it seems feelings are not important it seems that there are many different issues we're discussing and we're hearing Sirens now in our studios as well again for several times during recent days this is the new reality here Sirens and we will continue so it seems that many things are happening many talking points so to speak yes to a ground operation no to a ground operation the hostages issue Qatar and the US talking above Israel's head or with Israel's so many points and yet no connecting lines try to help us connect the dots no no connecting line because some of the stuff is covered it is being handled in clandestine channels obviously the Israeli war cabinet is aware of what's transpiring between the United States, Qatar and Israel but the Israeli public does not know what will come out of it now during the first week of this crisis the only goal the war cabinet set was eliminating the Hamas leadership and its military mechanism only under pressure both by the families of the abducted the missing inaction and President Biden was the release of the hostages added to the war aims and then it overtook the original aim there is also an issue of momentum at the very immediate aftermath of the event there was a momentum of hitting back hard now and once you pass this momentum I'm not saying that the window has closed there are still options but this momentum to hit hard immediately has passed so naturally other issues are taking the stage yes and the cold calculations are now paramount not the boiling blood of the first days even though the price paid the 1400 killed or murdered and the 220 plus kidnapped this is still known but it has been taken into account already now the question is now what? and because President Biden is calling the shots and Netanyahu and the war cabinet have to do his bidding and because for Biden the American hostages among the 220 plus and the plight of those Americans living in Gaza wishing to cross out of Rafa but still being trapped there and the American soldiers and civilians around the Middle East whose lives would be in danger if the war is not contained all of that is paramount in Washington and therefore Secretary of Defense Austin calls daily he's Israeli not even counterpart he's Israeli subordinate Defense Minister Gallant and goes over the plans and make sure there are no misunderstandings that the Israeli principals will not be able later to say well I meant that and that two days have passed since our latest communication no there are people continuously watching over Israel Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf is in the region if it's not Blinken it's Austin if it's not Austin it's the Sencom commander General Corrilla and so on and so forth and yet Mr. Oran and by the way just to note reports of an impact here in the central in the center of Israel we are gathering information on that one we will be bringing you the details that once they become available obviously there's American trauma from the escapades in Iran and Afghanistan the no exit point the no end goal trauma if you will but the situation here is different for many reasons obviously which brings me to ask is it really necessary that Israel at this point in time as an idea of what Gaza will look like the day after that's exactly what President Biden has been pressing Netanyahu for an answer on because okay you want to go into Gaza and kick Sinwar and death out or kill them we Americans have done that with Jerusalem in Iraq with Gaddafi in Libya and what have you got chaos, anarchy how do you Israelis but isn't the question that must be answered now of course because you don't set your car to go up north if you are not certain whether you want to go to Haifa or to the Lebanese border or just to Herzliya a few miles up the road just giving vent to your rage is no plan neither military nor political and therefore Biden insists on knowing the answer to the final questions not only the early ones okay you want to go into Gaza city into the underground city in Gaza and try to flush out Hamas leaders and kill as many Hamas fighters as you can fine you've done that what next and because Netanyahu doesn't have an answer to that Biden counsels him to wait until the reason answer or preferably that there is a grand deal in which both the hostages will be released in return for the Palestinian prisoners some 6000 of them in Israeli jets and perhaps getting the Hamas leadership out the way Arafat was kicked out of Beirut in late July early September of 1982 we said at the beginning of our conversation that feelings and emotions are irrelevant to this discussion and yet Mr. Oren 6000 Palestinian prisoners we're talking about murderers with blood on their hands no other way to put it can Israel as a nation is it able to see those images of these cold blooded murderers with the peace sign and driving in buses underway to the Gaza Strip no it's a very bad option but the least worst one because right now what Israelis want to see regardless of the peace sign which you just gestured they want to see the loved ones the babies, the mothers the Holocaust survivors coming out of the dragons and dungeons in Gaza and until and unless this is done there will be no respite for the Israeli war cabinet members not only Netanyahu but Gantz Eisencourt, Gallant and Dermer all of them were murdered by the families of people who don't have an inkling regarding their well-being of the loved ones in captivity of course Hamas plays on it there are no emotions on the other side no mercy, no compassion this is part of the game the well orchestrated game the well orchestrated game we need to state that as well in the beginning of a well orchestrated game a main player at this point in time and perhaps all throughout Qatar that is playing a very vicious double game on the one hand sponsoring terror all those years only now to emerge as the problem solver the problem creator is now the problem solver my question to you Mr. Oren because we are hearing reports that Qatar agreeing that Doha in the aftermath of a release of hostage Doha itself will reassess his relations with Hamas that's the Washington Post report that when Secretary Blinken was there a few days ago he got the emir of Qatar to agree to what you just said that the leaders of Hamas will be evicted if they have another home in Turkey it doesn't matter where they are one of the Hamas leaders, Aruri is in Lebanon maybe they will relocate to Lebanon and will be under Gisbala auspices this is not the main point and perhaps another haven would be found for the Hamas leaders inside Gaza if they are to be evicted Qatar has to be on good terms with the United States and vice versa because there is a very important base American air base in Qatar and this is the way the Americans are being based in the Middle East or Persian Gulf the Neville base is in Bahrain the modus operandi of the Americans when it comes to Qatar carrots, not sticks well you can have a very heavy carrot or a very soft stick moving down south now I-2040s correspondent Robert Swift standing by there Robert just this past 10 minutes or so heavy barrages of rockets fired once again from the Gaza ship towards southern and central Israel despite aerial strikes of Hamas targets in the strip the rocket fire continues all the while indeed it was a pretty heavy bombardment it was up to about 30 rockets as we've ever seen but it's certainly larger than the barrages that our team on the ground saw earlier this evening so this was the fourth barrage the one that just occurred earlier we saw three barrages the last one being about four hours ago so there was a halt in the firing from Gaza this is possibly due to the heavy bombardment that north Gaza was under with the Israeli military using a lot of artillery strikes them announcing that they killed several important commanders among Hamas and this comes off the back of an operation that took place this morning so this operation combined with the heavy bombardment that Israel was putting down has led some to believe that possibly Israel is scaling up its operations and maybe stepping a little closer to making the ground incursion that everybody's talking about Robert earlier this evening in his daily nightly briefing the idea of spokespersons suggests those in and outs that we've seen overnight will become some sort of a habit until we will see properly the beginning of the next phase if you will yeah that's partly because these kinds of operations are essentially shaping operations preparing the ground for the main Israeli advance into Gaza city now there have been raids into Gaza there's been at least a couple previously in previous weeks but these were more special forces aimed at trying to find information regarding the hostages the operation that took place last night was a larger scale event with infantry more tanks and it was attacking infrastructure of Hamas defensive positions anti-tank missile positions that sort of thing and if there's going to be more of these taking place in the coming days if this becomes a nightly event then you know that could be a sign that Israel is really preparing the ground ramping up its activities to go in full scale into Gaza I-24 news correspondent down south Robert Swift thank you and the rest of the I-24 news team they're on the ground back here in studio with Mr. Amir Oran is it indeed perhaps a teaser to a full on ground operation or maybe this will be more or less the ground activity not the teaser but the filler until such time when the conditions are ripe quote unquote this is the stock answer whenever a senior Israeli official is asked how long are we going to wait for the incursion these are rates these are not even incursions they go in a kilometer or two dozens of such rates were conducted by the IDF both before the withdrawal from Gaza 18 years ago and later especially after Gilad Shalit the soldier was abducted in 2006 and until he was released in an exchange deal so yes this will in a way prepare both the public and Hamas for the eventual incursion but for the time being it is being used for various preparations perhaps even diversions trying to find who knows what perhaps meeting meetings with sources over there on the cover of the tanks there are many uses for such movements into the strip you were using Mr. Oran the term waiting and this is indeed a very evident sentiment on the Israeli side what are we waiting for or how long should we wait but maybe the weight is not necessarily a bad thing a and b we need to bear to remember that also the other side is waiting only if there is a second act will we know that this was the intermission rather than the end of the play and that we should go home right now we are in a war of attrition and the economic toll is getting heavy 350,000 reserve soldiers they cannot be kept on call for long yeah and also again going back to the Israeli consciousness the Israeli state of mind if you will let's take it down and something something this is the feeling but let's again ditch the feeling talk and talk about actions and across now to IDF International Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conriquez thank you very much Lieutenant Colonel Conriquez it's been great to see you I will not ask whether hostage release or and Hamas elimination or contradicting but rather can they both be achieved through a ground operation Hi Ely, it was a pleasure to be with you you're basically asking the same question in a different way and what I can say is that we are committed to achieving the strategic aim of this war is to dismantle Hamas militarily and administratively this will be done and joining or dovetailing on the end of your conversation in studio sure waiting is perhaps not convenient and there are downsides to waiting but I can assure you that the enemy isn't at peace right now they are under duress we are striking their facilities we are degrading their military capabilities as we speak and we will continue to do so before, during and after any maneuver inside the Gaza Strip of course the tale of the conversation it was not concluded so we can talk to you as well was that the anxiousness perhaps evident on the Israeli side but not the enemy is waiting to get hit perhaps not less anxious and that's an understatement and Karin Reakes those in and out that we've seen or the raid that we've seen over nine the IDFS spokesperson your colleague suggesting that we will see more of that and what will a ground operation achieve that aerial strikes cannot and or are there still targets for the air force to prepare the ground for a ground operation yes there are still targets for the air force what we call supporting maneuver but that will come once there is maneuver much of the preparations I would say have been completed and as the chief of staff has said I think two days ago we are ready to maneuver so that's one part what I think and what we believe the ground maneuver will establish that aerial attacks cannot is a close access to terrorists the terrorists are hiding in tunnels underneath the civilians they are trying to be out of harm's way they are basically in hiding for almost 20 days at least 18 19 days and one way of getting to them is getting close getting to those tunnels finding the openings and either getting them to expose themselves outside or killing them inside and some things many things can be done via the air and we have a tremendous and professional and amazing air force but there are some things that have to be done on the ground that you can only do once you have boots on the ground and that is why the IDF is now ready and prepared to maneuver and gentlemen we are still here with us in the studio listening to our conversation the issue of fuel is taking center stage when it comes to Hamas as possible demands not that the shoulders should not be met not getting into that but the issue of fuel or lack thereof industry crucial is that Mr. Orin at this point in time it's very crucial and this is certainly not like water food and medicine because this is dual used fuel is actually running the Hamas war machine and the Israeli slogan if they had some time for copywriting would have been stop fueling around why you need if it's not for powering the lights of Gaza or helping the Gaza go to the refrigerators you need it because you have certain uses for it militarily and just imagine if you compare underground Gaza to what happens under Grand Central Station in New York a vast city if the lights go out there and people who are trapped there have to find their way out and these are very bad people the Hamas leadership they have a very hard time surviving as warriors as fighters and this is one of the Israeli reasons for refusing to let fuel go into Gaza Zanat Karnola, Konrika's before we I'll let you go and continue your busy day still ahead it's not a fair question but what will the coming days going to look like? I will address the question but I just want to say before that there's the issue of humanitarian organizations who for many days have been crying wolves and claiming that in 24 hours the fuel will run out and that in less than a day we won't be able to continue operations statements made by the World Health Organization and by UNICEF and by UNRWA when those statements were made they were made some of them 10 days ago and I am concerned by the fact that there are so many international organizations which are probably in Gaza in order to serve the citizens the Palestinian civilians but what they're doing is actually they're part to upholding Hamas rule and by their request and their attempt to apply pressure on Israel to provide fuel and medicine and humanitarian aid and not on Hamas they are actually serving enemy purposes and instead of being part of the solution they are deepening the problem and I think that there's need for an awakening in that community do you want to really serve the civilian population or are you just a way of keeping Hamas in power and until this very day Hamas is still actively preventing Gaza residents from mobilizing to humanitarian areas indeed they are actively doing so and regarding your question what we will see we will see continued aerial strikes by the IDF we will see us hunting commanders Hamas seniors we will see strikes on their military infrastructure we will most likely see activities that we performed last night of limited raids into Gaza in and out and I think that you will see us defending along the northern border continuing to respond against Hezbollah attacks continuing to kill Hezbollah operatives that are firing anti-tank missiles at our communities and you will continue to see and this is very important very intimate collaboration between us and the Americans looking not only local Hamas and Hezbollah but regional assessing the situation together applying cool military reasoning and looking at how we can defeat whatever the enemy throws at us from whatever organization and distance and location. Sounds like a plan Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conriquez International spokesperson for the IDF thank you very much for joining us Mr. Mioran here in studio thank you for joining us today few minutes and we're back with our special broadcast. We bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on I-24 news story to the world welcome back to the special broadcast here on I-24 news we continue our rolling coverage of the 20 of the war here in Israel Kibuz Khalid came to life back in 1978 as a small community established by the IDF sub pioneering Naham branch in the Sinai Peninsula back then was forced to relocate north of the Egyptian border near Gaza after deciding of the came David of course this is all ancient history but it was no more secure on Israeli territory and this brings us to date coming under attack by Hamas terrorists on the October 7th massacre and our defense correspondent Jonathan Regev got a first look at the scene there today filing this report the southern most the communities along the Gaza border but a few minutes into the tour we were ordered to quickly board the bus and leave as alerts of possible rocket attack came to the army and we were quickly arrived in a few minutes we did this and in Holi we saw the same horrible images seen in other communities homes burnt completely windows shattered the big mess is still around three weeks after this war began nearly three weeks after that a terrible Saturday morning one home tells a a horrible story a family of five people was found in the safe room of burned alive and in the kitchen in the table kitchen there was a birthday cake that family was celebrating a birthday on that October 7th as they ran into the safe room and to get protection from the incoming rockets terrorists found them burned the home alive on the same day they were celebrating a birthday in Holi the representatives from the army we are here to say this may have happened once this will never ever happen again well I think what we see here is what we see in so many of these southern communities in Israel we can imagine what people's lives were like on the morning of the 7th of October because we see tables with coffee cups with newspapers we see children's toys we see people living their life on a Saturday morning and we also see the horror we understand exactly what happened in this community the murder, the beheading the rape, the killing the abductions everything is there before us we are still seeing Zaka the people who pick up body parts working two and a half weeks later so the carnage in this community as in so many other southern communities is there for us to see and it is utterly horrifying just one community for me 13 people were murdered 11 Israelis and two foreign workers for it just like all the other communities now months may be years to rebuild and be the same as it was before John Conrega by 24 years joining us now in studio major general Eitan Dango former military secretary to many defense ministers and of course the former coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories and our dear dear guest here Major General Dango as always I am going to begin by asking you what should we ask today what should be the focus of our attention day 20 of the war in my opinion it is strategic issues because it is very clear now that Israel put goals in Gaza and this is continue to be the main Israeli goal for the war once is to destroy Hamas structure and to throw them outside of Gaza it means to destroy the meaning of the state of Hamas I call Gaza as the state of Hamas the second in the same place and much more urgent because we are in a very short window time is the effort of the release or the freedom of all the kidnapper or the hostages that are kept by Hamas people meanwhile I would like to pay your attention about things that are running in this area first of all the north area is continues to be like with the question mark in my opinion recently you are aware about the meetings of coordination between Isbala, Iran, Hamas, Jihad Islamic and the meeting today in Russia that has a lot of questions what does it mean does it answer to the United States or the European countries that are coming do it something that was already coordinate from the beginning and now talking about the next reaction and in my opinion the question mark I think that we have to take an account that Hezbollah made with Iran with the support of Russia it's a decision the moment Israel will start to maneuver inside Gaza in a strong power I can assess that we will see another reaction that escalate the war in the north to something that is much more balanced to what is going in Gaza and this is a different story so the notion of separating the arenas simply irrelevant at this point in time all right and speaking of the different arenas different fronts in this respect many things have happened in the past 20 days on the one hand and so little on the other right the sense of paralysis of stagnation of regression even it's wartime economy no doubt about that so in order to have a better understanding of the now and the soon to be now as in the future economic expert Dr. Alex Khoman is joining us now thank you very much Dr. Khoman for speaking to us tonight so let's try to to illustrate to describe what is the current state domestically anyone that comes to foreign markets or simply put Dr. Khoman how bad is it it's really bad the first week cost 5 billion shekels that's the amount that we're talking about one week the estimate provided by the military is for three months of war which is around if we're talking about it's around 60 billion shekels if I take into account the scenario that you just mentioned a few minutes ago where his bala is also joining the battle so that it's not isolated in the south but actually we are trapped in two frontiers one in the north and one in the south so we're talking about significant amount of money required because of all the businesses 85% of the businesses in the south are paralyzed 20% around the country a quarter of the parents who stayed home because their kids did not go to school only a quarter can actually work from home so we're talking about dramatic expenses now not the long terms expenses this is what's happening now and octal common like with mental health guidelines these days the first question is what is out of my control and what is under my control right to try and manage anxiety so let's try to use those terms in the economic spheres obviously there's war period given obviously there's an impact but let's try to manage our expectations what is under our control and by saying our I mean of Israel well the thing is this before the war the expression was the buffet bar is open which basically meant that money was spent as if there's no tomorrow to keep the coalition together good news were that the fine minister of finance smartridge said that he's freezing this coalition gluing money and only allowing defense related so recovery money you mentioned psychologist housing all the catastrophes that occur if this is the case this is not a bad situation because the money was supposed to be spent as if there's no tomorrow and if we actually freeze that which is not certain because because smartridge also made different statements then we have a nice war chest if you want to think about it like that that we could use to conduct the war and to recover from it so in this respect Dr. Koman what is the one thing that must be done not a day to yesterday yesterday okay Israel unfortunately has encountered many such crises if you're talking about previous wars COVID etc incredibly we are just now weaving the plans that we're doing and just to mention one of the biggest problems is small businesses Israel ignores small businesses it focuses on the large one there was a very important meeting for small businesses which was scheduled with the minister of finance he did not show up it's incredible and the minister of commerce did show up with a different plan so the problem is that we have so many ministers that were appointed in order to keep the coalition together the fact that you have many people is not an advantage it's a disadvantage because they step on each other's feet they disagree with each other and there is no harmonized action to save us so we can do it but for that we need to actually have one leader actually leading this moon and not to have a bunch of losers wandering around yes yes indeed and before we let you go Dr. Ekoman speaking of spheres of influence what is in our control what is not on that note perhaps the downside of positive thinking of thinking what you can do to improve that you're becoming less politically critical and yet how should Israelis themselves brace for the near future the behavior of Israelis is incredible I mean I've tried to volunteer to a number of activities and I called immediately and people looked at me and said these positions have been filled long ago that we're talking about picking vegetables, milking cows working in the industry it's incredible but if you look on one hand at the sacrifice and the devotion and the volunteering of Israelis it moves your heart on the other hand if you look at the leadership it's impotence it breaks your heart so this contrast I think this is something we must resolve Dr. Ekoman stay strong, stay resilient this is how we bid farewell to our viewers these days and this is how we will bid farewell to you thank you very much Dr. Ekoman for this and for us here in Israel it's a fight for our homeland of course Moscow and Beijing it's yet another part of their greater contest their chess game with the US senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman looks at the Russian and Chinese positions on the war and the question they pose for Israel what America is for they are against Russia and China keeping on with their policy of taking sides with Israel's opponents to the United Nations Security Council with a resolution on the war that got only China's vote and two others the Russian resolution voted upon today sought to tie Israel's hands preventing us from eliminating a threat to our existence would Moscow or Beijing be given a right to self-defense if faced with the same threat I believe so the positions at the UN Security Council highlight just how much this war has become a great power struggle what started as a set of horrific local massacres kicked up the threat of a regional war and brought on Russia and China who saw an opening to take aim at the United States here Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking from Tehran the US is one of the leaders of those who are already intervening which is manifested in the deployment of two aircraft carrier groups the more such proactive measures are taken by any state the greater the risk and danger of conflict escalation for Israel a key question going forward how to relate to Russia and China Israel has tried to boost economic ties with Beijing going as far as it can without angering the United States and on Russia Israel is famously tiptoed around the war in Ukraine with the familiar arguments about keeping Russia in the skies of Syria and protecting the Jewish community in Russia itself now Israel needs America's support and the support of the political center across the West while Russia and China are explicitly siding with Israel's opponents pushing Israel ever more into Washington's arms and turning now to international security expert Mr. Martin Himmel joining us thank you Mr. Himmel very much for your time so Hamas delegation landing in Moscow today what's in it for Putin what is it that he wants really I think we have to go back to those days of the Cold War when the United States and Russia were rivals and had rival foreign policies Putin is trying to establish a foreign policy that is going to rival Europe and the United States Europe and the United States want to support Israel's moves wants to isolate Hamas wants to isolate them as a terrorist group and Russia wants to find other routes and by inviting Hamas officials to Moscow is a way of saying we have our own foreign policy we have our own way of dealing with it and we are going to be a rival and competitor for influence in the Middle East and if that means good relations with Hamas so be it but Mr. Himmel Israel for the first time today calling out Russia since the beginning of the war of course condemning the Hamas delegation the delegation arrival there for years Israel considered Russia not as a friend but yes as an ally of sorts I wouldn't ask if it was a mistake or not because hindsight is irrelevant but rather is Russia's current stance really a surprise it really isn't a surprise because the Ukrainian war broke out and Israel hasn't stood 100% or even 50% with Russia it's actually cited to a large degree with Ukraine the Russians don't like that the Russians need the Iranians the Iranians of course want support for Hisbola Russia is getting lots of weapons from Iran especially in drones and it has to cope with their relationship so their real politics as Israel's concerns are secondary and a rival policy in the Middle East that might appease Iran is more important for them right now and Mr. Himmel we let you go another main global player and hence a regional player China which is staying out to an extent perhaps enjoying it all the most with the focus of Taiwan obviously how is Beijing utilizing the situation what would Beijing want to see happening here Beijing is not in such a hostile confrontation with the US it's more of a competitive move it wants to have hegemony it wants to have control it wants to have influence in the Middle East and rival American influence in the Middle East and by doing that it's turning to its friends there which include Iran and would offer another policy of peace and dialogue that doesn't take Hamas indirectly but takes it in indirectly because it wants to erode American influence in this region Mr. Hamars and Himmel political analyst in international security expert thank you very much sir for your insight and we're going back to the epicenter of the kidnapped square in this unbelievable reality what used to be the plaza of the Tel Aviv Museum is now literally a bleeding wound in the part of the nation and I-24 News political correspondent Bate Leventhal was with the families of over 224 Israeli hostages who cannot and will not stop until they're all back home of course it's been an emotional last almost three weeks 20 days Israel has been engaged in war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip but it's been 19 days that many families friends, relatives here in Israel have had 224 hostages known to be taken by Hamas in the Gaza Strip they don't know their whereabouts they don't know the conditions of which they in other than the fact that they are missing and likely in Gaza visuals have been happening all over the country to make sure that the world has them on the very fall of public consciousness tonight a special event a special presser occurring that was being hosted by Merav Leshem Gonen she is the mother of Romy who was kidnapped from the rave party in the south on that Saturday October 7th and taken into the Gaza Strip the presser had a very clear message bring our family our children, our mothers, the elderly our relatives, our friends home now not tomorrow and not when this war ends now immediately they are asking for answers from the government they want to know that this government is doing everything that they can to bring their loved ones back safely to Israel earlier we got a chance to speak with Merav's daughter one of five including Romy who had a few words to say to her sister and how she is being potentially held in the Gaza Strip at least how she envisions her I keep picturing her it's not even picturing because I feel like I'm going around and I have like Romy filter in my eyes I see her everywhere and she's with me the whole time and I just keep imagining and hoping that she's with the kids that got kidnapped as well from the Kibbutz around Gaza Strip and that she's making them happy and they are making her feel important so she could manage to stay alive and stay strong the presser happens in an area that is in a major square just outside of the Tel Aviv Art Gallery or Tel Aviv Art Museum and a display has been set up that is being here now for two weeks the display shows a traditional Shabbat family dinner table and it has 224 places at this table indicating the 224 hostages that are currently being held in the Gaza Strip and we weren't able to get a chance to speak to all 200 plus of these families members of their friends relatives but we did manage to speak to two who want to make sure that their friends and their relatives their stories are being shared with the world she's like a flower girl really young at heart an incredible animal activist she has so many dogs and cats and wooden animals and she's just all her money is spent on animals and she's she's an amazing human being we lost contact and then several hours later that day that terrible Saturday TikTok video showed up of her being begging for her life Inbal is a citizen and they were just in a party without any guns without any way to defend themselves and they came with a lot of I don't know RPG guns whatever and they couldn't defend themselves okay they're just like innocent citizens and it's not it's not the way to fight for your rights for your country it's not the way you do that An emotional day but a very strong and clear message the hostages need to be returned home immediately by the 11th reporting for I-24 news from Tel Aviv and evidently the October 7th massacre was not just an assault against Israelis or Jews it was an assault against life, against love, against music against light the Nova Music Festival turned into a scene of of horror where thousands of peace-seeking and music loving and life-thriving youngsters were hundreds of them slaughtered injured survivors dozens kidnapped and now the Israeli electronic music community is uniting Lan Cheng today this project bring them back home a special music album more than 15 musicians with every penny earned be granted potentially to assist the hostages and revaluate those Nova survivors and also a global fundraising campaign on give-back so for more we are joined now by a world-renowned musician Ashil Suisa better known as Skazi who's a song of closer enemy the literal meaning of it getting reinforced meaning nowadays so this track is part of this project Ashil Suisa thank you very much for joining us so tell us more about this project it goes without saying that the massacre hits hard the local and the global electronic music community yes first of all it's a big show for us as artists you know we used to play we supposed to be these parties so for me it was nothing out of Israel I was for sure in one of both parties for us it's a big hit because we know many of the people of the scene get murdered or just get kidnapped but I want to go now to the story we talk about about this project that all the industry and the Israeli DJs and international and local unites together this is something that it's not very common to do it because it's many styles many different and kind of minds different minds to join and to unite to make this kind of big project with all the music it starts from Psytrance and finish in Techno you have everything inside you can see the unity of all in Israel you can feel it in everything and even you can feel it in music and we all unite this one with the industry people that do that and with all the artists and combine this compilation with 50 tracks and 50 artists all of them on release tracks and I can say that this is something that I think everyone try to bring something from his own and all the artists here try to bring it on because many artists in the world and DJs are not supporting and not not supporting just standing in the middle and don't say nothing and we got a lot of artists international say like infected mushrooms and Vinivici and Red Access and Magid Kakun and Bliss and more and more that we can we can say something together if you will unite and we will do that but you can see in the world that the artist is less doing that for us and we need to do it ourselves with the power of music in one day already we raise more than 110,000 shekels from the first day from the first day and I think it's never mind how much you will put their money you will get the music for sure you will get all the 50 tracks and people really