 Welcome back to this special broadcast here on I-24 News. As we continue our rolling coverage, day 73 of the war here in Israel and joining us here in the studio, Dr. David Shimoni, former intelligence official and commander at Commanders for Israel Security, Dr. Shimoni. Thank you very much for joining us while we're nearing the end of day 73. Before we shift the focus to the attempts behind the scenes of diplomatic attempts to bring about the release of more Israeli hostages when it comes to the situation on the battlefield, I would dare to ask the following. Are all those tactical achievements that are not to be undermined or dismissed whatsoever indeed substantial, but do they accumulate into a strategic achievement? I think we have to understand what's the definition of a strategic achievement, because we have to differentiate between military strategy and political strategy. And for the time being, we're concentrating only on the military. So we're trying to drive Hamas away. We're trying to destroy as many terrorists as we can, and we can, and we're doing that. But I don't think for the time being we've seen the collapse of the Hamas. They're still there. They still have control of parts of the Gaza Strip, large parts of the Gaza Strip. We still encounter them even in the northern part of Gaza. Today, IDF announced that they completed the taking over of Bed Hanun in the north of Gaza. And many, many areas of Gaza City, but still there's fighting there, and every now and then there's clashes there, and we take casualties. In the south, we know less. The IDF is kind of keeping us in the fog. We know less. The south is much more complicated because of a huge concentration of refugees who fled from the north. So yes, the IDF is counting. Many attacks, many assaults under Hamas, many achievements. We notice that there are much less rockets being fired now at Israel. A lot of their equipment has been destroyed or captured, but they still didn't collapse. And as far as we calculate, they still have a lot of their fighters underground in the tunnels. A lot of military stamina. This is the idea of Hamas that is somewhat flourishing, judging by the recent polls of support not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank. But again, if you can elaborate a bit more, Dr. Shimoni, on this gap between a military victory or victory's plural and a security triumph. We're still not achieving our goals. If we defined, first of all, a return of the hostages as a primary goal. And I think since you've been hosting me here, I've been saying that as far as I see it, freeing the hostages comes before anything else. I'm your witness. And we're not making big advances with that. Quite the contrary. From day to day, we know of more and more hostages that now are declared dead. Some of them died on the main assault on October 7th. Some of them died in captivity. We know of hostages that have been executed by the Hamas even recently. And unfortunately, the three hostages that were killed accidentally by our military. So we still don't see a big victory. We don't have all our hostages back. We don't see the Hamas surrender or collapse or stopping to fight. They're still fighting. As you said, they still have their stamina. They're still issuing orders. We do see signs of a reduction of their abilities and of their control. We've been talking about that also in the last few days. Gazan civilians talking openly against the Hamas, cursing the Hamas leadership, something they wouldn't have dared to do if they hadn't sensed that Hamas is weakening. And yet, will we have to be honest? Not enough at this point in time with the clock ticking in one form or another. But I do want us to stay with the issue of hostages, because as we speak, it seems that the diplomatic efforts to bring about a new deal that will enable the release of more hostages, making gaining steam and I-24 News senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman is catching out the terms for the talks that are currently being held and how this time they're different from the talks on that first deal back in November. The funerals remind Israelis of the stakes. Here, the funeral of hostage Alon Shamriz killed in the tragic friendly fire incident. His hands raised, his white flag not enough to earn his rescue. A reminder to many in Israel of the price of waiting on another hostage deal. You already saw the light, but it became darkness. Those who abandoned you also murdered you after you did everything right. And so the Israeli government reportedly ramps up talks on a new hostage deal with meetings afoot and progress made, now with two key differences from that first hostage deal in November. First that November deal focused on women and especially children who were in the twisted logic of Hamas assets, but also liabilities with the terror group taking a beating internationally for holding three-year-olds hostage. So Hamas had more incentive to free the kids for a lower price. And then the second difference, the balance of power on the battlefield. Only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages. My directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure without which we would have nothing. That first deal in November came when military pressure in Gaza was at a high, with a sense of big incremental gains each day. And so big incremental losses each day for Hamas. The sense now is of a war that is making slower progress. Less incremental pressure on Hamas means less sway for Israel in talks, all of which adds up to tougher decisions for the Israeli government and public. Not only to want fervently to bring them home, but also to understand the price in all its dimensions. Back here in the studio with Dr. David Shimoni, Dr. Shimoni, from your reading of the current dynamics of the talks, again as mentioned, apparently a follow-up meeting. Let's put it that way with an American Joker, CIA chief Burns joining the Israeli chief of Mossad and the Qatari prime minister in Warsaw. From reports, it seems that both Hamas and Israel, of course, are willing to negotiate a new deal. But Hamas this time wants to, is insisting on calling the shots when it comes to the list of hostages to be released unilaterally, unlike the previous rounds when Israel had to say and it was enshrined in the deal. Why is that, to your understanding, other than the principle of being the sheriff? It's again the beginning of negotiations and hostage negotiations. They're always tough. There are many false announcements and many disinformation by both sides or by all sides. But I think we heard from Hamas that they said they were willing to discuss the deal if we stop fighting. So that's something into the equation, not talking about a ceasefire or pause, talking about the end of hostilities. And that adds something new into the negotiation because we can now talk about the big deal. We can now talk about releasing all of our hostages and Israel releasing all of the Hamas or Palestinian prisoners in our prisons and something that will end the war. Something that will end the war. Again, our opinion, the commanders for Israel's security, is that if there's a big deal that says everybody, all prisoners, all hostages are exchanged, the war ends, and Hamas leaders gain safe passage out of Gaza, OK? Beirut model, so to speak, yeah. Beirut model, Tunisia model, yeah. But they're driven out of or they're allowed to save their lives and exit Gaza. Gaza remains without any military presence of Hamas. And I believe that if Hamas will push for negotiating the end of the war, Israel should provide that tactic or that idea or concept of finishing everything, meaning that we will not destroy Hamas, but we will drive them out of Gaza. Well, remains to be seen if that's not just something Hamas is willing to accept, but also the Israeli leadership. Yeah, of course. But putting aside both Hamas and Israeli leadership, we want to go back to the people. Piyasek al-Bagh, a 24 years correspondent at the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, 73 days that this square is named as such. No, I see that you're right outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, near the Hostage Square, with the families of the remaining hostages and as the talks over another hostage release deal are gaining, again, some momentum. What are you hearing from the families there, Piyasek al-Bagh? Right. Well, families have come here next to the Kiria, which basically represents the Israeli defense establishment to make their voice heard. They're saying that there is no victory in this war until the last hostage will be freed. We're speaking about 129 hostages, and they're saying that each and every one of them needs to be released now. And what they're demanding is another such a hostage release deal, another one we've already seen, one that had 105 hostages released, and they're saying that we need a ceasefire now in order for such a deal to manifest. And as you can see behind me, they're saying we are leaving everything, we're stopping everything to bring everyone back. And as you can see, people are holding up the signs with the pictures of those who are still in Gaza, as you can see men, women, and also the two Bebas children. You can see that dozens of people have come here, friends and family of those hostages in this place here next to the Kiria, next to the headquarters of the Israeli defense establishment is significant because this is where many of the decisions regarding this war are being made on also, of course, regarding a possible hostage deal. And people have decided to move from the hostage deal to the Kiria to really stage a protest. They're screaming now, they're screaming now all over and that all of the hostages really need to be freed because every day this war goes on. This is what they're saying. They are endangering the people's lives. You already know that not all of the hostages are alive. But I had the chance to speak to one of the family members of somebody who has been confirmed dead. But of course, it is also about bringing those bodies back for burial as devastating as it sounds. But earlier, I also had the chance to speak to a family member of Omar Venkat, a 22-year-old young man who was captured from the Nova Music Festival and who is chronically ill. I had the chance to speak to his uncle, Ellie. Let's take a listen to what he said in terms of why he came here today. So yeah, this is right now the essence. We are out of time. We are receiving bodies right now. So it's too late. We must have a deal and a bargain that the Israeli government will offer because we see no prospect in this situation. The military actions are OK. They are fine. But they're not delivering the result that we need. We need all the hostages, all the people that have been kidnapped from Re'im, from all the kibbutz to be back in Israel. Omar is sick. Omar has colitis. There are many people that are all the people that need, on a daily basis, to receive their medicines. They are not receiving any treatment. So we need the Israeli government to take action, to be active, to go right now and offer a solution to bring back all the victims. Yes, Pia, I know that the situation is not painful enough today. Khalil Bebas, this red-headed baby that is in all of our hearts, not just here in Israel, but around the world, is today 11-month-old. He was kidnapped when he was nine-month-old. Today, he's 11-month-old. And he simply must celebrate his one-year birthday here in Israel, still there, in the hands of Hamas terrorists. Pia Sakolbach, with the families of the hostages, thank you very much for this, Pia. Back here in the city with Dr. David Shimoni. Dr. Shimoni, I do want us to go back to the field to what is happening down south and to this great unveiling of this massive, massive, massive, no other way to put it, Hamas terror tunnel. And in this respect, I must admit that I'm not sure what is worse, that Israel did not know of such a large-scale, flamboyant, impressive terror tunnel, or that it knew and did an act. It's a combination of both. We don't know for sure exactly what the Israeli intelligence had knowledge about these tunnels, how many of them were known to us, and their size and their volume. We know that we had information about the tunnels, not necessarily about all of them. I hear today that this huge tunnel you're describing, we knew about part of it. We didn't know it so long or so big. The jeeps, the trucks can drive through and reaching. OK, but we know these things. Many, many years ago, there were huge tunnels connecting Egypt to the Gaza Strip. And trucks go through and donkeys went through with carts. And so we know of the ability to build these tunnels. We know that we're talking about a very soft sand there. It's easy to cut through. So the technique is not new. The technique is not new, and the phenomenon is not new. We know about tunnels being used and big, huge tunnels. But you're asking about not doing anything about it, which is the big question. We've been allowing the Hamas to grow, to gain money, to gain power in Gaza, to arm itself, to build these huge bunkers and tunnels. And we did nothing to stop it. We can say the same thing about the Hezbollah in the north. We haven't done anything to stop them. I would say our government now has never done anything decisive, anything to end a big threat to Israel. If you talk about previous governments, take Menachem Begin destroying the Iraqi nuclear project, take Eud Olmert destroying the Syrian reactor and the nuclear project, this government has never done anything decisive. Always doing something partially, waiting, maybe something would change, maybe something. Not against the Iranian nuclear program, not against Hezbollah and not against the Hamas. And in this respect, we do need to address another front because we got today an unnecessary reminder to quote unquote, ordinary terror, shooting attack in the West Bank, Palestinian terrorists, shooting at moving vehicles. 27-year-old Demevaseret Cohen moderately injured her one-month old son right next to her. The backseat, her husband, the driver, a reservist who just came back home for a quick refreshing from the Gaza Strip, Colonel Adonis Vittar, Palestinian affairs expert, a former Kogut advisor joining us now. Colonel Adonis Vittar, the second terror attack in this very area in just 24 hours daily, nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces into West Bank, a boiling pot really. Of course, Sally. I can add that during the last week, I think maybe a little bit more, there were hundreds of alerts for terrorist attacks. And you know, you cannot prevent 100%. You can prevent the majority of most of them. But from time to time, it happens. And I can tell you that also we have the same problem, but bigger in the north of Samaria, which means especially in the Janine district and in the refugee camp of Janine and all around. I assume that the IDF and the Shabbat are still increasing the efforts in order to the intelligence of her efforts, especially in order to prevent all those alerts of terrorist attack. And I think that we can notice that during the last weeks, especially in this area, we can notice that there is a kind of negative impact of Hamas movement on the ground, on the other Palestinian groups, especially Islamij and Fatah as well. And I can tell you that also there isn't a kind of security coordination in this area, especially in this area, between the IDF and the Palestinian forces. It could be prevent escalation in this area. And I can assume also that I would say the direct channel between the two sides on the tactic level is working, but the main problem is in the highest level. I will not say that it's freezing, but I can say that there is a kind of obstacles in the channel of between the PA and Israeli headquarters. But we can, I think that after a few weeks, which I would say thousands of arrests, people, Palestinian people that the IDF commands or the IDF forces over there arrested thousands of Palestinians, young Palestinians, especially from the Hamas movement, I think that this is the main effort that will prevent another escalation over there. And no doubt we have a huge challenge in the West Bank. The main mission is to prevent the impact, the negative impact of the indictment, the negative impact of the efforts of Hamas to escalate the West Bank in a similar way that they did in Gaza Strip. Well, judging by the approval rates, the amount of support to Hamas among Palestinians in the West Bank, there is no doubt on the ruling agenda. There, and perhaps, you know, we're talking much or talking about the lack of talking on the day after in the Gaza Strip, talking about the day after in the West Bank is also something perhaps that needs to be addressed. Colonel Aloni Vitar, Finance Minister, Avatar Smontridge, saying today that not even a penny will go to the PA and Hamas, those salaries for terrorists, et cetera. And it connects us, of course, to the issue of Palestinian worker permits. Bottom line, will money calm things down when the level or the desire to pursue terror is so high? Can money really make an impact on the ground? Of course, no doubt that money is talking. You know, a good economic situation could prevent part of the violence, I would not say all of it, but part of the violence. The motivation to join to the violence wave will decrease if the economic situation and the Palestinian market will work well. I'm not sure that those statements or declarations of the Minister Smontridge will be SETs for the next future. I can assume also that it was happened a few times in the past that American pressure on the Prime Minister and Tanyao would be changed, those decisions, in order to keep the stability of the PA. I think that the main mission for the Israeli, I would say, government is not to connect between the two areas. And despite the, I would say, the political interest and the political pressure in the coalition, I can assume also that Benjamin Netanyahu will prefer and Gallant also will prefer to keep the stability, the economic stability in the PA, the PA territories. You know, it's a complex issue, but I think you cannot... Of course, you have to continue your policy and not to change it, you know, 100 degrees on the moment. Yeah, no easy decisions at this point in time. That's for a certain Colonel Alonso Vietal. Thank you so very much for joining us. We appreciate your time. Dr. David Cimoni, before we take a quick break, your thoughts on the correlation or lack thereof between the motivation to pursue terror in the West Bank and the economic state there? Well, first of all, the Hamas attack on October 7th was a great inspiration to West Bankers and especially to the Hamas sales in the West Bank and they tried to exploit this and to expand it. We've been witnessing a very substantial IDF activity in the West Bank in spite of the fact that IDF is spread very thin now between the South and the north of Israel. A lot of effort in the West Bank, a lot of arrests for the first time in many years. Very little activity. Air Force fighters, not helicopters, fighters bombing targets in Janine in the West Bank. Talking about the economic situation, again, I believe. First of all, I'll quote again Vigdor Lieberman who said some time ago, to all of our leaders, don't make big statements that you're not sure you'll be able to adhere to. The same Lieberman who vowed to eliminate Ismail and the I-24. Of course, of course, of course. He can look at the mirror when he makes these announcements. But Betalel Smootrich is campaigning to his electorate. And I believe that not only the American pressure, the Israeli government pressure, will cause him to change these declarations and allow as much as we can, normal life, economic life, work, shopping in the West Bank. Again, one of the ideas is to try to maintain peace and quiet in the West Bank. Peace, I doubt that at this point in time, but quiet, at least for the time being. That is perhaps the objective. Dr. David Cimoni, you're staying with us, but we are taking a very quick break, three minutes, and we're back with all the updates from the ground and the analysis here in studio and around the world, three minutes, and we're back. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Thanks for staying with us. And as we speak, once again today, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is visiting here in Israel, also joining a session of the Israeli War Cabinet, saying very clearly in a press conference earlier this evening with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yav Garand, I'm not here to pose a deadline. There's no stopwatch that I bring along with me. And yet, it seems that Israel sooner or later will have to transition from the current stage of the fighting to the next one. And I-24 News, a senior defense correspondent, Jonathan Regev, is mapping out for us the latest on the ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Slowly, but decisively, the IDF is moving deeper into Gaza. In practically every corner here, signs of terrorism are found. As the forces raided the private residence of a senior Hamas official, this is what they found. Suitcases containing 5 million shekels, roughly 1.5 million US dollars, meant purely for terrorism, as well as weapons and rocket launchers. Yes, all this in a private residence. Along with the ground maneuver and the aerial activity, there is a constant search for hostages. Following the tragic incident in which three hostages were mistakenly shot by the IDF, Chief of Staff Heretsia Levy came to visit the forces in order to reinforce the rules of conduct in these very delicate situations. If it's two Gazans with a white flag coming out to surrender, would we shoot them? Absolutely not. That's not the IDF. Even those who fought us and now lay down their arms and raise their hands, we arrest them. We don't shoot them. It may be somewhat unfair to judge the soldiers acting in this very tense environment, but even if he doesn't say directly, the Chief of Staff believes this incident could have had a different outcome. Three people came out. They took the risk of approaching the IDF troops. To minimize that risk, they took off their shirts so that no one would think they have an explosive device, and they held a white cloth on a pole to identify themselves. The Friday incident and the desperate Hebrew signs found in the home where the hostages were held serve as a reminder of this tragic reality, a reality that needs to be resolved. Back here in the studio with Dr. David Shimoni, former intelligence officer, official, rather a commander at Commanders for Israel Security. Dr. Shimoni, one of the issues that were addressed during this press conference earlier this evening of the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Joff Garland. Austin was asked about the American pressure on Israel to refrain as much as possible, of course, from collateral damage in the context that so much so that it threatens the lives of Israeli soldiers. And we're seeing this op-ed today at the Wall Street Journal addressing just that there's too much pressure, perhaps, on Israel to act its way. Pressure that, again, is resulting in casualties on the Israeli side. And in this respect, I must mention that Austin, when asked about that, said that we care about our troops. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but he didn't say Israeli troops, it's our troops. I think we heard the Chief of Staff talking to soldiers in Gaza about the tragic incident. And he said it's not the IDF's way to target civilians or to target people who surrender and raise a white flag or white sheet. And I believe it's not the American values that are threatening us because we share the same values with the Americans. We do not wage war on civilians. We are dealing with a terrorist attack on Israel and trying to prevent future attacks. We know that in any war, unfortunately, there are civilian casualties. The Americans bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I don't think that was a very surgical operation. The RAF bombed Dresden and Hamburg, and I don't think that was a very surgical operation. And I think now the IDF is much better performing with targeting exact targets, terrorists, and unfortunately also innocent residents are being killed. We know that the IDF took great measures to encourage all the civilian population of Gaza City to leave Gaza City before the bombings began. So I believe we have our moral standards and the laws of war and we try to adhere to them. Again, the question is, at some point, so much so that it's a double answer to an extent. But we will keep on thinking about that while we turn to the ground, to the Israel-Gaza border at 24 News Senior Middle East Correspondents. Ariel Osiron in the southern city of Stilot, which is left of it, a ghost town still, to an extent. Ariel was a situation on the ground in terms of the fighting in this trip. Right, Eli. So as far as the situation and the border communities, they have enjoyed a tense, quiet, relative quiet as there's been a single rocket launch throughout the day, it came earlier in the afternoon. That's a situation outside Gaza. In Gaza, there are multiple fronts of the fighting between IDF forces and Hamas terrorists, according to reports on the Palestinian side. Intense fighting as well as artillery shelling on the eastern and southern parts of Chanyunas, that is the largest city in southern Gaza, the focal point of the fighting right now, but also intense fighting in Gaza cities, eastern suburbs of Shadjaia and Zaitun with intense fighting there now. As this is going on in Beirut, Hamas official, senior official, Samahamdan, having a nearly nightly press conference, commenting on the fighting, saying that Hamas is controlling the battlefield with its forces, and also commenting on reports of a potential prisoner, Swabdil Hastij, release deal saying that while Hamas respects the mediation efforts by Qatar and Egypt, Hamas reiterates their position that there will be no hostage release or no negotiations even, until there is a complete cessation of the fighting in Gaza. Perhaps listening to Dr. David Shimoni here in the studio mentioning just that earlier in the broadcast, Ariel, before we let you go, we do see that the direct consequence of all those achievements underground that you're mentioning today alone, there is a difference between gaining control over territory and clearing out terrorist strongholds altogether. It takes time. It takes time, but indeed, at least according to the situation in Israel, it appears that the achievements are significant as the IDF's home front command releasing today an announcement that in the city of Ashkelon, it's a bit further away from the Gaza Strip at the major city in the area that all restrictions have been lifted and that people can congregate in groups of up to 5,000 people, normal limitations, restrictions on workplaces or schools. This is significant for the residents here, but they are indeed concerned that there is still a threat on the other side of the border. I spoke earlier with the Israeli police spokesperson for foreign media denials done about the situation when the police think it will be safe for residents to return. He said that Israel's still at war, not saying fully that it's not the right time, indicating though that it still might be too premature. Let's take a listen to what he said to us earlier. We're 73 days in and it's very easy to fall into a routine of things, but what's happening here on the southern border is still war. We are still at combat. There's still rockets. There's over 12,500 rockets so far that have been fired and aimed at civilian areas. We're gonna support the government decision of when to allow the public back into their homes. We're gonna be here to respond and to be the first responders on the scene. But in the meantime, it's really important that the public knows you need to listen to police instructions. When there's a rocket siren, do not play games. Run to the bomb shelter, take you and your loved ones in there and stay for 10 minutes. Ariella Serrano down south with the I-24 News that team there, of course. Thank you very much for this Ariella. Much more from Ariella later on in the evening. And now London calling Berlin too in a joint doped on the Sunday Times. The British and German top diplomats called for a ceasefire, but yes, a ceasefire, but not now. Senior UK correspondent Jonathan Cisterdotti joining us now live from London. Jonathan, they're making a distinction between the need, urgent, and the feasibility, not now. If we look at that joint op-eds in the Sunday Times from the German and British foreign ministers, and we strip away all the political window dressing, box-to-king expressions of sadness that we'd expect to be there, the article was mostly supportive of Israel's position with just a few criticisms, which may or may not be valid. You could say they are in some senses somewhat hypocritical or at least too vague to be helpful. For example, they say that too many civilians have been killed. The Israeli government should do more to discriminate sufficiently between terrorists and civilians, ensuring its campaign targets, Hamas leaders, and operatives. Which is exactly what Israel says it's doing. Indeed, the UK's record is hardly one of strength in this respect. In the Iraq war, Britain lost 179 service personnel altogether from a population of over 67 million. Israel has lost something like 121 soldiers so far. The British, as far as we know, didn't abort missions when they saw civilians or children, didn't drop leaflets, make phone calls to evacuate, et cetera. So some people have said, including some top generals, including Sir Richard Kemp, the British former commander of forces in Afghanistan, that Israel does far more than even Britain has done and has apparently performed better in terms of civilian to combatant death ratios. So those sorts of sounding off from Britain, some have said, are not actually particularly helpful. Bearing in mind the major gist of the article was that, yes, there should be some sort of ceasefire or truce at some point, but they don't want to stop Israel in its mission, which they completely back. And in this respect, Jonathan, it seems that even Israel's staunchest supporters want to see something changing. They perhaps don't know to say what exactly, but this level of intensity, if you will, not be able to get dragged much longer. I think in some respect, it's lip service, but also it's because it is very hard to watch from outside. I mean, they said also in that article that we must get more aid to ordinary Palestinians and both countries have therefore increased their funding for humanitarian aid to Gaza. But again, it's a question of whether that's actually a particularly helpful strategy. Israel says that the aid is going there as quickly as it's being delivered, that nothing that Israel is doing is holding the aid up, that in fact, the aid is just not being provided as fast as Israel could allow it to go through. We don't know who's telling the truth in that respect. They call for unhindered deliveries into Gaza directly via as many crossing points as possible. All of these things are of course understandable because while they back up Israel's ability and obligation to carry out this war for its people to protect itself, they also see the suffering that's going on in Gaza and want to help prevent that. But unhindered access can't possibly mean unchecked access and Israel is having to check even more thoroughly than usual everything that goes into Gaza because of the tendency of Hamas to hijack aid, to steal it, to take it away from the people. It's therefore, so again, no matter how much money Western countries, European countries pump into aid for Gaza, it's not necessarily getting to the people who they say it's intended for. And in some respect, Israel will say that it can't possibly have business as usual in terms of crossing points. It can't be like it was on, say, the 5th of October or the 6th of October. It has to be how it is after the 7th. The tendency of Hamas to steal humanitarian aid from its civilians, tendency. I will allow myself to be less diplomatic than you, Ajahn and Nasser Shadadi. Thank you very much for this. I-24 News, a senior UK correspondent. And just a brief update, a short moment ago. We had another round of sirens in the upper Galilee. Likely, it's another round of fires from southern Lebanon towards Israel. But now we're crossing the southern border. No, not to Gaza, but to Egypt in the aftermath of the opposite of nerve-wracking elections. We must admit, congratulations to the newly re-elected president, Lofato Khelsisi, journalist Yosta Sheffers joining us now live from Cairo. So Sheffers, thank you very much for joining us. We'll nearly 90% of the vote. Impressive. No doubt about that. Did the Israel Hamas war played a role at all in the yet again somewhat expected campaign results? It was a very expected campaign result indeed. 89.6% for President Sisi while he won the previous elections with 97%. The Gaza war played a big role in this because before the 7th of October, the Egyptians were worried about the economical situation. They had a lot of trouble in getting around in finding enough affordable pricing, finding enough affordable products to feed their families. And that was the main topic there. However, since the 7th of October happened and everything afterwards, that became the topic of Egyptians here, the daily talk here around in the streets and the cafes and elections. No, not many people cared about them. Fair enough. But what Egyptians do care about very dearly, fears that the Tuthi attacks will harm these West Canal traffic because we're talking about a $9.4 billion dilemma here, right? Yes, big dilemma indeed. And the Suez Canal is extremely important for Egypt because each ships that passes through gives them a total money that they collect from all these ships. And this is one of the biggest foreign currencies that goes into Egypt. So this would be big news for Egypt. However, today the chairman of the Suez Canal mentioned in his statements that so far only 55 ships took a different route. And other than that ships are continuing as usual. But yes, it is indeed also a big threat to Egypt if ships won't pass through the Red Sea and won't pass through the Suez Canal. Yes, and there are reports, of course, it's the pending declaration, announcement of the Americans on this special operation to safeguard the Red Sea, sheep and grouts, the Egyptians are so much reluctant to join this coalition. And also reports that Cairo got some reassurances from Iranian-related entities. Let's put it that way, that its activity will not be harmed. But let's do address yet another hot-potten issue. Mr. Schaefer is Israel worried that Hamas leaders might flee Gaza through those underground tunnels to Sinai, despite Cairo's reassurances that all such tunnels have been destroyed. All such known tunnels have been destroyed because indeed current Egyptian president who got pre-elected again, he destroyed all of the known tunnels surrounding the Gaza Strip coming from Egypt. He did this in 2016, 2017, and tons of tunnels were destroyed and completely villages were removed in order to achieve this goal. So definitely there are less smuggled networks under the ground there. However, already since the beginning of this war, there were fears on Egypt and there were talks among officials that Hamas might would take Israeli hostages into Egypt because the hostages are important, of course, as we can see nowadays with all the negotiations going on. So Egypt was afraid that Hamas would try to keep these hostages in Egypt to keep them alive, to keep them safe. As far as we know, they didn't happen yet. But indeed those tunnels can also be used for Hamas to flee and Egypt increases military presence around there in the region, around there in the northern Sinai, around the Gaza Strip in order to prevent Palestinian siege of the border in order to prevent, as far as they can do that, any Hamas militants coming into Egypt because at whatever cost Egypt and President Zizidi don't want to allow any Palestinians, whether Hamas leaders or civilians, into Egypt on its lands. Yeah, more than ever before the Israel-Egyptian relationship is of paramount importance and more than ever before tensions are rising. Thank you very much to our journalist, Yozchafers. Thank you very much for joining us from Cairo. We appreciate it. And now to the people behind the numbers, behind the names. Lina Tovberg was one of the survivors of the NOVA massacre. I-24 News reporter Ory Shapira is bringing us her story. MUSIC Lina Tovberg didn't believe in divine intervention in 1907. For years she's worked as a makeup artist and body painter. Working at the NOVA festival was only natural for her. We came to the field on Thursday and stayed for the entire weekend. We decided to stay at NOVA. I was attracted to the wonderful people who came there, the perfect place and the unique atmosphere in the air. So I decided to stay. At 6.20am we saw this amazing sunrise. I was just finishing painting Eleanor, my last painting. I gave her a hug and a kiss and went on dancing on the floor. Everybody was waiting for the sunrise. 15 minutes earlier my partner Tomer gave me a glass of tea and told me that he wanted to go to the car because he was tired. It seemed very strange to me because he never acts like that. But in retrospect, this is what for me resembled the first miracle that happened to me. I looked to the horizon and I saw heavy smoke, very dark. To see the smoke inside this beautiful place felt very strange to me and I immediately closed my makeup kit. Suddenly we started to hear booms. The music was still on, we could hear the bits. But we heard the shooting mixed with the trance music. After three to four minutes, they shut down the music. And the chaos began. It was a sharp transition. People were at their peak and suddenly everything was shut down. And you find yourself in a war. At a certain point, Alina's partner could not start his car. The group found itself in a survivor scenario. We split into two areas. In one place, I took care of girls who were in panic. In the other spot, Tomer tried to fix the car. He asked his brother to bring people to help. And he got a call from his brother and heard that he'd been shot. Tomer understood that there were terrorists in the area. He managed to find someone who helped him fix the car. This angel is not with us today. We drove like crazy to Kibbutz Reim. A black truck tried to crash into us, but Tomer managed to escape. It was another miracle. It was a matter of seconds. Then we managed to get to Reim. God opened the gate for us. Alina says that everyone she's painted at night survived. One of the people Alina remembers the most is a young woman named Elinor, who Alina painted. When the Hamas attack began, Elinor hid inside a fridge and survived. In this short soundtrack, we hear the moments of horror when Elinor is saying goodbye to her eight-year-old son. Oh, I'll tell you what, I'm so happy. Elinor was so... I painted on Elinor, an image of a woman, full of light and hope. More than two months after October 7, Alina took part in an exhibition in Tel Aviv dedicated to the Nova Rave. She rebuilt the boot where she walked at that night. I remember every painting I made that night. Each painting I made that night became a part of me. It became a part of my family, a part of my story. There is Alina, and there is my art. And there is this night. And this night laid down roots. He suddenly gave us a message. We keep on saying the day after in the context of the day after in the Goddard Strip, after the war, but the day after the October 7th, horror is today for so many survivors. Tomer Ben-David, a martial arts teacher and therapist, one of the leaders of the emergency campaign to help re-ballotate the survivors of the Nova Music Festival and IDF soldiers who suffer from trauma and PTSD. Joining us, Tomer, thank you very much for joining us. Well, not a day passing by without more stories. We thought we've seen and heard it all, but it keeps on resurfacing. Yes, it does. Good evening. Pleasant to meet you. Yeah, so just earlier today at a special parliamentary session on the mental health crisis, so to speak, the rate of suicide attempts since the war, soaring. Obviously, we're talking about a variety of cases, different levels of trauma and exposure. But can you identify similar components? Can you identify a recurring struggle, perhaps? Let me be more specific about what we do in Isuna Nova. You're familiar with what just the horrific event of the Music Festival, right? Yes, of course. So basically, we opened the center. Just imagine that you and I were just partying and dancing in the most safe zones, makes the most safest place that you can imagine, and dancing our freedom together. And then this specific point were injured and was killed. So basically what we did, think about us as friends of going to this party together. What do we need after an event like this? We would need each other, right? You would give me a call and say, what am I doing? So what we did was we opened the center. Well, it's like a festival, but it's a low-key festival. It's a hugging festival. It's something that you and I can go to and then get all kinds of activities similar to a festival. A place that we could cry, we could talk. What we did as a therapist, as a psychologist, is just all our team. We were like, well, we have our original team and another 200 volunteers. To heal together, to heal together. Tomal Ben-David, we will continue this conversation in a different occasion because this is the most important thing. The people and the communal, the joint struggle to recovery, to healing. Unfortunately, we must end this session now, but again, we will be speaking to you again soon. Thank you very much for watching at the top of the hour in a few minutes, because Ben-David will continue our rolling coverage right here. So don't go anywhere. Thank you very much for watching. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Kaleb Ben-David. It is day 73 of Israel's war against Hamas. IDF troops are engaged in fierce fighting against terrorists across the Gaza Strip, with the deaths of five more fallen soldiers announced today, bringing the number of combat fatalities there to 129. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel consulting with the Israeli leadership, backing the war effort against Hamas, but calling for more humanitarian aid for Gaza's civilians. In northern Israel, Hezbollah continues its cross-border attacks as Israeli jets bombed the terror movement's positions in south Lebanon. A 27-year-old Israeli woman is moderately wounded in the West Bank when terrorists open fire on her car. The Palestinians say four residents of the Al-Farah refugee camp near Nablus are killed in a clash with IDF troops. And in Poland, Mossad chief David Barnaya, met with Qatar's premier and the CIA chief Bill Burns to discuss another deal to free more of the confirmed 129 hostages held in Gaza. Here's a bit of what US Defense Secretary Austin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to say at their meeting today. We'll continue to provide Israel with the equipment that you need to defend your country, Mr. Prime Minister, including critical munitions, tactical vehicles, and air defense systems. We'll continue to support Israel's mission to find and free all of the hostages. And I'm also here to discuss how we can best support Israel on the path to lasting security. And that means tackling urgent needs first. We must get more humanitarian assistance into the nearly 2 million displaced people in Gaza, and we must distribute that aid better. And we want to thank you for the recent initiatives that you've taken, Mr. Prime Minister. We applaud that, and hopefully that will enable us to move even more in. We're fighting a war of civilization against barbarism. I can say that when we spoke, I expressed again our commitment, Israel's commitment, to achieve total victory against Hamas. And we think that this is not only our war, but in many ways your war, because you are leading the forces of civilization in the world. We do our breaking news. Just really in the last few minutes, Hamas releasing another hostage video, this time showing three of the older male hostages being held in Gaza. They are Israelis Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper, and Chai Imperi. All of them were taken in the attack on Kibbutz near Oz. Now, in keeping with our previous policy, and that being pursued by all Israeli media, we are not going to show you the video of the hostages, but it is important, of course, this is important as a sign of life, proof of life, of these three hostages there. Joining me in the studio is Yaakov Lapin, a military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish New Syndicate and Miriam Institute, and our correspondent, Robert Swift, who's been covering a lot of the events on the ground here in both the left and south. Yaakov, let's just get right to that release. It's just in the really just last few minutes of this latest hostage video. Let's look at the timing of it, and also who they chose to present in the video. None of this coincidental. None of it at all. Hamas are turning up the pressure on Israeli society, and what they're trying to do is to maximize Israeli pressure on decision makers in Israel to go for a deal. Hamas is hoping that a deal, a new hostage deal, will create the dynamics for a longer-term truce, and they're essentially banking their entire survival strategy on some sort of dynamic that will enable them to survive the war. And they see these hostages as their insurance policy. That's why they're turning up the pressure. That's why they're releasing these videos now as talks are, once again, underway, and we will soon hear what Hamas' terms are. I think this is the key thing. A few days ago, they expressed very maximalist terms, a full ceasefire, and a withdrawal of Israeli forces. Of course, that was never going to happen, so now we'll have to see what positions they put forward in order to facilitate a potential new deal. Right, and again, as Yaakov just said, Robert Hamas, in a sense, turning up the pressure, picking these three older gentlemen, because we expect whatever the next hostage release is, is going to focus on either those elderly, young people, women that are still being held there in the Gaza Strip. And as Yaakov said, the tougher terms, he said, full ceasefire, of course, releasing more prisoners. In this case, we'll have to move beyond what we saw last time, women and children, and maybe some of the serious security prisoners, people, men that have committed attacks, maybe even multiple terror attacks against Israelis. Yeah, we have seen videos like this been released by Hamas in this war previously. And like you said, I think it's interesting, in this one, it was three older men. One of the last videos we saw like this about six weeks back was a young boy and an older woman. Now, Israeli society has been focused, at times, on the fact that there are many men who haven't been returned, either fathers or husbands who have had family members returned, and they themselves have been trapped there because they're men and they were not part of the deal. I think one of these gentlemen is one of them, his wife was released. Cooper, I believe, his wife was one of the first hostages released, they were kidnapped together, he himself was kept there because he was a man. The fact that Hamas has released a video of the three of them together, maybe it sees that this is essentially a weak point in Israeli society, as this is something that a lot of society is hungry for, the return of these husbands and fathers, and that's why the image you see there of the three of them together is being released. Right, but also a weak point at this point of Hamas Yakov, we see IDF troops starting to really press now into Han Yunis, the sort of hot land of the Hamas leadership, getting access into the homes, the private homes of some of the leaders like Yehissin War of Hamas, so perhaps now after, at least according to Israeli sources, Hamas really breaking the terms agreements of the last ceasefire and hostage deal. Now, in a sense coming back to the table because they're starting to feel the pressure and maybe starting to get concerned, they have to make a deal before it may be too late for them. That's the bottom line of Israel's strategy here going forward is the interplay between these two war objectives, one is the destruction of Hamas as a terror army, and on the way to that, using military pressure, converting that pressure into facilitating new deals that will release more Israelis who are being held by Hamas, we saw that this theory actually succeeded in the first phase. We saw the release of 110 hostages is evidence that this strategy has worked. The question is, will it work again? Because now Hamas understands that whatever truce it will be able to secure will be a short term truce, and Hamas is looking for a much longer term truce. I think that's much more important to it than even the prisoners. Right, I would agree with you because really they're kind of running out of space. Exactly. In Gaza the last time they used those few days, presumably, and we've seen some of the tunnels that have been covered perhaps to make their way from some of them from northern Gaza to the southern half of the Gaza Strip. Now they're caught out of space within Gaza here so they need to have that longer term truce just really as a survival tactic. Exactly, I think that's the purpose of holding these hostages now and what they're going to try and do is again create this dynamic and at the same time Israel is going to make clear its position that it's going to give them a certain amount of time, very time limited truce and no more than that. And if Hamas refuses to take it then the fighting will continue. So I think time is the real thing that's being negotiated here and this is the most important factor as these negotiations go forward. We're also seeing the IDF stabilizing parts of northern Gaza very slowly but Bet-Khanun. Right, apparently Bet-Khanun which has been one of the really key areas in the north that where some Hamas terrorists were sort of holding out now IDF indicating it's been taken under full control. Right, exactly. Division 252, which is a reservist division has been there for many, many weeks and now it is really starting to gain control of Bet-Khanun, stabilize it, Jabalia will likely follow in that direction, Shuljiya will likely follow even though that's the toughest nut to crack in northern Gaza. And then Kanyunas is this sort of final fortress, the place where terrorists are streaming in to try and defend and hold off and where they're coming in from underground locations, hit and run attacks, disappearing. It's going to be very difficult fighting but I think that Hamas is concerned that it's going to eventually lose Kanyunas and when that happens, it will end up losing Gaza. Right, well let's go to our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osiron who's down in the, now near the Gaza border in the town of Sterro, Teneriel, this video being released just in the last few minutes, three of the hostages we're discussing in studio. Again, maybe coming in at a time both when we see those negotiations discussions, let's call them underway in Europe supposedly by voving the head of the Mossad and also at a time when the IDF is making advances, they are northern Gaza pressing in Kanyunas and Hamas feeling the pressure. Hamas is feeling the pressure but it's still carrying out fierce resistance against the IDF advancement across the Gaza Strip while the IDF claiming that it pretty much conquered and defeated the Beit Hanun Battalion. Just a couple hours ago we saw lighting flares above the skies of the Beit Hanun and we're hearing also artillery. So while the statements and the advancement underground above ground are significant, we still have to remember that a substantial amount of Hamas's fighters as well as its leaders, its commanders are still underground and are managing the fighting from there. That is something that we need to remember not only their underground but it's believed that many of the hostages potentially the three elderly hostages that we just saw in the video this evening that they're also there but this comes amid reports this evening of intense fighting mainly in Kanyunas as we discussed in studio, the current focal point of the IDF's operation in southern Gaza but also significant fighting also in Shadjaia and Zaitun, the eastern neighborhoods of Gaza city 73 days in. The IDF does have significant military achievements to show but at the end of the day, whether how close we are to how close the IDF is to achieving its real goals of toppling Hamas militarily that doesn't seem in the immediate future despite the operation continuing. Well, certainly this is gonna be a long battle. For Gaza, inside Gaza is gonna be a long battle but perhaps one of those signs of progress at least in the northern half of the Gaza Strip is growing talk about maybe bringing back or allowing back some of those residents in those towns and areas that have been evacuated from Gaza or allowing normal life to resume for example in a city like Ashkelon which is just north of the Gaza border. And did Kalev mid-talk inside the IDF internal discussion regarding the potential possibility of residents of the southern border communities returning to their homes following 73 days of the war after their evacuation. So the municipality or I should say the IDF on home front command releasing a statement basically declaring all restrictions, restrictive measures in the city of Ashkelon lifted. That's on places of business. That's on mass congregations. You can be now 5,000 people in a public space in Ashkelon also all limitations on schools have been lifted an indication that the IDF, the government, the state is preparing to bring back residents here but I spoke earlier to Dean Ellsdon. He's the Israeli police spokesperson for foreign media and while he said that the police will adhere to any decision made by the government, Israel is still at war. He said the situation still is dangerous given that since the start of the war over 12 and a half thousand rockets have been fired towards Israeli communities. Let's take a listen to what he said earlier. No, I think we're gonna have to move on from that, thank you. Thank you for that, Ariane. Now, we've been discussing the progress of the war in Gaza. We're seeing there as things like huge sums of money and hard cash, also rocket launches ready for use but these were not found in a bank or in a battlefield but in the private homes of Hamas leaders in Gaza. This is what the IDF is finding is the ground operation grinds on along with as we mentioned, this constant search for the hostages. Our city defense correspondent, Jonathan Regif has the latest on the Gaza front. Slowly but decisively the IDF is moving deeper into Gaza. In practically every corner here, signs of terrorism are found. As the forces raided the private residence of a senior Hamas official, this is what they found. Suitcases containing five million shekels, roughly 1.5 million US dollars, meant purely for terrorism as well as weapons and rocket launchers. Yes, all this in a private residence. Along with a ground maneuver and the aerial activity, there is a constant search for hostages. Following the tragic incident in which three hostages were mistakenly shot by the IDF, Chief of Staff Herzi Alevi came to visit the forces in order to reinforce the rules of conduct in these very delicate situations. If it's two Gazans with a white flag coming out to surrender, would we shoot them? Absolutely not. That's not the IDF. Even those who fought us and now lay down their arms and raised their hands, we arrest them. We don't shoot them. It may be somewhat unfair to judge the soldiers acting in this very tense environment, but even if he doesn't say directly, the Chief of Staff believes this incident could have had a different outcome. Three people came out. They took the risk of approaching the IDF troops. To minimize that risk, they took off their shirts so that no one would think they have an explosive device. And they held a white cloth on a pole to identify themselves. The Friday incident and the desperate Hebrew signs found in the home where the hostages were held surveys a reminder of this tragic reality, a reality that needs to be resolved. Nyakov, relating this to what we were discussing earlier, certainly the death of those three escaped hostages has been added maybe to the urgency of the discussion about freeing the hostages. Those remaining hostages, 129 confirmed in Gaza, underscoring the risks that they are at at the hands of the Hamas captive and being in the middle of that battlefield that is Gaza now. 100%. It's basically showed us that there's a new scenario that none of us had really been thinking about before, which is the scenario of hostages either being released by their captors or being able to escape because of these battles and then wandering around the battlefield at great risk to themselves. And as you say, I totally agree. This reminds us that time is not the side of these hostages. The impetus is on finding solutions for as many of them as possible. The only thing I would add to that is that we should keep in mind that if the Hamas leadership ends up beginning to crumble, if that process begins, I believe that the IDF will still have the option of negotiating directly with hostage holders in a very localized manner. It would explore that option, offering them safe passage in exchange for releasing the hostages. And I think we should remember that that option could still be on the table if the leadership framework starts crumbling and the Qatari route starts becoming untenable for negotiations. You're right, and the flyers have been distributed, offering rewards and amnesty for anybody giving information, Gazans giving information or helping release those hostages. We did mention, of course, just moving to the north a bit that crossfire continued today between Hezbollah forces and the IDF in northern Israel across the Lebanese border. It reports just the last half hour of another rocket alert there. Let's go to Zach Anders, who was in northern Israel by the Lebanese border. And Zach, what's the latest? An alert just appears in the last half hour now. Well, the National Ambulance Service, Magan Devadam says that they are in route to reported impacts, but no reports of injuries or direct hits. So that's all we know at this hour. The IDF has not been providing updates from today's strikes with great detail. So we have no reports of any injuries or extensive damage throughout the north. It has been an extensive day, once again, four strikes just as many as yesterday's, nearly as many as yesterday's to this hour, of course. The number of strikes also include, again, hostile aircraft, drones that appear to have been infiltrating from southern Lebanon. We saw an interception earlier today, but could not verify whether it was a rocket or a drone that this was taking place just overhead. And then about 30 minutes ago, we see the red alerts come in for multiple communities here in the Upper Galilee, and that is still being worked out for confirmation as to hits or any reports of injuries. Right, and we should make mention, Zach, the French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, was in Israel yesterday, today in Lebanon, in Beirut, speaking with the leadership of at least the Lebanese government. Again, as the search goes on for at least a possible diplomatic solution to end these hostilities, and certainly from Israel's perspective to see those as Bala forces pull back to the, beyond the Latani River, as they're supposed to have been done under previous agreements. And you have to wonder who is in the room when we say the Lebanese government, I mean, that could be a hodgepodge of different political figures that represent dozens of factions across multiple religions, and at the end of the day, who's not in the room, well, likely Hezbollah, the one that is going to be the main party to all of these very important negotiations. So the international pressure is pushing and trying to tighten the screws, it seems, on some elements of aid, the US, the UK, France, and the United Nations are trying to see where they can find the squeaky wheel and discover some sort of avenue to push the Lebanese officials, the LAF, the Lebanese Armed Forces, into a position where it's more valuable for them to try and pressure Hezbollah, and what that looks like and how they really are able to achieve that is, right now, I think the main question that a lot of people still don't really see that eventuality or how that works, especially when Hezbollah and Nasrallah don't necessarily take any orders from any factions inside Lebanon, they are operating as their own fiefdom. All right, Zach Anders there by the Lebanese border in northern Israel, thank you for that. Let's now, big news about the hostages this evening, and of course, on several fronts, let's go to our Piesteco Bach, who is at the hostage encampment there in central Tel Aviv, it's outside IDF headquarters. And Pia, I'm sure there's some reaction, perhaps have been to this video that was released of these three older Israelis being held hostage in Gaza, just maybe amplifying, putting pressure and amplifying those voices among the hostage families for the government to make, reach some kind of deal or second deal that will free more of those hostages in Gaza. Right, Khaled, well, dozens of families and friends of those hostages have come together here in front of the Kiria, in front of the IDF headquarters. So exactly do that to apply pressure, to put pressure on the government to agree to another hostage deal. The first hostage deal saw 105 hostages released there, another 129 hostages currently being held captive in Gaza. And people have come together here to hold up their signs. I'm gonna step out of the frame for you to see. They're here framing the entryway to the Kiria. They're saying on their signs that every day that goes by is endangering the lives of the hostages that their time is running up. They're shouting that the victory will only be achieved if every hostage will come home, one in 29 men, a children, a women, children, the two Biba siblings, Kvir and Ariel. Now, one of them is turning 11 months now. When he was kidnapped, he was only nine months old. And they're exactly saying that the time is running up and that every day in captivity is bringing them closer to a potential death. And this is what they're saying loud and clear here. They want a truce, another truce, and they want a ceasefire. They're saying that it is the government, the Israeli government's responsibility to agree to a deal and to bring them home now and to everyone. This is what they're saying, and they have come together here also, of course. Now you brought up that video showing three elderly hostages. It seems like Hamas might even be seeing what is going on here and responding to that because they are saying that they do not wanna grow old in captivity. And this is what people have been warning of here that these people should go home now, should be brought home now because every day that they're spending in captivity is endangering their lives. And they made their claim also very vividly. Earlier on, they staged where civilians here, protestors were kidnapped, their hands were tied behind their backs and they were staging as if they were hostage here. And they were doing that right in front of the Kirao where the decisions regarding the war and regarding a potential hostage deal are being made. They also, earlier on, tried to block the entry ways yet trying to encircle cars that were about to enter the Kirao. They moved away from the hostage square in the middle of Tel Aviv that we all know, of course, there are still some families there, but those who really want to make their voice to the political establishment, they want to deliver their message directly to the war cabinet and to the Israeli politicians. They are coming here now and they're shouting their messages out, clear and loud, that they want to deal now, including each and every hostage Kalev. All right, of course, another factor in the timing, these discussions apparently going on in Europe and Warsaw. Today, for example, between the head of the Mossad, David Bonnet, and the prime minister of Qatar, who has been one of the mediators involved here, Piaz Takobach, who is out there with the hostage families outside the Kirao IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv. I'm going to ask Yakov Lapin and Robert Swift to stay with us. We are going out for a break. We are expecting in the coming minutes the nightly briefing by Rear Admiral Daniel Havgari, the IDF spokesperson. Of course, we will, okay, let's go to that now. Against the terrorists of Hezbollah, operating terror in the north and also Iran in the entire region, the IDF and the American command are collaborating very tightly against the threats of terror in the entire region. The IDF forces are continuing the ground operations in the north of the strip and in the south. The air force continues to attack the terror points all over the Gaza strip. We are going to continue to be determined to achieve our goals, to topple Hamas and to bring back the hostages. The clip, the video clip that was released is really cruel. These are elderly people, innocent, who needs medical attention. The world has to act in order to transfer medications, also to verify how they're doing. We have the moral obligation to do everything possible in order to bring back the hostages. Our hearts goes to all the hostages and their families at every moment. Chaim, Yoram and Amiram, I hope you can hear me this evening. You should know, we are doing everything, everything in order to bring you back safely. Some of your family members are already at home and we are not going to rest until you come home as well. In the north, we attacked a few goals of Hezbollah in artillery and from the air. Also, we attacked two units of terrorists. Recently, they launched, hitting the north and we are preparing an air force attack against the Hezbollah targets. In Judea and Samaria, they were shooting at an Israeli vehicle. Because of that, an Israeli citizen was injured and we are pursuing the terrorists. In Judea and Samaria, from the beginning of the war, we detained more than 2,400 wanted people. For more than two months, we see a huge mobilization of reservists, men and women who left their homes, their work, their family, their studies in order to protect and defend the state of Israel. This wouldn't have happened without the sacrifice and the support of the families of their reservists, also the spouses, the children and the parents. We are acting now vis-à-vis the government offices in order to increase the allowance and the economic aid to the reservists. The IDF continues to operate a special fund and we ask you to apply to the headquarters for 1-1-1 for every need. At the end of the questions, Karen is going to go to the international community. Questions, please. Channel 14. What about the great number of fallen among the IDF? The IDF, is that a risk to the life of the combatants? There's no change, neither in the number, I think. If we look at the fighting, a part of the ground operation is that the fact that the terrorists come out because we cause them in our actions to dismantle the tunnels. And then RPG units or terrorists come out and of course there are people, there are casualties and there are a lot of killed terrorists that we locate. I can give you one example. A unit of RPG that attacked our forces in the north of Gaza, Division 551, also was killed today by the division and this is the way we act. All the divisions are doing that. At the end of the day, we have terrorists there. They come out of the earth, they cannot hide anymore and that's why they're fighting our forces. We do have casualties, but at the end of the day, we also kill terrorists and some of them surrender. That's the whole idea of ground operation. We're going to continue in order to pressure Hamas. That's what will bring about the targets of the war, to topple the Hamas and bring back the hostages. Every effort will derive from this effort. Channel 12, in the last few days, soldiers were killed or injured in certain incidents because of what's happening in the streets of Gaza. Soldiers who hide behind tanks, but they're exposed to snipers from the building. But the question is, can we do anything in order to avoid such incidents or maybe use more of the air force if possible? I want to go back to the use of air force. We are operating the air force every day around the clock for every division has an aerial aid. I want to repeat that every day around the clock. Every division has an attached air force above it, and we do it without any connection to that. We are in the air all the time. I want to explain. I see the videos that are published by Hamas, and we learn our lessons. Also, we want to improve ourselves. But what we're talking about here, these are a few clips at the moment as we speak there are tens of thousands of combatants of IDF in the Gaza Strip. In five different points in Gaza, tens of thousands of combatants, and there are a few incidents here and there. Out of these incidents, there are dozens of events where we attack the terrorists, we kill them, and they surrender. But still, whenever such an incident happens, of course, we interrogate it, we learn from it, we draw our lessons, we understand what happened, how did Hamas got the intelligence, and when, how was it located, and how we kill it in a better way, because that's what's going to help us. But this is a war. You cannot say something else. This is a war, and it happens in a war. And these incidents happen. Channel 11, we saw a cyber attack today in Iran. Can you tell us what the goal is? I'm not going to relate to what you spoke about. We are acting and making all the efforts whenever it is needed. I do not relate to the report. I'm not really very knowledgeable about it, but in any place that there'll be terrorist attacks against Israel, no matter where, we are going to act in all the ways possible in order to defend the security interests of Israel. Thank you, and good evening. Karen, please, the floor is yours. Thank you, Admiral Hagari. As our forces continue their thorough operations against Hamas in Gaza, there's something worth acknowledging. Hamas's use of civilians as human shields forces the IDF to fight under circumstances that few militaries, if any, have faced in the history of modern urban warfare. We are defending ourselves from Hamas, a savage enemy that intentionally blends itself within the civilian population in Gaza and is hiding our hostages among them, too. So while we fulfill our pressing mission of pursuing Hamas terrorists with force, we do so while operating with caution and care to minimize harm to the civilians that Hamas is hiding behind. All while urgently looking for our hostages being held in Hamas captivity in those same areas. The complexity posed by such a mission was evident on Friday, December 15th. When our soldiers found themselves in the devastating situation of mistakenly shooting the very hostages they were meant to save. The IDF chief of the general staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Alevi said that shooting those waving a white flag, trying to surrender, is against the rules of engagement hostages and civilians alike. We cannot lose sight of how we got here who put us in this situation in the first place. Hamas seeks to blur the very lines that humanity dictates, the lines that distinguish between terrorists and the civilians that should be protected. It's sometimes difficult to comprehend, difficult to fully fathom the lengths at which Hamas is willing to go in order to kill Israelis. They will use any and every tool at their disposal, whether it is a hospital, a mosque, a child's bedroom, or even their own civilians. This is Hamas. This is who we're dealing with. And at the same time, Hamas knows who they're dealing with. They know very well that the IDF is committed to international law and values. So Hamas goes to great lengths to use this against us. Hamas is weaponizing international law. Hamas is using our humanity to wage war. Here are just a few examples from the last few days alone. Mid days before the tragic incident in which our hostages were mistakenly shot, Hamas tried to lure IDF soldiers into a trap. They placed dolls in baby clothes in an alleyway next to children's school bags full of explosives while playing recordings of the words, save me in Hebrew. Hamas hoped to use our humanity against us, but our soldiers fall the ambush before they could. Here's another example from the last week, an example that we documented and distributed to the world. When our troops entered the Kamaladwan Hospital after dozens of Hamas terrorists surrendered from inside, IDF forces discovered that Hamas had been using incubators, incubators to hide weapons and explosives. They literally turned the very machines that were supposed to sustain life into an instrument for death. Here's another example from the last week, an example that we documented and distributed to the world. Just yesterday, the IDF exposed a massive tunnel at least four kilometers long and wide enough to drive a car through. Tunnels in Gaza are not new, but this one is notable not just for its sheer size, but because of its location. Hamas dug this attack tunnel just 400 meters from the Erez humanitarian crossing, a crossing that had been built to benefit the people of Gaza where Gazans used to cross into Israel to work, receive medical treatment or visit family. The Erez humanitarian crossing was a source of prosperity and hope until the horrific massacre of October 7th when Hamas destroyed it and killed and kidnapped some of the very people who were stationed there to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to Gazans. The same day we exposed Hamas's massive attack tunnel next to the humanitarian crossing that Hamas destroyed, Israel reopened another major crossing with Gaza, the Kerim Shalom crossing in order to facilitate the entry of more aid to the people of Gaza because our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. Our intent is to defeat Hamas and secure the release of our hostages. Hamas's intent is the tragic suffering of civilians in Gaza and Israel in this war that Hamas started. Indeed, there are vast challenges when fighting an enemy like Hamas. Within these excruciatingly complex circumstances, we do our best to conduct our operations as carefully and as professionally as possible. And while our policies and procedures are in line with the law and our values, we are aware that when fighting on such a scale, there may be deviations that require further examination. The IDF has a robust system for doing so, and it starts with the IDF's general staffs fact-finding an assessment mechanism. The mechanism is independent from the forces involved in the fighting. All right, well, that was Major Karen Hajaf giving a English briefing after that with Admiral Daniel Higari, the IDF spokesperson. Just a couple of notes, Admiral Higari did reference this video released by Hamas. We've been talking about the three elderly hostages calling it a cynical move on the part of Hamas. There was also reference to a cyber attack on Iran. One reported today that knocked out 70% of its gas stations, apparently. Some reports linking it to an Israel-linked group, perhaps as retaliation to firing by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea. Now, that was surely one of the key subjects that was discussed by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on his visit here today. We showed you, he met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Defense, Israel's Defense Minister, Joav Galant. For more, let's go to our senior US correspondent, Mike Wagenheim, who joins us from New York. Mike, I'm sure several issues, and we heard some of them in the briefing that Secretary Austin was dealing with here. Humanitarian aid support for Israel, of course. Humanitarian aid for Gaza civilians, which he stressed. Also, the situation in the Red Sea and the waters around the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen and that attack on international shipping by Houthi rebels, which in some ways is more an issue for the international community than it is Israel. And people wondering, what is the US gonna take the lead in acting against that? Well, apparently they're gonna do something about it, at least the Pentagon, not officially announcing it today, but a Department of Defense official telling reporters that there'll be an announcement tomorrow about a new entity out of the Defense Department, something that will be kind of folded into the combined maritime forces 153, which is charged with making sure that the flow of travel in the Arabian Peninsula in similar waters in the Red Sea is kept open, is not exposed to any sort of danger. This is an international coalition of forces that has been operating in those waters for quite some time and there'll be some sort of new entity folded into that force to free up travel in the Red Sea and elsewhere, where the Houthi rebels are importantly threatening shipping routes throughout those waters, critical shipping routes and a number of shipping companies that are responsible for a vast amount of traffic throughout the world have already announced in the last few days, they are going to cease shipping routes in those waters until that situation is resolved. So the official announcement will come tomorrow and we'll know a little bit more about what exactly that new-ish entity will entail. Meanwhile, Austin announcing that he will have a virtual meeting with regional ministers, that's Middle East regional ministers tomorrow about that exact same issue, about trying to figure out a regional approach here to lessening the threats from these Houthi rebels in the international waters, that'll be coming up tomorrow, the exact countries that will be participating in that meeting tomorrow have not yet been released. Right, we see a map there, shows we just had on, that was all those, you see all the many, many attacks by the Houthi rebels both in the Red Sea and of course that key strait and of course even going across the Arabian Peninsula, a growing problem. Interesting, Mike Lloyd Austin didn't specifically say he's not coming to put any deadline on Israel, there's been a lot of talk reporting about the US wanting to see operations wrapped up the end of this month, at the end of the next month, increasingly looking unlikely, the Defense Secretary making clear he's not coming to put a timetable, but he is speaking out clearly saying that he would like to see, the US wants to see more humanitarian aid get into the Gaza Strip, this as Israel opens up to Karen Sherlock crossing to bring in aid directly from Israel. Yeah, you and I talked about that prior, Khaled, I told you it was ridiculous those reports that were coming out about some hard deadline, doesn't even make sense because the United States at the same time wants Israel to be more targeted to limit civilian casualties, to give them a hard deadline, would only speed up and make that process more chaotic with Israel trying to achieve its goals of rooting out Hamas, it never made sense to begin with here, but what Austin did stress and what we've talked about before is the US trying to push Israel now into a more targeted approach, special forces usage, making sure that battles are contained within certain neighborhoods where there's not a large civilian population still there, those sorts of things that can minimize and lessen those potential civilian casualties, John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman just got off a briefing with reporters a few moments ago, and he told us as well that he wants to see Israel do more in terms of de-confliction measures, which is making sure that Israel not only is aware of high civilian population localities, but also make sure they stay away from them as they're targeting Hamas militants, whether it be in the North or the South. So this right now is Austin's main focus. Of course, humanitarian aid flowing through though, that might not be the purview of the Pentagon, but more so relaying advice and counseling Israel as to how he thinks they can best handle these more targeted operations here in the Gaza Strip in the weeks and months to come. Right, and finally, Mike, we were expecting the UN Security Council to pick up its discussions of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Of course, the US has turned away a couple of attempts there to pass a binding resolution calling for a ceasefire. Something that we've seen, non-bonding resolutions in the GA. What's the status of that there, especially in the Security Council now? Well, there's a Security Council meeting scheduled for now five o'clock Eastern time today. It was pushed back already a couple of hours. The focal point of that meeting will be a United Arab Emirates drafted resolution that's backed by the Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It calls for more humanitarian aid by any measure. Land, air, sea doesn't matter, got incorporated all. It also calls for a UN-focused mechanism to make sure that that humanitarian aid is monitored, that it's getting where it needs to be and getting there safely. Perhaps most importantly, at least to Israel, it calls for a sustained and urgent secession of hostilities. That's the keyword, secession. It means stop the hostilities urgently. Now, the US is pushing back on that, which is why that meeting has already been shifted back a couple of hours. The US wants more nuanced language in there, maybe calling for a pause in hostilities. We've seen this before, a pause rather than a cessation. We saw that before in the Security Council, a pause rather than a ceasefire. That worked before. We'll see if it works again. I'm already getting word from a source at the United Nations that it's looking more and more like that vote will be pushed back to tomorrow because now of the pushback from the United States on that specific language in there. Right, the humanitarian pause and of course the hostage negotiations that we've been talking about in the studio could also come into play in these discussions, Mike Wagenheim in New York. Thank you for that. Yeah, I just want to reference some of the comments that Mike said and then relate them to some of the discussion we heard with Rear Admiral Daniel Higari because there has been talk of the US wanting to see Israel, the IDF, in a sense, not change its strategic goals of getting rid of Hamas but of changing maybe modifying some of the tactics in ways that could reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. Talk about reducing airstrikes and using more pinpoint operations on the ground. Of course, those are risky and risk, of course, casualties. And I think in a couple of questions that we heard from the Israeli media to Daniel Higari were kind of in reference to that. It was kind of roundabout way is asking if the US is maybe perhaps exceeding to US pressure, reducing airstrikes, going more to these ground operations with the result being higher casualties. And we saw the announcement of five deaths in Gaza just today. So, you know, when you talk to IDF officials, you hear two very clear things. First of all, they say that the orders that they're getting and the directives they themselves are giving to their forces on the ground have nothing at all to do with the United States or American pressure. They are acting fully in line with their own, first of all, their internal values of distinction between civilians and combatants. This is the core of IDF's operating procedure. And, you know, they say, frankly, they don't need the Americans to tell them about the need to minimize civilian casualties. They're out there doing it day in and day out and have actually achieved a civilian, you know, apparently a civilian to have their own perspective on this war, their own interests. I think their main content won't happen. And I think, you know, the elephant in the room is actually, you know, everybody talks about the Houthis and this task force that's heading down. And that is very important because the Houthis have essentially created a blockade of the Red Sea, which is influencing not only the Israeli economy, but the entire global economy. So much of gas and oil flows through there and Israel's trade with the Far East, you know, this is an act of basically Iranian orchestrated piracy. But those geography lesson, that's the waterway that leads to the Suez Canal. So it is hugely important. The chokehold, the Bab al-Mandab chokehold. So this is very serious development. And I hope that that task force will not only be conducting defensive interceptions, but actually long overdue offensive strikes on the Houthis who have essentially declared war on international shipping. But the elephant in the room, I think, is Hezbollah. And earlier today, we heard an idea of spokesman saying that Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war. Those are very strong words. And I think that we should internalize the significance of that. At some point, Israel is going to have to provide answers to 80,000 internally displaced northern Israelis about what their future will be. They cannot be left in limbo like this forever. And the diplomatic efforts are ongoing. I think we have reasons to be skeptical about their success. We can keep an open mind. But the clock is ticking on that question. And the IDF is making it quite clear that it is prepared to take new military steps to enable those 80,000 people to come back. It's not outlining what that will be. But I think we need to keep a close eye on that elephant in the room. All right. And of course, Iran, standing by the Houthis and this international coalition takes that offensive action, you have to ask yourself if maybe Iran is going to pressure Hezbollah to respond in kind on northern border. So it's a very complicated equation with the threat of expanding this, as you say, to a full out kind of regional war that lies behind a lot of it. I want to thank Yakov Lapin for joining us in this hour. Robert Swift, you'll be staying with us on this broadcast. Here's an interesting story coming out of the October 7th attack. Alina Tovberg is a makeup artist and a body painter who found herself on the front minds of that Hamas assault on the Nova Music Festival, which took place on October 7th. She survived. She says only through a series of miracles. And now she's using her very specialized art to pay tribute to the Nova victims that she herself came so close to joining. Orisha Pirar brings us her story. Alina Tovberg didn't believe in divine intervention until October 7th. For years, she's worked as a makeup artist and body painter. Working at the Nova Festival was only natural for her. We came to the field on Thursday and stayed for the entire weekend. We decided to stay at Nova. I was attracted to the wonderful people who came there, the perfect place and the unique atmosphere in the air. So I decided to stay. At 6.20 AM, we saw this amazing sunrise. I was just finishing painting Eleanor, my last painting. I gave her a hug and a kiss and went on Dan saying on the floor, everybody was waiting for the sunrise. 15 minutes earlier, my partner Tomer gave me a glass of tea and told me that he wanted to go to the car because he was tired. It seemed very strange to me because he never acts like that. But in retrospect, this is what for me resembled the first miracle that happened to me. I looked to the horizon and I saw heavy smoke, very dark. To see the smoke inside this beautiful place felt very strange to me. And I immediately closed my makeup kit. Suddenly, we started to hear booms. The music was still on. We could hear the bits. But we heard the shooting mixed with the trance music. After three to four minutes, they shut down the music. And the chaos began. It was a sharp transition. People were at their peak. And suddenly, everything was shut down. And you find yourself in a war. At a certain point, Alina's partner could not start his car. And the group found itself in a survivor scenario. We split into two areas. In one place, I took care of girls who were in panic. In the other spot, Tomer tried to fix the car. He asked his brother to bring people to help. And he got a call from his brother and heard that he'd been shot. Tomer understood that there were terrorists in the area. He managed to find someone who helped him fix the car. This angel is not with us today. We drove like crazy to Kibbutz, Reim. A black truck tried to crash into us, but Tomer managed to escape. It was another miracle. It was a matter of seconds. Then we managed to get to Reim. God opened the gate for us. Alina says that everyone she's painted at night survived. One of the people Alina remembers the most is a young woman named Elinor, who Elina painted. When the Hamas attack began, Elinor hid inside a fridge and survived. In this short soundtrack, we hear the moments of horror when Elinor saying goodbye to her eight-year-old son. I painted on Elinor, an image of a woman, full of light and hope. More than two months after October 7, Alina took part in an exhibition in Tel Aviv dedicated to the Nova Rave. She rebuilt the boot where she walked at that night. I remember every painting I made that night. Each painting I made that night became a part of me. It became a part of my family, a part of my story. There is Alina and there is my art. And there is this night. And this night laid down roots. He suddenly gave me flowers. Creating art out of a tragedy.