 I-24 News live from Tel Aviv. Today marks the 90th of the Israel Hamas War, and here's the latest. The IDF continues its battle on the ground in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Earlier today, incoming rocket alerts sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Meanwhile, tensions are boiling on the northern front with Lebanon, overnight a top heads Hezbollah commander Hussein Yazbek, along with three other Hezbollah operatives, were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. This just two days after the targeted assassination of Hamas Deputy Leader Salih al-Arouri in Beirut. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is warning of serious retaliation and a fight without limits if Israel decides to go to war. But despite the terror group's threats, the U.S. doesn't seem to think Hezbollah is truly seeking to fully open up a new front against Israel. Nonetheless, the Biden administration has dispatched special envoy Amos Khamstein to the region. He's set to arrive in Israel today in a bid to lower tensions between Israel and the Iranian proxy and resume diplomatic efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also taking off on a Middle East tour today. His visit will include a stop in Israel for diplomatic consultations on the war in Gaza. And let's cross over to I-24 News Correspondent Pierre Klochenler. He's at the heiress crossing between northern Gaza and Israel. Pierre, what's the current situation on the ground there? Well, it's quiet here, although there was a rocket alert at around 9 o'clock this morning in this particular area, but no casualties, two interceptions. Now, I want to show you with the Kamal Ben Khemo the situation here, because 90 days after the October 7th massacre, you can see a tank, a Merkava tank, which is out. There are many howitzers that we've seen pulling out of the northern sector of the Gaza Strip because it's under Israel's operational control, and five brigades are going to be pulling out until the end of the week, three brigades of reservists and two brigades of soldiers who are going to be returning to their training. Now, look at what's going on here when Itamar plans. There's a graveyard of cars here, cars that have stayed idle here for the past 90 days, and you can see the damage of the rampage that Hamas inflicted on this area, which used to be the border crossing for Palestinian merchants, workers, and those in need of medical treatment in Israel or in the Palestinian Authority controlled West Bank hospitals, and you can see all these cars are cars that have been left, that have been taken over. I think it's the first time that we can reach this place, the checkpoints leading to the border terminal as reopened a few days ago, and we just took our luck and came here, and you can see the cars. There's even this for the hostages, probably, that has been put here probably by a soldier. Now, this is also a base, the terminal, and you can see the building here where Palestinian workers used to cross 15,000 to 18,000 a day, used to cross here before, before October 7, and that place was the site of a fighting, of a massacre. Soldiers were killed here. Others were abducted to the Gaza Strip, and our remaining hostages inside the Gaza Strip, two soldiers at least, the families of these soldiers have been notified that their bodies remain in Gaza, they're dead, and this is the sad story now. The positive story about the areas crossing is that under U.S. pressure, Israel is considering reopening the crossing for humanitarian aid, why? Because in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip, there are still between 100 to 200,000 Palestinian non-involved civilians who remained in the northern sector, and they need desperately humanitarian aid, and as a result, they could convey that aid to that population, and here, because of the operational control by the IDF, there's no risk of looting or of eye-checking the humanitarian trucks. They're a chilling reminder there of the October 7th massacre, thank you very much for that update. 48 hours after the killing of Salah al-Arouri in Beirut, it is still unclear if and how it will affect the northern border. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah did carry his scheduled speech, but did not provide any concrete answers. 924 News, Senior Defense Correspondent Jonathan Regiff with the details. To begin an all-out war or not to begin an all-out war? For nearly three months, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been hesitating to make a decision. Will the high-profile killing of senior Hamas official Salah al-Arouri write on Nasrallah's home turf in Beirut changed that? At least for now, there's no real answer. If the enemy thinks it can impose war on Lebanon, our fighting will be without sealing, borders, rules and controls. Whoever thinks about war with us will regret it. As war with us is very, very expensive. The threats coming from Nasrallah in his speech on Wednesday are not much different than those already made earlier in this war, and as far as he's concerned, they are already bearing fruit. I will read you the words of the Israeli Minister of Defense, Galant. He says, the problem that they have is not just the people of the Gaza border communities that are displaced, but also those who fled their homes in the north. Another speech is expected on Friday. Will there be a different rhetoric there? No one really knows, but the Israelis are not waiting. At least four Hezbollah members, including a senior commander, were killed on Wednesday night in what is one of the deadliest Israeli strikes on Hezbollah operatives so far, and Israel is ready for whatever consequences it may bring. We're on a high level of readiness in the north. I visit here often, and I think our readiness is at its peak. Israel is upping its actions, Hezbollah is upping its rhetoric, and in the hope of preventing a major explosion, the American envoy, Amos Hochstein, is coming to the region Thursday for visits to Jerusalem and Beirut. Just over a year ago, he brokered a deal between Israel and Lebanon with the approval of Hezbollah regarding the maritime border. He hopes to do the same this time, but with the cannons firing, it will be far more challenging. Turning to the wider Middle East, at least two militia fighters were poorly killed, and five others were wounded in a drone strike that targeted Iran-backed militia headquarters in eastern Baghdad this morning. It's unknown at this time who carried out that strike. And joining me here in studio is Shiri Fine Grossman. She's a member of the Forum for Women in Foreign Policy and National Security and former head of regional affairs and Israel National Security Council. Thank you very much for joining me today. Thank you, sir. Before we get into all of that, I want to quickly get your reaction to our correspondent Piat Klochenler showing us those live and incredible images of those cars still left intact from people being attacked on October 7th. I saw you here in studio. Yeah, it's emotional for me. I've been to the heiress crossing for many times in my role at the National Security Council. And even after we were there on a visit with our Firi Lipstein, who was murdered on that dreaded Saturday morning, he took us to the crossing and we discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza. And if you haven't been there, you have... It's like a terminal, airport terminal. It's huge. It was, you know, it was 45. It was heavily secured. And we still don't know exactly the events that occurred, but what he just showed and to my memory of having been there in the past, it's just shocked me for a minute. And it just goes back to... We have to keep in mind, it's been 90 days, three months. The world is, you know, just getting back from the holiday season and forgot what are we fighting for. And we're fighting, you know, to prevent another genocide and preventing crimes against humanity that occurred. And the NS Coursing is such a symbol because it's really a place where so many Palestinians worker came to Israel to work with Israel's policy in the last few years trying to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza and how it was, you know, manipulated and abused, totally abused by Hamas. And basically robbing the future of the Palestinians in Gaza. And those images, a clear reminder that even though life has moved on here, it's still very much October 7th there in southern Israel. I want to turn to this drone strike on Iran-backed militia and Baghdad today. Is there any indication Israelis could be behind this strike? I doubt it. It seems like it's more of the U.S. forces, but I would let them commentate on that. There have been, I think, hundreds of strikes against U.S. forces throughout the Middle East by HaShad Hashabi, militias in Iraq. And this is definitely a retaliation that we're waiting for. We have to get the U.S. to be aggressive against any attack against its forces to try to prevent future attacks. We need to be very aggressive. I think this week has shown that we're definitely moving on from playing defense to playing offense. Us and, of course, our strategic allies. And this is exactly what we need to do. We've been playing defense for a long time. We built fences and walls and used iron domes. And it didn't prevent genocide. It didn't prevent crimes against humanity. So we have to do this. We have to. And we will have to do this for a long time coming. This is not months. This is years to come. We will have to remain vigilant. And certainly the containing the situation is no longer an option on the table. The U.S. reporting that it doesn't believe Hamas that truly wants a war with Israel. What's your assessment about the situation there? The Hezbollah doesn't want a war? Yeah, pardon me. No, not war. That's very much once the war. Look, it's hard to say. I believe Hezbollah's and the Iranian regime are looking for a war of attrition. They're trying to wear us down. There have been 80,000 people vexed it. And it's not a coincidence that this is what Masala told said in his speech that this is part of his achievement. And unfortunately, that's the feeding from any residents who live by the northern border. They've been forced to move out of their homes. This is unprecedented in history of Israel. Throughout the years, there was always been wars with Lebanon. Never have been this so many displaced, living in hotels around the country, communities broken apart. And this is an achievement by Hezbollah. We have to say that 80, around 80 or 100,000 Lebanese from Lebanon have also been evacuated. So we can see civilians are the main victims in both sides. I don't believe they want an all-out war, but it really depends. This is we've been through this. There could be miscalculations. We can miscalculate. They can miscalculate. As we've seen, unfortunately, in Gaza, where Israeli security officials assumed that that threat was lower, that Hamas had no intention of attacking. And then Israel was unfortunately taken by surprise. Yeah. I can't tell you what will make Hezbollah go to an all-out war. It depends on so many factors and states of mind and regional circumstances. But I mean, I don't believe this is where we had it, but it can change any moment. And I mean, we have to expect a retaliation. It can be, and it's going to be interesting, because this is not, I mean, Al-Hurri was Hamas. It wasn't Hezbollah. And that's a huge difference. And I know people talk about the red lines that Asnawa has put in the past. But that's in the past. It's very different when Israel has spoke about this. We wanted to target Al-Hurri in the past. And I think Israel hasn't taken responsibility. But in the past, I think they avoided it in trying to avoid a war with Hezbollah. But since we are in a war with Hezbollah already, then I don't think the delta of what the retaliation would be would be that dramatic to an all-out war. It's not something that I see is on, I can't imagine is on the table. Well, and also if we take into consideration the fact that Nasrallah is also facing opposition within Lebanon, a country ravaged by an economic crisis that has no interest in getting into a war in Israel. Yeah, I don't know how much he cares about that. Hezbollah cares about Hezbollah. And I'm the Iranian regime. That's what he's there for, to be the insurance policy of Iran. So that's his main concern. And the Lebanon state is a consideration because I don't think in the end of the day he wants to see Lebanon completely fall apart and then him having to pick up the pieces and being in charge of regular municipal things like Hamas is saying in the Gaza Strip. He wants to be a terrorist organization. He doesn't want to be the one that has to take care of education and trash. The mundane things. Exactly. So I don't see that also is part of his consideration, I guess. This assassination happened simultaneously that a hostage deal was on the table. Those negotiations are now. Allegedly, a hostage deal. Yes. Now, some critics are saying that the decision to carry out the assassination has hindered that potential hostage deal. Was the timing a calculated move to exert even more pressure on Hamas in addition to the military pressure that we're seeing in the Strip by the troops on the ground? It wasn't my decision. I'm not for the Israeli government. But if I was in the decision-making process, I would definitely put that as a risk. It's something that you would risk. And what's your priority? And the fact, you know. And a Ruri, you know, taking out is a operational thing. Sometimes these opportunities don't present themselves so often. So you have to take all considerations under account. And he is a major figure in not just in Gaza, and the West Bank, and activities, and being very, very cruel. So it's an important point. I do think if there was a hostage deal on the table, which I don't know, you can say that it put it in risk. But on the other hand, you could say to Hamas leaders, hey, this is your fate. You either surrender or you either will be expelled to a very far away place that you can't rearm. Or you will die in a targeted killing by Israel. And the hostages, you have to give all of them back, because it's not part of the way to conduct a war. Absolutely. And it definitely marks the end of an era for Hamas officials who have enjoyed this sort of protection by residing abroad in whether it's in Beirut or whether it's in Qatar or in Turkey. Yeah. Yes. Again, it's very different. It's a case by case thing to examine. I think O is much more important than Hania. And he's basically a symbol and a political figure. And I don't know how much he has way on what's going on in the Gaza Strip from the operation side. A rule is really from the strategy point. And there are still Mohammad Def and Sinouar. And they really control what's going on, especially when it comes to the hostages. Absolutely. The significance of that killing is very big. I want to discuss a little bit about what's happening in Iran. Iran has lowered the death toll from Wednesday's terror attack to 84. The Islamic Republic continues to lick its wounds following that attack. And at the same time, it's trying to deflect attention towards Israel. I want to bring into the conversation Iran expert at Haifa University. Tamar Elam, thank you very much for joining me today. Thank you. I want to ask you, why is Iran blaming Israel? There's no indication Jerusalem had any involvement. It's not only that no indication. It's also this way of working is not what Israel does. Israel does very exact killings of specific people with as little collateral damage as possible. And here it was only people who are regular people, common people, and no one of consequence from the regime. So it really doesn't look like Israel. But Israel is the first one to be blamed in anything that happens in Iran. Also, in the protests that were last year, 2022 and 2023, following the death of Masa Amini, the regime tried to present it as Israeli involvement because that would delegitimize it. Delegitimize and also deflect any sort of pressure. I'm not sure they really blame Israel now because, yes? No, I'm just adding to what you're saying. It would delegitimize Israel, but also deflect on any sort of pressure and criticism on the Islamic Republic itself. Oh, of course. Now, because no one from the high officials was hurt or even present at the place of the explosions, in social media, you can find conspiracy theories saying it was the regime itself that blew up these bags because they wanted some excuse, I don't know. And I don't think they need an excuse to attack Israel. What happened last week in Syria was excuse enough if that's what they wanted. But maybe they want an excuse to arrest more dissidents or to arrest more separatists. It does look like the work of a separatist group. And despite his raging rhetoric, a report by The New York Times suggests that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not seeking a military escalation with either the US or Israel. That report citing two people familiar with Iran's internal discussions says that Khamenei has been ordering his military chief to practice, quote unquote, strategic patience and avoid any major escalation with the US that's including proxy attacks on US military basis in the region, as well as minimizing responses to any purported Israeli operations inside Iran. I wanna get your assessment of this report. I didn't know of this report when I gave very similar assessment. I think neither of the actors in the area, not Israel, not the US, not the Islamic Republic, maybe Hamas, but not the others. No one wants this to escalate to a third world war. And if the Islamic Republic does too much, they do small things that are painful but would not escalate to a full-fledged war because they had a war in the 1980s that it's still a trauma for them. The country is still in post trauma from the Iran-Iraq war. They know what it is and what it's like to heal from a war, which they haven't completely. It's in no one's interest. So, and they are more, I don't believe I'm saying this adjective for them, but they're more sane than Hamas because what, and this is also one of the reasons that I believe them when they say they were not involved in the October 7th massacre because they know that it has consequences that would be too difficult. Iran expert at Haifa University, Tamar Elam Gindin, thank you very much for your insight today. Thank you very much. Eris Chaim lost her son who was abducted to Gaza on October 7th, managed to escape captivity with two other Israeli hostages and was shot from a friendly fire. This tragic event became a symbol of courage, not just for Yotam, but also for Eris, whose response has inspired many. I-24 News reporter Uri Shapira had the chance to speak with Eris and hear about a special tribute to Yotam by members of his rock band. Take a look. I'd like to tell you that I love you very much, that I respect you from the bottom of my heart and I know that everything that happened is absolutely not in your name. And in the name of God, apart from Hamas, I thank you very much on behalf of the people. I ask you to listen to yourself and think about the best thing you can do in the world that can help us and the people of Israel and all of us are grateful to you. This message from Eris Chaim to the IDF soldiers a few weeks ago moved the entire country. Eris, the mother of Yotam, one of three hostages who were killed by IDF fire, decided to release a message of unity and support rather than blame the IDF for the horrific accident that led to the tragic death of her son. We didn't have anger about the army. From the first minute, my husband got a telephone from Gallant on Friday evening after we got the message. The first thing is he told him, we are not angry. The first thing after we like understood, I thought about the soldiers, what about them? They are also children of somebody and they are good people. They are in the Israeli army. So how can I be angry about them? And I was afraid that they will hurt themselves, that something will happen to them. 28-year-old Yotam was kidnapped from Kibbutz, Kfar-Aza. He survived for weeks in captivity. He and two other hostages, Alon Shemri and Samar Al Talalqa managed to escape from captivity and tried to message the IDF that they are Israeli hostages using SOS signs in the place where they were hiding. The IDF chief took responsibility for the incident. This incident raised questions about the open fire policy of the IDF. Today, another question is coming up in public discussion, whether Israel should continue the military operation or pause it in order to achieve the release of other hostages. Iris doesn't have a clear answer. I'm not a military person. I'm not a secure person. I don't understand that nothing. I really believe that this question is not for me. It's not for the families. It's just to the government. Yotam was a talented musician who played the drums in a heavy metal band named Percifor. Members of the band say they are planning a special album in tribute to Yotam. Yotam was playing the drums since he was nine years old and they found a lot of comfort in listening to metal music, heavy metal, rock music. And I think for him it was a very good place to express his feelings. We're going out for a quick break, but don't go anywhere. I-24 News will be back in three minutes with more rolling coverage of the Israel-Hamas war unfolding right here in the region. State of war, families completely gunned 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. This week in Yos-24 Israel under attack. Yos-24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war, Iron swords. Exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone. The reaction of the Spanish-speaking countries. Yos-24, the only Spanish medium that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin-Israel community. Yos-24, only on I-24 News. Welcome back and thanks for staying with us here on I-24 News. Young Jewish activists are coming together in support of Israel as the war with Hamas is fueled mass misinformation and hate speech towards Jewish communities around the world. And on my next guest is Eve Barlow. She's a Scottish-Jewish journalist and activist based in Los Angeles. The self-described most trolled Jew on the internet. It's anti-Semitism online and it's here in Israel to spread awareness of the October 7th massacre. Thank you very much for joining me today. Thank you for having me. Eve, you and several other celebrity activists namely Michael Rappaport, Guy Netsiv, you guys went down to Southern Israel to witness with your own eyes the Gaza border communities. Kfar-Aza and Yos Reem, that were the sites of some of the worst atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th. Just an hour away from our studios here in Tel Aviv, tell me a little bit about that experience and what that was like for you. Yeah, you say it's just an hour away from here and I think it's important for people who don't understand the lay of the land in Israel, how close everything is and not even just geographically but how connected everyone is in this country and how everything that happens here truly affects everyone. Being there was so hard to put it into words. It's like landing in the center of the apocalypse. The concentration camps of the Holocaust were liberated by soldiers. But imagine if civilians like myself and the people that you met, the other influencers together with journalists from around the world were able to go into these sites, these places of horrific atrocities that you can't even imagine with your own brain, to go in there and smell the death and feel the magnitude of what happened there and go into every single one of these houses, rows and rows and rows of houses, where the most unreal things happened to peacenake communities, communities of people who lived where they were living and were sitting here. People who were actual peace activists who wanted to find some sort of two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who ended up being direct victims. Direct victims and they lived it with their whole lives. They built families there for generations. I met one survivor whose parents were a founder of Kibbutz near Oz and she was born there. As the children of the Kibbutz scene a few decades ago, she was raised in a room where all the children were raised and slept separately from her parents and was brought up in the Kibbutznik lifestyle. It's not just about the fact that a lot of them were active fighters for peace and a two-state solution. Outwardly in political spheres, they were living it by example. And I think that's something that's really important to take away, the proximity of Gaza and the border to their homes. I was looking out of Yotam's bedroom in Kibbutzk, Farazza, one of the hostages who was tragically killed in an accident a couple of weeks ago in Gaza. And his bedroom window and the fence that borders Israel and Gaza couldn't have been, it was so close, it was insane to me. How much faith they had living in this place that they called 90% heaven and 10% hell because of the rocket fire that they would regularly experience. They really felt at home there and they believed in coexistence. And these were the people who were the targets of not just murder, not just houses being burned down, but true acts of torture and barbarism and total desecration. I mean, their lives have been completely ripped apart. Beyond, it's beyond erasure. It's just, it's something else. If you recently published an essay about the Israel Hamas war and the cynicism of liberal woke culture that we're seeing today in the West, you chose to call it biblical. Why is that? It feels, I'm not a God fearing person and I'm not particularly religious. But there was something about actually bearing witness and being here and standing in the wreckage of what happened. It really brought home to me how ancient the hatred is, how barbaric these acts of violence were. It reminded me of the stories you read about in the Bible. It felt that way. It felt like it harkened back to millennia old hatred. A type of behavior in human beings who hate that you would think that thousands of years of human evolution and socializing and integrating would prevent people from having the capacity to achieve. The thing that I couldn't really wrap my head around was how it was humanly possible to commit these types of atrocities without feeling harmed oneself. I witnessed to the October 7th, 45 minute footage very early on in the war. I attended Gal Gadot's screening in LA at the Museum of Tolerance and I remember being totally shocked and dismayed by the level of joy and exhilaration that Hamas was experiencing while carrying out these acts. And then to take the footage that I have seen and have become so familiar with and be standing in the places where all of this happened was a deeply profound experience. And so I likened it to biblical stories because it feels that way to me. It feels ancient and like a repeated cycle of history. The antisemitism goes back thousands of years and has survived thousands of years because it has been institutionalized and it continues to be so. I wanna bring into the conversation Jewish rapper Kosha Dills, he joins us from New York and armed with a camera and a microphone. He's gone to the streets of America to speak to these protesters who are demanding a ceasefire in Gaza to reveal how little these young demonstrators know about the conflict they are protesting. Let's take a look. Hamas, like, do you think they're a terror organization or is it justified? I see them as freedom fighters. Where? Are you a mother? Yes, I have a daughter and five grandchildren. Okay. So if they had two of your grandchildren and one of your daughters, what would you want them to do? I would do everything possibly to have them back, yeah. So if they stopped firing, then... You guys think Hamas is a terrorist organization? They are a political organization. I must have thrown out a resistance. I don't believe so, no. One man's terrorist, another man's freedom fighter. I love Hamas. Like, should they take out Hamas? Maybe, I don't know. People's a lot of people to kill. Of course, it's always 9,000 people. You have to trust to do that, to kill the occupants. I love your shirt first. Thank you very much. From the river to the sea, Palestine would be... Free. What would happen to all the Israelis? They would use their second citizenship to whatever country they... But not everyone in Israel has second citizenship. I think if people picked up their phones and typed things into Google... They'd have a safe trip to Youngstown. Bring the family home, we got the... Kosha, I want to ask you, first of all, how do you stay so cool in these protests? Because just watching this makes my blood boil. Ah, I think once you have the experience of being a rejected musician, I think you could really have to do everything. Yeah, you know, I do truly believe that everyone thinks they're doing the right thing. So when you go in with that attitude, I think you kind of level the playing field a little bit more. I want to discuss with both you and both of you here with me today, I want to discuss with both of you the wider phenomenon of these TikTok educated Gen Zers. These demonstrators, like we just saw, are very young. We can see that blonde little girl, we'll call her Hailey, shockingly ignorant and misinformed. They clearly know nothing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They deny Hamas our terrorist. They call for Israel's Jewish population to be expelled and go back to the original countries that they came from, not understanding that 60% of Israelis come from Middle Eastern and North African countries. In your eyes, what's the biggest misconception and how do you fight this misinformation that is coming at these young generations from every single source of social media? I think it's a great question. I think there's many different ways to do it. I think everyone sort of plays their part. I do want to say that like everyone, and I mean everyone has a heart and everyone like including us specifically, people are under the misconception that Jewish people don't cry when we see kids that are injured and dying. So it really takes time. I mean, if you respond back to people on Instagram or any other social media platform, there's going to be a moment where people say, oh wow, I didn't know you thought that. And that's the issue is that it's been drained into each other's heads that we're not able to have conversations when we only see videos. So the fact that none of us are communicating, even the friends that aren't saying anything or are saying something, that's part of the issue. So every day I try to practice having communication with people that I would never speak with and the message starts out as screw you, a few, you're most, you know, and you know, trying to make new content out of that. I mean, and that's you online. The easiest thing for me is just to go out there. And I thank you, and that's not for everybody, but if it helps other people get a little bit of a voice, you know, that's important too. You say that it's easy and since October 7th, you've thought to bring a sane Jewish voice to these anti-Israel protests. But I want to ask you, why do you take it upon yourself to go out to these rallies and put yourself at risk, a real risk of being a target? I don't, I like this, I don't think I'm at risk because I think I'm capable. Like I said, I've been rejected in so many forms of my career as an artist and entertainer that it's not abnormal for me to have very abrasive, sure unpleasant conversations with people. I'm just switching the position. And this is something I actually dearly care about. I'm Israeli, my family's from Kiryati Vaughan. I grew up as the first person born in America. My whole life and my whole career, I've noticed that people along the way didn't work with me because I was Israeli. Even if they were Jewish or they felt it was too Israeli during some sort of a conflict, that would put them at risk for working with me. And I said, you know what, now's the time, if there's any time to be more Jewish and to go out there and be the regular voice. And I thought I could do it in a certain way that incorporated my comedy, my advocacy and just me being myself. I mean, my name's Rami. It's also Israeli name and it's a Palestinian name. It's a Lebanese name, it's an Egyptian name. And I think that is important to go out there. And in today's world of how the world thinks of things, that is an equal playing field. More than someone named David, you know what I mean? Or Jonathan. They're like, oh, Rami, you're like me, you know. Koshia Dills, you recently released two songs that deal directly with the war in Israel. I wanna take a listen to Bring the Family Home. Bring the family home, we got the world saying. Cry to death, I can't sleep, that's the worst pain. I'll remember tonight, the night the world changed. The line just rolled, y'all heard. And Koshia, you were recently in Israel. You performed for IDF troops. I wanna get a little bit of a taste of that experience, how that was like for you. And what have been the reactions in Israel here and how they've been different compared to the United States to your music, to who you are? I would say, you know, and the US people appreciate me. There's definitely a huge divide, I would say. And I don't mean this in a negative way. Maybe I should reuse that. The connection is a little bit off between American Jews and Israelis. When we go to Israel, it's very hard, obviously for American culture, especially like on a Jewish connotation to get into like the Israeli hip hop scene. In this specific way, I was, these videos that I've been doing in the street seemed to connect with the Israeli population. Like I just did stuff with Gal Galax. And a lot of other Israeli news places had interviewed me. Being able to play for troops, being able to play show of kuleyama, being able to just be outside in Israel and people come up to me and really, them not understanding what's happening in America with the anti-Semitic culture versus the creative response in art that's happening in Israel, I would say is much better. And they're having a really tough time grasping, you know, these rallies that occur because I would say, if you're in Tel Aviv, it's really a liberal city. Absolutely, and the creative response to the collective trauma we're seeing is very ingenuous. Coach Adilz, thank you very much for joining us today. Thanks. Eib Barlow is still with me here in studio. We just spoke to Coach Adilz who spoke about that feeling of kind of being singled out in the music industry any time that there was any sort of conflict in the region here that involved Israel. You are also a journalist. You also used to be a music journalist and you, from what I understand, have also experienced that feeling of being singled out. Yeah, I have. It's so interesting that Rami and I met over 10 years ago and have kind of checked in with each other at points over time when we've both experienced this isolation. But for me, it happened, it was less of a slow-moving bullet and more of something that exploded online all at once. I have always been a proud Jew and I always talked about my relationship to my Zionism and I've never shied away from being open about visiting Israel and trying to incorporate it somewhat in my music reporting. I actually came out here to tune in Tel Aviv at the height of my career in music journalism and nobody was that upset about it. But the second I started to fight anti-Semitism to the nail and I stood up with a bunch of British Jews against Jeremy Corbyn. That was a bit of a moment for the music community that I came from who were on the opposite side of the fence. I did it in the same way as Kosha does it. He wants to try and bridge a gap and try and have a conversation with a captivated audience that you have in your hands and you have to trust that other people have hearts and maybe if you get the right angle and try the conversation from the right approach, you can appeal to that, you can appeal to their critical thinking. So I was doing a lot of that work for a while but I also wasn't scared to vehemently call out anti-Jewish racism when I saw it and even when it was coming from the least convenient of places, the most popular new ideologies or the most popular what causes and my story is that in 2020, after the death of George Floyd, I was witnessing protests against anti-Black racism on the streets of America. I was completely empathetic to people fighting anti-Black racism in America. It's a problem, it exists, I'm not going to deny it. But I noticed- Do you think that people who have showed up for all the other movements, whether it's Black Lives Matter, me too have showed up for Jews in this moment, specifically the women who have been targeted by sexual violence? Absolutely not, they have not shown up when it is deplorable. I've run out of words to describe how I feel about it as a feminist who stood strong in those movements, who did a lot of work around those movements, continues to advocate, I'm a woman and a feminist, I continue to advocate against patriarchy, against misogyny. The double standard is inexcusable and it's not just that it's inexcusable, it's toxifying and poisoning the movement against itself. If you can't acknowledge the atrocities against women and children on October 7th, then in my opinion you're not a feminist that can be trusted. This is a deep-seated hatred and toxicity that exists in the movement that will ruin the movement. Truly, it's inexcusable. And my constant campaigning against antisemitism and against anti-Israel sentiment has made me somewhat of a social pariah in these circles, but I continue to be as committed to my fight for all of these progressive causes as I am against antisemitism. It's just that my Jewishness is the aspect of me that seems to be the most targeted and when I fight back against that specific aspect, I'm the most silenced and the least supported by my fellow activists in many other progressive issues. So I've been doing the work too of calling out the hypocrisy and the double standard because it's not something I take personally. It affects all of us Jews and all Israelis here in Israel and it will eventually have a ripple effect on the wider world because as I say, it's harmful to these own individual movements that they can't recognize the hypocrisy. Absolutely. Eve Barlow, thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Turning to the southern Israeli city of Elat, which is normally packed with beachgoers and diving enthusiasts, businesses there are collapsing as a result of the war here in Israel. Let's take a look. I walk around here and I don't see a city bustling with life. It's a city unlike what it used to be. Elat is in a massive decline. I've worked here for 20 years and I've never seen anything like this. This promenade is always bustling with tourists. Now as you see, it is completely empty. Elat, normally packed with conferences during the winter months, is almost tourist-free. Abu Amar is the only one we met today. When is this, this video, just before the war? Yes, you can see, less than a month before. I was there. Bustling, vibrant. You can see, it was completely packed. And this is Erit, in a lot taxi driver we met outside the airport. Hello. So what's going on? How is Elat right now? It is a sad place. Since October 7th, like everywhere else, it's become a very sad city. Work has gone down by 70 to 80%. Yesterday, I made 21 shekels. The attractions are collapsing. The restaurants are collapsing. The shops are collapsing. I have hundreds of closed businesses. I have thousands of businesses that are down significantly, more than 50%. In fact, Elat is paying the heaviest price of this war. Stores catering to the tourists who are no longer here have been left mostly empty since October 7th. Unfortunately, it's been like this for three months. Empty? Now is supposed to be the most beautiful time of the year in Elat. Conferences, exhibitions and all sorts of activities. But there's no one here. Nothing in the cash register? Nothing. Zero income, no salary, and payments continue as usual. Expenses, mortgage, rents. Before returning to the center, we made a stop at another attraction for families, hoping to find some clients, perhaps. This looks like heaven. Now it's closed. Since October 7th, everything went silent in one fell swoop. We have camels and donkey carts and a road park and easy riders and electric off-road bikes and razors and jeeps. There are lots of activities here. A climbing wall and omega. There are lots and lots of activities. And as you can see, everything is at the standstill. Tal is a senior commander in the reserves and his son Afiq is a fighter in an elite unit. We met this lovely family during a break from fighting. They both go in and out of Gaza. Now it's all on Donna's shoulders. I find myself sitting on some step or stone and crying. Fearing a soldier will pass and I will have to learn of more stories of loss. Will you be able to survive until the next season? I really hope so. I told you, we do not give up. Hundreds of volunteers have traveled to Israel in recent months to show support to the country in its war against Hamas following the deadly October 7th massacre. Well, one of them is Ricardo Pasifici. I hope I'm saying that correctly. The vice president of the European Jewish Association. Thank you very much for joining me today. Ricardo, you were in Zderot yesterday where you cooked for IDF troops and you also cooked for the British families of fallen soldiers. I hope you cooked Italian food for them. Sure, 100%. Italian spaghetti. Beautiful. Tell me a little bit about what that experience was like for you. It was very terrible and sweet experience. Just because I decided to organize this was my dream for my 60th birthday that was two days ago. And thank you. And I asked my friend in Italy that may call us some time ago and also my former assistant or friend. Please, you have to contact some people where I can do this. She told me immediately, sorry, you can organize normally barbecue outside of the base. And if you want to, you can organize barbecue. Yes, but I am Italian. I have to organize spaghetti. What's happened? That after a long time, they give us a moment to cook for him. And they arrive also, the Italian ice cream from Natalia, the Tony ice cream. And also the Uga, not for me, but for two special soldier that they organize a wedding before of the war. And this soldier is Meir Rosenfeld, is a son of Eliezer Rosenfeld that is one of the parents of the organization of Orlamish Pajot. He lost two sons in the other war and now he dedicated his life to songs and sings in a wedding. And I told him, I want to organize this party inside of the bases with a singer, Italian singer, also with the solemn or other things with the 250th soldier. It's a very important moment for us. Brought a lot of light to these soldiers and these bereaved families who so desperately need it. Tell me a little bit of what it was like for you meeting these people who for 90 days have put their lives on hold. These families who have lost children, loved ones, what has it been like for you and what has been the most shocking impression that you had since you've arrived here in Israel? I think that like my experience also in this day, that you know that in Italy, in all of the world, is a Christmas moment and a new year. Normally you receive a message, happy new year, I think all of the people, especially a friend, not just people. I told, remember that for us, it's not the new years. It's a moment that in all of the world, they understand that there is a life before, of 7 October and after 7 October. And I think that it is horrible that there are people, also our friend, close friend, that thinks that these soldiers, they are criminals. They not understand that they are a son, like our son, that we teach this son that the life is not this. The life is to think the future in a university, tour, wedding, love, other things normally. Obi, in Italy, is the sucker, is the most friend. Not to think the world. And I answer that is a moment to stay with this soldier that is war, is war not only for Israel. Is war is for all of the world. And I hope that the people understand that it's terrible for us, not because we have a problem against of the Jewish. This is our life. My long experience before, like, present of Jewish community of Rome, the activity of the Asmara, the activity of to support the idea of Israel, is this war is not against the people that live near of Israel. Is a war, if we want to, we, survivor Israel. And so that leads me to my next question, that you as VP of the European Jewish Association, what has been the biggest challenge for you back home in Italy, when it comes to the Asmara, to that explanation of what the situation here is? So, in our community, my president, Viktor Frodo organized a lot of activity of the Asmara, also a big event in Piazza del Popo in Rome, is a famous square to support with a singer, with actor Morana Tia and the other singer from Israel. Now, for us, it's important that we won't come back, this hostage in his house. It's not important who are the reason of Israel or the our enemy. Now it's important that they can come back. And I hope that we can organize this kitchen with all of their starch. And I told the family that sure that we can do this. And I really hope so, Ricardo, thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you. We're going out for a quick break. Don't go anywhere. You're watching I-24 News. Welcome back and thanks for staying with us here on I-24 News. If you're just joining us today, Mark's Day 90 of the Israel Hamas War, and here's the latest. The IDF continues its battle on the ground in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The military reporting at this hour, the Norba terrorists who turned themselves in to IDF forces have revealed that many Hamas terrorists were killed in underground tunnels in Hanyunas, including two commanders. Now, earlier today, incoming rocket alerts sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon after a 15-hour lull, two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Meanwhile, tensions are boiling on the northern front with Lebanon, overnight a top Hezbollah commander, Hussein Yazbek, along with three other Hezbollah operatives were killed in an overnight Israeli strike in southern Lebanon. It's just two days after the targeted assassination of Hamas deputy leader Salah al-Arouri in Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, warning of serious retaliation and a fight without limits if Israel decides to go to war. But despite the terror groups threat, the US doesn't seem to think that Hezbollah is truly interested in opening a new front against Israel. Nonetheless, the Biden administration has dispatched special envoy Hamas Haustian to the region. He's set to arrive in Israel today and have been to lower tensions between Israel and the Iranian proxy and resume diplomatic efforts. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is also taking off on a Middle East tour today. His visit will include a stop in Israel, diplomatic consultations over the war in Gaza. And joining me now in studio is Rafael Hiroshanmi, former IDF senior intelligence officer, Rafael. Always a pleasure having you here in the studio. I want to ask you, Hamas, we've seen the elimination of Hamas senior official, Al-Aroui, he's out. We've seen four Hezbollah operatives also eliminated overnight. A strike on Iranian back Balasha in Iraq, although we have no indication whether Israel was behind that. All this just one week. Is Israel now in the phase of the targeted killings that the Biden administration was pushing for? Yes, and I've been pushing for it for years here from this very studio. I think the targeted killings is one of the best solutions to the problem we have with the terrorist factions. For the simple reason that it's very useful to take care of the terrorists on the ground, the ground level, the basis of the terrorist factions, but really until you reach the heads, you haven't achieved much. And it's very important to do so. It's very efficient. It's also economical, avoids a lot of loss of life on both sides. So it is an excellent and an elegant solution, I would say. It also shows determination because what we did with Mr. Arouly, for instance, and what we're continuing to do is to send also a very strong signal as to our determination and the fact that we can reach them in the vague hope as well in this particular case that we will create some kind of disquiet, I wouldn't say fright, but maybe disquieting Mr. Sinoir in Gaza and maybe push him to negotiate the liberation of more Israeli hostages. In any case, on a day where an American representative is coming to the region to appease and to avoid an escalation on the northern front, we are showing that we are not afraid, that we are already, we are bracing ourselves for an escalation, we are ready for a large-scale war if it will be imposed upon us. And the only thing I might regret is that we do not decide ourselves what we want. I mean, what Mr. Nassrallah has to say in his speech is of no interest to us, what Mr. Atayatollah Khomeini has to say in Tehran in his speech is of no interest to us. What is interesting here is what we have to say. What do we have to say? And in this particular case, there is no doubt that because of the 150,000 missiles at the hands of the Kisbala, because of the deployment in the south of Lebanon and the south of Syria, the best defense is the offense. We have to attack and we have to attack now. Every day, every hour that passes by is going to make it worse for us, more dangerous for us, more life-costly for us in the future. It will be a very big mistake, it will be just renewing, the mistake of the 7th of October. I'm sorry to say this in such a definite, firm way, but this is the reality. Anything short of that is just procrastinating, is just delaying the hour of truth. Okay, there is a vague hope, but very, very vague hope that a diplomatic solution could be reached. The French have tried, the Americans are trying now, some Arabic countries have tried to put pressure on Lebanon, nothing has happened so far. For the simple reason that there is nobody to speak to, there is no real Lebanese government. And would there be, it doesn't have the power to impose its will under Hezbollah, who is a state within the state. 48 hours after the killing of Salah al-Arourim Beirut, it's still unclear if and how it will affect the northern border. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah did carry his scheduled speech, but did not provide any concrete answers. The I-24 News Senior Defense Correspondent, Jonathan Regev, with the details. To begin an all-out war or not to begin an all-out war? For nearly three months, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been hesitating to make a decision. Will the high-profile killing of senior Hamas official Salah al-Arourim right on Nasrallah's home turf in Beirut change that? At least for now, there's no real answer. If the enemy thinks it can impose war on Lebanon, our fighting will be without sealing borders, rules and controls. Whoever thinks about war with us will regret it, as war with us is very, very expensive. The threats coming from Nasrallah in his speech on Wednesday are not much different than those already made earlier in this war. And as far as he's concerned, they are already bearing fruit. I will read you the words of the Israeli Minister of Defense, Galan. He says, the problem that they have is not just the people of the Gaza border communities that are displaced, but also those who fled their homes in the north. In other speeches expected on Friday, whether there be a different rhetoric there, no one really knows, but the Israelis are not waiting. At least four Khizballah members, including a senior commander, were killed on Wednesday night in what is one of the deadliest Israeli strikes on Khizballah operatives so far, and Israel is ready for whatever consequences it may bring. We are on a high level of readiness in the north. I visit here often, and I think our readiness is at its peak. Israel is upping its actions. Khizballah is upping its rhetoric. And in the hope of preventing a major explosion, the American envoy, Amos Ochstein, is coming to the region Thursday for visits to Jerusalem and Beirut. Just over a year ago, he brokered a deal between Israel and Lebanon with the approval of Khizballah regarding the maritime border. He hopes to do the same this time, but with the cannons firing, it will be far more challenging. So with me here in studio is Rafa Ali Roushalmi, former IDF senior intelligence officer, Rafael. New details have emerged over the assassination of Salah al-Aroui, Lebanese media reporting that Khizballah warned him, the senior Hamas official that Israel was tracking him, and more details coming out of Hebrew media that six precision guided missiles were used to target him. Tell me about the immense intelligence effort that was necessary to take someone of his magnitude out. First of all, we have to remember that this effort has been ongoing for years. I mean, Mr. Al-Aroui with a few other high leaders of the Hamas are under constant surveillance by the Israeli security services, mostly when they move around because when they're static, it's a little more difficult to locate them, but as soon as they move around, it's easier. So Mr. Mashal and Mr. Anir in Doha don't move that much around, they stay put, but Mr. Al-Aroui was known to travel quite a bit. He went, first of all, a lot between, he was doing a shuttle between Damascus and Beirut because he has interests in both places, but he also went to visit Istanbul a few times or Tehran for meetings, and each time he does so, it's easier to locate him, to see from where he went and where he's coming back to. So this was an ongoing operation for years and years. Once you have the intel, once you know where, more or less, where he is, you have to have the precise intel, meaning the exact day, exact time, and exact location where you can actually eliminate him. And this is the most interesting part because I do believe, and I think that Mr. Anir has been in a very bad mood these days, I do believe that for such an operation, you need local accomplices, you need somebody there on the ground, at least a pointer to point the exact location, to give the coordinates. After that, it's a technical operation, and it's very precisely guided missiles. The missile is sent in a way that it will correct its itinerary itself, looking for the target, because you cannot shoot a classical missile in a built area, you don't have the angle. You have to go in and make a turn into the building. So, but for all this, you do need a lot of times a complicity on the ground, and in our chase today, after the terrorists, especially the leaders, we need human intelligence, we need that complicity on the ground, for the simple reason that all of them have learned not to depend on any technology that make it easy to trace them. They do not use phones, they do not have phones, they do not use computers, they exchange written little pieces of paper, and they avoid having accounts in their own name, buying tickets, playing tickets in their own name. So all of this makes it difficult for us, technologically, through computers, through the internet, through even satellite images, to spot them. And today, more than ever, human intelligence, informants on the ground, accomplices. It doesn't necessarily have to be Israeli agents from the Mossad. The Mossad today is more like activated local people on the ground. The Mossad agent is more like a chief and activator. And then these people, for all kinds of reasons, will help Israel because, first of all, ideologically, their opponents to the Hamas or Hisbalah or all these dictatorships of the terrorist factions. Ideologically, it can be ethnical or religious, Shi'i and Sunni, and sometimes it's even tribal. In Lebanon, especially, in Lebanon, it's very tribal. It's big families against big families. But it can also be for money, and it can be like mafia, gangsters, you know, who you pay to do it. There are all kinds of ways to gather accomplices, especially with a figure like Mr. Aruri who had quite a few enemies around. Not everybody liked him. He was a bit of a wild card. Even inside the Hamas, he had guys who were not so friendly with him, including Mr. Sinoa, by the way. There were rivals in many ways, and he was also a wild card as compared to the political branch in Doha. He was not obeying them, their orders. He was doing more or less what he wanted. So all in all, it is just showing... A very big fee for Israeli intelligence. It's just showing us that with all this, the next ones on the list will be reached sooner or later. Let's cross over to I-24 News correspondent Pierre Klochenler. He's at the Heires Crossing. Pierre, what's happening on the ground there? We're gonna show you with the Tamar Ben-Chemo what's going on. You see a tank here, Merkava tank, which is at the entrance of the Heires Crossing. But earlier we saw some M109 howitzer pulling out of the Gaza Strip out of the northern sector where there is low-intensity warfare. And we know that by the end of the week, five brigades, three reservist brigades and two conscript brigades will be pulling out of the northern sector of the Gaza Strip because there's no really need for them. And here at the Heires Border Crossing with the northern tip of the Gaza Strip, there's a graveyard of cars that have been standing idle for the past 90 days. 90 days that these cars are the death witnesses of the rampage that occurred in October 7. Now, look at the car. There is something interesting. All the cars license plates have been taken out. And that probably means that instead of pulling the cars out in a zone of combat because here even this morning, there was rocket fire at nine o'clock local time. The license plates allowed people to identify their missing relatives that they didn't know about the whereabouts. At the Heires Crossing, soldiers were killed. Others were kidnapped. They still remain in the Gaza Strip. Two bodies of those abducted soldiers remain in Gaza according to the IDF. And you can see part of the rampage that happened here. You have the windshield here, which is totally broken. The TITAMA is showing you. You have these plastic handcuffs probably put here by the rescue workers, but they're in the same color as the yellow ribbon of the campaign to release the hostages. Now, you see it's strewn with debris. Everywhere. And here, this graffiti on a concrete block, a graffiti of the Twin Towers of New York because for Israel, the 7th of October is worse even in all proportion than 9-11. And you have this graffiti that has probably been painted by a soldier. Now, why am I here? Because the Heires Border Crossing might be reopening under U.S. pressure. The Israeli government is considering the reopening of the Heires Crossing for the convenience of humanitarian aid to the northern sector of the Gaza Strip where between 100 to 200,000 non-involved Palestinian civilians are still remaining and they desperately need humanitarian aid. Now, the advantage of allowing the convenience of humanitarian aid through the Heires Crossing to the northern sector of the Gaza Strip is that it won't be looted or hijacked by Hamas terrorists because there nowhere to be seen. And we've seen videos at the Rafaf terminal between Egypt and Gaza or between Israel and Gaza, the Karim Shalom Crossing. As soon as the humanitarian trucks are entering and there are about 200 of them every day, some of them are looted and hijacked by the Hamas terrorists and that allows them a lifeline. And the longer the lifeline of Hamas, the longer the war will go on. So the interest is, of course, to allow the population to benefit from that aid that they desperately need, but to forbid that aid to the Hamas terrorists. Sarah? Piotr Koshan, they're a chilling reminder right there behind you, those cars left behind from the October 7th massacre. Thank you very much for that update from the Heires Crossing between Gaza and Israel. Iran has lowered the death toll from Wednesday's terror attack to 84 and the Islamic Republic continues to lick its wounds falling in that attack. At the same time, it's trying to deflect attention towards Israel. As senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman explains in Iran's regional strategy, that move makes sense. Iran is treating its wounded, burying its dead, and after Wednesday's terror attack in Karaman, plotting next steps. And in pointing fingers, the resistance axis is taking the path of least resistance. I warn the Zionist regime, don't doubt it. You will pay the price for this crime. These crimes that you have committed, you will deeply regret. Wednesday's attack does not fit Israel's modus operandi. And indeed, foreign governments have signaled Israel did not do the deed. Instead, ISIS is seen as the likeliest perpetrator for Iran, an inconvenient one. Because an act like this highlights the potential for instability within Iran and discontent among Iran's own people. We don't have any more detail in terms of how it happened or who might be responsible for it. We have no indication at this time at all that Israel was involved in any way whatsoever. Iran wants to focus here on Gaza, whereas usual Iran thinks it can expand its soft power by being seen in the Muslim world as the player that's really taking on the Zionists. And here in the Red Sea, where Iran is signaled, it is flexing its muscles, showing it has leverage over the global economy. Even if the global economy is the one that actually has leverage over Iran. In all these fronts, Iran does continue to take the fight to others territory. In the words of a New York Times report, exercising strategic patience. Which is why Wednesday's terror attack is such an embarrassment. Because there, Iran's soft strategic underbelly is exposed. The risk of opposition on Iran's own soil. I wanna cross over to Lebanon for a moment where we have live visuals of the funeral of Hamas official Salah Al-Rouri, who was targeted in a targeted killing in Beirut just two days ago. That funeral taking place in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon. You can see visuals there, Hamas flags, Palestinian flags. Many people look like they're gathering there. Still with me here in studio, Rafayli Roshanmi, former IDF senior intelligence officer. Rafayla, I wanna discuss a little bit the report that we just saw with pardon by our correspondent Owen Alterman. And I wanna get your assessment on the situation unfolding with Iran's proxy war taking place here in the Middle East. And where are we going with all of this? Well, we don't know where we're going because we don't know what's inside the mind of the Ayatollahs there in Tehran. It looks like so far that they're gonna continue using their proxies, they will not be a direct military Iranian intervention aimed at Israel. They might also wait a little because they have no effect of surprise right now when they want to attack Israel. They know that the IDF is ready to fight, that we are bracing ourselves against any scenario that might happen. So they might want to do the same that the Hamas did with us in the south. Meaning, you know, like put us to sleep and wait for like quite a days and then surprise us, it could be a possibility. The real problem is not with Israel because Israel is dealing with what it has to deal with meaning Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, terrorists in the West Bank, that's our job. The rest is not our job. Iran shouldn't be our job. The Houthis in the Yemen for sure is not our job. But even Gaza, Gaza is also the Egyptians job. Why are we doing everything concerning Gaza? The Egyptians are just as concerned, security was economically, morally to do something about it. And they could at least do the humanitarian part and take refugees into Sana'a. The Lebanon is also not only our job because it's a question of the stability of the area. And the Americans should be a little more proactive there too. Red Sea for sure, it's the problem of an international coalition that is there, but is there only patrolling in a defensive mode doing absolutely nothing to intimidate the Houthis from continuing what they're doing. And then the last, but not least, this Iran. Why should we be the only nation in the world, less than 10 million people living here, to face the equally Iranian nuclear threat, which is a threat for the whole world, for the world economy. And we're just there doing the job. No, it's not possible. So we have to now just brace ourselves on a defensive way. Would we be attacked by Iranians? I am sure there are, in the drawers of the IDF, some plans to attack Tehran and the nuclear sites if need be, but need should not be. So one thing that when Mr. Blinken will come this time around next week is coming here to Israel. You should be told this thing. You should be told, guys, thanks for your support, thanks for, which is not enough by the way, the American support should be much, much more, even more weaponry, even more money. But let's say thank you to what already they're giving. But now they also have to take their own responsibilities. Their responsibilities is in the geo-strategies and the security of the United States interest. I mean, American soldiers in the Middle East are just sitting ducks. This is ridiculous. And so perhaps diplomatic strategy when it comes to the Islamic Republic regime is perhaps not the most ideal and effective one. The UN Security Council is calling on Yemen's Houthis to halt their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, spoke at that UN meeting on Wednesday. Stressing the attacks by the Iranian proxy are a precursor to the, quote, dark future expected for the region and the entire world if significant action is not taken against them urgently. He added the Ayatollah regime in Iran is the only factor that connects together all the perpetrators of destruction in the Middle East. Take a look. After more than two dozen Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea since mid-November, the international community is issuing its final warning. 13 countries, including the United States, UK, Germany, and Bahrain called on the Iranian-backed militia in Yemen to cease their attacks or face the consequences. A call reiterated on Wednesday by members of the UN Security Council. These attacks pose grave implications for maritime security, international shipping, and commerce, and they undermine the fragile humanitarian situation in Yemen, damaging the ability of the international community to deliver assistance to more than 21 million people in need. But according to Ali Al-Bukhaiti, a former spokesperson of the Houthis, this will not have any effect on the Yemeni militia. The Houthi community will not respond to this warning. The Houthi community is suffering from war, internal wars, and you want to quickly explode. Because this community cannot live without war. If there is no war, there will be demands for Yemenis from these economic demands, social demands, prices, and so on. And it is a failure in this region. Al-Bukhaiti served as the spokesperson for the Houthis until 2015, but left after they overthrew the government in Sana'a and began oppressing their opponents. Speaking to I-24 News from London, he explains the motivation behind the latest Houthi attacks. It is expected that the Yemeni people will not carry a new war. But this community does not care about the people. It tries to create the people in the Arab world and the Islamic world. It realizes that any American Arab on Yemen will go to the citizens. But as for these groups, they are elected and there will be no harm to them. Therefore, they do not care about the number of victims. They are responsible for the establishment of groups that are being removed from the Islamic court. The Yemeni armed forces warn the American enemy or any other party that any American aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished. The Yemeni armed forces also warn the American enemy or any other party against any aggression or action that represents protection for commercial ships heading to the Zionist entity. At the UN on Wednesday, the US envoy said that without Iran's support, the Houthis would struggle to carry out their attacks in the Red Sea. But the former Houthi spokesperson says that contrary to Western belief, the Houthis act independently from the Iranians but do have shared interests. And so with the Houthi attacks only amplifying, this appears to be the last step before a potential clash. That is, of course, if the international community decides to stand by its threats. I'm Sam Martinez. Thanks for watching. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. What I saw today was unbelievable. The devastation on the homes, the destruction, the scenes still that you could imagine of what happened. It was like something out of a movie and still also the smell overpowering. It was an important day for me and to show the viewers of I-24 News, but it was a difficult, challenging day. This was the home of Yaniv Ohana to see basically a modern-day pogrom and to feel the vulnerability. We live in Israel. We are so dependent on the army and the government and authorities to provide security to see how all of that can be overturned in the course of one day. I think it really makes a difference and really makes us understand how fragile our lives are and how much we're going to have to fight for our existence, our very existence in this corner of the world. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Khaled Bendevi. This month marks the 38 years since I started as a journalist in Israel and nothing was like the last two months. This has been the most challenging, most emotional, most heartbreaking, and in some ways the most complex story that I've had to cover during that time and never I felt the kind of responsibility that I had to present this story to the world in the right context with the right facts and to really speak truth to power in this situation. Welcome back and thanks for staying with us here on I-24 News. If you're just joining us today, let's get to the 90 of the Israel Hamas War and here's the latest. The IDF continues its battle on the ground in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The military reporting at this hour, the Nohbat terrorists who turned them themselves in to IDF forces have revealed that many Hamas terrorists were killed in underground tunnels in Hanyunas, including two commanders. Earlier today, incoming rocket alerts sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkenon and two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Meanwhile, tensions are boiling on the northern front with Lebanon, overnight a top Hezbollah commander, Hussein Yazbek, along with three other Hezbollah operatives were killed in an overnight Israeli strike in southern Lebanon. It's just two days after the targeted assassination of Hamas Deputy Leader Salah al-Arouri in Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, warning of serious retaliation and a fight without limits if Israel decides to go to war. But despite the terror groups threat, the US doesn't seem to think that Hezbollah is truly interested in opening a new front against Israel. Nonetheless, the Biden administration has dispatched special envoy Hamas Haustien to the region. He's set to arrive in Israel today and have been to lower tensions between Israel and the Iranian proxy and resume diplomatic efforts. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is also taking off on a Middle East tour today. His visit will include a stop in Israel for diplomatic consultations over the war in Gaza. Joining me now in studio is Rafayli Roshan, my former IDF senior intelligence officer, Rafayl. Always a pleasure having you here in the studio. I want to ask you, Hamas, we've seen the elimination of a Hamas senior official al-Arouri. He's out. We've seen four Hezbollah operatives also eliminated overnight. A strike on Iranian backbottles in Iraq, although we have no indication whether Israel was behind that. All this just one week. Is Israel now in the phase of the targeted killings that the Biden administration was pushing for? Yes, and I've been pushing for it for years here from this very studio. I think the targeted killings is one of the best solutions to the problem we have with the terrorist factions. For the simple reason that it's very useful to take care of the terrorists on the ground, the ground level, the basis of the terrorist factions, but really until you reach the heads, you haven't achieved much. And it's very important to do so. It's very efficient. It's also economical. It avoids a lot of loss of life on both sides. So it is an excellent and an elegant solution, I would say. It also shows determination because what we did with Mr. Aruri, for instance, and what we're continuing to do is to send also a very strong signal as to our determination and the fact that we can reach them in the vague hope as well in this particular case that we will create some kind of disquiet, I wouldn't say fright, but maybe disquieting Mr. Sinoir in Gaza and maybe push him to negotiate the liberation of more Israeli hostages. In any case, on a day where an American representative is coming to the region to appease and to avoid an escalation on the northern front, we are showing that we are not afraid that we are already, we are bracing ourselves for an escalation, we are ready for a large-scale war if it will be imposed upon us. And the only thing I might regret is that we do not decide ourselves what we want. I mean, what Mr. Nasrallah has to say in a speech is of no interest to us. What Mr. Atayatullah Khomeini has to say in Tehran in his speech is of no interest to us. What is interesting here is what we have to say. What do we have to say? And in this particular case, there is no doubt that because of the 150,000 missiles at the hands of the Hezbollah, because of the deployment in the south of Lebanon and the south of Syria, the best defense is the offense. We have to attack, and we have to attack now. Every day, every hour that passes by is going to make it worse for us, more dangerous for us, more life-costly for us in the future. It will be a very big mistake. It will be just renewing the mistake of the 7th of October. I'm sorry to say this in such a definite, definite, firm way. But this is the reality. Anything short of that is just procrastinating. It's just delaying the hour of truth. Okay, there is a vague hope, but very, very vague hope that a diplomatic solution could be reached. The French have tried. The Americans are trying now. Some Arabic countries have tried to put pressure on Lebanon. Nothing has happened so far. For the simple reason that there is nobody to speak to, there is no real Lebanese government. And would there be, it doesn't have the power to impose its will under Hezbollah who is a state within the state. 48 hours after the killing of Salah al-Arourim Beirut, it's still unclear if and how it will affect the northern border. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah did carry his scheduled speech, but did not provide any concrete answers. The I-24 News Senior Defense Correspondent Jonathan Regev with the details. To begin an all-out war or not to begin an all-out war? For nearly three months, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been hesitating to make a decision. Will the high-profile killing of senior Hamas official Salah al-Arourim right on Nasrallah's home turf in Beirut change that? At least for now, there's no real answer. If the enemy thinks it can impose war on Lebanon, our fighting will be without sealing borders, rules and controls. Whoever thinks about war with us will regret it, as war with us is very, very expensive. The threats coming from Nasrallah in his speech on Wednesday are not much different than those already made earlier in this war. And as far as he is concerned, they are already bearing fruit. I will read you the words of the Israeli Minister of Defense, Galant. He says the problem that they have is not just the people of the Gaza border communities that are displaced, but also those who fled their homes in the north. Another speech is expected on Friday. Will there be a different rhetoric there? No one really knows. But the Israelis are not waiting. At least four Hezbollah members, including a senior commander, were killed on Wednesday night in what is one of the deadliest Israeli strikes on Hezbollah operatives so far. And Israel is ready for whatever consequences it may bring. We are on a high level of readiness in the north. I visit here often, and I think our readiness is at its peak. Israel is upping its actions. Hezbollah is upping its rhetoric. And in the hope of preventing a major explosion, the American envoy Amos Ochstein is coming to the region Thursday for visits to Jerusalem and Beirut. Just over a year ago, he brokered a deal between Israel and Lebanon with the approval of Hezbollah regarding the maritime border. He hopes to do the same this time. But with the cannons firing, Israel is far more challenging. So with me here in studio is Rafael Hirushalmi, former IDF senior intelligence officer, Rafael. New details have emerged over the assassination of Salah al-Enrui, Lebanese media reporting that Hezbollah warned him, the senior Hamas official that Israel was tracking him. And more details coming out of Hebrew media that six precision guided missiles were used to target him. Tell me about the immense intelligence effort that was necessary to take someone of his magnitude out. First of all, we have to remember that his effort has been ongoing for years. I mean, Mr. Araruri with a few other high leaders of the Hamas are under constant surveillance by the Israeli security services. Mostly when they move around because when they're static, it's a little more difficult to locate them. But as soon as they move around, so Mr. Mashal and Mr. Anier in Doha don't move that much around, they stay put. But Mr. Araruri was known to travel quite a bit. He went, first of all, a lot between, he was doing a shuttle between Damascus and Beirut because he has interests in both places. But he also went to visit Istanbul a few times or Tehran for meetings and each time he does so it's easier to locate him to see from where he went and where he's coming back to. So this was an ongoing operation for years and years. Once you have the intel, once you know more or less where he is, you have to have the precise intel, meaning the exact day, exact time and exact location where you can actually eliminate him. And this is the most interesting part because I do believe and I think that Mr. Anier has been in a very bad mood these days. I do believe that for such an operation you need local accomplices. You need somebody there on the ground at least a pointer to point the exact location to give the coordinates. After that it's a technical operation and it's a very precisely guided missiles. The missile is sent in a way that it will correct its itinerary itself looking for the target because you cannot shoot a classical missile in a built area. You don't have the angle. You have to go in and make a turn into the building. But for all this, you do need a lot of times a complicity on the ground and in our chase today after the terrorists, especially the leaders, we need human intelligence, we need that complicity on the ground for the simple reason that all of them have learned not to depend on any technology that make it easy to trace them. They do not use phones, they do not have phones, they do not use computers. They exchange written little pieces of paper and they avoid having accounts in their own name buying tickets, playing tickets in their own name. So all this makes it difficult for us technologically through computers, through the internet, through even satellite images to spot them. And today, more than ever, human intelligence, informants on the ground, accomplices, it doesn't necessarily have to be Israeli agents from the Mossad. The Mossad today is more like activated local people on the ground. Mossad agents is more like a chief and activator and then these people for all kinds of reason will help Israel because first of all ideologically, there are opponents to Hamas or Hezbollah or all these partnerships of the terrorist factions. Ideologically, it can be ethnical or religious, Shi'i and Sunni, sometimes it's even tribal in Lebanon, especially in Lebanon it's very tribal, it's big families against big families but it can also be for money and it can be like mafia, gangsters you know, who you pay to do it. There are all kinds of ways to gather accomplices especially with a figure like Mr. Aruri who had quite a few enemies around not everybody liked him, he was a bit of a wild card even inside the Hamas, he had guys who were not so friendly with him including Mr. Sinois by the way they were rivals in many ways and he was also a wild card as compared to the political branch in Doha, he was not obeying them, their orders, he was doing more or less what he wanted so all in all it is just showing just showing us that with all this the next ones on the list will be reached sooner or later. Let's cross over to I-24 News Correspond Pierre Klochenler, he's at the Heeres Crossing, Pierre what's happening on the ground there? We're going to show you with Itamar Ben Chemo what's going on you see a tank here Mercava tank which is at the entrance of the Heeres Crossing but earlier we saw some M109 howitzer pulling out of the Gaza Strip out of the northern sector where there is low intensity warfare and we know that by the end of the week five brigades three reservist brigades and two conscript brigades will be pulling out of the northern sector of the Gaza Strip because there is no really need for them and here at the Heeres border crossing with the northern tip of the Gaza Strip there's a graveyard of cars that have been standing idle for the past 90 days. 90 days that these cars are the deaf witnesses of the rampage that occurred in October 7 now look at the car there is something interesting all the cars license plates have been taken out and that probably means that instead of pulling the cars out in a zone of combat because here even this morning there was rocket fire at 9 o'clock local time the license plates allowed people to identify their missing relatives that they didn't know about the whereabouts at the Heeres crossing soldiers were killed others were kidnapped they still remain in the Gaza Strip two bodies of those abducted soldiers remain in Gaza according to the IDF and you can see part of the rampage that happened here you have the windshield here which is totally broken that Tittamar is showing you you have these plastic handcuffs probably here by the rescue workers but they're in the same color as the yellow ribbon of the campaign to release the hostages now you see it's strewn with debris everywhere and here this graffiti on a concrete block a graffiti of the twin towers of New York because for Israel the 7th of October is worse even in all proportion than 9-11 and you have this graffiti that has probably been painted by a soldier now why am I here because the Heeres border crossing might be reopening under US pressure the Israeli government is considering the reopening of the Heeres crossing for the convenience of humanitarian aid to the northern sector of the Gaza Strip where between 100 to 200,000 non-involved Palestinian civilians are still remaining and they desperately need humanitarian aid now the advantage of allowing the convenience of humanitarian aid through the Heeres crossing to the northern sector of the Gaza Strip is that it won't be looted or hijacked by Hamas terrorists because there nowhere to be seen and we've seen videos at the Rafat terminal between Egypt and Gaza or between Israel and Gaza at the Karim Shalom crossing as soon as the humanitarian trucks are entering and there are about 200 of them every day some of them are looted and hijacked by the Hamas terrorists allows them a lifeline and the longer the lifeline of Hamas the longer the war will go on so the interest is of course to allow the population to benefit from that aid that they desperately need but to forbid that aid to the Hamas terrorists Sarah Pia Koshan a chilling reminder right there behind you those cars left behind by the October 7th massacre thank you very much for that update from the Gaza crossing between Gaza and Israel Iran has lowered the death toll from Wednesday's terror attack to 84 and the Islamic Republic continues to lick its wounds following that attack at the same time it's trying to deflect attention towards Israel as senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman explains in Iran's regional strategy that move makes sense Iran is taking its wounded burying its dead and after Wednesday's terror attack in Karaman plotting next steps and in pointing fingers the resistance axis is taking the path of least resistance I warn the Zionist regime don't doubt it you will pay the price for this crime these crimes that you have committed you will deeply regret Wednesday's attack does not fit Israel's modus operandi and indeed foreign governments have signaled Israel did not do the deed instead ISIS is seen as the likeliest perpetrator for Iran an inconvenient one because an act like this highlights the potential for instability within Iran and discontent among Iran's own people we don't have any more detail in terms of how it happened or who might be responsible for it we have no indication at this time at all that Israel was involved in any way whatsoever Iran wants to focus here on Gaza whereas usual Iran thinks it can expand its soft power by being seen in the Muslim world as the player that's really taking on the Zionist and here in the Red Sea where Iran has signaled it is flexing its muscles showing it has leverage over the global economy even if the global economy is the one that actually has leverage over Iran in all these fronts Iran does continue to take the fight to others territory in the words of a New York Times report exercising strategic patience which is why Wednesday's terror attack is such an embarrassment because there Iran's soft strategic underbelly is exposed the risk of opposition on Iran's own soil I want to cross over to Lebanon for a moment where we have live visuals of the funeral of Hamas official Salah Al-Rouri who was targeted killing Imbey Routh just two days ago that funeral taking place in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon you can see visuals there Hamas flags, Palestinian flags many people look like they're gathering there still with me here in studio, Rafael Roshani former IDF senior intelligence officer Rafael I want to discuss a little bit the report that we just saw with part and by our correspondent Owen Alterman and I want to get your assessment on the situation unfolding with Iran's proxy war taking place here in the Middle East and where are we going with all of this well we don't know where we're going because we don't know what's inside the mind of the Ayatollahs there in Tehran it looks like so far that they're going to continue using their proxies there will not be a direct military Iranian intervention aimed at Israel they might also wait a little because they have no effect of surprise right now when they want to attack Israel they know that the IDF is ready to fight that we are bracing ourselves against any scenario that might happen so they might want to do the same that was did with us in the south meaning you know like put us to sleep and like wait for like quite a day and then surprise us it could be a possibility the real problem is not with Israel because Israel is dealing with what it has to deal with meaning Hamas in the south Hezbollah in the north terrorists in the west bank that's our job the rest is not our job Iran shouldn't be our job is not our job but even Gaza it's also the Egyptians job why are we doing everything concerning Gaza the Egyptians are just as concerned security was economically morally to do something about it and they could at least do the humanitarian parts and take refugees into Sana'a the Lebanon is also not only our job because it's a question of the stability of the area it should be a little more proactive there too Red Sea for sure it's the problem of an international coalition that is there but is there only patrolling in a defensive mode doing absolutely nothing to intimidate the Houthis from continuing what they're doing and then the last but not least this Iran why should we be the only nation in the world less than 10 million people living here to face the equally Iranian nuclear threat which is a threat for the whole world for the world economy and we're like just there doing the job no, it's not possible so we have to now just brace ourselves on a defensive way would we be attacked by Iranians I am sure there are in the drawers of the idea of some plans to attack Tehran and the nuclear sites if need be but need should not be and Mr. Blinken will come this time round next week he's coming here to Israel he should be told this thing guys thanks for your support which is not enough by the way the American support should be much, much more even more weaponry, even more money but let's say thank you to what already they're giving but now they also have to take their own responsibilities their responsibility is this in the geo-strategies and the security of the United States interest I mean American soldiers in the Middle East are just sitting ducks this is ridiculous so perhaps diplomatic strategy when it comes to the Islamic Republic regime is perhaps not the most ideal and effective one the UN Security Council is calling on Yemen's Houthis to halt their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden Israel's ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan spoke at that UN meeting on Wednesday stressing the attacks by the Iranian proxy are a precursor to the quote dark future expected for the region and the entire world if significant action is not taken against them urgently he added the Ayatollah regime in Iran is the only factor that connects together all the perpetrators destruction in the Middle East take a look after more than two dozen Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea since mid-November the international community is issuing its final warning 13 countries including the United States UK, Germany and Bahrain called on the Iranian backed militia in Yemen to cease their attacks or face the consequences a call reiterated on Wednesday by members of the UN Security Council these attacks pose grave implications for maritime security international shipping and commerce and they undermine the fragile humanitarian situation in Yemen damaging the ability of the international community to deliver assistance to more than 21 million people in need but according to Ali al-Bukhaiti a former spokesperson of the Houthis this will not have any effect on the Yemeni militia Ali al-Bukhaiti served as the spokesperson for the Houthis until 2015 but left after they overthrew the government in Sana'a and began oppressing their opponents speaking to I-24 news from London he explains the motivation behind the latest Houthi attacks the Yemeni armed forces warned the American enemy or any other party that any American army is trying to make it popular in the Arab world and the Islamic world and they realize that any American army on Yemen will attack the citizens as long as this group is there they will be arrested and they will not be harmed and therefore they will not be attacked by any other party that any American aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished the Yemeni armed forces also warned the American enemy or any other party against any aggression or action that represents protection for commercial ships heading to the Zionist entity at the UN on Wednesday the US envoy said that without Iran support the Houthis would struggle to carry out their attacks in the Red Sea but the former Houthi spokesperson says the Houthis act independently from the Iranians but do have shared interests