 news edition. I'm Vanessa Levine. Rocket fire from Gaza towards southern Israeli communities in recent hours yet again. Siren sounding in the southern city of Elat, the launch of a missile towards Israel was intercepted by the Arrow aerial defense system over the Red Sea. The IDF confirming the missile did not cross into Israeli territory. Now tomorrow marks two months since this war started. Two months since the Hamas terror assault in southern Israel in which more than 1,200 people were killed at a music festival at Kibbutzim and at army bases. More than 240 people were abducted. 138 are still being held in captivity in Gaza. Meanwhile fighting continues on the ground. The IDF has surrounded a home in Khan Yunus belonging to Yahya Sinwar. The Hamas head in Gaza is in hiding, though possibly underground. The Saudi based channel Al Arabiya is reporting there is no indication that he is in that building. He has several homes. On the humanitarian front Israel saying there was a tactical pause in fighting earlier in the Rafa district to allow aid to enter the enclave. In the northern Gaza strip the IDF has discovered one of the largest stockpiles of weapons yet during these operations. The weapons included hundreds of RPGs, anti-tank missiles, explosives, long-range rockets, grenades and drones all next to a health clinic and a school. So for the latest on the ground we now cross live to our correspondent Pierre Kloshengler. He joins us from southern Israel and Pierre. Red alert siren sounding in Ashkelon and surrounds earlier on. Also in a lat again. What is the latest? What can you share? Well there's been a lull in rocket fire. I mean there was a rocket fire on the community of near Oz which is facing Khan Yunus basically 1.5 kilometers away from the border and it's very possible that there is a gathering ground for the IDF forces entering the Khan Yunus area and as such the Hamas is launching maybe not even rocket fire but mortar fire because the iron don't cannot intercept mortar fire. So it's very possible that was the case. Now just behind me you mentioned a weapon stockpile that the IDF has discovered and that could possibly be what you see behind me. It's an assumption though but it's in the area of Bet Hanun and that has been burning for the past hour and a half already and it could be very possible that the IDF has decided to destroy some of it after confiscating some of it for further investigation. As you mentioned hundreds of ground-to-ground missiles that were potentially targeting Tel Aviv and the central areas of Israel, drones, RPG rockets, anti-tank guided missiles, grenades you just name it. That's the northern sector of the Gaza Strip but further south in the northern sector fierce battles in Jebalia refugee camp at the entrance of the of Gaza City and then further southeast on the outskirts of Gaza City in Sejaia and then you go further south toward the central refugee camps and Khan Yunus. There heavy strikes on this area Khan Yunus is being encircled their ground offensive raids inside Khan Yunus. There's also fighting on the eastern outskirts of Khan Yunus according to Palestinian media and at the same time the IDF as like every day in has urged the Palestinian population to leave the battle zone and move west of Khan Yunus to reach the safe humanitarian zone of Al-Muassi which is behind between Khan Yunus to the south and Rafah to the north. Now there was also a humanitarian pose that expired an hour ago in the El Shabura refugee camp in Khan Yunus for four hours and I picked up a message relayed by Palestinian media of the terror factions that are allied with Hamas saying that evacuating their place of living is tantamount to collaborating with the Zionist enemy. Benita? Many developments on many fronts and on top of all those developments as they happen as always correspondent Peer Kloschen to a live from southern Israel thank you Peer more to come from him in the coming hours and now for more insight it's a pleasure to welcome to studio dr. Avi Bitsour head of the home front and national security studies at Bate Burl academic college thank you so much for being here in studio difficult to believe that tomorrow will be two months since this war started two months since the Hamas atrocities that happened in southern Israel and as we heard from my colleague Peer many developments on the ground inside Gaza in terms of the fighting let's start with this weapons stockpile staggering to see the amount of weapons the missiles that were being hidden close to a school close to a health clinic what is your sense of what was discovered look if we are looking for reason why we are in this war I escaped the most the huge one the 7th of October I think about this ammunition if you if we don't understand that we have a snake and I say to you the last time we met this is a snake in our south and it's snake in the north speaking about the Hamas now this huge arsenal of ammunition and missiles and RPG etc. you when you see it you understand what we have grown up in our backyard and it's something they will not show that the Egyptian and not to the sea it's only one target it's Israel and we must go on with this war and we must finish this operation there is no other way and not speaking because I'm a male chauvinist militant how the Israeli know this is our only possibility to go on with our life this is the only possibility and you know you are suffering even you see the families of the of the kidnapped people and you understand them so well but you understand that there is a nation that is standing and waiting that we crush the Hamas because this is a real threat a huge threat and we have to deal with it I want to say another word about the hoots look it's I think the 20 times I said it the Yemen the hoots of Yemen are 1500 kilometers away from Israel I don't want now to be you know I'm not proud I want to say the facts even the special and unique weapon a missile we have to pass 20 minutes to come to a lot 20 minutes and look Benita we used the first time you remember the American shot it down the second time after 35 was shot it the third time the arrow the fourth time believe it or not the first time in our history so thank God the Patriots system day you need the old one the veteran shot it and put it down today we use the arrow it's not a time underestimated hoots it's not time they are nothing no there is a danger but you know what we are doing and dealing with it okay leave it to the world to deal with these pirates not us to think to think though that over and above all the threats as we saw those weapons inside Gaza the hooties in Yemen also still trying to flex their muscles stay with us there's more to discuss because there are also concerns across the northern front we now go to our correspondent Zach Anders and he joins us from northern Israel and Zach the IDF issuing a rare apology after a strike on a Hezbollah post killed a Lebanese soldier saying troops were working to neutralize a tangible threat also reiterating that Lebanese forces were not the target breakdown what happened there what is the latest across that front and the challenge being the number of Hezbollah fighters that are located all throughout southern Lebanon and when the IDF goes to strike some of these positions that Hezbollah is operating from that there is collateral damage in these areas we've seen these strikes take place in what looks like residential buildings even because the IDF says that that's where Hezbollah was firing some of these heavy rockets some homes compounds what looks like businesses the video that they released today the IDF being somewhat the semi-transparent with releasing sometimes the footage of their retaliatory strikes you can't exactly tell what transpires but you can see the the explosion take place and sometimes these look like their homes and businesses and the IDF again has reiterated for weeks that this is where Hezbollah is operating from that they continue to hold themselves up inside communities and true attempt to strike from these positions now there are many people that have evacuated from southern Lebanon because of the hostilities here but it is a significant moment to see a la F Lebanon armed forces soldier killed and several others wounded in what was apparently a attempt to go after another cell for Hezbollah that had been responsible for what the IDF says strike earlier in the day in the one o'clock hour here we've seen continued Hezbollah strikes that Hezbollah has already taken credit for inside Lebanese media channels and the IDF says that they're working this afternoon to strike with artillery and the Air Force on these positions so it is a cycle that repeats itself continuously here and for the latest on that cycle thank you so much to correspond and Zach Anders more to come from Zach from northern Israel in the coming hours thank you soldiers policemen and civilians took up arms and went out to defend their communities on the 7th of October knowing that they were the last line of defense for their families and their friends our next story tells the story of Yossi Tahr and accomplished fighter in the IDF and in Israel's internal security service who lost his life defending his community more in this report I miss him so much my heart is dead why couldn't he be more careful how how could they not save him stay strong like you are you cheer me up all the time it's true it's so painful it's impossible I can't believe that Yossi was taken from me in fact I went there with the feeling that this wouldn't happen to me for what purpose why is he part of it Yossi the good Lord protects him but no one defended him until October 7th Mazal and Ely Tahr knew nothing about them not what they look like or what their real names were these are the friends of her son Yossi killed on October 7th who remained in the shadow I never knew them I've never seen them and I said to myself what a shame that Yossi never came home with them for dinner now when they come here they give me a little bit of strength but I miss Yossi a lot we spoke on Thursday morning maybe now is the time to show what he wrote to me it was Thursday you read it I can't that I want to tell you how much I love you and really appreciate that you're here by my side you give me strength when I need it always thinking always thoughtful warm friendly with logic and always sincere it is important for me that you know how dear you are to me I love you Yossi those are three of the most valiant elite fighters in the secret and very special unit of the internal intelligence service the Shin Bet they are here to meet Yossi's parents and tell them about the side of Yossi they knew less about he had a strong personality those who knew him got attached to him in seconds at all levels from the simple soldier arriving at the unit the day before to the IDF chief of staff he knew how to connect with people just like that he gave so much of himself he would meet someone and two days later is invited over for barbecue dinner we don't wear our ranks we don't treat people based on their position people follow us because of the leadership because of the personality of whoever leads the unit and Yossi was all of the above big-time he knew how to speak to people and touch their hearts we cannot show Yossi's photo and his face will probably never be known to the public our slogan is protect and not be seen in 99% of cases we were the ones surprised the enemy we are the initiators those who direct the situation on October 7th we were surprised by the intensity of the attack the way it was done the numbers and that was what put us in great difficulty in the first hours of the attack in many ways Yossi is like Immanuel Moreno the heroic fighter of the famous special forces commando Sayred Maktal but in the ranks of Shunbed tales of his bravery and everything he did on October 7th will remain secret except for what the sensors allow us to reveal it was half past six in the morning of the 7th of October I received the first phone call from Yossi he told me you're not going to believe it there's something weird going on here he was talking to me from his shelter and told me that he will call me back when he's on the road to decide what we're going to do as we drove south we realized that one of our fighters was hit and Yossi with another small team of fighters responded driving towards the terrorists under heavy fire he was in an area he didn't know and we could not yet understand the scale and complexity of the attack and the number of terrorists was able to reach our struggling fighter after a few minutes and Yossi actually saved his life outside violent fighting was taking place on all sides and Yossi realized that the evacuation is well managed it's under control he analyzed the situation perfectly and said to himself that he's the force closest to the Kibbutz Mefalsim and decided to support the fighters in the area Yossi is an experienced fighter with a lot of hours of combat and his belt he comes from Shate Shaloshesri the Marine Commanders Yossi was in a different level than the rest of us he often faced terrorists participated in many operations against them and had a lot of experience pretty early in the fighting he was able to get hold of one of the terrorists tactical radios at first he listened to what they were saying trying to figure out where the terrorists are they killed two terrorists in the van they saw another group of about 10 terrorists up the road he ran to an open area and the terrorists were hiding behind a concrete shelter at the entrance of the Kibbutz at this point he had been hit and that's where he died I heard on the radio that Yossi was wounded and the next call I got was not from Yossi it was from our medic he came by here he told me man I can't keep fighting to save Yossi it's done and I know both of them very well I know about the commitment we have towards each other here however when he told me that he did everything he could but could not save him and that was the end I realized that we're dealing with a totally different situation here did he suffer no he didn't suffer no he didn't suffer first few days after Yossi died I didn't want to deal with it I tried to keep busy don't think about it I tried to erase it sometimes I'd wake up at night saying to myself it can't be can't be true but after about four days I stopped on the side of the road and said I can't put it away anymore just like that I wanted a moment to process and I got on WhatsApp and listened to some of the messages he has sent me and the last one was a song he this song suddenly hit me it cut off half my heart and I just stopped this repression disappeared all of a sudden emotions came pouring out it overwhelmed me because you hear Yossi in his own voice singing a song that is almost like a prophecy Yossi was the son of every parent here in Israel he defended them all by himself all of them he protected the state of Israel he even told us once if not me then who would do the job he's not here it's just the body physical matter here materiality I respect the cemetery in the burial which is important in Judaism in our heritage but for me this is just a stone like you said it's not him it's a stone I think that if there's as they say a world beyond this one I am sure that he's up there giving it all he's got I have no doubt grief hit Ellie three times during his life his brother Lieutenant Colonel Yossi Tahar a senior officer at the paratroopers brigade was killed in July of 1981 fighting in Lebanon it was a huge crisis in my life a very very difficult crisis I've carried it around for a long time 20 years later when Roy was killed then they asked me they told me you must be used to it but I said that that was not the case now I understand what my parents felt Roy Ellie son fighter in the Nahal brigade was killed in a motorcycle accident on October 2001 when Roy died a part of me died it didn't hurt it was just that a part of me was dead Ellie was sure he had already paid the ultimate price and that Yossi despite serving as a fighter who in the Navy commando and later in the Shin Bet would not be harmed that's what almost everyone thought those who knew Yossi at one point I said that's it I have the impression that that's it he's safe there with this protective layer around him it thought he was safe Yossi had something immortal about him in the eulogy his commander said that when Yossi would stare death in the eyes death will back down many Israelis owe their life to Yossi and they don't even know it beyond the fact that October 7th his actions stopped terrorists from entering in the kibbutz of Mefalsim he is responsible for hundreds of foiled attacks over the years in service and only a handful of which we were allowed to mention one of the many unsung heroes who died defending Israel on the 7th of October absolutely devastating a very powerful report there dr. Avi Bitsura still with me in studio when you hear the goals of Israel to eliminate Hamas after a report like that you feel it so deeply the need to eliminate the terror threat so that what happened on the 7th of October can never ever happen again and at the same time we know there are 138 hostages still being held captive inside Gaza as we speak talk to us about the options right now for Israel we know that some of them being floated about include flushing out the underground tunnels and thereby eliminating the Hamas infrastructure and the fighters that might be there but obviously there would be major risks involved there talk to us about the options first thank you second it was so sad to see the article look about the tunnels the tunnels first of all the importance this is the veins that the blood of the Hamas all his abilities all his options are in there hundreds and hundreds kilometers of tunnels first of all second we have we must and we will ruin these tunnels because if we will do it they will not go on with their life there are five methods that you can deal with the tunnel the first one is you know let's take a commando the braver command in Israel say at Matt Carl etc put them inside and go in the tunnel but what will happen the tunnel is narrow so suppose Benita you are going first with a weapon I'm after you and many many commandos men brave Rambo but we can use only one rifle that you are shooting so all the possibilities and all the what you can do with such commando you cannot do it first second you are dangerous danger make putting gender the soldiers that are going third you are putting ginger maybe the kidnapped people are inside right so you will not do it second let's take parts of the tunnels and bomb them okay but it will take a many explosive a military combat people it's cannot be done with the bulldozers shuffle dosers the nine etc the same right so you have two possibilities that let's say I presume Israel can do okay one of them is flowed the tunnels with seawater first of all to all the people that watching now in 2015 the Egyptian have done it in the fear right they put inside water salty water and put it only a few seconds and the last one is the sponge bomb to close like in cement all the tunnels we are speaking about it because this is the way to make the terrorists go to face us on the table to speak about the kidnapped people complicated indeed we're waiting to hear what will happen 138 hostages still in captivity dr. Abib it's sort of thank you that's a wrap for now stay tuned back in a bit drill story to the world I 24 news channels breaking news edition I'm Vanessa Levine rocket fire from Gaza towards southern Israeli communities in recent hours yet again and another missile fired from Yemen to siren sounding in the southern city of a lot the launch of a missile towards Israel was intercepted by the arrow aerial defense system over the Red Sea the IDF confirming the missile did not cross into Israeli territory now tomorrow marks two months since this war started two months since the Hamas terror assault in southern Israel in which more than 1200 people were killed at a music festival at Kibbutzim and at army bases more than 240 people were abducted 138 are still being held in captivity in Gaza meanwhile fighting continues on the ground the IDF has surrounded a home in Khan Yunus belonging to Yahya Sinwar the Hamas head in Gaza is in hiding though possibly underground the Saudi based channel Al Arabiya is reporting there is no indication that he is in that building he has several homes on the humanitarian front Israel saying there was a tactical pause in fighting earlier in the Rafa district to allow aid to enter the enclave in the northern Gaza strip the IDF has discovered one of the largest stockpiles of weapons yet during these operations the weapons included hundreds of RPGs anti-tank missiles explosives long range rockets grenades and drones all next to a health clinic and a school so for the latest on the ground we now cross live to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler he joins us from southern Israel and Pierre Red Alert siren sounding in Ashkelon and surrounds earlier on also in a lot again what is the latest what can you share well there's been a lot in rocket fire I mean there was a rocket fire on the community of near us which is facing Khan Yunus basically 1.5 kilometers away from the border and it's very possible that there is a gathering ground for the IDF forces entering the Khan Yunus area and as and as such the the Hamas is launching maybe not even rocket fire but mortar fire because it's and the the iron don't cannot intercept mortar fire so it's very possible that was the case now just behind me you mentioned a weapon stockpile that the IDF has discovered and that could possibly be what you see behind me it's an assumption though but it's in the area of Beth Hanun and that has been burning for the past hour and a half already and it could be very possible that the IDF has decided to destroy some of it after confiscating some of it for further investigation as you mentioned hundreds of ground to ground missiles that were potentially targeting Tel Aviv and the central areas of Israel drones RPG rockets anti-tank guided missiles grenades you just name it that's the northern sector of the Gaza Strip but further south in the northern sector fierce battles in Jebalia refugee camp at the entrance of the of Gaza city and then further south east on the outskirts of Gaza city in Sejaia and then you go further south toward the central refugee camps and Hanunas their heavy strikes on this area Hanunas is being encircled their ground offensive raids inside Hanunas there's also fighting on the eastern outskirts of Hanunas according to Palestinian media and at the same time the IDF as like every day in as urged the Palestinian population to leave the battle zone and move west of Hanunas to reach the safe humanitarian zone of al-Muassi which is behind between Hanunas to the south and Rafah to the north now there was also a humanitarian pose that expired an hour ago in the El Shabura refugee camp in Hanunas for four hours and I picked up a message relayed by Palestinian media of the terror factions that are allied with Hamas who's saying that evacuating their place of living is tantamount to collaborating with the Zionist enemy Benita many developments on many fronts and on top of all those developments as they happen as always correspondent Peer Kloschender live from southern Israel thank you Peer more to come from him in the coming hours and now for more inside it's a pleasure to welcome to studio dr. avi bitsur head of the home front and national security studies at Bate Burl academic college thank you so much for being here in studio difficult to believe that tomorrow will be two months since this war started two months since the Hamas atrocities that happened in southern Israel and as we heard from my colleague Peer many developments on the ground inside Gaza in terms of the fighting let's start with this weapons stockpile staggering to see the amount of weapons the missiles that were being hidden close to a school close to a health clinic what is your sense of what was discovered look if we are looking for a reason why we are in this war I escaped the most the huge one the 7th of october I was thinking about this ammunition if you do if we don't understand that we have a snake and I say to you the last time we met this is a snake in our south and it's snake in the north speaking about the Hamas now this huge arsenal of ammunition and missiles and RPG etc you when you see it you understand what we have grown up in our backyard and it's something they will not show that the egyptian and not to the sea it's only one target it's israel and we must go on with this war and we must finish this operation there is no other way and not speaking because I'm a male chauvinist militant how the israeli no this is our only possibility to go on with our life this is the only possibility and you know you are suffering even you see the families of the of the kidnapped people and you understand them so well but you understand that there is a nation that is standing and waiting that will crush the Hamas because this is a real threat a huge threat and we have to deal with it I want to say another word about the hoots look it's I think the 20 times I said it the Yemen the hoots of Yemen are 1500 kilometers away from Israel I don't want now to be you know I'm not proud I want to say the facts even the a special and unique weapon a missile will have to pass 20 minutes to come to a lot 20 minutes and look Benita we used the first time you remember the america shot it down the second time the south east f-35 was shot it the third time the arrow the fourth time believe it or not the first time in our history so take good the patriots system they you need the old one the veteran shot it and put it down today we use the arrow it's not a time underestimated the hoots it's no time they are nothing no there is a danger but you know what we are doing and dealing with it okay leave it to the world to deal with these pirates not us to think to think though that over and above all the threats as we saw those weapons inside Gaza the hoots in Yemen also still trying to flex their muscles stay with us there's more to discuss because there are also concerns across the northern front we now go to our correspondent Zach Anders and he joins us from northern Israel and Zach the IDF issuing a rare apology after a strike on a Hezbollah post killed a Lebanese soldier saying troops were working to neutralize a tangible threat also reiterating that Lebanese forces were not the target breakdown what happened there what is the latest across that front and the challenge being the number of Hezbollah fighters that are located all throughout southern Lebanon and when the IDF goes to strike some of these positions that Hezbollah is operating from that there is collateral damage in these areas we've seen these strikes take place in what looks like residential buildings even because the IDF says that that's where Hezbollah was firing some of these heavy rockets some homes compounds what looks like businesses the video that they released today the IDF being somewhat semi-transparent with releasing sometimes the footage of their retaliatory strikes you can't exactly tell what transpires but you can see the the explosion take place and as sometimes these look like their homes and businesses and the IDF again has reiterated for weeks that this is where Hezbollah is operating from that they continue to hold themselves up inside communities and attempt to strike from these positions now there are many people that have evacuated from southern Lebanon because of the hostilities here but it is a significant moment to see a LAF Lebanon armed forces soldier killed and several others wounded in what was apparently an attempt to go after another cell for Hezbollah that had been responsible for what the IDF says strike earlier in the day in the one o'clock hour here we've seen continued Hezbollah strikes that Hezbollah has already taken credit for inside Lebanese media channels and the IDF says that they're working this afternoon to strike with artillery and the air force on these positions so it is a a cycle that repeats itself continuously here and for the latest on that cycle thank you so much to correspondent Zach Anders Moore to come from Zach from northern Israel in the coming hours thank you soldiers policemen and civilians took up arms and went out to defend their communities on the 7th of October knowing that they were the last line of defense for their families and their friends our next story tells the story of Yossi Tachar an accomplished fighter in the IDF and in Israel's internal security service who lost his life defending his community more in this report I miss him so much my heart is dead why couldn't he be more careful how how could they not save him stay strong like you are you cheer me up all the time it's true it's so painful it's impossible I can't believe that Yossi was taken from me in fact I went there with the feeling that this wouldn't happen to me for what purpose why is he part of it Yossi the good Lord protects him but no one defended him until October 7th Mazal and Elie Tachar knew nothing about them not what they looked like or what their real names were these are the friends of her son Yossi killed on October 7th who remained in the shadow I never knew them I've never seen them and I said to myself what a shame that Yossi never came home with them for dinner now when they come here they give me a little bit of strength but I miss Yossi a lot we spoke on Thursday morning maybe now is the time to show what he wrote to me it was Thursday you read it I can't that I want to tell you how much I love you and really appreciate that you're here by my side you give me strength when I need it always thinking always thoughtful warm friendly with logic and always sincere it is important for me that you know how dear you are to me I love you Yossi I can't those are three of the most valiant elite fighters in the secret and very special unit of the internal intelligence service the Shin Bet they are here to meet Yossi's parents and tell them about the side of Yossi they knew less about he had a strong personality those who knew him got attached to him in seconds at all levels from the simple soldier arriving at the unit the day before to the IDF chief of staff he knew how to connect with people just like that he gave so much of himself he would meet someone and two days later is invited over for barbecue dinner we don't wear our ranks we don't treat people based on their position people follow us because of the leadership because of the personality of whoever leads the unit and Yossi was all of the above big time he knew how to speak to people and touch their hearts we cannot show Yossi's photo and his face will probably never be known to the public our slogan is protect and not be seen in 99 of cases we were the ones to surprise the enemy we are the initiators those who direct the situation on october 7th we were surprised by the intensity of the attack the way it was done the numbers and that was what put us in great difficulty in the first hours of the attack in many ways Yossi is like Emmanuel Moreno the heroic fighter of the famous special forces commando Sayred Maktal but in the ranks of shin bet tales of his bravery and everything he did on october 7th will remain secret except for what the sensors allow us to reveal it was half past six in the morning of the seventh of october i received the first phone call from yossi he told me you're not going to believe it there's something weird going on here he was talking to me from his shelter and told me that he will call me back when he's on the road to decide what we're going to do as we drove south we realized that one of our fighters was hit and yossi with another small team of fighters responded driving towards the terrace under heavy fire he was in an area he didn't know and we could not yet understand the scale and complexity of the attack and the number of terrorists he was able to reach our struggling fighter after a few minutes and yossi actually saved his life outside violent fighting was taking place on all sides and yossi realized that the evacuation is well managed it's under control he analyzed the situation perfectly and said to himself that he's the first closest to the kibbutz mefal sim and decided to support the fighters in the area yossi is an experienced fighter with a lot of hours of combat on his belt he comes from sheta shalo shesre the marine commanders yossi was in a different level than the rest of us he often faced terrorists participated in many operations against them and had a lot of experience pretty early in the fighting he was able to get hold of one of the terrorist tactical radios at first he listened to what they were saying trying to figure out where the terrorists are they killed two terrorists in the van they saw another group of about 10 terrorists up the road he ran to an open area and the terrorists were hiding behind a concrete shelter the entrance of the kibbutz at this point he had been hit and that's where he died i heard on the radio that yossi was wounded and the next call i got was not from yossi it was from our medic he came by here he told me man i can't keep fighting to save yossi it's done and i know both of them very well i know about the commitment we have towards each other here however when he told me that he did everything he could but could not save him and that was the end i realized that we're dealing with a totally different situation here did he suffer no he didn't suffer no he didn't suffer first few days after yossi died i didn't want to deal with it i tried to keep busy don't think about it i tried to erase it sometimes i'd wake up at night saying to myself it can't be it can't be true but after about four days i stopped on the side of the road and said i can't put it away anymore just like that i wanted a moment to process and i got on whatsapp and listened to some of the messages he has sent me and the last one was a song he this song suddenly hit me it cut off half my heart and i just stopped this repression disappeared all of a sudden emotions came pouring out it overwhelmed me because you hear yossi in his own voice singing a song that is almost like a prophecy yossi was the son of every parent here in israel he defended them all by himself all of them he protected the state of israel he even told us once if not me then who would do the job he's not here it's just the body physical matter here materiality i respect the cemetery and the burial which is important in judaism in our heritage but for me this is just a stone like you said it's not him it's a stone i think that if theirs is they say a world beyond this one i am sure that he's up there giving it all he's got i have no doubt grief hit ellie three times during his life his brother lieutenant colonel yossi tahar a senior officer at the paratroopers brigade was killed in july of 1981 fighting in lebanon it was a huge crisis in my life a very very difficult crisis i've carried it around for a long time 20 years later when roey was killed then they asked me they told me you must be used to it but i said that that was not the case now i understand what my parents felt roey ellie's son fighter in the nahal brigade was killed in a motorcycle accident on october 2001 when roey died a part of me died it didn't hurt it was just that a part of me was dead ellie was sure he had already paid the ultimate price and that yossi despite serving as a fighter who in the navy commando and later in the shin bet would not be harmed that's what almost everyone thought those who knew yossi at one point i said that's it i have the impression that that's it he's safe there with this protective layer around him i thought he was safe yossi had something immortal about him in the eulogy his commander said that when yossi would stare death in the eyes death was back down many israelis owe their life to yossi and they don't even know it beyond the fact that october 7th his actions stopped terrorists from entering in the kibbutz of mefal sim he is responsible for hundreds of foiled attacks over the years in service and only a handful of which we were allowed to mention one of the many unsung heroes who died defending israel on the 7th of october absolutely devastating a very powerful report there dr avid bitsura still with me in studio when you hear the goals of israel to eliminate hamas after a report like that you feel it so deeply the need to eliminate the terror threat so that what happened on the 7th of october can never ever happen again and at the same time we know there are 138 hostages still being held captive inside gaza as we speak talk to us about the options right now for israel we know that some of them being floated about include flushing out the underground tunnels and thereby eliminating the hamas infrastructure and the fighters that might be there but obviously there would be major risks involved there talk to us about the options first thank you second it was so sad to see the article look about the tunnels the tunnels first of all the importance this is the veins that the blood of the hamas all his abilities all his options are in there hundreds and hundreds kilometers of tunnels first of all second we have we must and we will ruin these tunnels because if we will do it they will not go on with their life there are five methods that you can deal with the tunnel the first one is you know let's take a commando the braver commando in israel sehret matkal etc put them inside and go in the tunnel but what will happen the tunnel is narrow so suppose benita you are going first with a weapon i am after you and many many commanders men brave rambo but we can use only one rifle that you are shooting so all the possibilities and all the what you can do with such commando you cannot do it first second you are dangerous danger make putting gender the soldiers that are going third you are putting gender maybe the kidnapped people are inside right so you will not do it second let's take parts of the tunnels and bomb them okay but it will take a many explosive and military compact people it's cannot be done with the bulldozers shuffle dozers d9 etc the same right so you have two possibilities that let's say i presume israel okay one of them is flowed the tunnels with sea water first of all to all the people that were watching now in 2015 the egyptian have done it in rafiah right they put inside water salty water and put it only a few seconds and the last one is the sponge bomb to close like in cement all the tunnels we are still speaking about it because this is the way to make the terrorists go to face us on the table to speak about the kidnapped people complicated indeed we're waiting to hear what will happen 138 hostages still in captivity dr avid sir thank you that's a wrap for now stay tuned back in a bit news edition i'm benita levine live in tel aviv sirens are sounding right now in israel including near bear sheba in the south those sirens sounding as we started this broadcast just moments ago earlier another missile fired from yemen towards israeli territory siren sounding in the southern city of elat in recent hours the launch of a missile towards israel was intercepted by the arrow aerial defense system over the red sea the idf confirming the missile did not cross into israeli territory now tomorrow marks two months since this war started two months since the khamas terror assault in southern israel in which more than 1200 people were killed at a music festival at kibbutzim and at army bases more than 240 people were abducted 138 are still being held in captivity in gaza meanwhile fighting continues on the ground the idf has surrounded a home in conunus belonging to yagya sinwar the khamas head in gaza is in hiding though possibly underground the saudi-based channel al arabia is reporting there is no indication that he is in the building he has several homes on the humanitarian front israel saying there was a tactical pause in fighting earlier in the raffa district to allow aid to enter the enclave in the northern gaza strip the idf has discovered one of the largest stockpiles of weapons yet during these operations the weapons include hundreds of rpgs anti-tank missiles explosives long-range rockets grenades and drones all next to a health clinic and a school so for more on all these latest developments we welcome to studio colonel in the reserves gusher yakubovic former head of the civilian department of kogat in the idf and an israeli-palestinian relations expert grisha thank you so much for being here and just moments ago as we started this broadcast siren sounding yet again in berishiba in the south and surrounds one might be surprised that there is still rocket fire nearly two months into this war given the progress that is being made by the idf inside the gaza strip your thoughts first of all it was a coordinated attack also from the north at the same time okay to shtula and to the area of berishiba it means that hamas abilities to be coordinated with the maybe it's hezbollah or hamas in the north is still exists this is number one number two i'm not surprised hamas prepared themselves for this war for two three years so everything is ready everything is installed underground they are hiding like rats underground and they need to launch all the all the stocks of rockets that they that they prepared they so they have to empty all the stocks because the idf surrounds and continues with the fighting in the northern part of gaza of the gaza strip in hanyunes and as deeper as the idf will enter we will see more and more launches until it will reach to an end as you say those siren sounding not only in the south in berishiba but also stulla up in the north at the same time as you say clearly well coordinated well planned and clearly something that israelis are sadly getting used to grisha i want your take on the size of the stockpile of weapons that wasn't covered by the idf inside the gaza strip as a civilian it's quite staggering to see the scope of what was there in that weapons cash and what it means first of all how do those weapons get there where are they likely from before i answer to that i want to i want to clarify one thing hamas from june 2007 after they conquered the gaza strip from the unity government in gaza by force executing fatah officials they decided to build the force of hamas and jihad against israel and making sure that all the money that they will get all the aid that they will get will be focused in only building the force weapons tunnels and we've seen those testimonies by by his senior hamas official saying yes we've built 500 kilometers of tunnels if he did that they also build weapons on the other hand hamas were relaxed because as a southern entity controlling the gaza strip others provided the solutions to the civilians that are under their responsibility as simple as it sounds on the world for program the red cross okay all the NGOs and all the donors that donated the money to help the people of gaza because hamas showed poverty and hamas showed a crisis and hamas had to state or or forced countries in a very a very smart way to and create to create jelidism jelidism for god i'm sorry sorry about it jelidism against israel about the policy that israel implemented towards the gaza strip that is a restricted one so a very smart organization with a strategy using all the money that they got from cut out 30 million dollars a month all the money that they taxed from the goods entering from egypt on the ground okay we are talking about 700 million dollars a year and money that they are taxing from inside gaza from the people money that came from israel through the workers who worked in israel and they used all that money to do two major things one is to build factories on the ground so they can build weapons the videos that we've saw with all the rockets that were found the m75 or the j90 are homemade rockets with iranian technology a major array of homemade rockets as you say rocket yes and let's not forget that under the border between gaza and egypt there was still underground tunnels functioning tunnels that they smuggled weapons from iran from libya from sudan from yaman by bribing the egyptians somehow somehow i don't know how but it's not so simple to do it certainly many questions are being raised as we see more and more of these weapons being exposed and also important to mention that these were housed next to a school and a health clinic grisha stay with us much more to discuss but right now let's go to our correspondent guy israel and he joins us from storot in southern israel and guy as we started this broadcast red alert siren sounding in bir shiba and surrounds what is the latest what can you share this hour yeah bonita what seems to be like a heavy barrage of rockets towards the city of bir shiba those rockets launched from the southern part of the gaza strip far away from where we are nonetheless it is a very active fighting scene right here near storot we're hearing constant idf shelling we're hearing drones we're hearing fighter jets we even heard automatic weapon from where we are of course just behind me are the gaza neighborhoods of bethanon and betlahia and slightly further away jabalia as well we know our idea forces are still operating in these areas in the northern part of the gaza strip i'm not sure if you could see it in your picture but the heavy plums of smoke behind us a real evident real evidence of the extent of the fighting that is still ongoing right now and that is of course while the idf is also operating with thousands of idf soldiers in the southern part of the gaza strip that is something that we heard from idf chief herzi alevi just yesterday obviously a vital part of the plan of the israeli military in its efforts to take over the khamas military capabilities of course hanyunis a major city of khamas many khamas strongholds in that area still a lot of work for the idf over there and nonetheless yes the rocket fire does continue we heard also earlier rockets in ashkelon and one israeli man was wounded from shrapnel from a rocket hit very close to where we are near one of the communities here next to stirrots and guy complicating the operation by the idf inside gaza right now is of course the fact that there are still 138 hostages being held by the terror group talk to us briefly about how that impacts the way the fighting is likely to continue in the coming hours and days as we did hear the the families of the israeli hostages when they met with the war cabinet yesterday obviously voicing their concern of the ongoing fighting in gaza and the fear for their loved ones obviously as the fighting continues israel in its part says it does whatever it can to avoid injuries to those hostages for as much as information is available about the whereabouts obviously these hostages are not only in underground tunnels some of them we know from hostages who returned are also being held in houses in apartment buildings and they are being moved all the time so the idf is certainly making an effort at least to avoid injuring or hurting them to the best of the knowledge of the israeli military of course that is not in the interest of hamas to take care of them we've seen various israelis that have already been murdered by hamas while being captive in in gaza over the past two months benita the whole nation waiting of course for word on the 138 hostages still being held there as you are describing thank you so much for now corresponding guy israel in southern israel more to come from guy in the coming hours now the storm has been brewing ever since the 7th of october and on tuesday it reached washington with members of congress questioning the presidents of harvard mit and the university of pennsylvania about allegations of anti-semitism on their campuses our senior diplomatic correspondent oan ultiman brings us highlights from a rough and tumble hearing let's take a look the fewer over anti-semitism on campus has made it all the way here to the witness table on capitol hill with three university presidents tuesday facing a grilling at a hearing of the education committee of the us house of representatives so the answer is yes that calling for the genocide of jews violates harvard code of conduct correct again it depends on the context it does not depend on the context the answer is yes and this is why you should resign these are unacceptable answers across the board and so it went with scenes like these is the backdrop months of angry campus protests on the backdrop of the war in gaza with tensions building between pro-palestinian students who fear being silenced and particularly jewish students who feel bullied with jewish students saying slogans like intifada global revolution are anti-semitic and some pro-palestinian groups seeing them as protected speech that is hateful speech that has been and should be condemned whether it rises to the level of incitement to violence under the policies that pen and the city of philadelphia follow which are guided by the united states constitution um i think is a much more difficult question the hearing on capitol hill adds to the headaches of campus presidents who are facing competing pressures from pro-israel and pro-palestinian students faculty alumni and donors unable to please everyone and maybe to please anyone so for more reaction we now welcome richie torres us house representative in new york's 15th congressional district joining us from new york thank you so much for your time here on i24 news so first there is this disturbing spate of anti-semitic incidents so some of the top campuses in the united states since the ramas terror onslaught on the 7th of october and then you hear the presidents of these institutions unable to answer diary questions whether calls for genocide of jews violate rules of bullying and harassment on campus what is your reaction i'm in a state of shock um you know when during the during the hearing when the presidents were asked this calling for genocide of jews qualifies harassment you know most americans would have said of course but the presidents of u-pen and harvard said its context dependent uh you know it's absurd and and it shows that our college presidents and deans are complicit in aiding and abetting anti-semitism on college campuses we've seen the hysterical and and hyperbolic demonization of israel need to an outbreak of campus anti-semitism as well as anti-semitism on social media and if we as a country in the united states if we cannot bring ourselves to condemn the cold-blooded murder of jews in israel with moral clarity then what are we becoming as a country what does that reveal about the depth of anti-semitism in the american soul so there needs to be a serious reckoning with the deepening rot of anti-semitism at the core of both academia and social media in the united states and beyond it was certainly staggering to hear the interactions in that hearing quite something to see and it raises the major concerns around the response from these college administrators or presidents perhaps the lack of response is a better way of describing it creating this untenable situation for students and staff given that you are in new york are jewish students safe on campuses there what are you thinking look i have no confidence in the leadership of our colleges and universities to ensure the safety of jewish students and keep in mind that any college or university receiving federal funds from the u.s. government uh is is required to ensure the safety of their jewish students is prohibited by law from creating a hostile environment for jews on college campuses and so there needs to be more civil rights enforcement we have to hold these institutions accountable for cracking down on campus anti-semitism in their ranks but so far these institutions are in a state of denial about the depth of anti-semitism and so they're not part of the solution they're part of the problem and one might think as you alluded to sympathies might be with israel especially when one sees the atrocities perpetuated on the 7th of october the abduction of babies women men the elderly peace activists as well and there are also americans still being held hostage by hamas and possibly other terror groups too inside gaza president joe biden says they're talking to the qataris what kind of impact can the u.s. have right now in helping to get all these hostages freed well even though qatar is part of the problem in so far as it finances hamas the u.s. does have a strategic relationship with qatar and we can leverage the relationship to pressure qatar to pressure hamas to secure the release of the hostages but you know keep in mind hamas did not release the hostages out of the kindness of its own heart it released the hostages in response to military pressure from israel without the military pressure hamas would have had no incentive to release the hostages and israel and the united states would have had no leverage to secure the release of the hostages so again what can president joe biden do in terms of putting more pressure on doha or any other player to make sure that there is a resolution where these hostages can get home and get home safely we have to send a clear message that if you're an ally of the united states you have to stand with us and you have to be instrumental in securing the release of all hostages including the israeli and the american hostages uh you're either with us or against us this is a morally clarifying moment and to that exact point president joe biden has reiterated us support for israel visiting the country obviously as you know in the early days of the war but within the democratic party there are obviously progressive members who have a different stance including attaching conditions to security aid for israel talk us through the rift within the party over support for israel well i you know we have to be careful not to mistake a visible vocal minority for a majority of democrats um you know the leader of the democratic party joe biden has been unequivocally for israel the legislative leaders both majority leader schumer in the senate and minority leader hakeem jeffrey's in the house have been unequivocally pro israel and and the overwhelming majority of democrats are prepared to provide israel with the funding that it needs to defend itself in the face of barbaric terrorism there is a small subset of members uh as you know one of them happens to be republican but a few of them are democrats who want to condition aid to israel and that is a position that i emphatically reject we have no greater ally in the middle east than the state of israel and we should be strengthening not weakening our relationship with israel in a time of of of terror well we certainly appreciate you speaking to us and we appreciate your insights richie torres us house representative in new york's 15th congressional district thank you for speaking to us live from new york thank you so much to digest there grisha your thoughts on the impact when we talk about hostages still being held 138 fighting underway as we speak inside the gaza strip which players which countries which entities can help to put pressure on doha to make sure that khamas lets the hostages come home where they belong you know we need a many things are happening around us i think that we are facing a future of a possible new mediterranean order there is a visit of president putin at the emirates right now and tomorrow he's going to meet racy and what we see is a russian eastern coalition being built and this is the time to build the western coalition in the middle east and this is the only way to send a clear message to hamas those are the countries that are the western coalition united states south arabia the emirates bahrain qatar israel okay all together and if you gaza if you want to see a future at the end of this war you should release those prisoners and this coalition must state that israel has the right to defend itself and israel has the right to do whatever is needed to release all those civilians who were brutally kidnapped and we need statements for now because we know how to do the job but we also need the statements and we need this this official formal coalition made led by the united states with egypt with jordan with the country that's around us this will be one of the solutions in the following weeks to bring them home grisha stay with us because exactly to that point as fighting continues inside the gaza strip the idf is reiterating it has not forgotten the 138 hostages still in hamas captivity in gaza men women children and the elderly abducted during that terror rampage on the 7th of october idf spokesperson daniel higari says they are doing everything in their power to get the hostages back home safely and as we're discussing right now calling on others to do the same let's take a listen in his own words every day every hour every minute is critical the lives of our hostages are at risk those who claim to value women's rights do the lives of israeli women mean less those who claim to value human life do the lives of 138 hostages lives that are at risk right now are their lives worthless international organizations know their mandate and they also know the facts hamas is preventing them from doing their job the israel defense forces will do everything in its power to rescue our hostages and bring them home we call others to do the same meanwhile the family of an elderly israeli woman released from captivity on the first day of the hostage release deal last week says her condition has deteriorated it's khanak at sears 78th birthday today she is in hospital in serious condition she was one of the scores of civilians abducted on the 7th of october held in captivity for more than seven weeks without any medication her family says her condition deteriorated in that time she now has severe heart problems due to the harsh conditions and lack of food in captivity her 79 year old husband avraham rami was murdered in their safe room during the killing rampage nearly eight weeks ago now and their son elad was kidnapped from his own home in neroz and is still in captivity in gaza krisha beyond tragic a woman who spends seven weeks in captivity an elderly woman comes back home her husband is killed her son is still being held hostage and she is now dealing with obvious health conditions a deteriorating health situation well that's hamas this is the real face of hamas of kidnapping innocent civilians from their beds and then starving them and let's not talk about the sexual harassment with horrifying stories that i i hear almost on a daily base but this is the enemy it's uh you know i just looked at my social media and i published last year a post that i concluded it that hamas is isis it means i i i saw that all a modern year ago and what i found out that i was wrong because what hamas are is actually something worse than isis so isis would be only a compliment to what they're doing just look at this old woman 70 year eight years old her birthday today and and and for what to what why he was kidnapped what they wanted to achieve what was the goal of that so this is the face of the enemy evil pure evil no doubt about it there is another concern not only is they fighting right now inside the gaza strip not only are there 138 hostages still there but the west bank is simmering well this is something that's really worries me uh 60 days of a war uh 60 days of Palestinian workers and i'm talking about 140 000 workers who work in Israel on a daily base they are the ones who bring the flow of cash into the economy of the west bank it's not the palestine authority it's the workers who work in Israel and another 30 000 who work at the settlements we are talking about big money and this is what actually moves the wheels of economy inside the west bank i already i've been talking to my friends and clients in the west bank and they are telling me that many checks that they got from the clients are not covered by the banks because of lack of cash lack of money let's add that to what Hamas is trying to do and to flame the west bank that might be really really dangerous and we can actually be in another front in the west bank very briefly i literally have 10 seconds can the idf handle something happening on that front at the same time this is what the idf is actually doing and we see the actions in janeen in tulka and in nablus all over the west bank colonel in the reserves kricia yako bovich is always appreciate you being here in studio for all the latest developments on the security front and that is a ramp of this edition of our breaking news coverage i'm bonita levine back in a bit our rolling coverage continues stay tuned trial analysis i'm bonita levine live until i live sirens are sounding right now in school including near in the south those sirens sounding as we started this forecast just moments ago earlier another missile fired from yemen towards israeli territory siren sounding in the southern city of elat in recent hours the launch of a missile towards israel was intercepted by the arrow aerial defense system over the red sea the idf confirming the missile did not cross into israeli territory now tomorrow marks two months since this war started two months since the hamas terror assault in southern israel in which more than 1200 people were killed at a music festival at kibbutzim and at army bases more than 240 people were abducted 138 are still being held in captivity in gaza meanwhile fighting continues on the ground the idf has surrounded a home in conunus belonging to yakhia sinwar the hamas head in gaza is in hiding though possibly underground the saudi-based channel al arabia is reporting there is no indication that he is in the building he has several homes on the humanitarian front israel saying there was a tactical pause in fighting earlier in the raffa district to allow aid to enter the enclave in the northern gaza strip the idf has discovered one of the largest stockpiles of weapons yet during these operations the weapons include hundreds of rpg's anti-tank missiles explosives long-range rockets grenades and drones all next to a health clinic and a school so for more on all these latest developments we welcome to studio colonel in the reserves grisha yakubovic former head of the civilian department of kogat in the idf and an israeli-palestinian relations expert grisha thank you so much for being here and just moments ago as we started this broadcast siren sounding yet again in berishiba in the south and surrounds one might be surprised that there is still rocket fire nearly two months into this war given the progress that is being made by the idf inside the gaza strip your thoughts first of all it was a coordinated attack also from the north at the same time okay to stula and to the area of berishava it means that hamas abilities to be coordinated with the maybe it's hezbollah or hamas in the north is still exists this is number one number two i'm not surprised hamas prepared themselves for this war for two three years so everything is ready everything is installed underground they are hiding like rats underground and they need to launch all the all the stocks of rockets that they that they prepared so they have to empty all the stocks because the idf surrounds and continues with the fighting in the northern part of gaza of the gaza strip in hanyunis and as deeper as the idea will enter we will see more and more launches until it will reach to an end as you say those siren sounding not only in the south in berishava but also stula up in the north at the same time as you say clearly well coordinated well planned and clearly something that israelis are sadly getting used to grisha i want your take on the size of the stockpile of weapons that was uncovered by the idf inside the gaza strip as a civilian it's quite staggering to see the scope of what was there in that weapons cache and what it means first of all how do those weapons get there where are they likely from before i answer to that i want to i want to clarify one thing hamas from june 2007 after they conquered the gaza strip from the unity government in gaza by force executing fatah officials they decided to build the force of hamas and jihad against israel and making sure that all the money that they will get all the aid that they will get will be focused in only building the force weapons tunnels and we've seen those testimonies by by his senior hamas official saying yes we've built 500 kilometers of tunnels if he did that they also build weapons on the other hand hamas were relaxed because as a southern entity controlling the gaza strip others provided the solutions to the civilians that are under their responsibility as simple as it sounds on the world for program the red cross okay all their NGOs and all the donors that donated the money to help the people of gaza because hamas showed poverty and hamas showed a crisis and hamas had to state or forced countries in a very uh a very smart way to and create to create to create jelid this jelid this jelidismity for god i'm sorry sorry about it uh jelidismity against israel uh about the policy that is really implemented towards the gaza strip that is a restricted one so a very smart organization with a strategy using all the money that they got from cut out 30 million dollars a month all the money that they taxed from the goods entering from egypt on the ground okay we are talking about 700 million dollars a year and money that they are taxing from inside gaza from the people money that came from israel through the workers who work in israel and they used all that money to do two major things one is to build factories on the ground so they can build weapons the videos that we've saw with all the rockets that were found the m75 or the j90 are homemade rockets with iranian technology a major array of homemade rockets as you say rocket yes and let's not forget that under the border between gaza and egypt there was still underground tunnels functioning tunnels that they smuggled weapons from iran from libya from sudan from yaman uh by bribing the egyptians somehow somehow i don't know how but it's not so simple to do it certainly many questions are being raised as we see more and more of these weapons being exposed and also important to mention that these were housed next to a school and a health clinic grisha stay with us much more to discuss but right now let's go to our correspondent guy asrael and he joins us from storot in southern israel and guy as we started this broadcast red alert siren sounding in bir shiba and surrounds what is the latest what can you share this hour yeah bonita what seems to be like a heavy barrage of rockets towards the city of bir shiba those rockets launched from the southern part of the gaza strip far away from where we are nonetheless it is a very active fighting scene right here near storot we're hearing constant idf shelling we're hearing drones we're hearing fighter jets we even heard automatic weapon from where we are of course just behind me are the gaza neighborhoods of bet hanun and bet lahia and slightly further away jebalia as well we know our idea forces are still operating in these areas in the northern part of the gaza strip i'm not sure if you could see it in your picture but the heavy plums of smoke behind us a real evident a real evidence of the extent of the fighting that is still ongoing right now and that is of course while the idf is also operating with thousands of idf soldiers in the southern part of the gaza strip that is something that we heard from idf chief herzi alevi just yesterday obviously a vital part of the plan of the israeli military in its efforts to take over the chamas military capabilities of course hanunis a major city of chamas many chamas strongholds in that area still a lot of work for the idf over there and nonetheless yes the rocket fire does continue we heard also earlier rockets in ashkelon and one israeli man was wounded from shrapnel from a rocket hit very close to where we are near one of the communities here next to storot and guy complicating the operation by the idf inside gaza right now is of course the fact that there are still 138 hostages being held by the terror group talk to us briefly about how that impacts the way the fighting is likely to continue in the coming hours and days as we did hear the the families of the israeli hostages when they met with the war cabinet yesterday obviously voicing their concern of the ongoing fighting in gaza and the fear for their loved ones obviously as the fighting continues israel in its part says it does whatever it can to avoid injuries to those hostages for as much as information is available about the whereabouts obviously these hostages are not only in underground tunnels some of them we know from hostages who returned are also being held in houses in apartment buildings and they are being moved all the time so the idea is certainly making an effort at least to avoid injuring or hurting them to the best of the knowledge of the israeli military of course that is not in the interest of hamas to take care of them we've seen various israelis that have already been murdered by hamas while being captive in in gaza over the past two months benita the whole nation waiting of course for word on the 138 hostages still being held there as you are describing thank you so much for now corresponding guy asrael in southern israel more to come from guy in the coming hours now the storm has been brewing ever since the 7th of october and on tuesday it reached washington with members of congress questioning the presidents of harvard mit and the university of pennsylvania about allegations of anti-semitism on their campuses our senior diplomatic correspondent oan ultiman brings us highlights from a rough and tumble hearing let's take a look the fewer over anti-semitism on campus has made it all the way here to the witness table on capitol hill with three university presidents tuesday facing a grilling at a hearing of the education committee of the us house of representatives so the answer is yes that calling for the genocide of jews violates harvard code of conduct correct again it depends on the context it does not depend on the context the answer is yes and this is why you should resign these are unacceptable answers across the board and so it went with scenes like these is the backdrop months of angry campus protests on the backdrop of the war in gaza with tensions building between pro-palestinian students who fear being silenced and particularly jewish students who feel bullied with jewish students saying slogans like intifada global revolution are anti-semitic and some pro-palestinian groups seeing them as protected speech that is hateful speech that has been and should be condemned whether it rises to the level of incitement to violence under the policies that penn and the city of philadelphia follow which are guided by the united states constitution i think is a much more difficult question the hearing on capitol hill adds to the headaches of campus presidents who are facing competing pressures from pro-israel and pro-palestinian students faculty alumni and donors unable to please everyone and maybe to please anyone so for more reaction we now welcome richie torres us house representative in new york's 15th congressional district joining us from new york thank you so much for your time here on i24 news so first there is this disturbing spate of anti-semitic incidents so some of the top campuses in the united states since the ramas terror onslaught on the 7th of october and then you hear the presidents of these institutions unable to answer diary questions whether calls for genocide of jews violate rules of bullying and harassment on campus what is your reaction i'm in a state of shock you know when during the during the hearing when the presidents were asked just calling for genocide of jews qualifies harassment you know most americans would have said of course that the presidents of u-pen and harvard said its context dependent uh you know it's absurd and and it shows that our college presidents and deans are complicit in aiding and abetting anti-semitism on college campuses we've seen the hysterical and and hyperbolic demonization of israel lead to an outbreak of campus anti-semitism as well as anti-semitism on social media and if we as a country in the united states if we cannot bring ourselves to condemn the cold-blooded murder of jews in israel with moral clarity then what are we becoming as a country what does that reveal about the depth of anti-semitism in the american soul so there needs to be a serious reckoning with the deepening rot of anti-semitism at the core of both academia and social media in the united states and beyond it was certainly staggering to hear the interactions in that hearing quite something to see and it raises the major concerns around the response from these college administrators or presidents perhaps the lack of response is a better way of describing it creating this untenable situation for students and staff given that you are in new york are jewish students safe on campuses there what are you thinking look i have no confidence in the leadership of our colleges and universities to ensure the safety of jewish students and keep in mind that any college or university receiving federal funds from the u.s. government is is required to ensure the safety of their jewish students is prohibited by law from creating a hostile environment for jews on college campuses and so there needs to be more civil rights enforcement we have to hold these institutions accountable for cracking down on campus anti-semitism in their ranks but so far these institutions are in a state of denial about the depth of anti-semitism and so they're not solution they're part of the problem and one might think as you alluded to sympathies might be with israel especially when one sees the atrocities perpetuated on the 7th of october the abduction of babies women men the elderly peace activists as well and there are also americans still being held hostage by hamas and possibly other terror groups too inside gaza president joe biden says they're talking to the kataris what kind of impact can the u.s. have right now in helping to get all these hostages freed well even though katar is part of the problem in so far as it finances hamas the u.s. does have a strategic relationship with katar and we can leverage the relationship to pressure katar to pressure hamas to secure the release of the hostages but you know keep in mind hamas did not release the hostages out of the kindness of its own heart it released the hostages in response to military pressure from israel without the military pressure hamas would have had no incentive to release the hostages in israel and the united states would have had no leverage to secure the release of the hostages so again what can president joe biden do in terms of putting more pressure on doha or any other player to make sure that there is a resolution where these hostages can get home and get home safely we have to send a clear message that if you're an ally of the united states you have to stand with us and you have to be instrumental in securing the release of all hostages including the israeli and the american hostages you're either with us or against us this is a morally clarifying moment and to that exact point president joe biden has reiterated u.s. support for israel visiting the country obviously as you know in the early days of the war but within the democratic party there are obviously progressive members who have a different stance including attaching conditions to security aid for israel talk us through the rift within the party over support for israel well i you know we have to be careful not to mistake a visible vocal minority for a majority of democrats um you know the leader of the democratic party joe biden has been unequivocally for israel the legislative leaders both majority leader schumer in the senate and minority leader hakeem jeffreys in the house have been unequivocally pro israel and and the overwhelming majority of democrats are prepared to provide israel with the funding that it needs to defend itself in the face of barbaric terrorism there is a small subset of members uh as you know one of them happens to be republican but a few of them are democrats who want to condition aid to israel and that is a position that i emphatically reject we have no greater ally in the middle east than the state of israel and we should be strengthening not weakening our relationship with israel in a time of of of terror well we certainly appreciate you speaking to us and we appreciate your insights richie torres us house representative in new york's 15th congressional district thank you for speaking to us live from new york thank you story much to digest the aggression your thoughts on the impact when we talk about hostages still being held 138 fighting underway as we speak inside the Gaza Strip which players which countries which entities can help to put pressure on doha to make sure that Hamas lets the hostages come home where they belong you know we need a many things are happening around us i think that we are facing a future of a possible new mediterranean order there is a visit of president putin at the emirates right now and tomorrow he's going to meet racy and what we see is a russian eastern coalition being built and this is the time to build the western coalition in the middle east and this is the only way to send a clear message to Hamas those are the countries that are the western coalition united states south arabia the emirates Bahrain Qatar israel okay all together and if you guys if you want to see a future at the end of this war you should release those prisoners and this coalition must state that israel has the right to defend itself and israel has the right to do whatever is needed to release all those civilians who were brutally kidnapped and we need statements for now because we know how to do the job but we also need the statements and we need this this official formal coalition made led by the united states with egypt with jordan with the country that's around us this will be one of the solutions in the following weeks to bring them home grisha stay with us because exactly to that point as fighting continues inside the gaza strip the idf is reiterating it has not forgotten the 138 hostages still in hamas captivity in gaza men women children and the elderly abducted during that terror rampage on the 7th of october idf spokesperson daniel higari says they are doing everything in their power to get the hostages back home safely and as we're discussing right now calling on others to do the same let's take a listen in his own words every day every hour every minute is critical the lives of our hostages are at risk those who claim to value women's rights do the lives of israeli women mean less those who claim to value human life do the lives of 138 hostages lives that are at risk right now are their lives worse less international organizations know their mandate and they also know the facts hamas is preventing them from doing their job the israel defense forces will do everything in its power to rescue our hostages and bring them home we call others to do the same meanwhile the family of an elderly israeli woman released from captivity on the first day of the hostage release deal last week says her condition has deteriorated it's hana katsir's 78th birthday today she is in hospital in serious condition she was one of the scores of civilians abducted on the 7th of october held in captivity for more than seven weeks without any medication her family says her condition deteriorated in that time she now has severe heart problems due to the harsh conditions and lack of food in captivity her 79-year-old husband avraham rami was murdered in their safe room during the killing rampage nearly eight weeks ago now and their son elad was kidnapped from his own home in near oz and is still in captivity in gaza krisha beyond tragic a woman who spends seven weeks in captivity an elderly woman comes back home her husband is killed her son is still being held hostage and she is now dealing with obvious health conditions a deteriorating health situation well that's hamas this is the real face of hamas of kidnapping innocent civilians from their beds and then starving them and let's not talk about the sexual harassment with horrifying stories that i i hear almost on a daily base but this is the enemy it's uh you know i just looked at my social media and i published last year a post that i concluded it that hamas is isis it means i i i saw that all a mood in a year ago and what i found out that i was wrong because what hamas are is actually something worse than isis so isis would be only a compliment to what they're doing just look at this old woman 70 year eight years old her birthday today and and and and for what to why why he was kidnapped what they wanted to achieve what was the goal of that so this is the face of the enemy evil pure evil no doubt about it there is another concern not only is they're fighting right now inside the Gaza strip not only are there 138 hostages still there but the west bank is simmering well this is something that's really worries me uh 60 days of a war uh 60 days of Palestinian workers and i'm talking about 140 000 workers who work in Israel on a daily base they uh are the ones who bring the flow of cash into the economy of the west bank it's not the Palestinian authority it's the workers who work in Israel and another 30 000 who work at the settlements we are talking about big money and this is what actually moves the wheels of economy inside the west bank i already i've been talking to my friends and clients in the west bank and they are telling me that many uh checks that they got from their clients are not covered by the banks because of lack of cash lack of money let's add that to what Hamas is trying to do and to flame the west bank that might be really really dangerous and we can actually be in another front in the west bank very briefly i literally have 10 seconds can the idf handle something happening on that front at the same time this is what the idea is actually doing and we see the actions in