 Welcome back. You're watching I-24 News, coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day, 58 of Israel's war with Hamas. And Israel has been under fire in both the north and the south this Sunday. There was a direct hit on a synagogue in the city of Stelot. No casualties reported. 12 IDF soldiers were wounded after an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon. 137 hostages remain in Gaza. The majority of them Israeli citizens. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has wrapped up his first visit to Israel. And the UN refugee agency for the Palestinians, UNRA, has dismissed the testimony of one of the hostages who says that he was held captive by an UNRA teacher. All of that coming up later in the program. But with me in the studio now, Lieutenant Colonel Doha Navitan is the former commander of the Special Forces in the IDF. Thank you for being with us, Doha. Good to see you again. We have confirmation now from the IDF that troops are operational in the south of the Gaza Strip, including in the city of Chanyunis, which is a stronghold of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. Just talk us through how the operation is likely to unfold now moving forward. I think the next phase consists of two things. One thing is, of course, deepening our strongholds in the north, in the northern Gaza, and crossing to the south. Chanyunis is our main target. Mainly now we are bombarding Chanyunis or targeted objectives there. We ask some of the civilians in a certain very identified location to live to the west. And I think ground operation, I'm not sure in what stage a ground operation is, but I think it's expected. And if there is a, I mean, once you have the ground operation, once that is kicked off, that means you have Israeli IDF soldiers in the south of the Gaza Strip. At the same time, you've got some people saying there needs to be another ceasefire deal to get the hostages back. Is that becoming more difficult as the troops move in? I'm not sure. I think this is the thing even Netanyahu was talking about, the dialogue in fire. So this is part of the way we do wars in the Middle East. It's a dialogue in fire. You keep the pressure on, you're trying to close on this stronghold in the south, in which we believe that many of the hostages are there. And then, of course, if there would be some attempt to negotiate or the possibility of a rescue operation, a military rescue operation, we would act. So I don't think it excludes, a military operation doesn't exclude negotiation. This is what we, this is the main declaration of the idea. But I believe it's true. This is the way to do things. There's no way to negotiate without exerting some kind of force or pressure or credible threats on the enemy. So you can still have a ceasefire when you've got IDF troops so far. Of course, I mean, it depends on what stage. Of course, we will have to make the decision on the ground. Decision are not made, unfortunately, or not unfortunately, here in the studios, but on the ground, giving the circumstances of the war when there's an opportunity for negotiation or knowledge about the whereabouts of hostages, then you can employ, for example, special forces and try to rescue them. So I think the two aims of the war plan are going hand in hand, but it's still tough days ahead. And this is becoming increasingly complex for the soldiers on the ground, a very densely populated urban area. The United States has made it clear they want Israel to minimize civilian casualties. It doesn't want to displace people. A lot of considerations to take into account. Yeah, I think the Gaza city is even a challenge. I mean, in the same match of Hanion, as for sure, even in terms of density more. But I think right now we are more prepared. We have an experience of a few weeks of fighting. The soldiers are repaired. There's more smooth, the connection between the army, the air force and the Navy in terms of using the fire. So I hope, and I think it's all a directive of the army to try to minimize the casualties of civilians. And of course, we ask the civilians in those targeted areas that we want to enter to leave those areas. So this is the tactic that is being used. And we should talk about what's happening with the Houthis, the Yemen-backed, Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. They've just claimed responsibilities for two attacks on ships off the coast of Yemen. Yeah. And there's also been another attack on the US Navy ship. The Houthis are really escalating there. Yeah, they attacked the British ship. They attacked the Israeli own ship. And now you tell me about those attacking the US Navy. I think they are making a grave mistake. I think the Houthi is a target that once we have the attention with the use of our allies, we can hit a few of the targets. And I think there was this, nobody took any responsibility. Some explosion in Sana'a day or two days ago. So I'm not sure we and our coalition are not already operating in terms of those targets. We can't allow our ship not to enter the Red Sea. In order not to use the Red Sea, we have to bypass the whole of Africa. And then we pay a lot of economical price that we are unaccepted. And of course, there would be a definite answer to the Houthim once we decide to follow. And the US is with us in this country. Well, quite, but I mean, the whole standpoint of the United States is it doesn't want an escalation. It doesn't want Israel to preemptively strike Hezbollah. It doesn't respond to these numerous attacks on its forces by Iranian proxies. We'll have to see how it responds to one of its warships coming under attack. What do you make of the US position? I think let's separate the issues. I think Hezbollah is the main issue. We don't want a full blown war with Hezbollah right now. Hezbollah doesn't want, of course, if we'll be forced, we'll do it. In the case of Hezbollah, we would have liked them, of course, to go to the litany line. I'm not sure what the diplomatic campaign would help. And maybe in the future, I'm not sure what the future is months or more, there would be some military escalation in in the north. But this is a big threat. This is a serious threat. It sits on our neighborhood and in our villages in the north. The Houthim is, I think it's a coalition threat that I might believe that once there's a decision, a decision is made, can be handled pretty effective. Nobody can allow them to prevent the the free movie of ourselves. The Saudi-led coalition couldn't defeat them after seven years of war. Now times are getting tough. So maybe the tough should get going. Thank you. Well, as Israel intensifies its bombardment of Gaza, the US is putting mounting pressure on Jerusalem to limit civilian casualties. The fighting has moved to the more densely populated areas in the south. The US Vice President Kamala Harris met Arab leaders in Dubai over the weekend, where she called the scale of civilian suffering in Gaza devastating. I have spoken with members of the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities of America, including those who have lost loved ones in Gaza and American citizens who were injured and evacuated from Gaza. It is truly heartbreaking. As Israel pursues its military objectives in Gaza, we believe Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians. Well, joining me now, Joel Rubin is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Obama Administration. Great to have you with us, Joel. Thanks for joining us. So, I mean, the Americans have kind of set out a list of conditions for Israel. You've got, you know, just a few months to win the war, minimal civilian casualties, no displacement whatsoever. Is in Washington making it impossible for Israel to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas? Well, it's great to be with you, Lord, to discuss this, because without a doubt, President Biden has had Israel's back from day one, and I don't think anybody should doubt the American support for Israel and its ability to defend itself against Hamas. That's never been in question. The question now is Israel's military strategy going to help it get there. And the United States, we had a couple of decades of hard wars in the Arab world, in Iraq in particular, where we learned a lot of lessons, including our Defense Secretary, who served on the ground in Iraq, leading battalions against ISIS. And there's a lot of wisdom there. And I think the United States is trying to be as a friend of Israel and a support of Israel, imparting that wisdom and trying to ensure that Israel does win the overall war, not just win the military battles on the ground. Well, quite, I mean, there are the inevitable comparisons with America's military adventures. I mean, 22 years in Afghanistan with an international coalition, yet the Taliban are still in power. You mentioned Iraq. But also, the president you served under Barack Obama, you know, he gave that red line, didn't he, to President Assad. He ignored it. So Assad ignored it and went on to murder, you know, tens of thousands of his own people. I mean, you know, at what point should America stand more, you know, more solidly behind its strategy? I don't think the failure of red line is the cause of why Assad bombed and murdered hundreds of thousands of his own citizens. Look to Russia as a core supporter of that bombardment. And I do think that, again, to the point, this is not a question of the United States supporting Israel. That's a false argument. The question is, is what kind of day after scenario is Israel going to encounter? Is Israel going to encounter a scenario where it has not just won the battles on the ground in Gaza, but effectively eradicated Hamas, meaning that the Palestinian population does not want to support a new renewed Hamas. You know, ISIS didn't come out as the first version of a radical Islamist movement that conducted terrorist attacks. There was al-Qaeda. There was al-Qaeda in Iraq. There are multiple waves. And so I don't think this is a surprise to hear American counsel saying, make sure that your day after planning is the kind of planning that takes into account what will happen the day after and that your operations now directly impact that day after. There's a lot of opportunities for President Biden to talk to Prime Minister Netanyahu. They've spoken for about 15, 16 times already. The relationship is close. That's not what's in question. The question is, is the strategy right for winning the overall war, which means not having a Hamas reconstitute itself after these battles? Others are saying the message coming from the White House is one of weakness because the American message has been to contain this conflict, not let it spread. We've now got an American warship under attack by the Hussis in Yemen. We've seen dozens of attacks on American troops by Iranian proxies. I mean, it just does, once again, does the White House need to send a stronger message to the Middle East? I'm not sure how sending two aircraft carrier battle groups to the Eastern Mediterranean is a sign of weakness. If anything, it's a sign of strength and the United States is not held back in responding and knocking down those drones and knocking down those missiles and in responding to IRGC weapons depots and killing those who attack U.S. forces. This is a hot conflict zone right now. What the United States does not want is all out war between Israel and multiple countries in the region and the United States. We want to make sure, we mean the United States want to make sure that it's contained and that Hamas is eradicated. And part of that eradication is making sure that the day after it does not get reconstituted because the Palestinian people want to support it again. There needs to be a pathway out of this endless cycle. And certainly the United States is not being weak in responding, but we're also making sure that our wisdom from these experiences and hard experiences, difficult ones, more than a million Americans have served in the Arab world in military combat. That's a lot of wisdom. That's a lot of knowledge and hopefully we've learned some things that we can share with our Israeli counterparts. Del Rubin, great to talk to you. Thank you. Thank you. The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has wrapped up his visit to Israel and the West Bank. Kareem Khan met with some of the families of the hostages and with the Palestinian authority officials as well. His visit to Israel is the first by an ICC Chief Prosecutor. Our Owen Atman reports. The test for the court looks unavoidable and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is eventually heading here to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, where the massacres of October 7th and the war that followed look set to cross the threshold and someday come into the courtroom. If the International Criminal Court does not act against Hamas, no one will. Who will act against them? The Palestinian Authority or endorses them? The Hamas regime in Gaza? There's no one else besides Mr. Khan. Mr. Khan is Kareem Khan, Chief Prosecutor for the Court, seen here meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shteya in Ramallah on Saturday, on a trip that also took Khan to Baeri and Kfar-Aza on the Gaza border and the Central Event, a meeting at their invitation with hostages families. Israel has long been suspicious of international organizations with decades of bitter experience of perceived bias. Broadly for that reason, Israel is not a state party to the emerging ICC. One cannot deliberately target civilian civilians or civilian objects. One can't rape or kill or mutilate or dismember. Willful killing, hostage taking our grave breaches of the Geneva Convention. Impeding relief supplies as provided by the Geneva Conventions may constitute a crime within the court's jurisdiction. The message coming from Kareem Khan is a careful one. He is under scrutiny from both sides. Given the magnitude, he cannot look away from October 7th or the pro-Palestinian side says look away from the war. But the young court's reputation will be at stake and over time a suspicious Israel will need to decide whether or not to take the risk of trusting the ICC and cooperating with it. Well here to discuss that visit by the ICC Chief Prosecutor, Natasha Haustoff is an international law expert and a barrister. Thank you for being with us. What do you make of the visit by Kareem Khan, the Chief Prosecutor? I think there are many reasons to be concerned that the visit took place in the first place. We have to remember of course that this is a court that purports to have jurisdiction over Israel. Many international organizations made submissions to the ICC on the question of jurisdiction, including my own organization UK Lawyers for Israel and despite that the court is proceeding with what is now a nine-year investigation with the purpose of bringing Israeli defendants before a court despite the absence of jurisdiction. So to see the prosecutor visiting now gives I think a great deal of concern that this is being used as political cover for future prosecutions against individual Israeli defendants and despite the reporting that we have just seen that is something that needs to be taken extremely seriously. Because it was the families of the hostages who wanted prosecutor Khan to come here. I mean does it not help to have someone you know with his position highlighting the atrocities carried out by Hamas terrorists? I can entirely understand having just come from the headquarters of the forum of the families of the hostages and spoken to many. I can entirely understand the sentiment behind that. Of course we need to be highlighting the undoubted war crimes that Hamas committed and the atrocities in every possible avenue. But we cannot be naive to the track record of the court the desire that I think we have seen from previous prosecutor also in bringing this investigation against Israel to rehabilitate the court's very tarnished reputation internationally by seeking to target Israel and Israeli defendants and to the extent that this eats away at Israel's ability to resist the ICC's targeting of Israel specifically on the basis of the absence of jurisdiction that I can only say is of deep concern. The atrocities themselves and the international outcry against them absolutely ought to be encouraged but so far as international legal organizations are using that as a legitimacy to continue their agenda against Israel we ought to be extremely aware and concerned. Of course for those who don't know neither Israel nor the United States are signatures to the ICC. And that is critical and the reason for that is also very important because both of those states had a significant contribution into the Rome Statute which established the international court adjusted the international criminal court and to the formation of international criminal law but it very quickly became apparent at the drafting stage in particular vis-a-vis certain war crimes that were being defined specifically for the purpose of targeting Israel and the fact that Israel and the United States were live to that even at that early stage speaks volumes of where the court started. I think what we saw in relation to prosecutor Khan can be called an initial reluctance from a political standpoint to continue off of where Ben Suda left off but the current situation and the pressure that he has come under with respect to what is happening in Gaza has undoubtedly ignited further interest by the ICC and we need to be alive as I indicated to the undercurrents the army of NGOs that are putting forward material to the international criminal court generating material from UN other UN organizations in order to seek arrest warrants against Israelis remains I think as far as we can see as lawyers watching this protest develop the primary aim of the court in this regard. Because there was an interesting reaction from the Palestinians themselves they tried to cancel the visit with Khan they said that he was being too impartial and that he was leaning too much towards the Israeli side what did you make of that? The statement that he's put out today certainly highlights the obvious with vis-a-vis Hamas crimes and I can see the response and reaction to that but we cannot forget the first comments that were made by Prosecutor Khan when he attended the Rafa crossing and then subsequently reinforced at the Cairo press conference he gave which was to reverse the burden of proof it seems entirely to require understandably a presumption of innocence vis-a-vis Hamas but to then state in plain terms that it was up to Israel to prove its innocence on the basis of its individual targeting of strikes on a case-by-case basis any criminal lawyer will know that that is not how the burden and standard of proof works except of course at political international legal organizations and unfortunately the ICC has now a long history of falling into that category. All right Natasha Housel thank you very much. Well the UN agency which is responsible for Palestinian refugees and its descendants UNRWA has dismissed the testimony of one of the freed hostages who said he had been held captive by an UNRWA teacher the hostage told Israeli journalist Alamo Buker that the teacher held him in an attic and deprived him of food Buker says he will not reveal the name of the hostage out of concern for those still being held UNRWA posted on social media that those claims were unsubstantiated we'll hear to talk about that Hillel Neuer is an international human rights lawyer writer and the executive director of United Nations Watch he joins us now and Hillel thanks for being with us well rather than investigate the claims the testimony of this ex hostage UNRWA chose to deny them outright what's your reaction to that? Look sadly this is a typical kind of response from UNRWA we have over the past several years brought before them and for the world evidence of UNRWA teachers supporting jihadi terrorism throughout schools of UNRWA in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria the West Bank, Jordan and inevitably UNRWA's response is to deny to downplay to try to dismiss any concerns rather than address the problem so it doesn't surprise me that they made an ad hominem attack on the journalist saying this may amount to misinformation this is a credible journalist UNRWA should recognize that their teachers are implicated with terrorism and they should address the problem acknowledge it instead of trying to go on the attack and make ad hominem attacks against the journalist quite and it's not the first allegation against UNRWA's conduct as you point out it's also accused of turning a blind eye to terrorists using its facilities to store weapons but also I think it was around 20 UNRWA employees on social media praised Hamas for the october 7 attacks I mean how embedded are the terrorists within this institution well look there indeed as you said Laura there have been instances where Hamas terrorists were found to be part of UNRWA where someone who was elected to Hamas political bureau was actually a senior official at UNRWA but we've had that but in other cases what we documented indeed as you said is several weeks ago is that UNRWA teachers school principals and other staff openly publicly celebrated the october 7 atrocities one director of the Han Yunis training center her name is Rania Hellis she said that the one of the attackers of Hamas was a hero and a prince others said we need to sculpt the date of october 7 in history as a great day so systematically we found UNRWA staff celebrating october 7 and you know what UNRWA often will say is that well you only found 20 you only found 150 and these are just a few bad apples but the fact is that we've seen that UNRWA staff completely endorse these acts of incitement when a teacher whose name was Reid Nimmer of Lebanon was suspended by UNRWA because he had on facebook supported terrorism he was embraced by the UNRWA teachers union so these so-called few bad apples are completely embraced by the system of teachers UNRWA has a systematic problem of support for anti-semitism and jihadi terrorism they refuse to address the problem and worse our foreign affairs ministries whether it's canada whether it's the state department whether it's european foreign ministries are siding with UNRWA and are not addressing the problem well quite that's what I wanted to ask you because this is kind of been a badly kept secret for many years doesn't it thanks to to well by people such as yourself that UNRWA you know is embedded with Hamas or Hamas is embedded with UNRWA and at what point are we going to see european american canadian taxpayers saying well actually we don't really want our money to go to this institution and to people who support terrorism we're beginning to see some of it certainly I was in the Bundestag last week in Germany and there are senior members of parliament there who are very upset about this but up until now the governments and certainly the entrenched foreign ministry diplomatic officials are giving protection for UNRWA and they're guaranteeing that the money goes without any action to stop support for terrorism within that organization it needs to change all right Hillel Neuer we appreciate it thank you very much indeed Hillel Neuer they're the director of United Nations Watch thank you and Doron I mean as the ground offensive continues in Gaza I imagine that the idea will be producing yet more evidence of terrorism under our facilities yeah for sure we have to understand in the end it's a very dense population and everybody's in Tangilder and of course if we have evidence for that implicates UNRWA and now the organization we have to of course show it to the public show it to the world in the end UNRWA is an organization that in some sense say keeps the refugee status alive instead of thinking practically and pragmatically about the future and I think Gaza the day after would be a a time for us and the world and our allies in the region to think how to create it in a more pragmatic practical way and not to think in terms of keeping the refugee status alive forever for eternity in many respects so it's a big challenge this is the main way that the the money has been funneled towards exactly and billions billions of dollars from European American Canadian taxpayers instead of building infrastructure creating a new future you maintain refugee status with a hope of coming back to a place that doesn't exist in this context anymore it's the whole poetic of the key that the Palestinians have to give up on as I say my mother is from Sherjah in the old city we also give up the key of the of the ancient house so you have to be a little bit more pragmatically about the future and create a new future in the Middle East for both Israelis and Palestinians I hope the aftermath of this world would create the ground for such a thing let's hope who knows yeah well I have to wait and see the Americans certainly want Israel to come up with a plan don't they? exactly day after so I have to wait and see Don for now thank you very much and we're going to take a very short break stay with us when we come back I will head to Dubai because Israel has inaugurated its Pavilion at the COP 28 UN Summit on Climate Change we'll talk about that and there has been a terrorist attack in Paris a man shouting Alhu Akbar stabbed killed one person and injured two others we'll have all the details on that as well stay with us a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well at Israel under fire from the north and the south this Sunday with terrorist groups in Lebanon and Gaza firing rockets Israel has inaugurated its Pavilion at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai and terrorist attack in Paris has been linked to the war between Israel and Hamas a man shouting Alhu Akbar attacked three people with a knife and an axe well let's get the very latest on what's happening inside Gaza we can go to the south of Israel our correspondent Pia Stekelback is there Pia what's the latest right Laura well the Israeli military is pushing further down south there was a statement in the late afternoon hours saying that Israeli ground troops are now located in the south just north of the city of Khan Yunus and the Israeli military is expecting to expand those operations in the south further as the war progresses now the rocket fired did not stop coming out of Gaza Hamas has been targeting the community surrounding the Gaza strip really threw out the day and yesterday evening we also saw that they are still able to fire into the center of Israel targeting at Tel Aviv that has been continuing really throughout the day that rocket fired targeting also the city of Stegot where we're at right now causing a damage to some infrastructure there but no casualties reported as both Stegot and also the Gaza border communities are still widely evacuated now the Israeli army has also been saying that since the beginning of the ground offensive which was in late October they found about 800 tunnel shafts and destroyed about 500 of them now the tunnels were as the Israeli army set located in residential areas also in the close proximity of mosques there but really the tunnels is one of the main challenges for the Israeli military as of course it is the goal to demolish all Hamas infrastructure but the 137 hostages are also expected to be held in exactly those tunnels now the Israeli army also since the the resumption of the war basically separated the entire Gaza strip into blocks and into parcels calling upon certain areas to evacuate now since the morning the Israeli army has been calling upon the residents of certain neighborhoods in Khanunis to evacuate now that very much corresponds with now the announcement that the Israeli ground troops are located just north of exactly that city Khanunis there in the south and also in the late afternoon hours there was another announcement coming from the Israeli army spokesperson Arabic calling upon residents of Jabalia in the north and also of the old city of Gaza city as a tone and Shajai again also in the center of the Gaza strip to evacuate this is part of the Israeli efforts to minimize civilian casualties but the sentiment in Gaza is that there simply is no place to go anymore that there is simply no space there no safe space in Gaza as again the Israeli army is pushing now further down south further down south of the Gaza strip Pia thank you very much for that update Pia Stechle back in the south of Israel well let's head to the north of Israel now which has been under attack by the Iranian backed terrorist group Hezbollah an anti-tank missile wounding 12 people today we're joined by our Zach Anders Zach what's happening Yeah we're still waiting on the exact status of some of those injured this includes civilians after it does appear that the IDF came under fire at a base here in the north with multiple casualties on its IDF soldiers the IDF clarifying that the wounded from earlier in the day were lightly wounded not seriously however that number then changed and they have not provided an update on the status of as many as 12 injured in strikes throughout the day Hezbollah taking accountability or claiming that they struck five that's five different times this afternoon different locations throughout here in the north All right Zach thank you very much Zach Anders there in the north of Israel with me in the studio Colonel Don Abital is the former commander of the IDF special forces thank you for for being with us Don so here we have it Israel under attack on two fronts today just a couple of days after that ceasefire with Hamas was broken are you concerned about the way the IDF is being stretched at this point? Not in terms of our capabilities but in terms of our aims because we really want to resolve the Gaza issue first we want to eradicate Hamas or make sure that it doesn't rule Gaza we want to have our hostages back this is the main issue right now in the mind and heart of every Israeli so it's a big issue I hope the military campaign the intensity and then going down to the north to Honeon as my might provide also a resolution there exchange exchange river Hezbollah it's part of the game we play a game a game in fire it's not such a nice game but this is part of the way we do it in the in the north but we have to also look at the west bank where this terrible terror attack in the entry to Jerusalem this is a big deal this is a serious thing those are those are Arabs that lives in Jerusalem with what we call the blue ID cards they had already been jailed yeah they were been jailed and released a few years ago or so so it's not that they were not monitored but still they succeeded to create such a terrible terror attack in such a such a central the entry to Jerusalem the entry to west Jerusalem western Jerusalem so it's a big issue so we have to look at the west bank and see that it's contained and doesn't go into into escalation not in Jenin not in northern Samaria and not in other places like Hebron situation is dramatic in all fronts but Gaza is in our this is the main of course front right now and of course other fronts like the Khutim the Shia in Syria and so on all right Doha thank you I want to talk now about a severe escalation by Yemen's Iranian backed Houthi rebels they've attacked the USS Carney and several commercial ships in the Red Sea the Houthis claiming responsibility for all of those attacks with me now Colonel Rich Alton a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and geopolitical consultant for Jagelman LLC in Washington DC great to have you with us Rich so I mean what do you make of this it's a pretty severe escalation on the part of the Houthis well good to be with you and thank you yes this is actually comportment in comportment or in keeping with their strategy after the last or over the last several weeks of the war they have attacked in fact in three previous incidents attack commercial shipping associated with Israeli flagged ships or rather Israeli owned ships flagged other countries they have and by I say they I mean the Houthis but also more broadly their sponsors Iran who have also worked through proxies in Syria Lebanon and Iraq have attacked U.S. military facilities so the attack on the warship on the Carney in a sense is an escalation but in another sense is really part and parcel of what they've been doing now they're using drones they're using rockets so far no big signal success but the fact that they're willing to sustain these attacks and to risk U.S. retribution afterwards does show that they have their risk threshold is rising well can we expect retribution from the United States as I keep pointing out it was President Biden who took the Houthis off that list of terrorist groups we've seen U.S. troops attacked by Iranian proxies over the past two months are we going to see a a more serious response from the United States I think we will see and we have seen incremental responses in Syria I think you're probably aware after previous attacks there were rocket and air attacks by the United States or missile and air attacks on storage facilities associated with Iranian back militias we have in the past also conducted strikes against radars and other installations of the Houthis in Yemen so I think in the United States the question is not whether there'll be a retribution or a response there will be the question is will it be signal and significant something along the lines of what Donald Trump did when he took out Qasem Soleimani so far the Biden administration has not shown a willingness to escalate in that way and frankly because they still are trying to de-escalate in the region I think it will be more like these small for Tad attacks rather than a major escalation that would be a little more viscerally satisfying what message does this send to Tehran when you've got a U.S. warship a warship belonging to the the world's most powerful country coming under attack from a group of rebels in Yemen well in Israel they sometimes refer to the rules of the game in regional conflicts right so I think the rules of the game get tested from time to time when either Israel or the United States a major power with significant military capabilities is provoked by a group with marginal capabilities but a willingness to incur risk so there is a possibility that the United States will decide which would be how the Israelis would do it in my view to reset the rules of the game and to send a very sharp response but if they don't the message they're sending as you allude to is that the Houthis can basically continue to tweak the United States and continue to press the envelope so to speak without risk of real painful retribution yeah absolutely we have to remember it is an election year just around the corner isn't it so we'll have to see how it all plays out Colonel Richardson thank you good to see you while a man yelling Allah al Akbar killed one and injured two others with a knife and a hammer in a terrorist attack in Paris last night the suspect told police he was upset about the number of deaths of Palestinians in Gaza here's the French minister for the interior what do you know is that he allegedly said Allah al Akbar to the taxi driver who wanted to intervene and to the policeman he also said to the policeman who had their cameras filming the scene that he was angry about the situation in Gaza and France being complicit with Israel and that he was fed up with seeing Muslims die this is what I know now but I will let the public prosecutor give the full details once we go through the testimonies well for more we can go to Paris we're joined by journalist Peter Hume and so Peter this suspect was known to police wasn't he was he one of the so-called Fisher S suspects who was believed to be capable of carrying out an act of terrorism yes he was indeed Laura the S letter signifies people that are suspected or have some sort of connection with potential terrorist actions and in fact the authorities have released his name just his first name he's known as Avmand R and he's said to be 26 years old he is a French citizen his parents originated from Iran he has been known to authorities as as you mentioned in fact he'd serve some time in prison in 2016 for alleged support of terrorist actions he did indeed shout out Alou Akbar and he gave his reasons for the attack apparently at random stabbing attack on which he killed a German tourist completely at random apparently for he's fed up with the fact that Palestinians and Muslims in Afghanistan have been suffering so much over the past few over the past few weeks and in the case of Afghanistan certainly for longer than that period police arrested him he did not put up any kind of resistance but before they arrested him he crossed the bridge across the center from the Eiffel Tower and attacked with a hand of two other tourists one is a British citizen the other's nationality has not been disclosed yet they have been hurt but at this point not seriously according to the authorities so the man is being questioned he is under arrest and being held by the anti-terrorist police the special force set up years ago by France after the after the attacks going back to the 1980s in fact by Muslim extremists in the French capital Laura and France of course has been battling Islamist terror for many years hasn't it how would you say that the war in Gaza the war between Israel and Hamas is stirring up tensions and how are the security forces dealing with it well I think that's certainly the way the authorities look at it there's sort of been an increase in anti-Semitic slogans graffiti some a couple of attacks and on the other hand we have protests supporting or at least should I say against the continued attack by Israel on Gaza and demands and requests to call a Bernard truce and we've heard this as well from Emmanuel Macron the president was of course of France so it is something that's sort of in the forefront obviously of of the the situation in France and the politics of it that it's off to get France has one of the largest if not the largest Muslim community in in Europe and also one of the largest Jewish communities so the potential potential and violence has been sadly illustrated by last night's attack is there and the authorities have stepped up preventative measures but they can't control every single corner of Paris or other French cities 24-7 so these kind of attacks although the police patrols and necessary measures the authorities say have been taken unfortunately these incidents probably will continue to happen Peter thank you very much Peter who are you there thank you well as the freed hostages begin the long process of healing some have begun to speak out about the horrors they endured while being held captive by terrorists in Gaza our Erica Jackson has some of their stories nearly two months after Hamas' brutal attack in Israel on October 7th freed Israeli hostages are now telling first-hand accounts of what it was like being kidnapped and taken into the Gaza Strip among those sharing stories of being taken captive and held under life-threatening conditions our 85-year-old Yolchavid Lipschitz and 84-year-old Dietza Hyman those who have been freed also detailing the mental anguish of what it was like to be held against their will including 44-year-old Danielle Eloni who was kidnapped with her 5-year-old daughter Amelia I'm talking about what I saw with your success it was amazing it was amazing there's no better day there's no peace there's no change there's no life every single day that passes it's a miracle that it's not over I'm proud that every day there are a lot of 85-year-old friends and more young people who won't be able to continue in my life and our goal is to make this year return from the present without a home those who have been freed echoing the same message that time is running out every day is critical also because of the threats and the threats that are very difficult and the fight is not going to end and people there in the police people can die because the most important thing is to save them I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry please save the children please save everyone life is coming from there if you don't save them now they won't be alive more details are likely to emerge about October 7th as more of those who were kidnapped are expected to share their stories as well terrifying testimony from the hostages who were freed over the seven days of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel and the one I mean it's almost worse isn't it when we get a snippet of just a glimpse of what those children those old people went through when they were held hostage I think it underlies the conviction the conviction of Israeli society right now that the main objective and I see generals ex-politician everybody declares the same this is the main objective of the war to release the hostages it doesn't mean that the way to this aim is not through military operation exerted on the Hamas but this is the main objective there's no way that if we can do anything to release them that it wouldn't be done and all means are in our disposal and I hope the military threat on Han Yunus might create the new opportunities for such a release because when you look at the hostage videos the propaganda videos that Hamas released they they got the hostages to say you know angry Netanyahu who give us a ceasefire now you should be doing what do you think that these big protests they kind of help Hamas in a way no I mean this way in terms of the negotiation yeah in terms of the exchange and the price they might ask I think we are a democratic society it is no way to control or contain the feeling of the public's they know us from within Hamas and Sinwar for sure he knows that it's very important for us he will try to play our hand his hand but with enough military power maybe we will succeed to force him to a new exchange or if we are lucky to some kind of a rescue operation yeah all right thank you Dawn well despite the ongoing war with Hamas Israel is still participating in the COP 28 global summit on climate change which is taking place right now in Dubai President Herzog visited the summit and today the Israeli pavilion was officially inaugurated oh, correspondent Bastian Bori joins us now from Dubai and Bastian given the tension that this war is causing throughout the Arab world how was the opening ceremony of the Israeli pavilion today before actually going to the ceremony I thought that the issues shows up you know both those from Israel and those who are part of the affirmative missions needed here in the UAE will do their utmost to put politics aside because that's what usually happens whenever there's been an episode of tensions in the past whether around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the West Bank or Gaza times of less intense violence than today the Israelis have always kept a low profile on Dubai at events at conferences it's always been business first we're not talking politics etc this time was very different you could feel that everyone was emotionally affected as soon as you enter the Israeli pavilion you find yourself in front of a sort of altar in tribute to the Israeli hostages in Gaza with photos for some the date of the kidnapping even a teddy bear with a black band to remind that there are also children in the hands of the mass and during my interviews with the Israeli officials today I was even asked to give priority to filming these objects the tribute to the to the hostages they were around a hundred attendees and the speech is also focused on the on the events in Gaza and on the fact that Israel had to come and negotiate on the climate issue so as not to forget that despite everything that's happening the country can and must help the whole region to meet its commitments in the fight against climate change yeah but this part of the world is worst affected by climate change and it's only predicted to get worse isn't it I mean what will Israel be pushing for during the summit Well a thousand Israeli officials should have made the trip to COP 28 and in the end because of this war they will only be 28 so you can imagine that Israel will not negotiate from a position of strength during the next few days to make the two weeks of this conference and we cannot say that climate change issues have been a top priority for successive Israeli governments but still a lot of effort will be put into first selling innovative agricultural technologies that's you know our countries are much in demand and also into promoting the joint developments of satellites including with the UAE to monitor climate conditions in the whole region and do Israeli diplomats fear Bestia that the the war will have a long lasting impact on ties with friendy Arab countries I mean the Israel Hamas war is definitely casting a shadow over COP 28 I saw some participants walking around the summit venue you know wearing line yards in the colours of the past in flag we are Turkish President Erdogan and South Africa's President Ramaphosa openly accusing Israel of committing war crimes in their speeches that were supposed to be what climates in front of thousands of delegates so definitely this world is casting a shadow all right Bestia, thank you very much Bestia Bori that I've been to you by Well this report now from Kibbutz Nahal Oz one of the communities worst hit by the terrorists on October 7th Uri Shapiro has the story October 7th caught the entire country by surprise in Kibbutz, Nahal Oz one of the places closest to the Gaza border the surprise was even bigger we woke up around 6 a.m my partner told me that there is a red alert I wasn't very excited about it I said okay we've experienced these situations we'll walk it out so we entered the safe room the first message I got was from a friend who texted me that his wife was injured eventually she died from her wounds the door was closed but I suppose that it wouldn't matter to them I guess that they realized that we are old people there is not much to do with us so they went to other places Yechiel Chelnov is one of the founders of Nahal Oz he is close to his 90s but still very active when we established the Kibbutz we concentrated on agriculture and indeed we had very good agriculture we have one of the best dairy industries at least it was until the war but it is still working it's the first time I'm leaving the Kibbutz we had security issues when you evacuated young families with the kids or whoever wanted to go but never like this Kibbutz Nahal Oz was the first Nahal settlement a collective community of veterans of the IDF's Nahal Brigade who combined military service and building communities across the country in the early days the Kibbutz was considered one of the most famous in Israel as leaders and officials visited it one of the most famous incidents occurred in 1956 when a member of the Kibbutz Roy Rothenberg was brutally killed by Egyptian forces the eulogy of Moshe Dayan then chief of staff became one of the most iconic speeches in the history of Israel early yesterday morning Roy was murdered the quiet of the spring morning dazzled him and he did not see those waiting in ambush for him at the edge of the furrow let us not cast the blame on the murderers today why should we declare their burning hatred for us for eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza and before their eyes we have been transforming the land and the villages where they and their fathers dwelt into our state it is not among the Arabs in Gaza but in our own midst that we must seek Roy's blood how did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate and see in all its brutality the destiny of our generation in 2014 another traumatic event happened when four-year-old Daniel Tragman died from a missile sent from Gaza the Kibbutz was about to celebrate 70 years since its founding with a special ceremony ironically the main show was a play which shows two women spotters who were cut off from their cameras we were supposed to have a big celebration marking 70 years of the Kibbutz on Friday we had rehearsals for the show the plot where the spotters are disconnected it seems like a crazy story for me but this is what happened eventually around 35 people were murdered in Nakhaloz on October 7th today residents of the Kibbutz are staying in another Kibbutz in the north Mishmar Hayamek and are waiting to decide on their next step as Nakhaloz remains a closed military zone well that's it for me stay with us tonight 24 news for Lisa Levine picks up the rundown in just a few moments stay with us a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well this is breaking news edition I'm Vanessa Levine rockets have today been launched into Israeli territory in the south and the north Hamas sending rockets from the Gaza Strip towards southern communities and Hezbollah launching missiles from southern Lebanon to northern parts of Israel these are live images on your screen right now rockets being sent into the southern parts of the Golan this is happening right now as we speak day 58 of the war the tenuous temporary truce collapsing on Friday morning when Hamas violated the weak long pause the release of hostages being held captive by terror group has now been halted 137 people men women and children are still being held inside the strip their families still waiting for answers talks in Qatar to secure their release ending abruptly with no resolution the idea of ground operation inside Gaza is gaining momentum again with the military confirming that more than 800 terror tunnels have been uncovered since the war started more than eight weeks ago now the IDF also confirming the death of two more soldiers it's not clear how many people have been killed in the Gaza Strip and it's also not clear how many of those killed are terrorists or civilians a senior White House official says he believes Israel is making an effort to minimize civilian deaths in Gaza including by publishing online a map of places where Gazans could go to find safety now for the latest let's go straight to our correspondent Zach Anders in northern Israel and we're hearing there were sirens just moments ago in the southern Golan also Hezbollah launching rockets and missile attacks on Israel earlier 12 people wounded what is the latest up north what can you tell us about the latest developments in that part of the region well Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for five strikes throughout the afternoon this would be the sixth we'll wait for IDF confirmation to determine if this did come from Hezbollah or Hezbollah themselves claims responsibility for this latest red alert of course in this area many of the red alerts throughout the last several weeks have been not necessarily false alarms but occasionally that has occurred with the level of readiness any projectile any drone rocket launch does trigger these alerts even if they are several miles inside Lebanon when they're detected so sometimes these are just precautionary measures we'll wait to see what exactly the IDF gets back to us with and says this latest red alert is for very briefly the Houthis claiming responsibility for an earlier incident American warships and several commercial ships have come under attack in the Red Sea briefly what is known about the latest incident in that part the Red Sea right well the Houthis are claiming that they are targeting Israeli ships but there is no confirmation that these are Israeli owned ships and the what should be noted is just how close the U.S. carrier group is to all of this naval activity and their sphere of influence in the Red Sea right now of course does implicate them in in these attempted strikes the Houthis again claiming that they're firing on Israeli ships but there's no confirmation that these are in fact Israeli ships thank you so much correspondent Zach Anders and northern Israel more to come from Zach in the coming hours thank you now for more we welcome to studio Yaakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish news syndicate and at the Miriam Institute Yaakov thank you so much for being here in studio many developments all at once as is often the case we know about siren sounding just a short while ago in the southern Golan also earlier in southern parts of the country and also we know there are major developments inside the Gaza Strip closer and closer to Khan Yunus tell us exactly what is unfolding your assessment so Khan Yunus is really the last stronghold the fortress of Hamas as we know it I think there's going to be a Hamas before the high intensity phase of this war and a Hamas that is comes after and they will be very very very different entities Hamas the organized terror army the regime the jihadist entity that was able to pull off the mass murder of 1200 Israelis on October 7th its last stronghold is really in Khan Yunus and this is where the Israeli military operation is now going to be focused it's going to be very different I think from what we've seen in Gaza city and northern Gaza where the IDF has been able to essentially dismantle two Hamas brigades already and I think the difference is that first of all there's going to be a lot more civilians in Khan Yunus and also there's going to be a lot more terrorists both above ground and underground and there are going to be hostages I believe Israeli hostages are in likely to be in that area as well so all of this will demand a lot more precision in terms of air power in terms of surface forces going forward we're going to unpack all of those details very shortly right now those stay with us we're going to go to our correspondent Pia Stegelbach she joins us from Storot in southern Israel in siren sounding in several southern communities earlier in the day but most of these areas have been evacuated Pia is Hamas just flexing its muscle there what can you tell us Robin you tell us this is for sure Hamas flexing its muscle and showing that it came out of that a ceasefire that week long ceasefire with having regained some strength really throughout the day basically the community surrounding the Gaza border were targeted by rockets it came as far as Derot and Ashkelon as well not causing any casualties however in Storot it caused some damage to some infrastructure yesterday at night we also received an example of Hamas showing that it still has the strength to launch rockets towards the center of Israel there were rocket sirens in Tel Aviv basically and also in the surrounding areas and only a couple of minutes ago there was really a moment of scare here when in the area of Storot where we're at right now and also Ashkelon drones were detected at least eight drones were detected at first it seemed like they were coming out of Gaza there was gunfire that was heard even here in the city of Storot but now just before we got on air Benita the Israeli army the Israeli authorities said that it was a false alert that there were army drones that were by a mistake intercepted there but that really shows you how high the level of alert is here in the community surrounding the Gaza border many developments all at once and Pierre we know the idea of ground operation inside Gaza is gaining momentum the military confirming more than 800 terror tunnels have been uncovered that's since the war started more than eight weeks ago now also the US saying Israel is making an effort to minimize civilian deaths in Gaza how so what can you tell us Rob Benita well when the ceasefire ended Israel proceeded and basically divided the entire Gaza strip in blocks and in parcels giving each block a number and this is the protocol that they're following by to announce which number which block needs to be evacuated next we've seen an example of that today in the morning the Israeli spokesperson in Arabic and not sure if you can hear but we're hearing here heavy artillery fire in the back we even saw flares and also an Israeli airstrike earlier here in the north we're standing at the very northern tip of the Gaza strip going back to this evacuation plan in the morning the Israeli spokesperson Arabic announced that several neighborhoods of Hanyoun is there in the south need to be evacuated immediately and also in the late afternoon the area of Jabalia here in the north and also the old city of Gaza city as they tune in al-Shaba'iyah were to be evacuated immediately now the sentiment in Gaza is that there simply is no safe space there and as more than half of the population in Gaza has left or lost their their homes the question really is where are they supposed to go are there really any safe spaces that can actually receive more people as of now Benita correspondent PSCelback live from Storot in southern Israel stay safe more to come from Pierre in the coming hours thank you and still in studio Yaakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analysts so Yaakov I want to pick up on what we were talking about a little bit earlier and that is the significance right now of Khan Yunus as you said there are senior Hamas leaders believed to be hiding in tunnels there there are also heartbreakingly believed to be hostages there as well a complicated mission for the IDF breakdown for us what exactly it entails it entails relying very heavily on intelligence the most intelligence reliant phase of this war to date and that's saying a lot because the entire war has seen unprecedented levels of intelligence injected in Israeli firepower strikes but going forward it's essential for the IDF to use its very very advanced intelligence to know where to drop that munition where the ground force can go where it cannot where the Ghazan civilians remain focused and concentrated and where they have evacuated all of this is real-time information and the Israeli digital command network is actually very well adapted to do just this kind of thing it was developed for this kind of challenge of urban warfare real-time mass intelligence coming in and then operating and tailoring firepower strikes and ground movements in line with that intelligence that's the challenge at stake and it's also you know going to be a place where I think Hamas is going to try challenge those IDF battalions moving into the southern Gaza strip in a much more significant way than we've seen them challenged in Gaza city and northern Gaza so far well talking of which let's take a listen to the IDF chief of staff Herzi Hallevi on exactly what is unfolding there right now yesterday and today we killed battalion commanders company commanders many operatives and yesterday morning we started the same move in the south of the Gaza strip it will be no less powerful it will have no lesser results and the commanders in Hamas will meet the IDF everywhere in a very very strong manner I know that part of it is the abilities and a large part of it is the fighting spirits you bring and the experience you bring as reservists and we have the capabilities to do it in the most thorough way just as we did strongly and thoroughly in the north of the Gaza strip we are also doing it now in the south of the Gaza strip and we'll continue to deepen the achievement in the north of the Gaza strip Jacob Leppin your insights on what we've just heard there well he's giving you know a very important update on things that have been accomplished so far two Hamas brigades which contain within them several Hamas battalions have essentially been dismantled in northern Gaza and that means that what the IDF is doing in northern Gaza now is essentially going to be mopping up operations as the center of gravity starts moving south so we'll see the IDF being active both in northern Gaza and in central and southern Gaza all at the same time this is going to be the most extensive phase of the war this is the most critical phase of the war this is the thing that's going to break the Hamas terrorist army as we know it and the regime and it's what's supposed to end up leading to the collapse of Hamas as we know it so this is definitely the most critical part and we see here chief of staff Alevi essentially giving an intermediate intermediate summary of what has been accomplished so far and where things are going now Hamas clearly knows that this is the next part of the battle plan for the IDF talk us through the concerns there has been a week-long pause what they may have been able to prepare in anticipation for exactly what is unfolding in Kanyunas so it you know it seems quite likely that they've used the past eight days to set up ambushes to relocate weapons we already saw them improve and regroup in terms of their ability to launch rocket fire in recent days they may have used this time to move hostages around if they feared that Israel started you know homing it on their location so they essentially use this time to move terrorist leaders terrorist commanders weapons and possibly hostages around there's not that much more they could do in this time they couldn't you know start you know rebuilding mass amounts of armaments or rockets they have to use the armaments that they have but they could reach supplies that they weren't able to during the fighting so it's given them a certain advantage but the idea has also of course used the past eight days to learn tactical lessons to prepare for their next stages and you know we've already seen very intensive Israeli airpower over the past 48 hours preparing the ground for this next stage of the ground offensive so both sides have used the past eight days to improve their positions and now we are going into this next stage we know Daniel Higari the IDF spokesperson is likely to deliver his daily briefing shortly if and when that does happen we will of course bring that to you live the IDF also publishing online a map of places where gardens could go to safety something we were talking about a little bit earlier with Pia Steckelbach who is in southern Israel talk us through the moves and the efforts that Israel makes in wartime to warn civilians in advance of its next plan of action well no western military goes to the efforts that the IDF does go to first we saw the leafletting and then we saw millions of messages sent and we saw over a million people leave the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City head south now what the IDF is doing going forward is okay it can't repeat that obviously it can't repeat that but what it can do and what it's trying to do is to create localized evacuations and moving people from certain areas of say Hanyunist to the western part of southwest Gaza towards the coastline and this is a much more localized version of what we saw happening earlier in this war that's why this stage is going to be very different so yeah we're seeing the IDF you know employ major efforts to move populations but also I think there's a certain acceptance that however many evacuates to the you know western coastline and south south maybe to Rafa there's still going to be a lot of civilians left and as a result I think we're going to see a very different modus operandi from the IDF going forward intensive but very very precise and accurate firepower and we know that John Kirby the White House national spokesperson saying before that the U.S. does believe that Israel is making huge efforts to advise civilians about its next plan of action something as you say very unusual during wartime not many armies take those kind of precautions having said that the U.S. stance is a huge focal point as well and defense secretary Lloyd Austin has been discussing the dangers that exist when terrorists and tyrants believe they can get away with mass atrocities let's take a listen in his own words over the long sweep of American history the cost of courage has always been dwarfed by the cost of cowardice and the cost of abdication has always far outweigh the cost of leadership the world will only become more dangerous if tyrants and terrorists believe that they can get away with wholesale aggression and mass slaughter in America will only become less secure if dictators believe that they can wipe a democracy off the map so Israel's strongest ally the rhetoric out of the U.S. obviously important we know of course those meetings always happening behind the scenes as we're talking Yarkov these are live images on our screen out of the Gaza stroke dramatic footage unfolding as we speak talk to us so about the impact of the U.S. pressure on Israel right now well look you know for strategically and militarily U.S. support is absolutely essential to this war efforts and that almost goes without saying at the same time we've seen you know comments in recent days from senior U.S. officials that have suggested a much more public attempt to put pressure on Israel I have found some of those messages disturbing because they have basically been you know a combination of sort of publicly lecturing Israel on the need to avoid civilian casualties which Israel makes every effort to do and also there appears to be some you know reflection of the pressure that the Biden administration is under and now again we're seeing sort of you know the tone shift back to much more supportive comments that are being made for Israel so my hope going forward is that U.S. effort U.S. support for this war effort will be steadfast and will not be changing its tone because this war effort is going to be lasting at least months going forward there's no way to eliminate Hamas from one day to the next there's no way to do it you know without using significant amounts of firepower and as a result Israel is going to need long-term steady support and you know that's you know something I'm just seeing from the side but you know having said all of that of course Israel is going to have to take the U.S. position into consideration I think we're seeing that happen right now this attempt to create local evacuation zones is probably a reflection of that I mean there is this sort of side give and take between Israel and the U.S. going forward they don't always agree on everything there are disagreements I think it's clear and you know my hope is that the U.S. will be able to maintain its supportive stance going forward for the long-term as this war draws out because it's not going to be a quick affair we are still looking at live images on our screen right now out of the Gaza Strip again you can see those airstrikes appear to be continuing these are flares that we are looking at right now from your perspective describe for us what we are seeing these flares right now across the Gaza Strip what does it indicate in terms of the current developments on the ground as we speak nighttime flares are designed to enhance visibility for the forces that are moving in of course the IDF ground forces will prefer to move in to new territory at night where they are less visible to the enemy the flares also creates visibility of the enemy for the IDF forces so you know we're seeing I think all of the signs for a significant IDF incursion probably involving lots of armored units and infantry into new areas of the Gaza Strip following approximately four to eight hours of very intensive airstrikes taking out you know all kinds of Hamas positions anti-tank attack positions and command and control and tunnel shafts and all of the things that we've seen hit in the north were hit in the south and now when the ground is more ready we're seeing the idea of ground forces moving in I think tonight is going to be a very important night for this war effort going forward and you mentioned the north and obviously major concerns about the developments there we heard Zach and as our colleague talking about a little bit earlier on in this broadcast and huge worries about how Hezbollah might want to show its own sense of force right now the truth is over it was quiet during that pause but it could seriously step up its anti right now yes well Hezbollah you know firing on Betty Lell which is about three and a half kilometers from the border that's much further than previous anti-tank missile strikes that we've seen in recent days so that represents an escalation by Hezbollah and you know by pure chance the soldiers who were in the vehicle that was targeted had left it seconds before otherwise we'd be looking at a completely different situation so I think you know the bigger picture is Hezbollah again is willing to risk an escalation even if it's not running into it it's willing to take the risk and the situation is untenable the situation on the northern border is untenable it's a ticking time bomb but we are seeing Israel you know I think manage and prioritize the south before the north I think that makes a lot of strategic sense it's a wise way of managing you know limited military resources it's better to fight on one front if you can and to keep the second front on a low flame but you know Hezbollah's insistence on these continued attacks anti-tank and mortar and rockets and keeping tens of thousands of northern Israelis away I think that will force Israel to consider more dramatic steps once the southern arena becomes more stable what does it mean though for the residents in that part of the country so many communities have had to evacuate in recent weeks with good reason but there is no clear time frame obviously as to when they can get back to some semblance of normality it's very tough for them you know I was there a few days ago and Kira Chpona was mostly empty and the Kibbutz team were almost completely empty right on the border and then you know when you get there you can see why it's not only because the military is telling them to it's because you can see you know these Kizbollah controlled villages just a few kilometers away and from there it's so easy for them to fire anti-tank missiles destroy homes which they've done destroy vehicles this is a clear and present danger and now we're in the post October 7th reality so this is not a situation that we can go back to all these people who've evacuated there's no way they can go back knowing that that one the elite Hamas commando terrorist unit which is the equivalent of the Hamas Nukhba unit which led the October 7th mass murder attack is going to stay on their doorstep they have to be pushed back that's the bottom line how they will be pushed back is unclear there are multiple pathways there's talk now of negotiations that seems unlikely but it's good that it's being tried or the more likely scenarios some sort of buffer zone I think that's going to have to be established by Israel to keep these murder squads off of the border unbelievable to think these two fronts at the same time simmering very worrying situation and then let's throw into the mix the hooties because as we discussed earlier the Pentagon saying an American warship and several commercial ships had come under attack in the Red Sea potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the mid-east linked to this war it did not identify where it believed the fire came from but just a short while ago ahead of this broadcast the hootie rebels in Yemen claiming responsibility talk us through the significance as we discuss the north and the south and then we have to throw in more attempts by Yemen right so both Hezbollah and the hooties are essentially proxies that Iran is activating kind of like an orchestra conductor in order to create multi-arena pressure on Israel so they want the Iranians want to keep Israel distracted and they want to make sure that Israel doesn't focus all of its energy resources military intelligence resources on the Gaza Strip this is their way of doing it and the hooties are not only a threat to Israel by firing missiles at a lot which have been intercepted very effectively by Israeli defenses there are also threats to the whole of global international shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Amandab chokehold point which where a good chunk of the world's oil and gas passes through so this is an actual threat to the global economy and to the energy economy and I think we're seeing the Iranians activate this threat in order to try and extort the world to put pressure on Israel to accept some kind of premature ceasefire I think that's the grand Iranian strategy that's why they're activating the hooties in this manner and now we're seeing you know a British ship attacked the U.S. Navy was attacked today these are dramatic incidents I would hope that they will incur the appropriate retaliation against the hooties going forward Yaakov stay with us we're going to take a very quick break but before we do that a quick update if you were watching this broadcast just at the start we mentioned sirens up north near Qashqat in northern Israel we can now confirm from the IDF a projectile fell in an open area where was it coming from it came across identified crossing into Israeli territory from Syria we'll unpack more after the break this is breaking news edition our coverage continues in just two minutes stay tuned Yaakov Lapin will be here to unpack all the latest developments as they unfold on the ground stay tuned back in just two minutes broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondents throughout the world brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries of emergency and war in Israel bringing Israel's story to the world breaking news coverage continues thank you for joining us rockets have today been launched into Israeli territory in the south and the north Hamas sending rockets from the Gaza Strip towards southern communities and Hezbollah launching missiles from southern Lebanon to the northern parts of Israel day 58 of the war the tenuous temporary truce collapsing on Friday morning when Hamas violated the week long pause now for the latest update let's go back to our correspondent Zach Anders and he joins us from northern Israel and as we started this broadcast a short while ago Zach Siren sounding in the north new information new developments what can you share yeah the IDF at this hour is saying that these projectiles came from Syria that they fell in an open area and that there has not been reports of any damage that is again another significant development here considering that we often see these coming from Hezbollah and from Lebanon but we also see quite a bit of activity coming out of Syria that certainly is something we're going to be following up on and you will keep an eye on the latest developments also obviously all the developments across the border from Lebanon for now though thank you so much to our correspondent Zach Anders in northern Israel thank you Zach now it took more than eight weeks but United Nations women's groups have now broken their silence over mass sexual assaults of women and girls by terrorists on the 7th of October the organization UN Women saying quote we reiterate that all women Israeli women Palestinian women as all others are entitled to a life lived in safety and free from violence adding that quote we unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel on the 7th of October and are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks so now for more reaction it's a pleasure to welcome Anita Friedman chairperson of the world women's international Zionist organization joining us from Tel Aviv good to see you Anita so the silence was deafening after eight weeks this condemnation from the UN women's groups your reaction too little too late what can I tell you Benita first of all thank you for having me here it's appalling to think that these organizations that were created for this exact purpose to make sure that we don't silent women in these instances has been silent for eight weeks it took a lot of international pressure including the women that were standing in front of the UN with these garments you just showed the picture for them to react it's a little too late even though today the times in UK had a spread which really went deep into what happened here so I'm glad at least that the world even after eight weeks is reacting so I'm thankful for that at least UN women's groups calling for this return to a path of peace a respect for international humanitarian and international human rights law but as you say the evidence has been there from the start this footage has been available for all to see tragically since day one what do you think the reasons are that it's taken so long for this outcry from women's groups it was due to so much pressure on the international arena why did it take so long I have no no good explanation for that well other than it's Israel and it's just anti-Semitism in its one of its forms because otherwise I can really not explain that there was so much testimonials and movies and raw footage coming out from here that it was impossible to deny and the fact that they did not have a statement or an outcry after they saw this because it was available to all of them it took hundreds of letters of calls from the different women's organizations here in Israel not only we so we have a coalition for all the women's organizations that work day to day with these international organizations in making sure that women's sexual rates in times of war and times of peace are listened to and are believed that for us we felt very alone we felt extremely I don't even have the words to explain to you how alone we felt when the silence was for eight weeks and to think that when women in 2023 can't come to the support of other women in a situation like this it just boggles the mind Sarah Hendricks is the deputy director at the UN women's groups and she told CNN that they unequivocally condemn all forms of violence against women and girls but somehow didn't call out Hamas specifically again you see the images we are hearing the testimony of people in captivity women and girls women separated from their daughters we're hearing the abuse and yet other women can't condemn it it really boggles the mind your thoughts yeah and they do they put the word but which is unacceptable the first raison d'etre of these organizations are we believe you we're with you you're not alone and in this instance it was not like that and again we're hearing these testimonies we know in one case in captivity one of a set of twins was taken away from their mother for 10 days this is just unimaginable and still women and children are being held in Gaza right now it's been more than eight weeks the whole nation waiting to hear what has happened to the Bebas family a mother whose plight is really at the heart of the entire nation Shiri Bebas and her two beautiful young boys with their beautiful red hair the whole nation waiting for word your message right now in terms of letting out mothers and children your thoughts on that being prioritized you know this is what we have been asked to do all the time to make sure that women and children are first I am not going to get into the decision-making process of the Israeli government I hope that their interest lies with these hostages all of them not only women and children all of them have to return home somehow it certainly is something that the whole nation is hoping can happen as this ground operation unfolds as we speak Anita when it comes to resources for women how is your organization helping right now thousands of people attacked on the 7th of October in their homes and at that music festival what kinds of initiatives are you involved in at this moment we so have we are a very old organization we're 103 years old the main thing that we're focusing right now is also bringing up the plight of abused women that are trapped in their house you know during times of war as it was as we saw in the corona violence in the family goes up so we have three different hotlines not only for women the plight of violence but also for men in the cycle of violence and also for parents with children that need our help we are out there on the ground we have 40 different which centers giving services to all the citizens of Israel that needs right now whatever they need maybe but Benita this is a country and their PTSD the whole country is in a trauma and we are going to need a lot of resources to make sure that we give psychological therapy to everybody and anybody that needs it of course to the people that are in our projects the children that come to us the parents the women but in general to the whole of the Israeli population thank you so much Anita Friedman we so appreciate you being with us the chairperson of the World Women's International Zionist Organization live from Tel Aviv thank you so much for speaking to us on this Breaking News Edition thank you Benita lots to process there the plight of so many women right now very very difficult to comprehend what especially the women in captivity mothers and children together in captivity or sometimes separated so many questions remain as we said a little bit earlier when the IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari speaks and delivers his daily briefing we will bring it to you live so make sure you stay tuned for now still with me in studio Yakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analysts so we were talking a little bit earlier about Hamas leaders some of whom as we speak might be in tunnels in Khan Yunus but the Khan Channel has an exclusive interview with the head of Shabbat suggesting that Israel will target Hamas leaders in Turkey and Qatar if they have to what do you make of that message right now we have a precedent for this you know after black September conducted the massacre of Israeli athletes you know at the Munich Olympics the most side we're going to after them one after one by one you know throughout the months many months patiently painstakingly so Israel has done this before and I think that you know after the worst atrocity that the Jewish people have experienced since the Holocaust it's clear to me that Hamas's overseas leadership are a target as Professor Boaz Ganor who is the president of the Reichman University said to me a few days ago when I spoke to him about this this is seen by the Israeli leadership as a personal commitment to the victims of the mass murder attack of October 7th and no less than that so Israel is clearly not going to make do with eliminating the Hamas leadership in Gaza it's going to go after the Hamas leadership overseas and if they're in Qatar or if they're in Turkey wherever they are I wouldn't consider them safe I wouldn't give them life insurance what do you think though targeting leaders like that for example in Turkey and Qatar how would that be received within Gulf nations at this juncture realistically I think it depends which Gulf nations you know there's a big difference between Qatar and say the UAE and Saudi Arabia it's clear to me at least that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are pragmatic states that are interested in prosperity and stability in this region and they are not interested in having Islamist jihadists commit massacres or threaten their own domestic security Hamas is illegal in Saudi Arabia and I don't think it's very welcome in the UAE either Qatar hosts Hamas it has a completely different relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and it's going to have to I think sooner or later face certain repercussions for that relationship so it very much depends I don't think the Gulf is unified here but we should be looking to the Saudis and the Emiratis I think as the best example of where the Gulf the Arab Gulf could you know could look like when it comes to dealing with Islamists they are no friend of radical jihadists we know that the talks in Qatar broke down over the fate of the hostages there are still 137 hostages being held right now which entity or which nation is best placed right now to put real pressure on Doha to make this work or is it a case now of turning to the ground operation the fighting will continue and separately the hostage deal will have to be renegotiated somewhere else or somehow else the only nation that could put pressure on Doha I think is the United States and they have to their big credit here done that very effectively just before the truth broke down I think the United States played a critical role in enabling Israeli hostages to come home but going forward I think the dynamics are changing we're seeing Yehissin Wah and Muhammad Def the Hamas leadership dig in they seem to still be very enthralled you know by what they would consider their achievements this distorted image of achievements of October 7th and they think that with enough time Israel will face international pressure to dial back its war efforts and that they'll somehow survive as a leadership so therefore I think the diplomatic route of applying pressure on Hamas is starting to phase out it's starting to fizzle and now it's things are going to be much more determined by the military situation on the ground the more Hamas is cornered I think the more open it will be to deals and if not if the leadership is destroyed then Israel might be able to strike deals locally with hostage holders without going through this lengthy loop Qatar the Hamas leadership the international community but simply offering deals you know perhaps to hostage holders locally saying you can have free passage out if you let go of these hostages and that would be a much simpler affair and there's also of course the option of military rescue operations much more risky but very much on the table and certainly very complicated as well Yaakov stay with us we've got more to unpack but right now international organizations are not popular in Israel as we were discussing earlier on in this broadcast nonetheless out of their search for justice the hostages and missing families forum invited the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court to Israel to get him to investigate the massacres and abductions on the 7th of October which all raised the question of how Israel should respond to involvement by the ICC our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultiman has more in this report The test for the court looks unavoidable and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is eventually heading here to the international criminal court in The Hague where the massacres of October 7th and the war that followed looks set to cross the threshold and someday come into the courtroom if the international criminal court does not act against Hamas no one will who will act against them the Palestinian authority who endorses them the Hamas regime in Gaza there's no one else besides Mr. Khan Mr. Khan is Karim Khan chief prosecutor for the court seen here meeting with Palestinian prime minister Muhammad Shtaia in Ramallah on Saturday on a trip that also took Khan to Be'eri and Kfar-Aza on the Gaza border and the central event a meeting at their invitation with hostages families Israel has long been suspicious of international organizations with decades of bitter experience of perceived bias broadly for that reason Israel is not a state party to the emerging ICC one cannot deliberately target civilian civilians or civilian objects one can't rape or kill or mutilate or dismember willful killing hostage taking our grave breaches of the Geneva Convention impeding relief supplies as provided by the Geneva Conventions may constitute a crime within the court's jurisdiction the message coming from Karim Khan is a careful one he is under scrutiny from both sides given the magnitude he cannot look away from October 7th or the pro-Palestinian side says look away from the war but the young court's reputation will be at stake and over time a suspicious Israel will need to decide whether or not to take the risk of trusting the ICC and cooperating with it still with me in studio Yaakov Lapin and your take on the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court being here seeing the evidence hearing the testimony what kind of impact do you see that having right now well you know I think that if there's going to be any meeting for international law going forward it's going to have to evolve and to recognize the core difference that exists between a democratic nation state that sustained an unprovoked crime against humanity against its citizens and defense itself versus a jihadist genocidal entity in no way should these two sides be put on the same level I'm not an expert in international law but Israel certainly is able and its you know military legal experts are able to explain Israel's actions in terms of international law the laws of proportionality the laws of distinction these are things that the IDF had here to day in and day out these are the basic principles of of the laws of war and you know let's let's hope that the people at the ICC will be able to recognize this very very clear moral gap and legal gap that exists between the two sides here and over and above the massacres on the seventh of October the war crime of abducting civilians taking them and holding them hostage for weeks on end in tunnels in homes this is obvious to many but not everybody in terms of the extent of the war crime if the ICC is going to be investigating that would include those developments too surely yeah I mean you know one would expect in a sane world that these would be the main topics of the ICC's investigation mass rape mass murder mass kidnapping every you know war crime that could be imagined that you know really just you know reminds us of the darkest times of the 20th century this is what Hamas did this is the war that it triggered and Israel is of course fighting for its own defense so you know in terms of international law what could be clearer than Israel leafleting you know northern Ghazan civilians and messaging them and basically begging them to get out versus Hamas deliberately going after civilians and murdering them in the most heinous ways possible that you know better better not to describe in this broadcast what could be clearer so you know I'm sure that those who are objective about international law will be able to recognize these two extremes these two polar opposite extremes and the way that they wage war and we'll have to wait and see whether that's actually the case over and above that it's been intriguing to see with increasing regularity the kind of evidence that the IDF is uncovering inside the Gaza Strip the terror tunnels weapons inside the homes of children's bedrooms the kinds of evil that have been verified on film by the IDF and yet why is it not being perceived right now talking of which IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari is speaking now DNews and expands its ground operation against the Hamas strongholds all over the Gaza Strip whenever there is a Hamas stronghold the IDF operates the forces are fighting face to face against the terrorists and eliminating them the chief of staff held a security assessment with the head of the air force and emphasized the strong cooperation with the air force both with eliminating Hamas tunnels and terror launching sites the attack of all these sites reduces the threats on the ground troops the IDF together with the Shin Bet working around the clock in order to hurt these threats in addition to the ground operation to use the ground operation to expose the enemy we continue of eliminating the terrorists who are leading the fighting today the IDF eliminated with the direction of the Shin Bet commander of the Shati Brigade he led the fighting in the recent month near the Shati area under him terrorists infiltrated Israel on October 7th we will continue to haunt locate and eliminate each of the commanders that are leading the areas under their control 137 hostages are still being held in Gaza the stand in front of our eyes all the time it is important for you to know we hold an intelligence an operational assessment around the clock it happens under Nitzana Lawn of the IDF that has received the support of the chief of staff together with the Mossad and the Shin Bet we collect information and pass it to any relevant force in order to ensure that we do not risk anyone and bring operational opportunities we'll continue to do so we'll do everything possible to bring them back in the north we're striking from the air terror targets of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the sources from which rockets were being fired towards our territory in Lebanon and Syria one of them hit an aerial a vehicle near Beiteleil some soldiers were lightly wounded and were taking for treatment we will strike any threat on our territory the IDF forces are set in the northern command in all other arenas this evening an updated guidelines were up provided to the residents at the home front command website these guidelines save lives this week and new drafting has started in the IDF for Givati and the armored corpse this happens during the war the fighters male and female that are enlisting to the fighting units have a strong contribution to the security of the state of Israel questions is the assessment in the IDF is that Dikhe Sinwar is still in Khan Yunus and is there information about Hamas officials who have escaped the Gaza Strip we follow together with the Shin Bet and the intelligence forces around the clock in locating the senior Hamas leadership in the strip we do this all the time the goal is to eliminate each and every one of them I will not address specifically the information that we have it happens around the clock and one of the major achievements of this war should be the eliminate elimination of the Hamas leadership led by Dikhe Sinwar what are the targets being hit by the Houthis this is an important question quite a few things happened around the Red Sea before I came into the podium I held a check with the fifth fleet to understand to have a better understanding today rockets were fired towards two cargo ships that are have no relation to the state of Israel one boat was hit significantly and is in distress with fear of drowning another boat was lightly hit this is part of the operation of the Houthis the ammunition used by the Houthis are Iranians the training the methods are Iranian it shows the negative impact of Iran in the region it is a global problem and a regional problem we must see how the world responds to this the freedom of movement becomes dangerous in this part of the world we follow the threats on the state of Israel over the threats we collect information and we examine all the abilities we will respond in the right time and place thank you Thank you Daniel Higari delivering his daily briefing day 58 of the war and we don't have much time left but Jacob Leppen what stood out for you many questions that we've discussed as well including where is Yakhia Sinwai right now right and of course you know they're not going to go into the tactical operational details but clearly the IDF is balancing many dilemmas here it's continuing to monitor the hostile situation it's proceeding into southern Gaza and its ground offensive and it's going after Hamas's leadership it's doing all of these things at the same time it's a huge effort and you know I think we're seeing the tip of the iceberg what Admiral Higari can share with the public is that the IDF you know is proceeding full steam ahead while keeping all of those other dilemmas in mind as it does and as he said every effort will continue to make sure that the 137 hostages still being held captive by the terror group will be freed Yakov Lapin Military and Strategic Affairs Analyst at the Jewish News Syndicate and Miriam Institute thank you so much for being here for this breaking news edition well we're taking a very short break now but when we get back our rolling coverage continues on this breaking news coverage don't go anywhere stay tuned our team of field reporters