 Before the war, the war is over. We didn't have a war to get the peace. Our war is over now. They're coming to rescue us. The coverage of Israel's war now at day 67. Fighting against Hamas' strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour as more rockets have been fired into Israeli communities a short while ago. Also this morning, sad news on the falling of IDF reserve soldier, Master Sergeant Svika Lavie, who died after being wounded in battle two weeks ago, one of many brave heroes who lost their lives in the defense of the State of Israel. And as 137 Israelis are still being held hostage in the hands of Hamas in Gaza, Egyptian sources say that Israel has expressed willingness to promote a new hostage release deal with Hamas. However, both Hamas and Israeli sources denied that such a deal was even on the table. Meanwhile, on the northern front the Hezbollah terror group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli communities and military posts out of Lebanon yesterday with Israel striking back. And last night confirmation from the US military that an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen struck a commercial tanker causing fire and damage but no casualties. The attack on the Norwegian tanker Strinda took place about 60 nautical miles north of the Strait of Babel-Mandab in the Red Sea. Last night, IDF Chief of Staff Hurti Alevi and Shin Bet, Chief Ronan Barr, both visited the Israeli troops inside Hanyunis in southern Gaza, vowing. There is no force which can stand up to the combined force of the IDF soldiers and the Shin Bet. It's a war of tunnel shafts and it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out. It seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination. There is a big pressure here and I think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit. It also accelerates our achievements. In the end, we want to move forward quickly. We are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the entrance in the south of the Gaza Strip and also deep down into the ground. Let's take you live now to Israel's northern border, I-24 News Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran is there at Ayelet Hashachar Ariel. A very intense fighting in the northern front over the past 24 hours. What are we hearing from the IDF? Yes, guy, following another day of extensive cross-border fire on the Israel-Lebanon border in multiple parts of this border. A quiet night, tense quiet night along the border. This obviously following the anti-tank guided missile attack on nine homes in the border community of Mitura now. Thankfully, there were no injuries as a result of this attack. Hisbola saying that it had attacked a home in which some IDF soldiers were present inside because they tried to show that all their attacks are against IDF forces that the past 66 days have proven that that is not necessary of the case in every attack. But that was just one of seven attacks carried out yesterday by Hisbola, the IDF responding with artillery fire across the across the border as well as to the origins of those launches throughout the day. In addition, IDF fighter jets carrying out strikes on Hisbola infrastructure in southern Lebanon. And Ariel, another very troubling issue in the region these days is the threat of the Houthis in the Red Sea last night, another attack on a commercial vessel. What do we know? Indeed, guy, the Houthis have long gone past threats regarding free navigation and commercial passage in the Red Sea overnight. As you mentioned in your lead, according to American officials cited by Reuters, it was a Houthi cruise missile that was launched at a Norwegian flagged tanker carrying seeds and food and other material for Venice, Italy. Now, as this ship entered the Babel Mandab, that's the entrance, the southern entrance to the Red Sea. This ship was targeted with a cruise missile. There was damage caused to the ship and no reports of injuries. This was also the report by a UK ship monitoring company. Now, this obviously comes following a series of strikes and attacks, but also threats regarding the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea with the Houthis threatening to attack any ship that is heading towards Israel, even though this ship was not necessarily doing that as it was headed for Italy. But these reports also coincided with other reports in Yemen of explosions in the western port city of Hudeida. Now, those explosions could be connected to the launch to the attack on the ship, but as of now, that remains unclear. There's so many events there in the Red Sea. Are you also running the northern border? Thank you for that update. Stay safe over there. Now let's bring in retired IDF colonel Miri Aizen, the director at the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Reichman University. Miri, thank you very much for joining us. Good morning. So Mir, let's continue with the previous topic. There is just so much that is going on. But the Houthis show no sign of slowing down their hostile activity, quite the opposite attacks on commercial vessels, drones and missiles towards Israel. What do you make of this threat and what more can be done? All I'm saying right now is how Iran is not involved. How Iran is using the Houthis. They are a proxy organization in Yemen. They are Yemenite. They are Shiite. They are supplied, trained and overwhelmingly using all of their different capabilities. How in the world do the Houthis in Yemen have cruise missiles? How in the world do they have the training and the capabilities? All of this goes back to the Iranian regime, to the Iranian revolutionary guards, to what they're trying to do. Iran wants everybody to be focused on Yemen on the Houthis. Iran wants everybody to be focused, perhaps a bit less on Hezbollah, but certainly on what's going on in the Gaza Strip. What does Iran not want, Guy, for anybody to notice that this is Iran? And in this case, everything I'm saying when I'm looking at Houthis has to do with Iran trying to make sure that the focus is not on Iran, even though they are the ones who are completely behind all of these actions. So obviously, Iran will be a hot topic later in the conversation as well. Just stay with us, Miri, because I want to go to our southern border now, where rocket fire has started again this morning. Our Pierre Klosschandler is there in the city of Sderot, Pierre, more rocket fire, and we can see plums of smoke just behind you. No, no, we're not in Sderot. We're in the communities facing the central area of the Gaza Strip. And we are on our way to this location near Kibbutzbury, which was the site of a massacre on October 7. And we were caught by the Red Alert, the rocket launching. We haven't heard of any damage and casualties, but most of the communities here have been abandoned by its residents since October 7. So there shouldn't be any casualties. Now behind me is the southern eastern south skirts of Gaza City. And you can see the aftermath of an airstrike on a presumed terror target in the southern outskirts of Gaza City. You can maybe also see some sort of a flare just near the source of the smoke, the smoke which is billowing on the sky over Gaza City. And at the same time, we know that the operation is deepening on three focal points. One is the northern outskirts of Gaza City in the Jebalia refugee camp. Then on the south eastern outskirts of Gaza City in Shejahia with fierce fighting with battle hardened battalions that according to the idea to the minister of defense, you have gallons is on the verge of collapsing as 500 Hamas terrorists and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists have surrendered in the past month, 140 of them since the renewal of the ground offensive after the breaking of the ceasefire on December 1. And the third focal point is further south in the city of Hanyunas, which is encircled and at the same time, which is being under operations in the heart of Hanyunas within Hanyunas. Yesterday, the head of the Shin Bet, Ronan Barr and the chief of staff went to Hanyunas, a show of support to the ground troops there. They were inside the city itself with the 98 division, which gathers all the commando units of the army that are operating in the heart of the city. And they said that the offensive is deepening both above ground and underground as according to Ronan Barr, the head of the Shin Bet, this is a war of tunnel shafts with thousands and thousands of tunnel shafts, which need to be neutralized guy. Yes. And Pierre, we can hear very well on our screens and the very heavy shelling of the IDF just behind you so that action is very clear there. We are seeing some IDF casualties on a daily basis, although the IDF is moving strongly in those strongholds. Talk to us about those threats that the troops are being faced with both the terror tunnels, but also explosives that those Hamas terrorists have left in the area for them. Well, the latest example is the tragic death of five soldiers of one unique battalion that was operating in the eastern outskirts of Hanyunas in Alkarara, which is a community really on the border with the with Israel facing the Kibbutzki Sufim in the central area of the Gaza Strip. There there was a school, the village was under operational control of the IDF already, but there was a school in which some terrorists were locked and the fired anti guided tank missiles on the Israeli troops as well as gunfire. And as the troops identified a tunnel shaft, they entered an arena of explosive charges of improvised explosive devices and five of the soldiers were killed the day before yesterday. And that shows you not only the ferocity of the combat, but also the complexity of the combat as the the the whole Gaza Strip is strewn with hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, but thousands of tunnel shafts that need to be neutralized because from these tunnels, many times Hamas terrorists are just popping up out of these tunnels and firing a rocket propelled grenade, such as an RPG on an Israeli tank or on a food patrol. And it's extremely dangerous because this is only a split second where you can see the terrorists popping out of this tunnel shaft and then entering back the tunnel shaft. So it's a very difficult and long battle ahead. Pierre Kloss Schindler on the Israel Gaza border. Thank you very much for that update. Stay safe over there. Still with us is retired IDF colonel Mary Eisen. Before we even get to speak about the Gaza, more action is taking place right now in Genine in the West Bank IDF troops. They're clashing with Hamas terrorists. Talk to us about the threat of this arena while Israel is engaged in obviously both in Gaza and in the fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hamas exists both in the Gaza Strip, but of course they've always existed in the West Bank. And as we know also guy in Lebanon and in other arenas inside the West Bank right now Hamas out of the Gaza Strip and the leaders that are sitting in Qatar and worldwide have been trying to get all of their different operatives, all of their trained tear operatives to take more action against Israel, Israelis, the IDF both in the West Bank and otherwise. The Israeli defense forces in the West Bank have been active, proactive going against the different both cache of weapons, the terrorists themselves. They too have the different type of booby traps, RPGs, weapons that have been smuggled into the West Bank over the years. This is a consistent problem right now. The IDF is being very active today in Janine. In other days, as we've noticed, it can be at the heart of Nablus or in the city of Tulkarem. These are different areas inside the West Bank. And these actions are not only against Hamas. Janine is an area that has a large relative presence of Palestinian Islamic jihad that we all know as part of all of this terror campaign against us. So these actions are preemptive based on intelligence information and take note again that most of the places where the weapons are held, where the terrorists are putting themselves in the booby traps in a mosque, in a school that's in the West Bank in areas that are under both in areas A and B in areas under the Palestinian authority control and under Israeli control. These are challenges that we have everywhere we go their use of these different civilian clear cut, you know, like what put the weapons in the school. I mean, not that I'm saying, you know, so you have to put it in your own house. They put them in these places to make sure that the photo ops at the stage that Israel takes care of them are ones that show the opposite of what is actually happening. These are terror arenas that need to be destroyed and taken apart. And to that point exactly, because you mentioned that those areas are being controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Well, Israel is concerned not just by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants, but also by the Palestinian Authority. Well, we heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday saying that the PA wants to destroy us only unlike Hamas in stages. What do you make of that? Of course, the Palestinian Authority should mention continues to pay salaries to terrorists who murder Israelis. I'm going to give in that sense that challenge itself for all of us right now that it seems far away at the moment. But in that sense, guys, that question of what happens in the day after in the Palestinian Authority exists almost 30 years they were established in 1994 were on the eve of 2024. The Palestinian Authority was responsible both in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank for security and civil affairs in the Gaza Strip. It was taken over by Hamas in the West Bank. It is exceedingly challenged by Hamas, and it isn't that it comes out and it like likes Israel or wants to having said all of that. There's the quiet cooperation. But at the end, it's in their own arena right now, all of their statements, their open statements, the ones that they say out to the world are completely supportive of Hamas, not as much, they're very challenged by Hamas, but of the actions themselves of what they're going to call resistance of the fact that there's no question that for the Gazans right now, their civilians, their situation is not good. But in that sense, the future of what happens both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip in that future, I think that the Prime Minister is stating very clearly the positions of most of the government right now on how they view what will happen at the end of this war on this war is no near the end. So I take it as opening points on what we want to see, we do not want to see a Palestinian authority that part of what it does is in its own way, supporting those same terrorists that are attacking us. It cannot be that the international community does so. What will be in the future, both in the West Bank and in Gaza? These are questions that we're not yet ready to really dive into. We need to destroy these terror military capabilities of Hamas, both in the Gaza Strip, which is being done very high intensity and in the West Bank, which is being done very targeted. All of this has to go on for us to get to the stage that we can talk about who is the civil authority that is going to be the active one in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Yes, and to that point, exactly, obviously, our differences between Israel and the US about the future of Gaza, who will rule there, whether it will be the Palestinian Authority under the Fatah movement. And just last night, we heard from President Joe Biden, vowing that the West will continue to provide military assistance to Israel until it gets rid of Hamas. Let's take a listen to that. Sure. I've known Bibi for now 51 years as a picture on his desk of he and I when he was a young member of the Israeli service here, Foreign Service, and I was a 32 year old senator. And I wrote on the top of Bibi, I love him, but I don't agree with the damn thing you had to say. It's about the same today. I love him. Tough spot. Tough spot. We continue to provide military assistance to until they get rid of Hamas. But but we had to be careful. They have to be careful. The whole world's public opinion can shift overnight. We can't let that happen. So Mary, a reassuring message there from President Biden, we've seen such incredible support, really, of the American administration since the start of this war. What do you make of his message about public opinion in the world that could switch very quickly? Guy, we're all living that public opinion right now. You and I, both on I 24 News as we talk to the world, I completely in that sense, and both following public opinion, but I want to take it an edgy way further. We're right now you and I in Israel. And what we see from here, and I think what most Jews worldwide see today is not about public opinion. It is about overt anti Semitism. And let's separate between public opinion that I myself can support the fact that I really do feel very harshly right now how hard it must be for civilian Gazans inside the Gaza Strip. And I can feel that from here inside Israel, as opposed to the horrific overt anti Semitism that has taken over worldwide where there's no distinction between Hanukkah, Hanukkah and being anti Israel, meaning that's anti Semitism. That's not anti Israel. People do not make those distinctions. We all need in that sense to take those steps. And I think President Biden said it clearly, we need to destroy Hamas capabilities, because you cannot allow that to continue to be we for ourselves also need to do so as carefully as possible, which is not easy because of everything that Hamas built as Pierre was describing before. It is such a hard task. And tomorrow morning, I want everybody or not tomorrow but today to look in the mirror and to talk about overt anti Semitism in 2023. It is here with us during Hanukkah and it's not something that should be a good word. Yes, the Jewish people certainly need to remember their history and also what we are fighting for right now. Obviously extremely symbolic on the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Let's switch gears now to the north. Israel says it wants some sort of a buffer zone with Hezbollah in Lebanon. How do you see the chances of that being realized? And can that even be done without a military intervention? The international community is following everything going on in its own way. It's as if the Israel against Hamas on the Gaza Strip is only Israel's problem. But as we all know from day one, Hezbollah from Lebanon on our northern border has not only been attacking into Israel, but has made in its own way Hezbollah has created a buffer zone into Israel. When Hezbollah attacked Metula overnight, that's a city in Israel in that town, they can claim as much as they want that it's against military because they are firing into houses that are 300 meters away. Of course, those places were evacuated to save people's lives. What Israel is looking right now is that this a cannot exist. And to do so, you need to make sure that there are no Hezbollah or any kind of these kinds of forces on in Lebanon to the north of Israel. Now I do not see an operation piece for Galilee like 1982. I do not see the 2006 Lebanon war. What I do do see is perhaps a portion of a stronger military campaign, but in this case, the intervention, direct intervention of way more international capabilities. Lebanon is a sovereign country. It's not the same as the Gaza Strip ruled by the terror organization Hamas. Hezbollah does not rule over Lebanon. Lebanon has additional forces. It has a Lebanese army. It has the Unifield Force United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon that's been there from 1979 and upgraded to a certain degree from 2006. Let's look at that in a different way. I'm not against a military force there in Israel doing something, but we do need to see that the international community is willing to act there as well. Amiria, let's go back to Gaza now. As we speak, 137 Israelis are still being held hostage there. The reports yesterday that Israel has shown willingness to go into another hostage deal. Obviously, still wants to release those Israelis, bring them back home alive. There's so many families that await them. Talk to us about what can Israel do in terms of its initiative to bring about into another hostage deal? Obviously, the military pressure is very important, but there is more that Israel perhaps can offer Hamas in exchange for those live Israelis. Israel has stated two clear objectives. One is destroying Hamas military capabilities and the other and it's equal. You can't look at them as separately is returning every single hostage alive and dead from the Gaza Strip. Both those that were taken October 7th and there were those that had been taken before. I put that on the table because guy, there is no easy situation. The pause and fighting that was taking place a few weeks ago, and it was not a ceasefire, it was a pause, was a humanitarian pause to enable bringing out Israeli hostages and in response A, we led in more humanitarian capabilities. By the way, the humanitarian capabilities are being led in all this time of fighting. It has not stopped because of that pause. And right now Israel is focused on destroying those millet Hamas military terror capabilities. Because when you do a deal with a terror organization, you're doing a deal with a terror organization. You don't believe them. You don't know if they're going to deliver. You don't know if they're going to change what they're doing along the way. And these are all challenges along the way. So yes, we have in our hands both prisoners that we've taken now in fighting, other prisoners that Hamas are going to release. Out of time, Mary Eisen, we thank you very much for your insight, more updates at the top of the hour. She has our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. news back to our rolling coverage of Israel's war now at day 67 fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour as more rockets have been fired into Israeli communities a short while ago. Also this morning, sad news on the falling of IDF reserve soldier, Master Sergeant Svika Lavi, who died after being wounded in battle two weeks ago, one of many brave heroes who lost their lives in the defense of the state of Israel. And as 137 Israelis are still being held hostage in the hands of Hamas in Gaza, Egyptian sources say that Israel has expressed willingness to promote a new hostage release deal with Hamas. However, both Hamas and Israeli sources denied that such a deal was even on the table. Meanwhile, on the northern front, the Hezbollah terror group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli communities and military posts out of Lebanon yesterday with Israel striking back. And last night, confirmation from the US military that an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen struck a commercial tanker causing fire and damage but no casualties. The attack on the Norwegian tanker Strinda took place about 60 nautical miles north of the Strait of Babel Mandab in the Red Sea. Last night, IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Alevi and Shinbat Chief Ronan Bar both visited the Israeli troops inside Hanyunis in southern Gaza vowing. There is no force which can stand up to the combined force of the IDF soldiers and the Shinbat. It's a war of tunnel shafts. And it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures, but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out. It seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination. There is a big pressure here. And I think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit. It also accelerates our achievements. In the end, we want to move forward quickly. We are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the entrance in the south of the Gaza Strip and also deep down into the ground. Let's take you live now to Israel's northern border. I24 News Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran is there at Ayelet HaShachar Ariel, a very intense fighting in the northern front over the past 24 hours. What are we hearing from the IDF? Yes, guy following another day of extensive cross border fire on the Israel Lebanon border in multiple parts of this border. Quiet night tense quiet night along the border this obviously following the anti-tank guided missile attack on nine homes in the border community of Mitula now. Thankfully there were no injuries as a result of this attack. Hezbollah saying that it had attacked home in which some IDF soldiers were present inside because they try to show that all their attacks are against IDF forces that the past 66 days have proven that that is not necessarily the case in every attack. But that was just one of seven attacks carried out yesterday by Hezbollah the IDF responding with artillery fire across the across the border as well as to the origins of those launches throughout the day. In addition IDF fighter jets carrying out strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon. And Ariel another very troubling issue in the region these days is the threat of the Houthis in the Red Sea last night. Another attack on a commercial vessel. What do we know? Indeed guy the Houthis have long gone past threats regarding free navigation and commercial passage in the Red Sea overnight. As you mentioned in your lead according to American officials cited by Reuters it was a Houthi cruise missile that was launched at a Norwegian flagged tanker carrying seeds and food and other material for Venice Italy. Now as this ship entered the Babel Mandab that's the entrance the southern entrance to the Red Sea. This ship was targeted with a cruise missile there was damage caused to the ship and no reports of injuries. This was also the report by a UK ship monitoring company. Now this obviously comes following a series of strikes and attacks but also threats regarding the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea with the Houthis threatening to attack any ship that is heading to towards Israel even though this ship was not necessarily doing that as it was headed for Italy. But the these reports also coincided with other reports in Yemen that of explosions in the western port city of Hodeidah. Now those explosions could be connected to the launch to the attack on the ship. But as of now that remains unclear. There's so many events there in the Red Sea area also running in the northern border. Thank you for that update. Stay safe over there. Now let's bring in retired IDF Colonel Miri Eisen the director at the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Reichman University. Miri, thank you very much for joining us. Good morning. So Mir, let's continue with the previous topic. There is just so much that is going on. But the Houthis show no sign of slowing down their hostile activity. Quite the opposite attacks on commercial vessels, drones and missiles towards Israel. What do you make of this threat and what more can be done? All I'm saying right now is how Iran is not involved. How Iran is using the Houthis. They are a proxy organization in Yemen. They are Yemenite. They are Shiite. They are supplied, trained and overwhelmingly using all of their different capabilities. How in the world do the Houthis in Yemen have cruise missiles? How in the world do they have the training and the capabilities? All of this goes back to the Iranian regime, to the Iranian revolutionary guards, to what they're trying to do. Iran wants everybody to be focused on Yemen on the Houthis. Iran wants everybody to be focused, perhaps a bit less on Hezbollah, but certainly on what's going on in the Gaza Strip. What does Iran not want guy for anybody to notice that this is Iran? And in this case, everything I'm seeing when I'm looking at Houthis has to do with Iran trying to make sure that the focus is not on Iran, even though they are the ones who are completely behind all of these actions. So obviously, Iran will be a hot topic later in the conversation as well. Just stay with us, Miri, because I want to go to our southern border now, where rocket fire has started again this morning. Our Pierre Klosschandler is there in the city of Sderot, Pierre, more rocket fire, and we can see plums of smoke just behind you. No, no, we're not in Sderot. We're in the communities facing the central area of the Gaza Strip. And we are on our way to this location near Kibbutz Bay Area, which was the site of a massacre on October 7. And we were caught by the Red Alert, the rocket launching. We haven't heard of any damage or casualties, but most of the communities here have been abandoned by its residents since October 7. So there shouldn't be any casualties. Now behind me is the southern eastern outskirts of Gaza City. And you can see the aftermath of an airstrike on a presumed terror target in the southern east outskirts of Gaza City. You can maybe also see some sort of a flare just near the source of the smoke, the smoke which is billowing on the sky over Gaza City. And at the same time, we know that the operation is deepening on three focal points. One is the northern outskirts of Gaza City in the Jebalia refugee camp. Then on the southeastern outskirts of Gaza City in Shejahia, with fierce fighting, with battle-hardened battalions that, according to the Minister of Defense, Yohav Galant is on the verge of collapsing, as 500 Hamas terrorists and Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorists have surrendered in the past month, 140 of them, since the renewal of the ground offensive after the breaking of the ceasefire on December 1st. And the third focal point is further south in the city of Ghaniunas, which is encircled and at the same time, which is being under operations in the heart of Ghaniunas, within Ghaniunas. Yesterday, the head of the Shin Bet, Ronan Bar, and the chief of staff went to Ghaniunas, a show of support to the ground troops there. They were inside the city itself with the 98 division, which gathers all the commando units of the army that are operating in the heart of the city. And they said that the offensive is deepening both above ground and underground. As according to Ronan Bar, the head of the Shin Bet, this is a war of tunnel shafts, with thousands and thousands of tunnel shafts, which need to be neutralized. Guy? Yes, and Pierre, we can hear very well on our screens and the very heavy shelling of the IDF just behind you, so that action is very clear there. We are seeing some IDF casualties on a daily basis, although the IDF is moving strongly in those strongholds. Talk to us about those threats that the troops are being faced with, both the terror tunnels, but also explosives that those Hamas terrorists have left in the area for them. Well, the latest example is the tragic death of five soldiers of one unique battalion that was operating in the eastern outskirts of Hanyunes in Alkarara, which is a community really on the border with Israel facing the Kibbutzki Sufim in the central area of the Gaza Strip. There was a school. The village was under operational control of the IDF already, but there was a school in which some terrorists were locked and they fired anti-guided tank missiles on the Israeli troops, as well as gunfire. And as the troops identified a tunnel shaft, they entered an arena of explosive charges of improvised explosive devices and five of the soldiers were killed the day before yesterday. And that shows you not only the ferocity of the combat, but also the complexity of the combat as the whole Gaza Strip is strewn with hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, but thousands of tunnel shafts that need to be neutralized because from these tunnels, many times Hamas terrorists are just popping up out of these tunnels and firing a rocket-propelled grenade such as an RPG on an Israeli tank or on a food patrol. And it's extremely dangerous because this is only a split second where you can see the terrorists popping out of this tunnel shaft and then entering back the tunnel shaft. So it's a very difficult and long battle ahead. Pierre-Claude Chandler on the Israel-Gaza border. Thank you very much for that update. Stay safe over there. Still with us is retired IDF colonel Miri Aizen. Miri, before we even get to speak about the Gaza, more action is taking place right now in Genine in the West Bank. IDF troops, they're clashing with Hamas terrorists. Talk to us about the threat of this arena while Israel is engaged in obviously both in Gaza and in the fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hamas exists both in the Gaza Strip, but of course they've always existed in the West Bank and as we know also Guy in Lebanon and in other arenas. Inside the West Bank right now, Hamas out of the Gaza Strip and the leaders that are sitting in Qatar and worldwide have been trying to get all of their different operatives, all of their trained terror operatives, to take more action against Israel, Israelis, the IDF, both in the West Bank and otherwise. The Israeli defense forces in the West Bank have been active, proactive going against the different, both cache of weapons, the terrorists themselves. They too have the different type of booby traps, RPGs, weapons that have been smuggled into the West Bank over the years. This is a consistent problem. Right now the IDF is being very active today in Jenin. In other days, as we've noticed, it can be at the heart of Nablus or in the city of Tulkarem. These are different areas inside the West Bank and these actions are not only against Hamas. Jenin is an area that has a large relative presence of Palestinian Islamic jihad that we all know is part of all of this terror campaign against us. So these actions are preemptive based on intelligence information and take note again that most of the places where the weapons are held, where the terrorists are putting themselves in the booby traps in a mosque, in a school. That's in the West Bank in areas that are under both in areas A and B and areas under the Palestinian authority control and under Israeli control. These are challenges that we have everywhere we go. Their use of these different civilian clear cut, you know, like what put the weapons in the school? I mean, not that I'm saying, you know, so you have to put it in your own house. They put them in these places to make sure that the photo ops at the stage that Israel takes care of them are ones that show the opposite of what is actually happening. These are terror arenas that need to be destroyed and taken apart. And to that point, exactly, because you mentioned that those areas are being controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Well, Israel is concerned not just by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants, but also by the Palestinian Authority. Well, we heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday saying that the PA wants to destroy us only unlike Hamas in stages. What do you make of that? Of course, the Palestinian Authority should mention continues to pay salaries to terrorists who murder Israelis. I'm going to give in that sense that challenge itself for all of us right now that it seems far away at the moment. But in that sense, guys, that question of what happens in the day after in the Palestinian Authority exists almost 30 years. They were established in 1994 were on the eve of 2024. The Palestinian Authority was responsible both in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank for security and civil affairs in the Gaza Strip. It was taken over by Hamas in the West Bank. It is exceedingly challenged by Hamas, and it isn't that it comes out and it like likes Israel or wants to having said all of that. There's the quiet cooperation. But at the end, it's in their own arena right now, all of their statements, their open statements, the ones that they say out to the world are completely supportive of Hamas. Not as much. They're very challenged by Hamas, but of the actions themselves of what they're going to call resistance of the fact that there's no question that for the Gazans right now, they're the civilians. Their situation is not good. But in that sense, the future of what happens both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip in that future, I think that the Prime Minister is stating very clearly the positions of most of the government right now on how they view what will happen at the end of this war and this war is no near the end. So I take it as opening points on what we want to see. We do not want to see a Palestinian authority that part of what it does is in its own way supporting those same terrorists that are attacking us. It cannot be that the international community does so. What will be in the future, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, these are questions that we're not yet ready to really dive into. We need to destroy these terror military capabilities of Hamas, both in the Gaza Strip, which is being done very high intensity and in the West Bank, which is being done very targeted. All of this has to go on for us to get to the stage that we can talk about who is the civil authority that is going to be the active one in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Yes, and to that point, exactly, obviously, there are differences between Israel and the US about the future of Gaza, who will rule there, whether it will be the Palestinian authority under the Fatah movement. And just last night, we heard from President Joe Biden, vowing that the West will continue to provide military assistance to Israel until it gets rid of Hamas. Let's take a listen to that. I've known Bibi for now 51 years. He has a picture on his desk of he and I when he was a young member of the Israeli service here, foreign service, and I was a 32-year-old senator and I wrote on the top of Bibi, I love him, but I don't agree with the damn thing you had to say. It's about the same today. I love him. Look, tough spot, tough spot. We continue to provide military assistance to Israel until they get rid of Hamas. But, but we have to be careful. They have to be careful. The whole world's public opinion can shift overnight. We can't let that happen. So, Mary, a reassuring message there from President Biden we've seen such incredible support really of the American administration since the start of this war. What do you make of his message about public opinion in the world that could switch very quickly? Guy, we're all living that public opinion right now. You and I, both on I-24 News as we talk to the world, I completely in that sense and both following public opinion, but I want to take it an edgy way further. We're right now, you and I in Israel and what we see from here and I think what most Jews worldwide see today is not about public opinion. It is about overt anti-Semitism and let's separate between public opinion that I myself can support the fact that I really do feel very harshly right now how hard it must be for civilian Gazans inside the Gaza Strip and I can feel that from here inside Israel as opposed to the horrific overt anti-Semitism that has taken over worldwide where there's no distinction between Hanukkah, Hanukkah and being anti-Israel, meaning that's anti-Semitism, that's not anti-Israel. People do not make those distinctions. We all need in that sense to take those steps and I think President Biden said it clearly, we need to destroy Hamas capabilities because you cannot allow that to continue to be. We for ourselves also need to do so as carefully as possible which is not easy because of everything that Hamas built as Pierre was describing before. It is such a hard task and tomorrow morning I want everybody or not tomorrow but today to look in the mirror and to talk about overt anti-Semitism in 2023. It is here with us during Hanukkah and it's not something that should be ignored. Yes, the Jewish people certainly need to remember their history and also what we are fighting for right now obviously extremely symbolic on the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Let's switch gears now to the north. Israel says it wants some sort of a buffer zone with Hezbollah in Lebanon. How do you see the chances of that being realized and can that even be done without a military intervention? The international community is following everything going on. In its own way it's as if the Israel against Hamas on the Gaza Strip is only Israel's problem but as we all know from day one Hezbollah from Lebanon on our northern border has not only been attacking into Israel but has made in its own way Hezbollah has created a buffer zone into Israel. When Hezbollah attacked Metula overnight and that's a city in Israel in that town they can claim as much as they want that it's against military because they are firing into houses that are 300 meters away. Of course those places were evacuated to save people's lives. What Israel is looking right now is that this A cannot exist and to do so you need to make sure that there are no Hezbollah or any kind of these kind of forces on in Lebanon to the north of Israel. Now I do not see an operation peace for Galilee like 1982. I do not see the 2006 Lebanon war. What I do do see is perhaps a portion of a stronger military campaign but in this case the intervention direct intervention of way more international capabilities. Lebanon is a sovereign country it's not the same as the Gaza Strip ruled by the terror organization Hamas. Hezbollah does not rule over Lebanon. Lebanon has additional forces. It has a Lebanese army. It has the unifield force United Nations interim force in Lebanon that's been there from 1979 and upgraded to a certain degree from 2006. Let's look at that in a different way. I'm not against a military force there in Israel doing something but we do need to see that the international community is willing to act there as well. Amiria let's go back to Gaza now. As we speak 137 Israelis are still being held hostage there. The reports yesterday that Israel has shown willingness to go into another hostage deal obviously still wants to release those Israelis bring them back home alive. There's so many families that await them. Talk to us about what can Israel do in terms of its initiative to bring about into another hostage deal. Obviously the military pressure is very important but there is more that Israel perhaps can offer Hamas in exchange for those live Israelis. Israel has stated two clear objectives. One is destroying Hamas military capabilities and the other and it's equal. You can't look at them as separately is returning every single hostage alive and dead from the Gaza Strip. Both those that were taken October 7th and there were those that had been taken before. I put that on the table because guy there is no easy situation. The pause and fighting that was taking place a few weeks ago and it was not a ceasefire. It was a pause was a humanitarian pause to enable bringing out Israeli hostages and in response A we let in more humanitarian capabilities. By the way the humanitarian capabilities are being let in all this time of fighting. It has not stopped because of that pause and right now Israel is focused on destroying those Hamas military terror capabilities because when you do a deal with a terror organization you're doing a deal with a terror organization. You don't believe them. You don't know if they're going to deliver. You don't know if they're going to change what they're doing along the way. And these are all challenges along the way. So yes we have in our hands both prisoners that we've taken now in fighting other prisoners that Hamas want to release. Out of time Miri Aizen we thank you very much for your insight more updates at the top of the hour. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines. But the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. Job Israel's war now at day 67 fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour. As more rockets have been fired into Israeli communities just a short while ago. Also this morning sad news on the falling of IDF reserve soldier master sergeant Zviqa Lavi who died after being wounded in battle two weeks ago. One of many brave heroes who lost their lives in the defense of the state of Israel. And as 137 Israelis are still being held hostage in the hands of Hamas in Gaza. Egyptian sources say that Israel has expressed willingness to promote a new hostage release deal with Hamas. However both Hamas and Israeli sources denied that such a deal was even on the table. Meanwhile on the northern border the Hezbollah terror group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli communities and military posts out of Lebanon with Israel striking back. And last night confirmation from the US military that an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Qutis in Yemen struck a commercial tanker causing a fire and damage but no casualties. The attack on the Norwegian tanker Strinda took place about 60 nautical miles north of the Strait of Babel Mandab in the Red Sea. Last night we heard from IDF Chief Hercil Levy in the Shin Bet Chief Ronin Barber. Let's take you first now to Israel's southern border. We're going to Pierre Klosschendler. He's standing by for us there Pierre. We heard heavy artillery earlier and the plums of smoke. What are you seeing on your side? Well it smells more or less the same guy. There's a lot of artillery out going pounding the area of the southern eastern sector of Gaza City near Wadi Raza. And I'll show you just behind me they were renewed airstrikes on an area which is very close to the Islamic University complex of Al-Azhar in southern Gaza City where earlier a few weeks earlier weapons depot were found there the army took over the Al-Azhar University and yet there are still a lot of targets and the plumes of smoke the columns of smoke that you see here are burning quite for a while it could be a fuel tank or it could be a weapons depot it's very hard to know but this is burning for quite a while already and further to the north you will see lit by the sun the neighborhood of Shejaia on the southeastern outskirts of Gaza City where close combat has been going on since December 1st and yesterday the Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant said that the most battle-hardened Hamas battalions are fighting inside Shejaia and also further north on the northern outskirts of Gaza City in the Jabalia refugee camp but he said that they're already on the verge of collapse since December 1st 140 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorists surrendered to the Israeli troops in these areas as well as in Hanyunas which is further south and that's because according to the prior interrogation on the field that's because the chain of command has been broken as 50% of the regiments battalion and company commanders of Hamas have been annihilated since the start of the ground offensive on October 27th guy Barak Roshanler reporting from Israel's southern border with Gaza more updates from Pierre coming up later in the day now for more I'm joined in studio by retired IDF Colonel Dr. Jacques Neria former deputy head of assessment at the Israeli military intelligence and former foreign policy advisor to prime minister Itzhak Rabin Jacques thank you very much for joining us before we start the conversation I want to take a listen to things that we heard last night from IDF chief Herzia Levy and the head of Shin Bet Ruonan Bar both of them in Hanyunas in the heart of the fighting let's take a listen it's a war of tunnel shafts and it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out it seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination there is a big pressure here and I think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit it also accelerates our achievements in the end we want to move forward quickly we are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the Gaza Strip the entrance in the south of the Gaza Strip and also deep down into the ground So Jacques certainly a show of force by seeing the top branch of the security in the heart of Hanyunas we even saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inside Gaza a few days ago nonetheless to speak about the need to move forward quickly and at the same time maintaining the number of IDF casualties as low as possible that is obviously a very complicated mission in this difficult terrain yeah well that there's no easy formula I mean we are the we are facing a formidable fortification that has been built for the last 15 years and you cannot even compare it to the Maginot line in France or the Barley line vis-à-vis Egypt this is something much more complicated much more complex tunnels that are on on different levels up to five levels and very deep in the ground so there's no blitzkrieg to be expected we are not going to to win this war tomorrow morning it will take time and we have to advance very carefully in order not to as you said not not to administer ourselves casualties that are that are useless in the in this war we have to be very careful in how we fight how we fight Hamas there is a hope that the beginning of cracks in the ranks of Hamas and this is due to constant pressure that when you are facing the grinding machine of the war the Israeli war machine definitely it's not very easy to to to stand and to fight the Israeli forces certainly that are submerging the area that flooding the area with units then you feel the crux of it and you have definitely you have two choices either to surrender or to fight to the death and as we speak of course there are 137 Israelis that are being held by Hamas and Gaza this is an impossible situation i don't think that any modern military has faced a situation like this where it needs to fight a bitter enemy a well armed enemy while having to save the lives of its own citizens being held by by this group or this murderous terror group how do you manage such intense fighting while attempting at least to save the lives of your own civilians you know lessons the lessons of history have taught us that that hostages are generally used as human shields we saw during the the the Nazi period in in France and in Europe that there were hostages put on trains and they were supposed to to be the the human shield that would would guard the trains from being hit by by the allies and the allies hit the the trains and of course i mean ignore the ignore the fact or try to ignore it here we have a different problem the the hostages here are definitely a problem that has stemmed from the from from the the mishap the huge mishap of of the government and and the fact that those people were just left without defense for a long time and we haven't we have to repair that so we have to get to do the government and the military of course on the entire security and we have to do whatever we can in order to release them as i said earlier the few the earlier that if there is a deal whatever deal is offered to you just take it because with the with those psychopaths you don't know anything just can change from a from a minute to the other so we have to to to deal with what is possible and what is possible is what is being right now discussed hopefully that will reach an agreement you say that we need to take whatever opportunity that we have is there anything that israel can initiate in terms of a possible hostage deal does israel go to to Hamas to Qatar in egypt say well you know here's a thousand Palestinian terrorists let's let's move ahead with another deal now is this is something that's on the table well you know as far as i understand israel would like to the to at least to to release the women the children and the and the elderly who are sick and then and sick people and in order to do that i mean that there were approaches to Qatar and to egypt in order to just try to to understand if there is a chance that to discuss with the with Hamas about the the release of those people uh unfortunately till now there's nothing on the table and and Hamas has stiffened its position and saying that without a total cease fire there will be no exchange of of of hostages and this is where we where we are we have tried as you as you know two days ago to release a to release a hostage according to intelligence we had and we failed to do to do so because intelligence was not was was not accurate enough so i think that we're on both on both lanes we will continue on the one hand the the the military pressure while trying on the other hand to to find a common ground for for agreement on the further exchange of hostages that are held by Hamas Jacques stay with us because we want to go now to Israel's northern border our area also run is there a reality that's been a a quiet night certainly was not a quiet day uh yesterday on the northern front uh what are you hearing and what are you seeing there yes guy uh quiet but tense morning here in the israeli but on the border following a similar night but that was after uh an evening in which uh the northern border community of mitula saw nine homes damaged as a result of an anti-tank guided missile attack on what hezbollah said was an attack on israel for Israeli forces that were in those homes obviously um the idea of saying that there were no injuries in this attack but obviously there were no uh civilians in that area as mitula like many like almost all border communities in a distance of four kilometers from the border has been evacuated we're talking about eighty ninety thousand residents of the northern border communities who are now evicted many of them absorbed in other communities uh in in the north of israel further away from the border but at least the situation today so far no attacks no rocket launches but as we know this dynamic can quickly change in a moment's notice as it has unfortunately uh over these past sixty five plus days of this war between israel and hezbollah on the northern border and ariel meanwhile in the red sea an attack on a Norwegian tanker in this morning not a surprising claim of responsibility right so the houthis in their classic fashion have been building up uh the anticipation yesterday following the attack saying that they would come out with an important statement nine hours later they came out with a statement that surprised no one claiming responsibility for launching a anti-ship cruise missile at a Norwegian flanked tanker that was carrying vegetable oil and other food material that was intended for italy the houthis in a statement by the military spokesperson said that this tanker was actually carrying fuel intended to israel not sure where they get their information from but regardless saying that this is another attack following two days of threats in which they prevented additional ships from making their way towards israel this obviously following their threats that they will allow no ship to make their way to israel whether uh israeli national or not this a Norwegian flagged tanker now the owner of the ship was cited in arab media saying that the ship is now on its way to a safe port the houthis uh doubling down saying that they will continue with uh with their strikes on ships as long as israel's fight in uh in in gaza continues arid ars aran on the northern border thank you for that uh report uh jack very briefly let's speak about the houthi threat how does the world stop this obviously a major concern not just for israel right well you know there's a flotilla there's an armada there that is patrolling the the coast of somali in old fight piracy and i think that this is this is the right moment to just shift those this armada from where it is right now deployed into the the babel babel mandib straight and all equally and all along the the Yemenite coast this is one way that you can uh ensure the uh the safe passage of tankers and ships through the babel mandib straight we have to be to be aware that these are international waterways that have to it that are protected by international law and that the the the the houthis are here infringing on any it on every international law concerning the maritime law in this in this area so it is the responsibility of great powers the the u.s even the even russia and and japan of course that and europe to just to to combine forces in order to fight the the houthi threat in the babel mandib area dr. jacmi rea thank you very much for your insight now 58 police officers died protecting the party goers of the novel festival on october 7th making it the biggest tragedy in the history of the israeli police saghi was one of the police officers that survived after facing 14 terrorists our more ellen has more in the next report it's saghi's first time back in the fighting zone of the nova festival since october 7th barbara his girlfriend is with him he brought her for moral support but returning still made him uneasy it's hard to bring in a lot of memories a lot of people that you saw i did at that day that are not with us today a lot of a lot of memories i arrived here at six o'clock in the morning for morning shift here in the party a lot of young people happy dancing good vibes the stage was here in the middle all the people you can see the picture of the fortunately murdered was here in the middle of the dancing area the war room and the firefighter room and all this thing was in the back of the stage and when i arrived we just preparing ourselves to the to the shift to secure the area to make sure everything is okay everybody is okay and in about 6 30 kind of we saw a lot of rockets coming from gaza into israel police commander that was in the party i told us all the officer to go inside the party and stop the music and evacuate everybody out at first the police president asked the party goers to lie on the ground minutes later they decided to evacuate them completely as people were leaving the area the situation was revealed to be graver than imaginable someone from the party ran at me with his phone in his hand and he said to me my brother is on the line okay and someone shoot at him on the road on the main road immediately i took his phone and i ran into the police room and i tell the police officer that was there take the phone speak with him saghi together with two other policemen drove to the location of the shooting one of them was eliona ostafenko on the main road only 220 yards from the party area they encountered first signs of the tragedy that would unfold that day we get here and over there near the sign we saw a man just two like this with his hand and we drove to him and he says someone shoot at him and we look at his car and we see in the back door a bullet just a hole of wasn't injured the civilian told saghi he saw trucks with people holding weapons in this moment i pulled my gun and i take him and went like off the back of the road over there and we lay on the ground meanwhile eliona and another policeman went back to the party area to report and call for reinforcements we start to understood what's happening but we thought it's only a few ones that came here and they are still here around somewhere the three were now driving again trying to catch up with the terrorists finally they saw a car on the side of the road in this place we saw a white van and we saw a man lying on the floor near the van and he just put his hand on his belly and scream so me and elona i get off the police car and went to him and when i pulled up his shirt i saw a big hole in his belly because of a bullet and i said to elona i start to make a pressure and i get into the van from the other side i open the door and i see a guy laying on his back with his eyes open and i check if he had the pulse or something like this and he didn't have anything he was murdered while saghi and elona tended to the wounded the third policeman drove back to fetch the medical teams so we are here only me and elona with no communication no car on anything we stay with the injured people and then we saw two jeeps that come at us and they park like 100 150 meters from us and from each jeep we get off something like six or seven terrorists each so it's like 12 or 14 14 terrorists and they're just starting shooting at us the two were standing in an open field while outnumbered the terrorists were also better armed with rifles and rpgs elona and saghi had their personal weapons and two magazines with 15 bullets each saghi dragged the wounded civilian to the other side of the van an exchange of fire began as they tried to shoot back but they realized they didn't stand a chance i tell elona uh we have to run back but there is nowhere to run back here and then i see this uh this water pipe under fire they both ran as fast as they could they shoot at us the bullets are like everywhere and then the second before they reached the water pipe elona was hit exactly in this point like one or two meters uh from the pipe um elona said to me i'm hit and she uh she hold her hold her breath and she is felling over here and i get here behind this pipe and i lie right here and my head is behind this pipe and i'm right here and with my pistol i shoot at them and they shoot at me like tons of bullets the terrorists went back to the van to make sure the two wounded civilians were dead you are complete yourself with that thought that you're gonna die don't think it single the only thing you think of that's it one against 14 terrorists what chance that saggy have one of them go to their their jeep and he bring an rpg and he go over his knees and he shoot the rpg on me and the rpg is exploding like 10 15 meters behind me the 14 terrorists came into saggy's direction he played dead and didn't shoot back and then i see two army chopper just getting from this way to this way above this field and the terrorists see the chopper the terrorists see the chopper and they take three rpg and they shoot on the chopper luckily they missed but now the terrorist for some inexplicable reason go back on their jeeps and flee it is in this moment i check ilona that laying here and fortunately she she murdered ilona ostafenko was killed at the age of 25 in total 58 police officers died protecting the party goers of the nova festival on october 7 making it the biggest tragedy in the history of israeli police i think are going just to the to the terrorist direction and i ran to the to the road and uh just stop stop stop saggy could still spot the terrorists on the side of the road waiting for more cars to cross he updated the soldier inside the car the two did a u-turn in the intersection nearby they saw a group of a hundred nova festival survivors he took charge and put them all in a safe room the soldier is civilian with a gun and saggy guarded the entrance of the safe room for hours until the idf was able to extract them to a safe location over two months have passed and these beautiful fields that on october 7 became the landscape of an unimaginable horror movie are now again peaceful thanks to the men and women who put their lives in the line to save others another painful reminder of the terrible atrocities committed by these homeless terrorists on october 7 the heroism of the israeli police forces the idf the shin bet and the uh security teams in the kibbutz that saved so many lives and nonetheless 1200 israelis were slaughtered on that terrible Saturday and as we speak israeli soldiers are fighting against Hamas terrorists in Gaza across the Gaza Strip in the northern and southern parts of this trip in han unis in betlahia and bet hanun in many other areas as well as in the northern front against hezbollah terrorists to continue to fire rockets and anti-tank missiles into israeli communities our rolling coverage here on i24 news continues throughout the day more updates coming up at the top of the hour i'm gaya israel thank you very much for watching israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where she has our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well average of israel's war now at day 67 fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour as more rockets have been fired into israeli communities just a short while ago also this morning sad news on the falling of idf reserve soldier master sergeant it's vika la vie who died after being wounded in battle two weeks ago one of many brave heroes who lost their lives in the defense of the state of israel and as 137 israelis are still being held hostage in the hands of hamas in Gaza egyptian sources say that israel has expressed willingness to promote a new hostage release deal with hamas however both hamas and israeli sources denied that such a deal was even on the table meanwhile on the northern border the hezbollah terror group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards israeli communities and military posts out of lebanon with israel striking back and last night confirmation from the u.s. military that an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the koutis in yemen struck a commercial tanker causing a fire and damage but no casualties the attack on the norwegian tanker strinda took place about 60 nautical miles north of the strait of babel mandab in the red sea last night we heard from idf chief hertia levy and the sheenbet chief uh ron and barb let's take you first now to israel's southern border we're going to pierre clauschandler he's standing by for us there pierre we heard heavy artillery earlier and the plums of smoke what are you seeing on your side well it smells more or less the same guy there's a lot of artillery outgoing pounding the area of the southeastern sector of gaza city nirwa diraza and uh i'll show you uh just behind me they were renewed airstrikes on an area which is very close to the islamic university complex of al-azhar in southern gaza city where earlier a few weeks earlier weapons depot were found there the army took over the al-azhar university and yet there are still a lot of targets and the plumes of smoke the columns of smoke that you see here are burning quite for a while it could be a fuel tank or it could be a weapons depot it's very hard to know but uh this is burning for quite a while already and further to the north you will see uh lit by the sun uh the neighborhood of shejaya on the southeastern outskirts of gaza city where close combat has been going on since december 1st and um yesterday the israeli defense minister you have gallant said that the most battle-hardened uh hamas battalions are fighting inside shejaya and also further north on the northern outskirts of gaza city in the jebalia refugee camp but he said that they're already on the verge of collapse since december 1st 140 hamas and palestinian islamic jihad terrorists surrendered to the israeli troops in these areas as well as in hanunas which is further south um and uh that's because according to the prior interrogation on the field that's because uh the chain of command has been broken as 50 percent of the regiments battalion and company commanders of hamas have been annihilated since the start of the ground offensive on october 27 guy bear crush handler reporting from israel's southern border with gaza more updates from pierre coming up later in the day now for more i'm joined in studio by retired idf colonel dr jack neria former deputy head of assessment at the israeli military intelligence and former foreign policy advisor to prime minister it's hakar bin jack thank you very much for joining us before we start the conversation i want to uh take a listen to things that we heard last night from idf chief herzi alevi and the head of sheen bett ronan bar both of them in hanunas in the heart of the fighting let's take a listen it's a war of tunnel shafts and it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out it seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination there is a big pressure here and i think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit it also accelerates our achievements in the end we want to move forward quickly we are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the gaza strip the entrance in the south of the gaza strip and also deep down into the ground so zhaka certainly a show of force by seeing the top branch of the israeli security in the heart of hanunas we even saw israeli prime minister ben jimenez and now inside gaza a few days ago nonetheless to speak about the need to move forward quickly and at the same time maintaining the number of idf casualties as low as possible that is obviously a very complicated mission in in this difficult terrain yeah well that there's no easy formula i mean we are the we are facing a formidable fortification that has been built for the last 15 years and the you cannot even compare it to the margineau line in france or the bar left line vis a vis egypt this is something much more complicated much more complex tunnels that are on set on different levels up to five levels and very very deep in in the ground so that there's no blitzkrieg to be to be expected we are not going to to win this war tomorrow morning it will take time and we have to advance very carefully in order not to as you said not not not to administer ourselves casualties that are that are useless in the in this war we have to be very careful in in how we fight how we fight hamas there is a hope that the beginning of cracks in in the ranks of of hamas and and this is due to to constant pressure that when you are facing the grinding machine of the war the israeli war machine definitely it's not very easy to to to stand and to fight the israeli forces certainly that are submerging the area that flooding the area with units then you feel the crux of it and you have there definitely you have two choices either to surrender or to fight to the death and as we speak of course there are 137 Israelis that are being held by hamas in Gaza this is an impossible situation I don't think that any modern military has faced a situation like this where it needs to fight a bitter enemy a well armed enemy while having to save the lives of its own citizens being held by by this group by this murderous terror group how do you manage such intense fighting while attempting at least to save the lives of your own civilians you know lessons the lessons of history have taught us that that hostages are generally used as human shields we saw that during the the Nazi the Nazi period in in France and in Europe that they were hostages put on trains and they were supposed to to be the human shield that would guard the trains from being hit by by the allies and the allies hit the trains and of course I mean ignore the ignore the fact or try to ignore it here we have a different problem the the hostages here are definitely a problem that has stemmed from the from from the the mishap the huge mishap of of the government and and the fact that those people were just left without defense for a long time and we haven't we have to repair that so we have to bear to do the government and the military of course on the entire security and we have have to do whatever we can in order to release them as I said earlier the a few the weeks earlier that if there is a deal whatever deal is offered to you just take it because with the with those psychopaths you don't know anything just can change from a from a minute to the other so we have to to deal with what is possible and what is possible is what is being right now discussed hopefully that will reach an agreement you say that we need to take whatever opportunity that we have is there anything that israel can initiate in terms of a possible hostage deal does israel go to to hamas to katar in egypt say well you know here's a thousand palestinian terrorists let's let's move ahead with another deal now this is something that's on the table well you know as far as i understand that israel would like to the to at least to to release the women the children and the and the elderly who are sick and then and and sick people and in order to do that i mean there were approaches to katar and to egypt in order to just try to to understand if there is a chance there to discuss with the with hamas about the the release of those people unfortunately till now there's nothing on the table and and hamas has stiffened its position and saying that without a total ceasefire there will be no exchange of of of hostages and this is where we where we are we have tried as you as you know two days ago to release a to release a hostage according to intelligence we had and we failed to do to do so because intelligence was not well was not accurate enough so i think that we're on both on both lanes we will continue on the one hand the the the military pressure while trying on the other hand to to find a a common ground for for agreement on the further exchange of hostages that are held by hamas Jacques stay with us because we want to go now to israel's northern border our area also run is there a reality there's been a a quiet night certainly was not a quiet day yesterday on the northern front what are you hearing and what are you seeing there yes guy quiet but tense morning here in israel on border following a similar night but that was after an evening in which the northern border community of metula saw nine homes damaged as a result of an anti-tank guided missile attack on what his bill has said was an attack on israel for israeli forces that were in those homes obviously the idea of saying that there were no injuries in this attack but obviously there were no civilians in that area as metula like many like almost all border communities in a distance of four kilometers from the border has been evacuated we're talking about eighty ninety thousand residents of the northern border communities who are now evicted many of them absorbed in other communities in the north of israel further away from the border but at least the situation today so far no attacks no rocket launches but as we know this dynamic can quickly change in a moment's notice as it has unfortunately over these past 65 plus days of this war between israel and hezbollah on the northern border and ariel meanwhile in the red sea an attack on a Norwegian tanker in this morning and not a surprising claim of responsibility right so the who fees in their classic fashion have been building up yet the anticipation yesterday following the attack saying that they would come out with an important statement nine hours later they came out with a statement that surprised no one claiming responsibility for launching an anti-ship cruise missile at a Norwegian flanked tanker that was carrying vegetable oil and other food material that was intended for Italy the who fees in a statement by the military spokesperson said that this tanker was actually carrying fuel intended to israel not sure where they get their information from but regardless saying that this is another attack following two days of threats in which they prevented additional ships from making their way towards israel this obviously following their threats that they will allow no ship to make their way to israel whether israeli national or not this on Norwegian flagged tanker now the owner of the ship was cited in arab media saying that the ship is now on its way to a safe port the who fees doubling down saying that they will continue with with their strikes on ships as long as israel's fight in in Gaza continues all right after that on the northern border thank you for that report jack very briefly let's speak about the hooty threat how does the world stop this obviously a major concern not just for israel well you know there's a flotilla there's no mother there that is patrolling the the coast of Somalia in old fight piracy and i think that this is this is the right moment to just shift those uh this a mother from where it is right now deployed into the the bubble bubble mandib straight and all equally and all along the the Yemenite coast this is one way that you can insure the the safe passage of tankers and ships through the bubble mandib straights we have to be to be aware that these are international waterways that have to that are protected by international law and that the the the the the hooties are here infringing on any it on every international law concerning the maritime law in the in this area so it is the responsibility of great powers the the u.s even the even Russia and and Japan of course that and Europe to just to combine forces in order to fight the the hooty threat in the bubble mandib area Dr. Jacques Nibir I thank you very much for your insight now 58 police officers died protecting the party goers of the nova festival on October 7th making it the biggest tragedy in the history of the Israeli police saghi was one of the police officers that survived after facing 14 terrorists our more ellen has more in the next report it's saghi's first time back in the fighting zone of the nova festival since October 7th Barbara his girlfriend is with him he brought her for moral support but returning still made him uneasy it's hard to bring a lot of memories a lot of people that you saw I did at that day that are not with us today a lot of a lot of memories I arrived here at six o'clock in the morning for morning shift here in the party a lot of young people happy dancing good vibes the stage was here in the middle all the people you can see the picture of the fortunately murdered was here in the middle of the dancing area on the war room and the firefighter room and all this thing was in the back of the stage and when I arrived we just preparing ourselves to the to the shift to secure the area to make sure everything is okay everybody is okay and in about 6 30 kind of we saw a lot of rockets coming from Gaza into Israel police commander it was in the party I told us all the officer to go inside the party and stop the music and evacuate everybody out at first the police president asked the party goers to lie on the ground minutes later they decided to evacuate them completely as people were leaving the area the situation was revealed to be graver than imaginable someone from the party ran at me with his phone in his hand and he said to me my brother is on the line okay and someone should have him on the road on the main road immediately I took his phone and I ran into the police room and I tell the police officer that was there take the phone speak with him Segi together with two other policemen drove to the location of the shooting one of them was Eliona Ostafenko on the main road only 220 yards from the party area they encountered first signs of the tragedy that would unfold that day we get here and over there near the sign we saw a man just do like this with his hand and we drove to him and he says someone shoot at him and we look at his car and we see in the back door a bullet just a hole of a bullet he wasn't injured the civilian told Segi he saw trucks with people holding weapons in this moment I pulled my gun and I take him and went like off the back of the road over there and we lay on the ground meanwhile Eliona and another policeman went back to the party area to report and call for reinforcements we start to understood what's happening but we thought it's only a few ones that came here and they are still here around somewhere the three were now driving again trying to catch up with the terrorists finally they saw a car on the side of the road in this place we saw a white van and we saw a man lying on the floor near the van and he just put his hand on his belly and screamed so me and Eliona get off the police car pulled up his shirt and saw a big hole in his belly because of a bullet Eliona start to make a pressure and I get into the van from the other side I open the door and I see a guy laying on his back with his eyes open and I check if he had the pulse or something like that and he didn't have anything he was murdered while Sagi and Eliona tended to the wounded the third policeman drove back to fetch the medical teams so we are here only me and Eliona with no communication no car on anything we stay with injured people and then we saw a two jeep that come at us and they park like 100, 150 meters from us and from each jeep get off something like 6 or 7 tourists each so it's like 12 or 14 or 14 tourists and they're just starting to shoot at us the two were standing in an open field while outnumbered the terrorists were also better armed with rifles and rpgs Eliona and Sagi had their personal weapons and two magazines with 15 bullets each Sagi dragged the wounded civilian to the other side of the van and exchange of fire began as they tried to shoot back but they realized they didn't stand a chance I tell Elona we have to run back but there is nowhere to run back here and then I see this this water pipe under fire they both ran as fast as they could they shoot at us the bullets are like everywhere and then the second before they reached the water pipe Eliona was hit exactly in this point like one or two meters from the the pipe Elona said to me I'm hit and she she hold her hold her breath and she is feeling over here and I get here behind this pipe and I lie right here and my head is behind this pipe and I'm right here and with my pistol I shoot at them and they shoot at me like tons of bullets the terrorists went back to the van to make sure the two wounded civilians were dead you are complete yourself with that thought that you're gonna die the only thing you think about the only thing you think of is you are that's it one against 14 terrorists what chance did Sagi have one of them go to their their ship and he bring an RPG and he go over his knees and he shoot the RPG on me and the RPG is exploding like 10 15 meters behind me the 14 terrorists came into Sagi's direction he played dead and didn't shoot back and then I see two army chopper just getting from this way to this way above this field and the terrorists see the chopper the terrorists see the chopper and they take three RPG and they shoot on the chopper luckily they missed but now the terrorists for some inexplicable reason go back on their jeeps and flee it is in this moment I check Ilona that laying here and fortunately she she murdered Eliona Ostefenko was killed at the age of 25 in total 58 police officers died protecting the party goers of the Nova Festival on October 7 making it the biggest tragedy in the history of Israeli police I think are going just to the terrorist direction and I ran to the road and just stop stop stop Sagi could still spot the terrorists on the side of the road waiting for more cars to cross he updated the soldier inside the car the two did a U-turn in the intersection nearby they saw a group of 100 Nova Festival survivors he took charge and put them all in a safe room the soldier is civilian with a gun and Sagi guarded the entrance of the safe room for hours until the IDF was able to extract them to a safe location over two months have passed and these beautiful fields that on October 7 became the landscape of an unimaginable horror movie are now again peaceful thanks to the men and women who put their lives in the line to save others another painful reminder of the terrible atrocities committed by these Hamas terrorists on October 7 the heroism of the Israeli police forces the IDF the Shin Bet and the security teams in the Kibbutz that saved so many lives and nonetheless 1200 Israelis were slaughtered on that terrible Saturday and as we speak Israeli soldiers are fighting against Hamas terrorists in Gaza across the Gaza Strip in the northern and southern parts of the Strip in Hanunis in Bet Lahia in Bet Hanun in many other areas as well as in the northern front against Hezbollah terrorists to continue to fire rockets and anti-tank missiles into Israeli communities our rolling coverage here on I-24 News continues throughout the day more updates coming up at the top of the hour I'm Guy Azrael thank you very much for watching a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well to our rolling coverage of Israel's war now at day 67 fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour more rockets have been fired into Israeli communities earlier this morning and sad news on the falling of IDF reserve soldier master sergeant Zvika Lavi who died after being wounded in battle two weeks ago one of the many brave heroes who lost their lives in the defense of the state of Israel and as 137 Israelis are still being held hostage in the hands of Hamas in Gaza Egyptian sources say that Israel has expressed willingness to promote a new hostage release deal with Hamas however both Hamas and Israeli sources denied that such a deal was even on the table meanwhile on the northern front the Hezbollah terror group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli communities and military posts yesterday with Israel striking back and last night confirmation from the US military that an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen struck a commercial tanker causing fire and damage but no casualties the attack on the Norwegian tanker Strinda took place about 60 nautical miles north of the strait of Babelmandab in the Red Sea meanwhile last night Israeli Defense Minister Yav Galant said that Israel was open to a possible agreement with Hezbollah if it included a safe zone along the border with Lebanon and other security guarantees we have the ability to meet every threat in the similar way or beyond what's going on in Gaza and we do it every day this is why they have many fatalities and many more wounded if Hezbollah will allow an agreement process and I won't go into its details but clearly it cannot be that it does not include a situation in which there is a safe distance from our fence to forces that could shoot into Israeli territory or forces that could take action inside Israel if this is possible with the appropriate guarantee we can talk about it let's take you live now to Israel's northern border our 24 news middle east correspondent Ariel Osran is there Ariel the threat of Hezbollah on the north has only intensified since the second Lebanon war of 2006 it is still a major concern for the residents of the north many of them are displaced from their homes talk to us about how worrying is the prospect of an even greater escalation there right guys so the situation here on the ground after a quiet morning and evening we just moments before you came to me we heard a fighter jet fly overhead and then a boom behind me and the border with Lebanon and then moments after artillery fire still no confirmation as to what was the nature of this strike but the moment we get additional information regarding that we will obviously report on it but as you mentioned the situation on the north is very dangerous that's why the residents 80 90,000 of them have been already evacuated and as we heard with from Defense Minister Galant this is something that Israel needs to act to prevent but also that it is open for some kind of arrangement that would allow Hezbollah to stay to maintain some sort of monitoring capacity south of the Litany River but obviously a call by Israeli ministers not only Galant also Benny Gantz in a phone call yesterday with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken a call to enforce UN Resolution 1701 that prevents Hezbollah from carrying weapons south of the Litany River and that also coincides with reports coming out from Saudi media and Arabia reporting last night that Israel relayed similar demands to international mediators that and reiterating the call that the international community must act and pressure the Lebanese government to prevent Hezbollah from carrying out these continued attacks along the border yesterday we saw seven such attacks but prior to the ceasefire in Gaza that reached over 20 with a constant daily dynamic of escalation there's concern that this is that the situation is only continuing and will further exacerbate Our Ariel Osaran with the beautiful views of the scenery of the northern Israel unfortunately that is now a battle ground over there Ariel thank you for that update now for more I want to bring in in studio Yaqui Dayan former Israeli consul in Los Angeles let's start with the north and these reports also mainly in Saudi media about at least outlining Israel's conditions for international mediators regarding the situation along the border with Lebanon how likely are we to see any sort of agreement that would push Hezbollah back away from the border over the Lytani river without any sort of military intervention Yes so there is a clear understanding that Israel is not going back to the status quo that was on October 6th in the northern border this is a clear understanding that was conveyed to the Americans now clearly the Americans don't want to expand the war they are making sure that this war is not being expanded to the northern border and to Lebanon now the message was conveyed to the Americans is if the situation in the northern border is not being changed meaning i.e. if the Hezbollah is not being pushed to the Lytani river maybe a bit less but creating some kind of a buffer zone that would be unacceptable to Israel and we have to use military force now with this message being conveyed to the Americans the Americans together with the French that are playing a significant role as well and on those negotiations they are conducting those negotiations with the Lebanese now there is no Lebanese army or at least there is no general now standing in the heading the military so the the conversations are being conducted with the government with the military but there is a lot of skepticism in Israel that those negotiations will lead definitely to resuming and implementing 1701 the security council resolution or just pushing back Hezbollah and this is the big question if this is not being done so the only way out is using military force and when the intense the intense phase in the battle in in Gaza will end then we move to the northern border and we might see an escalation a further escalation to what we see now in the northern border and of course as we speak about the north the fighting continues in the south inside the Gaza Strip and last night IDF chief Hercie Alevi together with the head of the Shin Bet Ronin bar were inside Han Yunus let's take a listen to what they had to say it's a war of tunnel shafts and it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out it seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination there is a big pressure here and I think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit it also accelerates our achievements in the end we want to move forward quickly we are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the Gaza Strip the entrance in the south of the Gaza Strip and also deep down into the ground let's take you live now to the Israel-Gaza border correspondent Pierre Kloschendler is standing by there Pierre we saw their Halavi and Bar in a show of strength the two highest ranking heads of security establishments in the heart of the city that was controlled by Hamas just over a week ago talk to us about the significance of that well I wouldn't say that Han Yunus is under full operational control of the Israeli army right now as fighting is still going on on the outskirts the north and northeastern outskirts of Han Yunus as well as inside the city where the 98 divisions which was visited by the chief of staff and the chief of the general security services who work in tight coordination visited yesterday and you noticed they were sitting on the sofa in a Palestinian home and I think that this is a message to the Palestinian population as well as a message of support to the 98 division of all the commando units of the IDF that are fighting in close combat inside the city right now here you can see the pillars of fire that are emanating from the area of the El Hazar Islamic University complex which was already taken over a few days ago and where weapons were found and this has been burning for the past couple of hours so it could be a fuel depot used by Hamas or it could be maybe a workshop for manufacturing weapons we don't exactly know of course from afar and on the right of your monitor you will see Chejaia which is one of the last neighborhoods of Gaza city on the southeastern outskirts where close combat fighting has been going on and in the past half hour there's been a lot of targeting of presumed Hamas targets from the air we've heard the shrieking of the guided missiles that are launched by gunships and by the Israeli jets we've heard also the wearing of the rudder blades we hear the buzz of the civilians and attack drones the front is very very active and at the same time down south is Hanunas you can't see it much but there's still heavy bombing in the area of Hanunas in this direction and it's a matter of days the IDF says before Chejaia and the northern refugee camp of Jebalia fall into IDF operational control as 50 percent of the command chain of Hamas has been annihilated and more and more Hamas and Palestinian Islamic terrorists are surrendering because they don't get any more any orders from their commanders very heavy fighting all across the Gaza Strip at this very hour Pierre Kloschender reporting from the Israel-Gaza border thank you for that and as the fighting continues so does the battle to release some 137 Israelis that are held captive at the hands of Hamas in Gaza former Israeli ambassador to France and I-24 News Regular Daniel Schaek is also the director of diplomacy at the hostage and missing families form Daniel your efforts to release more hostages is not limited to the borders of Israel it is a global campaign you're in Prague right now first of all tell us about your mission there who is with you and who are you able to speak to well yes we have a whole international campaign we have as we speak I think three delegations in three different parts of the world all of them with different numbers of family members here in Prague I have representatives of three families and in a very quick 36 hour effort we're going to meet top people from the political parliamentary and media areas of the Czech Republic it has to be said that the Czech Republic is definitely one of the most friendly and understanding countries in the world concerning Israel so this is not a mission here in order to convince people but it's a mission to echo and to resonate the stories of the hostage families in order to keep the issue on the agenda and I must say with really it's heartwarming to hear the people here speak to see the people even on the street when we walk and the family members walk with their t-shirts with the images of their loved ones and people are empathetic people know what this is about and last night I went with we went all of us for a little walk with with the number two at the embassy in Prague which has been extremely helpful and she showed us a big wall with all the posters of the hostages and she told us here nobody tears them down the only enemy of these posters is the wind and the rain certainly heartwarming to hear that at least in some parts of Europe to see that support but ambassador as we speak there are various reports circulating in the recent days about the next possible hostage release deal one of them on a Saudi paper Ilaf says that a new possible formula will include the release of women children elderly young Israelis and even three senior IDF officers that are reportedly taken captive by Hamas and that would be in exchange for 300 Palestinian prisoners as well as senior Fatah official Marwan Baraguti what do the families know about these offers about this possible plans and what do you make of them well I'll say this the families obviously are not involved in the negotiations and don't know the details about a plan that is or isn't on the table you know I take this with a large grain of salt I'm sure my very good friend Yaki Dayan who's with you in the studio will understand when I say that such reports are floated by all sorts of people and may have all sorts of objectives and they don't necessarily reflect anything reliable the only thing the family say very simply is the state of Israel the government of Israel has to cease every opportunity that arises in order to renew the negotiations so that we have another agreement for the release of hostages and more than that the state of Israel should maybe take its own initiatives and not be only reactive to offers made through Qatar by Hamas that is their position now the details who will be released in exchange who won't this is not the family's business this is not the business of a civil society organization like ours this is definitely the responsibility of the state of Israel and we understand that there are all sorts of implications to it but from the family's point of view everything has to be done so that every single hostage is released Ambassador Daniel Schech Director of Diplomacy at the Hostage and Missing Families Forum thank you for your time thank you for the work that you're doing there for the families still with me is Yaki Dayan let's speak about some of the points mentioned there by Ambassador Schech first the Israeli initiative what do you think in terms of diplomacy of in terms of negotiation should Israel be offering on the table now a plan to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners senior officials and say to Hamas well this is our offer take it on the table does that show strength does that show weakness how do you see it just one word about one sentence maybe about Ambassador Schech who is doing a holy work since October 7th accompanying the families and really making sure that their voices being heard internationally this is really an amazing effort now about the about the deal I definitely think that Israel has to take an initiative here the hostages is one of the goals if not the main goal of this war releasing the hostages obviously and definitely Israel has to take an initiative as well Israel has to put on the table all kinds of all kinds of plans and all kinds of offers that has to be echoed by the Qataris by the Egyptians and by the Americans obviously definitely we shouldn't leave this only for the Qataris because the Qataris are representing Hamas and we want someone who will fully represent Israel now no doubt the Americans are fully involved are highly involved but we should contemplate with the Americans what kind of offers we want now as we mentioned before by the reporters and others the intense phase of the battle in Gaza definitely in the northern part of Gaza is about to be over we are about to take over the entire part of the northern part of Gaza and Hanunas is progressing it might take few more weeks but it is progressing and while there is a ground maneuver it is very difficult to stop this ground maneuver but if there is one reason to stop the ground maneuver is for an understanding to release the hostages and now I think we are in a much better position than before because we are much closer to Sinwar and the leadership of the Hamas so we are in a much better position to negotiate and definitely we should put now all kinds of plans all kinds of offers on the table one of the names that was mentioned in that report is Maron Baragouti Fatah Hafishal who of course is in prison for acts of terror against Israelis we have seen cases in the past like a Hamas official Hamas leader Yixin Wah who was released under a different prisoner exchange deal back at the time and reverted to terror it goes also with the fact that we heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday saying that the PA is also looking to destroy Israel maybe not the same way as Hamas does but in stages how do you see the prospect of releasing such a senior Fatah Hafishal at this time after everything that is going on and with the fact that the Palestinian Authority has yet to really condemn the massacre of October 7th continues to pay salaries to terrorists for acts that they for killing Israeli civilians what do you make of all of that there are two different things that you're asking me guys the first thing is releasing Maron Baragouti Baragouti is a murderer no doubt he has been convicted for 17 murders so he's not just just like that sitting in Israeli jail but nevertheless on October 7th Israel has broken the contract the unwritten contract between Israel and its citizens and no doubt that we will have to pay a very heavy price and also releasing murderers and if it is Baragouti this is the price in order to release all the hostages I have zero doubts in my mind and I believe that many others that he should be released it doesn't mean that we will stop pursuing and getting after all the murders of the Hamas and we'll continue to do that and the Palestinian Authority of Baragouti now the second question that you're asking me is about the Palestinian Authority so here I'll tell you two things one I believe that this is of Israel's interest to already discuss with our ally the Americans the day after and what will be in the day after the Americans are speaking about a revitalized Palestinian Authority and we should listen if we are not setting the conditions for the day after somebody else will put the conditions for us on the day after so we definitely need to be in this discussion now when they are saying a revitalized Palestinian Authority we should start the discussions what does it mean a totally different Palestinian Authority that is not supporting terrorism that is not supporting the textbooks that perpetrate the terrorist attacks that are not giving allowances to terrorist to families of terrorists all of the above and much much more than that so if it is being reformed maybe we can conduct the discussion but we should add another element to this discussion because what we have to tell our American friends is that we are dealing with the symptoms all the time when we are dealing with the Hamas and when we are dealing with the Palestinian Authority and Hezbollah and the Houthis we are all the time dealing with the symptoms and if the Americans like we want to see an entire new Middle East a different Middle East we should put in the equation into the equation the Iranians as well because if you don't deal with a problem then you won't be able to make a significant change in the region so the Iranians have to be on the equation of the day after and the Americans should not deal with that as an excuse but rather as a major element maybe the element in order to change the equation and to create a new Middle East Yes of course an administration that to a large degree has turned a blind eye to Iran in recent years let's take a listen to President Biden speaking about Israel and military age just last night I've known Bebe for now 51 years he has a picture on his desk of he and I when he was a young member of the Israeli service here foreign service and I was a 32-year-old senator and I wrote on the top of Bebe I love him but I don't agree with the damn thing you had to say it's about the same today I love him it's a tough spot tough spot we continue to provide military assistance until they get rid of Hamas but we have to be careful they have to be careful the whole world's public opinion can shift overnight we can't let that happen Yes so that was President Biden of course at the event of lighting Hanukkah candles celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah this week very interesting relations between President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu they do go a very long way back we can remind our viewers that at the start of this current term of Netanyahu there's a lot of discussion about the cold relations the fact that he was not invited to the White House well it seems like the war that was imposed on Israel has really turned all the cards and the strong relations between these two countries and between these two leaders is very clear so no doubt there are a lot of differences between Netanyahu and President Biden but at the end of the day we have to remember that Biden is a Zionist as he says as he defines himself as a Zionist and he has done for Israel now more than many other presidents maybe the only president that we can compare to President Biden is Harry Truman in 1948 when he decided to acknowledge to recognize the State of Israel against the will and the recommendation of his Secretary of State Marshall so this is really a unique president and as you mentioned the ammunition is one example I mean no doubt that the Americans are supplying ammunition more than 200 planes already landed in Israel and I can go on and on the diplomatic umbrella that Biden is supplying but there are differences major differences between Netanyahu and Biden we can call it love and hate and as you defined it very very correctly I mean before the war started President Biden even was not only ignoring Prime Minister Netanyahu but he didn't want to welcome him so at the end of the day the way to the way to work on that is on the day after at times of war your friends certainly show Yakida and former Israeli consul to Los Angeles thank you very much more updates coming up at the top of the hour thank you for watching so where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well to our rolling coverage of Israel's war now at day 67 fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour more rockets have been fired into Israeli communities earlier this morning and sad news on the falling of IDF reserve soldier master sergeant Zvika Lavi who died after being wounded in battle two weeks ago one of the many brave heroes who lost their lives in the defense of the state of Israel and as 137 Israelis are still being held hostage in the hands of Hamas in Gaza Egyptian sources say that Israel has expressed willingness to promote a new hostage release deal with Hamas however both Hamas and Israeli sources denied that such a deal was even on the table meanwhile on the northern front the Hezbollah terror group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli communities and military posts yesterday with Israel striking back and last night confirmation from the U.S. military that an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen struck a commercial tanker causing fire and damage but no casualties the attack on the Norwegian tanker Strinda took place about 60 nautical miles north of the strait of Babelmandab in the Red Sea meanwhile last night Israeli defense minister Yav Galant said that Israel was open to a possible agreement with Hezbollah if it included a safe zone along the border with Lebanon and other security guarantees we have the ability to meet every threat in a similar way or beyond what's going on in Gaza and we do it every day this is why they have many fatalities and many more wounded if Hezbollah will allow an agreement process and I won't go into its details but clearly it cannot be that it does not include a situation in which there is a safe distance from our fence to forces that could shoot into Israeli territory or forces that could take action inside Israel if this is possible with the appropriate guarantee we can talk about it let's take you live now to Israel's northern border our 24 news Middle East correspondent Ariel Osran is there Ariel the threat of Hezbollah on the north has only intensified since the Second Lebanon War of 2006 it is still a major concern for the residents of the north many of them are displaced from their homes talk to us about how worrying is the prospect of an even greater escalation there right guys so the situation here on the ground after a quiet morning and evening we just moments before you came to me we heard a fighter jet fly overhead and then a boom behind me and the border with Lebanon and then moments after artillery fire still no confirmation as to what was the nature of this strike but the moments we get additional information regarding that we will obviously report on it but as you mentioned the situation on the north is very dangerous that's why the residents 80-90,000 of them have been already evacuated and as we heard from Defense Minister Galant this is something that Israel needs to act to prevent but also that it is open for some kind of arrangement that would allow Hezbollah to stay to maintain some sort of monitoring capacity south of the Litany River but obviously a call by Israeli ministers not only Galant also Benny Gantz in a phone call yesterday with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken a call to enforce UN Resolution 1701 that prevents Hezbollah from carrying weapons south of the Litany River and that also coincides with reports coming out from Saudi media and Arabia reporting last night that Israel relayed similar demands to international mediators that and reiterating the call that the international community must act and pressure the Lebanese government to prevent Hezbollah from carrying out these continued attacks along the border yesterday we saw seven such attacks but prior to the ceasefire in Gaza that reached over 20 and so with a constant daily dynamic of escalation there's concern that this is that the situation is only continuing and will further exacerbate our Ariel Osaran with the beautiful views of the scenery of the northern Israel unfortunately that is now a battle ground over there Ariel thank you for that update now for more I want to bring in in studio Yaqui Dayan former Israeli Council in Los Angeles let's start with the north and these reports also mainly in Saudi media about at least outlining Israel's conditions for international mediators regarding the situation along the border with Lebanon how likely are we to see any sort of agreement that would push Hezbollah back away from the border over the Lytani River without any sort of military intervention Yaqui Dayan former Israeli Council so there is a clear understanding that Israel is not going back to the status quo that was on October 6th in the northern border this is a clear understanding that was conveyed to the Americans now clearly the Americans don't want to expend the war they are making sure that this war is not being expended to the northern border and to Lebanon now the message that was conveyed to the Americans is if the situation in the northern border is not being changed meaning i.e. if the Hezbollah is not being pushed to the Lytani River maybe a bit less but creating some kind of a buffer zone that would be unacceptable to Israel and we have to use military force now with this message being conveyed to the Americans the Americans together with the French that are playing a significant role as well and on those negotiations they are conducting those negotiations with the Lebanese now there is no Lebanese army or at least there is no general now standing in the head heading the military so the conversations are being conducted with the government with the military but there is a lot of skepticism in Israel that those negotiations will lead definitely to resuming and implementing 1701 the Security Council resolution or just pushing back Hezbollah and this is the big question if this is not being done so the only way out is using military force and when the intense the intense phase in the battle in Gaza will end then we move to the northern border and we might see an escalation a further escalation to what we see now in the northern border and of course as we speak about the north the fighting continues in the south inside the Gaza Strip and last night IDF chief Hercie Alevi together with the head of the Shin Bet run in a bar were inside Han Yunis let's take a listen to what they had to say it's a war of tunnel shafts and it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out it seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination there is a big pressure here and I think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit it also accelerates our achievements in the end we want to move forward quickly we are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the Gaza Strip the entrance in the south of the Gaza Strip and also deep down into the ground let's take you live now to the Israel-Gaza border correspondent Pierre Klosschendler is standing by there Pierre we saw there Alevi and Barr in a show of strength the two highest ranking heads of security establishments in the heart of the city that was controlled by Hamas just over a week ago talk to us about the significance of that well I wouldn't say that Han Yunis is under full operational control of the Israeli army right now as fighting is still going on on the outskirts the north and northeastern outskirts of Han Yunis as well as inside the city where the 98 divisions which was visited by the chief of staff and the chief of the general security services who work in tight coordination visited yesterday and you noticed they were sitting on the sofa in a Palestinian home and I think that this is a message to the Palestinian population as well as a message of support to the 98 division of all the commando units of the IDF that are fighting in close combat inside the city right now here you can see the pillars of fire that are emanating from the area of the El Hazar Islamic University complex which was already taken over a few days ago and where weapons were found and this has been burning for the past couple of hours so it could be a fuel depot used by Hamas or it could be maybe a workshop for manufacturing weapons we don't exactly know of course from afar and on the right of your monitor you will see Chejaia which is one of the last neighborhoods of Gaza city on the southeastern outskirts where close combat fighting has been going on and in the past half hour there's been a lot of targeting of presumed Hamas targets from the air we've heard the shrieking of the guided missiles that are launched by gunships and by the Israeli jets we've heard also the wearing of the rudder blades we hear the buzz of the civilians and attack drones the front is very very active and at the same time down south is Hanunas you can't see it much but there's still heavy bombing in the area of Hanunas in this direction and it's a matter of days the IDF says before Chejaia and the northern refugee camp of Jebalia fall into IDF operational control as 50% of the command chain of Hamas has been annihilated and more and more Hamas and Palestinian Islamic terrorists are surrendering because they don't get any more any orders from their commanders very heavy fighting all across the Gaza Strip at this very hour Pierre Kloschender reporting from the Israel-Gaza border thank you for that and as the fighting continues so does the battle to release some 137 Israelis that are held captive at the hands of Hamas in Gaza former Israeli ambassador to France and I-24 News Regular Daniel Schaik is also the director of diplomacy at the hostage and missing families form Daniel your efforts to release more hostages is not limited to the borders of Israel it is a global campaign you're in Prague right now first of all tell us about your mission there who is with you and who are you able to speak to well yes we have a whole international campaign we have as we speak I think three delegations in three different parts of the world all of them with different numbers of family members here in Prague I have representatives of three families and in a very quick 36-hour effort we're going to meet top people from the political parliamentary and media areas of the Czech Republic it has to be said that the Czech Republic is definitely one of the most friendly and understanding countries in the world concerning Israel so this is not a mission here in order to convince people but it's a mission to echo and to resonate the stories of the hostage families in order to keep the issue on the agenda and I must say with really it's heartwarming to hear the people here speak to see the people even on the street when we walk and the family members walk with their t-shirts with the images of their loved ones people are empathetic people know what this is about and last night I went with we went all of us for a little walk with with the number two at the embassy in Prague which has been extremely helpful and she showed us a big wall with all the posters of the hostages and she told us here nobody tears them down the only enemy of these posters is the wind and the rain certainly heartwarming to hear that at least in some parts of Europe to see that support but ambassador as we speak there are various reports circulating in the recent days about the next possible hostage release deal one of them on a Saudi paper Elaf says that a new possible formula will include the release of women children elderly young Israelis and even three senior IDF officers that are reportedly taken captive by Hamas and that would be in exchange for 300 Palestinian prisoners as well as senior Fatah official Marwan Baruguti what do the families know about these offers about this possible plans and what do you make of them well I'll say this the families obviously are not involved in the negotiations and don't know the details about a plan that is or isn't on the table you know I take this with a large grain of salt I'm sure my very good friend Yaki Dayan who's with you in the studio will understand when I say that such reports are floated by all sorts of people and may have all sorts of objectives and they don't necessarily reflect anything reliable the only thing the families say very simply is the state of Israel the government of Israel has to cease every opportunity that arises in order to renew the negotiations so that we have another agreement for the release of hostages and more than that the state of Israel should maybe take its own initiatives and not be only reactive to offers made through Qatar by Hamas that is their position now the details who will be released in exchange who won't this is not the family's business this is not the business of a civil society organization like ours this is definitely the responsibility of the state of Israel and we understand that there are all sorts of implications to it but from the family's point of view everything has to be done so that every single hostage is released Ambassador Daniel Scheck Director of Diplomacy at the Hostage and Missing Families Forum thank you for your time thank you for the work that you're doing there for the families still with me is Yaki Dayan let's speak about some of the points mentioned there by Ambassador Scheck first the Israeli initiative what do you think in terms of diplomacy of in terms of negotiation should Israel be offering on the table now plan to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners senior officials and say to Hamas well this is our offer take it on the table does that show strength does that show weakness how do you see it just one word about one sentence maybe about Ambassador Scheck who is doing a holy work since October 7th accompanying the families and really making sure that their voices being heard internationally this is really an amazing effort now about the deal I definitely think that Israel has to take an initiative here the hostages is one of the goals if not the main goal of this war releasing on the hostages obviously and definitely Israel has to take an initiative as well Israel has to put on the table all kinds of plans and all kinds of offers that has to be echoed by the Qataris by the Egyptians and by the Americans obviously definitely we shouldn't leave this only for the Qatari because the Qataris are representing Hamas and we want someone who will fully represent Israel now no doubt the Americans are fully involved are highly involved but we should contemplate with the Americans what kind of offers we want now as we mentioned before by the reporters and others the intense phase of the battle in Gaza definitely in the northern part of Gaza is about to be over we are about to take over the entire part of the northern part of Gaza and Hanunas is progressing it might take a few more weeks but it is progressing and while there is a ground maneuver it is very difficult to stop this ground maneuver but if there is one reason to stop the ground maneuver is for understanding to release the hostages and now I think we are in a much better position than before because we are much closer to Sinwar and the leadership of the Hamas so we are in a much better position to negotiate and definitely we should put now all kinds of plans all kinds of offers on the table one of the names that was mentioned in that report is Maron Baragouti Fatah Hafishal of course is in prison for acts of terror against Israelis we have seen cases in the past like Hamas official Hamas leader Yixin Wah who was released under a different prisoner exchange deal back at the time and reverted to terror it goes also with the fact that we heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday was saying that the PA is also looking to destroy Israel maybe not the same way as Hamas does but in stages how do you see the prospect of releasing such a senior Fatah Hafishal at this time after everything that is going on and with the fact that the Palestinian Authority has yet to really condemn the massacre of October 7th continues to pay salaries to terrorists for acts that they for killing Israeli civilians what do you make of all of that there are two different things that you're asking me Guy the first thing is releasing Baragouti Baragouti is a murderer no doubt he has been convicted for 17 murders so he's not just just like that sitting in Israeli jail but nevertheless on October 7th Israel has broken the contract the unwritten contract between Israel and its citizens and no doubt that we will have to pay a very heavy price and also releasing murderers and if it is Baragouti and this is the price in order to release all the hostages I have zero doubts in my mind and I believe that many others that he should be released it doesn't mean that we will stop pursuing and getting after all the murders of the Hamas and we'll continue to do that and the Palestinian Authority of Baragouti now the second question that you're asking me is about the Palestinian Authority so here I'll tell you two things one I believe that this is of Israel's interest to already discuss with our ally the Americans the day after and what will be in the day after the Americans are speaking about a revitalized Palestinian Authority and we should listen if we are not setting the conditions for the day after somebody else will put the conditions for us on the day after so we definitely need to be in this discussion now when they are saying a revitalized Palestinian Authority we should start the discussions what does it mean a totally different Palestinian Authority that is not supporting terrorism that is not supporting the textbooks that perpetrate the terrorist attacks that are not giving allowances to terrorist to families of terrorists all of the above and much much more than that so if it is being reformed maybe we can conduct the discussion but we should add another element to this discussion because what we have to tell our American friends is that we are dealing with the symptoms all the time when we are dealing with the Hamas and when we are dealing with the Palestinian Authority and Hezbollah and the Houthis we are all the time dealing with the symptoms and if the Americans like we want to see an entire new Middle East a different Middle East we should put in the equation into the equation the Iranians as well because if you don't deal with the problem then you won't be able to make a significant change in the region so the Iranians have to be in the on the equation of the day after and the Americans should not deal with that as an excuse but rather as a major element maybe the element in order to change the equation and to create a new Middle East this of course an administration that to a large degree has turned a blind eye to Iran in recent years let's take a listen to President Biden speaking about Israel and military age just last night I've known Bibi for now 51 years he has a picture on his desk of he and I when he was a young member of Israeli service here foreign service and I was a 32 year old senator and I wrote on the top of Bibi I love him but I don't agree with the damn thing you had to say it's about the same today I love him it's a tough spot tough spot we continue to provide military assistance in Zoom to until they get rid of Hamas but but we have to be careful they have to be careful the whole world's public opinion can shift overnight we can't let that happen yes so that was President Biden of course at the event of lighting Hanukkah candles celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah this week very interesting relations between President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin and Netanyahu they do go a very long way back we can remind our viewers that at the start of this current term of Netanyahu there's a lot of discussion about the cold relations the fact that he was not invited to the White House well it seems like the war that was imposed on Israel has really turned all the cards and the strong relations between these two countries and between these two leaders is very clear so no doubt there are a lot of differences between Netanyahu and President Biden but at the end of the day we have to remember that Biden is a Zionist as he says as he defines himself as a Zionist and he has done for Israel now more than many other presidents maybe the only president that we can compare to President Biden is Harry Truman in 1948 when he decided to acknowledge to recognize the State of Israel against the will and the recommendation of his Secretary of State Marshall so this is really a unique president and as you mentioned the ammunition is one example I mean no doubt that the Americans are supplying ammunition more than 200 planes already landed in Israel and I can go on and on the diplomatic umbrella Biden is supplying but there are differences major differences between Netanyahu and Biden we can call it love and hate and as you defined it very very correctly I mean before the war started President Biden even was not only ignoring Prime Minister Netanyahu but he didn't want to welcome him so at the end of the day the way to work on that is on the day after at times of war your friends certainly show Yankee Dan from Israeli consul to Los Angeles thank you very much more updates coming up at the top of the hour thank you for watching Israel is in a state of war families completely gone down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well Welcome to our rolling coverage of Israel's war now at day 67 rocket fire in Israeli communities continued a short while ago with sirens ringing on the Israel Gaza border as well as on Israel's northern border meanwhile fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour overnight the Israeli Air Force destroyed a rocket launching site while it was targeting the city of Sterot paratroopers took over a Hamas structure in Hanyunas where they located 250 rockets, mortars and RPG missiles ready for use heavy fighting today also in the West Bank where Israeli troops eliminated at least three Palestinian terrorists in the city of Genine during an arrest operation in which the militants opened fire and threw explosives at the forces they were eventually targeted by an Israeli drone meanwhile on the northern front rocket fire continued again a short while ago after yesterday the Hezbollah group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli communities and military posts in the Red Sea the Iran-backed Houthis confirmed they were behind the missile attack against the Norwegian tanker Strinda last night which they say was on its way to the Israeli city of Ashdod last night IDF chief of staff Hrti Alevi and Chinbeth chief Ronin Barr both visited the troops inside Hanyunas in southern Gaza vowing there is no force which can stand up to the combined force of the IDF soldiers and the Chinbeths it's a war of tunnel shafts and it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out it seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination there is a big pressure here and I think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit it also accelerates our achievements in the end we want to move forward quickly we are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the Gaza Strip the entrance in the south of the Gaza Strip and also deep down into the ground let's go to Israel's southern border now Pierre Clauchandler is there overlooking the Gaza Strip and as we heard from the chief of the IDF it is a war of tunnel shafts and at the same time more rocket fire into Israeli communities right there was a launching of rocket fire on the southern communities facing the Rafa area in the Gaza Strip at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip but we haven't heard of any reports of casualties or damage all these communities have basically been evacuated after October 7th now behind me what you can see is the area south of Gaza City which is the site of for instance the Al-Azhar Islamic University complex which was already invested by the Israeli army a few weeks ago and where they found a lot of ammunition and depots of weapons and on the right of your monitor but now with the hazy weather it'll be hard to distinguish Shajaya where fierce fighting is occurring for a 12th consecutive day in order to dismantle one of the most battle-hardened battalions of Hamas in Shajaya with close combat with a lot of air support and artillery support and at the same time north of the Gaza Strip at the northern outskirts of Gaza City also fierce fighting for a 12th consecutive day against another hardened battle battalion of Hamas but yesterday Defense Minister Joav Galant said that these battalions are on the verge of collapsing many of the Hamas terrorists are surrendering in the tens in the tens and tens of Hamas terrorists laying down their weapons we know that 50% according to the IDF 50% of the chain of command be it heads of regiments heads of battalions or heads of company have been annihilated and therefore those Hamas terrorists do not get any instruction field disconnected isolated and they lay down their weapons 500 of them in the past month and of course through the field interrogation on the spot they give a lot of information intelligence regarding maybe maybe the whereabouts of hostages but also about booby-trapped tunnel shafts you heard the head of the general security services explaining that this is a war of tunnel shafts as there are thousands of them strewn in all over the Gaza Strip with many of them booby trapped others allowing Hamas terrorists to just pop up and throw a rocket propelled grenade on the troops or on the tanks and the fighting goes on also in this area Tower with Hanyunas we hear from media reports affiliated to Hamas in the Gaza Strip that there's heavy fighting on the eastern and northeastern outskirts of Hanyunas Bani Suheila El Abasan these places are under operational control and yet there's heavy fighting there and the fighting in Hanyunas which is the make or break of Hamas according to the IDF is going to go on for the next week ahead and Pierre we can certainly hear the artillery fire here in the studio through your microphone stay safe there on Israel Gaza border Pierre Kloschander reporting from the south and now for more let's bring in Yaakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analysts at the Jewish News Syndicate and also military and strategic affairs analysts at the Miriam Institute Yaakov great to have you in studio let's speak of the first about this tunnel shaft war the Israeli troops walking through the streets of Sajai of Jibalia of Hanyunas there are thousands of these tunnels certainly and even more so of their shafts where terrorists can just pop up at any minute what sort of intelligence does the IDF have when Israeli troops are stationed in a particular neighborhood about the possibility of a terrorist or group of them that could pop out at any minute and surprise them at day at night etc how does it happen well the IDF is employing a sensor-based network-based war machine in the Gaza Strip and that means that it's combining prior intelligence intelligence that's gathered all of the time and the target to data bank is listed and then that's used to strike the targets as fast as possible and the forces on the ground have to be able to respond in real time to exactly these kinds of targets that pop up without prior warning and it's a combination of both and when it comes to the tunnels I think you know what we're seeing is very interesting the IDF is not sending forces down into those tunnels what it's doing instead is it's destroying the shafts as it discovers them and it's guiding the Air Force to strike you know to to bomb tunnel routes whenever it detects them and then if you have terrorists who are trapped between a tunnel shaft that is destroyed and the middle of a tunnel that's destroyed then they're trapped and that turns into essentially a graveyard for terrorists any place like that they will be trapped and they will end up dying because they can't get out so I think we're seeing a systematic elimination of the underground infrastructure that Hamas has built over the past decades in the Gaza Strip it's slow work it's difficult we're dealing with an asymmetric terrorist army and it's really day-by-day erosion of these capabilities going forward that's going to make all the difference obviously a lot of lessons as what they say in the Israeli military lessons learned in blood about the war in those tunnels as we saw of course many years ago already when Hadar Golden was killed during the ceasefire next to a tunnel Yaakov stay with me I would just want to go to the northern border now where our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran is an Ariel we spoke about the lull in the rocket fire well that has ended very quickly more rockets launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory Indeed Guy, the war today has restarted on the Israel-Lebanon border with a short hour ago Hezbollah launching two rockets towards a military border post near the community of Malkia the post of Tumus this is the IDF confirming no known injuries in this attack the IDF adding that it responded with artillery fire towards the source of the launches and indeed on the Lebanese side reports of Israeli artillery shelling on the border village of Eiterun which is just across the border from Malkia and so Hezbollah's first attack today following a day yesterday of at least seven attacks with rockets tank-guided missiles on IDF border posts along the border one of them on the border community of Metula which included destruction of multiple homes Hezbollah saying it targeted IDF forces there obviously Metula one of the communities that was evacuated but in the municipality of Metula they tell me this morning that given the proximity to the border and the high danger that still is in the area Israeli forces simply can't reach the site to try and fully assess the level of the damage they're waiting for better conditions to approach that and that just a small indication as to how dangerous and how volatile this Israel-Lebanon border is these days including this morning and in reality you're also following a story very far from where you are in the north of Israel well you're following the story in the Red Sea the Houthi backed the Iran backed Houthis confirming a short while ago that they were behind that missile strike on a Norwegian boat and now they also explain themselves Indeed so after much anticipation the Houthis military spokesperson Yahya Sari saying that they had warned the Norwegian flagship prior to attacking it with a cruise missile saying that they have done the same warning ships over the past two days and those ships have diverted their course following their threats so the Houthis saying that this Norwegian flagged ship with 22 Indian crew members who were not hurt by this attack saying that the ship did not heed their warnings and therefore they carried out this attack saying that they will continue to target any ships making their way to the Red Sea in the direction of Israel according to reports this Norwegian flagged ship was expected to dock in the port of Ashdod and this comes just a day after Houthi officials saying that not only the port of Elat needs to be decommissioned but the same thing needs to happen to Israel's Mediterranean sea ports in Ashdod and Haifa this would indicate that they are indeed carrying out those threats and putting them into action Iranian threats not only on Israeli cities but on Israeli interests around the region as a whole are we are lost around on the northern border thank you for that update still with me Yakov Lapin in studio let's speak about that Houthi threat because an interesting report says that the opposition in Yemen part of the Saudi related political forces there say they were actually invited by the Americans to take part in some sort of naval international coalition to stop those Houthi attacks how likely are we to see some sort of cooperation from within Yemen against the Houthis well within Yemen of course the Houthis have enemies they've been fighting you know a brutal war within Yemen to take control of the capital Sanaa and the Saudi backed forces in Yemen have lost a lot of ground to these radical Shiite forces that are backed by the Iranians I think what the Houthis are doing right now in the Red Sea is very serious it's essentially trying to place a sea embargo on Israeli shipping traffic about 25% of exports and imports that Israel conducts worldwide is with the Far East and out of that about 7% passes through the alat port so what they're doing here is threatening the Israeli economy and beyond that they're also threatening you know the global and regional economy the ability to conduct free trade and shipping in international waters so this is a threat to the entire global economy a lot of gas and oil also passes through the bubble Mandab Straits near Yemen and the Iranians are essentially activating their proxies in Yemen and saying we are going to hold hostages the entire global and regional and the Israeli economy unless you know we get what we want which is some sort of ceasefire to save the Hamas leadership that's what they're trying to do of course they're not going to get that ceasefire but the question is how will the Houthis pay for what they're doing and if the US is able to set up this new task force that they've been talking about and send forces down south into the Red Sea to deal with the threat that would be optimal if not I think Israel will have no choice but to increase its retaliation and to deal with this increasingly threatening arena not because of the missiles which Israeli air defenses can deal with but because of this threat to shipping and the Israeli economy and this would of course be a defensive naval force while the main force behind those attacks is Iran and Iran just sits back and watches say Iran does not see any hits on its targets it just using its own proxies and that is perhaps a major issue here because Iran is not afraid to use the Houthis not afraid to use Hezbollah certainly wasn't afraid to use Hamas with all the damage that these proxies cause on their civilians so do the Americans and does the world have an understanding of the fact that unless the head of the snake is being stopped these attacks will continue I hope that they have that understanding because as you say you know the conductor of this very dangerous and destructive orchestra is Iran the Islamic Republic of Iran and specifically it's the IRGC and the Kutz Force that are acting on the orders of the Supreme Leader Khamenei and they are activating this region-wide proxy network of terrorism of missile attacks of threats to international shipping and I fully agree what you're implying in your question which is that if the head of the octopus is not going to be made to pay a significant price for these actions and if we just continue to be busy with the arms of the octopus the tentacles so to speak then that strategy will not work at some point there's going to have to be kinetic firepower in some way or another directed towards the Iranian head of this octopus and if that doesn't happen they will see that as a green light to continue using proxy warfare and activating these proxies all throughout the region and even beyond we have Iranian weapons that are being fired into Ukrainian cities and the Iranians have an alliance with Venezuela and South America so ultimately they're spreading their destructive influence of spreading this is a threat to global security and as history has shown us if these threats are not nipped in the bud they're only going to get worse we certainly saw some action against Iran with the previous administration and the targeting of Qasem Soleimani etc etc not so much with the current administration let's go up north now because as the fighting continues with Hezbollah there are all sorts of reports about some sort of offer some sort of agreement that Israel is willing to make with Lebanon under the condition that Hezbollah is being pushed back over the Litany river what do we know? There has been several days and a little bit more than that actually of negotiations that are apparently being led by the Americans the French and perhaps the Qataris all aimed at de-escalating the situation in southern Lebanon Israel's demand is very clear the reality the status quo that existed up until the 7th of October in which Hezbollah death squads it's Radwan elite unit and other Hezbollah units positioned on the border able to launch an infiltration just like Hamas' Nukhba force led on the 7th of October that reality is not acceptable Hezbollah has to pull back from the border whether those negotiations will succeed or not to me that seems very unlikely because Hezbollah's entire base of operations and base of support is centered in southern Lebanon so for them to pull back is essentially for them to forfeit on their most important areas so I think what we're seeing here is both sides are playing for time Israel has an interest right now in completing the lion's share of its mission which is dismantling the Hamas terror army in the Gaza Strip prioritizing the southern arena keeping the northern arena as a secondary arena for now once Gaza I think becomes stabilized a lot of Israeli military resources will free up they can go north and then I think Israel will have to make a decision about setting up a buffer zone and when it makes that decision assuming these diplomatic talks fail my assumption is that they will fail you know maybe they won't maybe they'll surprise us all but assuming that they fail I think we are on course to an escalation in the northern arena after we stabilize Gaza only worrying news unfortunately let's speak about the Americans because we are hearing today that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to arrive in Israel Monday before that we will see here Jack Sullivan national security advisor talk to us about what the American officials would probably like to gain with these visits obviously high profile visits that also send a message of support etc etc but they have a lot to discuss as well with Israeli officials right so I think the Americans want to see the IDF wrap up the high intensity phase of this war in Gaza as soon as possible we heard dates which I think were unrealistic the first you know by the beginning of January that seems unrealistic but I think they're going to apply that pressure for Israel to wrap up at least the high intensity phase of this as soon as Israel can do it so we'll see that pressure apply I believe and they will also see what can be done to stop this war from becoming as we were just discussing a regional war involving Hezbollah in the north and you know possibly Iran itself directly I would also remind the viewers that Iran itself has the Middle East largest arsenal of missiles most varied arsenal and it itself could become an arena even though it prefers proxy warfare so I think the Americans are here to yes to support the Israeli war effort but also to try and bring an earlier end to the high intensity phase and to try to stop this war from becoming regional I think the first goal of the Americans is you know the American the Israelis can enter into negotiations and they can find some sort of middle ground about when to end the high intensity phase of this I think that's doable the second part that to me is seems very very much shrouded in mystery let's put it that way it's very unclear whether we can stop this from turning into a regional conflict and not always in our hands of course exactly as we speak about the war in Gaza the heavy number of fatalities over 100 Israelis Israeli soldiers most of the reservists have died since the beginning of the ground maneuver and that is a very difficult toll of course for the for the military but for the Israeli public as a whole although everybody does understand what Israel is fighting for and we're hearing the same even from the bereaved families having said that the idea for today releases some information about how some of these soldiers have lost their lives with no less than 20 of them over 100 or so have fallen have died as a result of friendly fire or operational accidents that is a fifth of all soldiers killed so far break down for us how concerning are these numbers are they exceptional at all friendly fire is a constant risk when it comes to you know putting a large numbers of forces on the ground in the air naval all firing in a relatively small area friendly fire is a constant risk and it's absolutely tragic you know for all involved both for the families of the fallen and the people who attempted to kill terrorists and the last thing they would ever want to do is to harm you know their comrades and their friends and arms their brothers and arms so you know when it comes to dealing with this problem I think technology is going to be the thing that the idea will try to do to reduce friendly fire right now it already has a digital command network and the job of that network is to show all field commanders the location of friendly forces as well as all known enemy force locations going forward I think that the idea is going to try to be able to track the location of every individual soldier and giving that information to field commanders will make as we speak there's rocket alerts in the north also a possible infiltration of a drone go on right so you know I think that you know the idea is going to try and conduct after action reviews to try and bring these down to an absolute minimum and also to try and introduce more and more technology that will give more and more information about the location down to the individual soldiers to field commanders to try and reduce these horrible incidents down to the bare bare minimum Dr. Lapin thank you for that and now as we mentioned the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah as the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah residents of the south are also marking the far from happy holiday with a series of events related to the war here's the somber candle lighting of Kibbutz Berry one of the main communities targeted on October 7th it's Hanukkah the festival of lights and Jews around the world are celebrating here in Kibbutz Berry on the Gaza border targeted by Hamas terrorists on October 7th the celebrations are mixed with feeling of sorrow and despair a group of volunteers and members of the Kibbutz gathered Thursday to light the first candle of Hanukkah it's very chilling to be here it's my first time here this holiday is one of victory our victory will be completed when all the Israeli hostages will return home this was a part of a project led by the brothers in arms organization special ceremonies took place in 25 communities of the Gaza envelope in Berry one of the participants was Kamelia Hotarishai the grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshensky who was abducted on October 7th and later released the moment I met Gali again was something I can't express in words my heart exploded from happiness but also from huge pain from all my granddaughter had to face I see this event as an opportunity to light a small light which will become bigger and bigger each day and hopefully will have a big light and all the hostages will be released and will eventually return to being a normal country another participant was former lawmaker Haim Yellen who has become a popular public speaker since October 7th we asked Haim about the meaning of the holiday which represents hope and miracles following the horrific events that occurred here I don't understand miracles I can only say that we buried many friends and it was very hard for all of us I hope that today as we light the first light of Chanukah miracles will start to happen at least 90 people were murdered in Berry on October 7th and 30 were abducted as days go by more and more evidence of the horrific attack comes to light but residents of this small community are still determined to come here and to celebrate the Jewish holiday and to hope for a better future in Berry and the entire region yes days of mourning for the entire state of Israel and some light in the darkness none the last that's a wrap for now from the I-24 News Desk more updates coming up at the top of the hour I'm Guy Azrael thank you very much for watching Israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well Welcome to our rolling coverage of Israel's war now at day 67 rocket fire in Israeli communities continued a short while ago with sirens ringing on the Israel-Gaza border as well as on Israel's northern border meanwhile fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour overnight the Israeli Air Force destroyed a rocket launching site while it was targeting the city of Sterot paratroopers took over a Hamas structure in Hanyunis where they located 250 rockets mortars and RPG missiles ready for use heavy fighting today also in the West Bank where Israeli troops eliminated at least three Palestinian terrorists in the city of Jineen during an arrest operation in which the militants opened fire and threw explosives at the forces they were eventually targeted by an Israeli drone meanwhile on the northern front rocket fire continued again a short while ago after yesterday the Hezbollah group has fired dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israeli communities and military posts in the Red Sea the Iran-backed Houthis confirmed they were behind the missile attack against the Norwegian tanker Strinda last night which they say was on its way to the Israeli city of Ashdod last night IDF chief of staff Hercio Levy and Chin-Bed chief Ronin Barr both visited the troops inside Hanyunis in southern Gaza vowing there is no force which can stand up to the combined force of the IDF soldiers and the Chin-Beds it's a war of tunnel shafts and it seems to me that what is special about this war is that it should be both broad in order to collapse the operational and governmental infrastructures but also very focused in order to reach to our citizens and get them out it seems to me that there is no force that can stand against this combination there is a big pressure here and I think that this surrendering that the people coming out and raising their hands is also a break in their spirit it also accelerates our achievements in the end we want to move forward quickly we are securing our accomplishments in the northern part of the Gaza Strip the entrance in the south of the Gaza Strip and also deep down into the ground let's go to Israel's southern border now Pierre Klosschenler is there overlooking the Gaza Strip and as we heard from the chief of the IDF it is a war of tunnel shafts and at the same time more rocket fire into Israeli communities right there was a launching of rocket fire on the southern communities facing the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip but we haven't heard of any reports of casualties or damage all these communities have basically been evacuated after October 7 now behind me what you can see is the area south of Gaza city which is the site of for instance the Islamic University complex which was already invested by the Israeli army a few weeks ago and where they found a lot of ammunition and depots of weapons and on the right of your monitor but now with the hazy weather it will be hard to distinguish Shejaya where fierce fighting is occurring for a 12th consecutive day in order to dismantle one of the most battle-hardened battalions of Hamas in Shejaya with close combat with a lot of air support and artillery support and at the same time north of the Gaza Strip at the northern outskirts of Gaza city also fierce fighting for a 12th consecutive day against another hardened battle battalion of Hamas but yesterday Defense Minister Joav Galant said that these battalions are on the verge of collapsing many of the Hamas terrorists are surrendering in the tens in the tens and tens of Hamas terrorists laying down their weapons we know that 50% according to the idea 50% of the chain of command be it heads of regiments heads of battalions or heads of company have been annihilated and therefore those Hamas terrorists do not get any instructions field disconnected isolated and they lay down their weapons 500 of them in the past month and of course through the field interrogation on the spot they give a lot of information intelligence regarding maybe maybe the whereabouts of hostages but also about booby-trapped tunnel shafts you heard the head of the general security services explaining that this is a war of tunnel shafts as there are thousands of them strewn in all over the Gaza Strip with many of them booby-trapped others allowing Hamas terrorists to just pop up and throw a rocket-propelled grenade on the troops or on the tanks and the fighting goes on also in this area toward Hanunez we hear from media reports affiliated to Hamas in the Gaza Strip that there's heavy fighting on the eastern and north-eastern outskirts of Hanunez Bani Suheila El Abasan these places are operational control and yet there's heavy fighting there and the fighting in Hanunez which is the make-up break of Hamas according to the IDF is going to go on for the next week ahead and Pierre we can certainly hear the artillery fire here in the studio through your microphone stay safe there on Israel Gaza border Pierre Kloschander reporting from the south and now for more let's bring in Yaakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish News Syndicate and also military and strategic affairs analyst at the Miriam Institute Yaakov, great to have you in studio let's speak first about this tunnel shaft war the Israeli troops walking through the streets of Sajai of Jibalia of Hanunez there are thousands of these tunnels certainly and even more so of their shafts where terrorists can just pop up at any minute what sort of intelligence does the IDF have when Israeli troops are stationed in a particular neighborhood about the possibility of a terrorist or group of them that could pop out at any minute and surprise them a day at night etc how does it happen well the IDF is employing a sensor-based network-based war machine in the Gaza Strip and that means that it's combining prior intelligence intelligence that's gathered all of the time and the target data bank is listed and then that's used to strike the targets as fast as possible and the forces on the ground have to be able to respond in real time to exactly these kinds of targets that pop up without prior warning and it's a combination of both and when it comes to the tunnels I think you know what we're seeing is very interesting the IDF is not sending forces down into those tunnels what it's doing instead is it's destroying the shafts as it discovers them and it's guiding the Air Force to strike to bomb tunnel routes whenever it detects them and then if you have terrorists who are trapped between a tunnel shaft that is destroyed and the middle of a tunnel that's destroyed then they're trapped and that turns into essentially a graveyard for terrorists any place like that they will be trapped and they will end up dying because they can't get out so I think we're seeing a systematic elimination of the underground infrastructure that Hamas has built over the past decades in the Gaza Strip it's slow work it's difficult we're dealing with an asymmetric terrorist army and it's really a day-by-day erosion of these capabilities going forward that's going to make all the difference obviously a lot of lessons as what they say in the Israeli military lessons learned in blood about the war in those tunnels as we saw of course many years ago already when Hadar Golden was killed during the ceasefire next to a tunnel Yakovstik with me I would just want to go to the northern border now where our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran is an Ariel we spoke about the lull in the rocket fire well that has ended very quickly more rockets launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory indeed Guy the the war today has restarted on the Israel-Lebanon border with a short hour ago Hezbollah launching two rockets towards a military border post near the community of Malkia the post of Tumus this the IDF confirming no known injuries in this attack the IDF adding that it responded with artillery fire towards the source of the launches and indeed on the Lebanese side reports of Israeli artillery shelling on the border village of Eiterun which is just across the border from Malkia and so Hezbollah's first attack today following a day yesterday of at least seven attacks with rockets anti-tank guided missiles on IDF border posts along the border one of them on the border community of Mithullah which included destruction of multiple homes Hezbollah saying it targeted IDF forces there obviously Mithullah one of the communities that was evacuated but in the municipality of Mithullah they tell me this morning that given the proximity to the border and the high danger that still is in the area Israeli forces simply can't reach the site to try and fully assess the level of the damage they're waiting for better conditions to approach that and that just the small indication as to how dangerous and how volatile this Israel-Lebanon border is these days including this morning and in reality you're also following a story very far from where you are in the north of Israel well you're following the story in the Red Sea the Houthi backed the Iran backed Houthis confirming a short while ago that they were behind that missile strike on a Norwegian boat and now they also explain themselves Indeed so after much anticipation the Houthis military spokesperson Yahya Sadi saying that they had warned the Norwegian flagship prior to attacking it with a cruise missile saying that they have done the same warning ships over the past two days and those ships have diverted their course as following their threats so the Houthis saying that this Norwegian flagged ship with 22 Indian crew members who were not hurt by this attack saying that the ship did not heed their warnings and therefore they carried out this attack saying that they will continue to target any ships making their way to the Red Sea in the direction of Israel according to reports this Norwegian flagged ship was expected to dock in the port of Ashdod and this comes just a day after Houthi officials saying that not only the port of Elat needs to be decommissioned but the same thing needs to happen to Israel's Mediterranean seaports in Ashdod and Haifa this would indicate that they are indeed carrying out those threats and putting them into action Iranian threats not only on Israeli cities but on Israeli interests around the region as a whole are we are lost around on the northern border thank you for that update still with me Jacob Lapin in studio let's speak about that Houthi threat because an interesting report says that the opposition in Yemen part of the Saudi related political forces there say they were actually invited by the Americans to take part in some sort of naval international coalition to stop those Houthi attacks how likely are we to see some sort of cooperation from within Yemen against the Houthis well within Yemen of course the Houthis have enemies they've been fighting you know a brutal war within Yemen to take control of the capital Sana'a and the Saudi backed forces in Yemen have lost a lot of ground to these radical Shiite forces that are backed by the Iranians I think what the Houthis are doing right now on the Red Sea is very serious it's essentially trying to place a sea embargo on Israeli shipping traffic about 25% of exports and imports that Israel conducts worldwide is with the Far East and out of that about 7% passes through the Elat port so what they're doing here is threatening the Israeli economy and beyond that they're also threatening the global and regional economy the ability to conduct free trade and shipping in international waters so this is a threat to the entire global economy a lot of gas and oil also passes through the bubble mandab straights near Yemen and the Iranians are essentially activating their proxies in Yemen and saying we are going to hold hostage the entire global and regional and the Israeli economy unless you know we get what we want which is some sort of ceasefire to save the Hamas leadership that's what they're trying to do of course they're not going to get that ceasefire but the question is how will the Houthis pay for what they're doing and if the US is able to set up this new task force that they've been talking about and send forces down south into the Red Sea to deal with the threat that would be optimal if not I think Israel will have no choice but to increase its retaliation and to deal with this increasingly threatening arena not because of the missiles which Israeli air defenses can deal with but because of this threat to shipping and the Israeli economy and this would of course be a defensive naval force while the main force behind those attacks is Iran and Iran just sits back and watches say Iran does not see any hits on its targets it just using its own proxies and that is perhaps a major issue here because Iran is not afraid to use the Houthis not afraid to use Hezbollah certainly wasn't afraid to use Hamas with all the damage that these proxies cause on their civilians so do the Americans and does the world have an understanding of the fact that unless the head of the snake is being stopped these attacks will continue I hope that they have that understanding because as you say you know the conductor of this very dangerous and destructive orchestra is Iran the Islamic Republic of Iran and specifically it's the IRGC and the Quds force that are acting on the orders of the supreme leader and they are activating this region wide proxy network of terrorism of missile attacks of threats to international shipping and I fully agree what you're implying in your question which is that if the head of the octopus is not going to be made to pay a significant price for these actions and if we just continue to be busy with the arms of the octopus the tentacles so to speak then that strategy will not work at some point there's going to have to be kinetic firepower in some way or another directed towards the Iranian head of this octopus and if that doesn't happen they will see that as a green light to continue using proxy warfare and activating these proxies all throughout the region and even beyond you know we have Iranian weapons that are being fired into Ukrainian cities and the Iranians have an alliance in with Venezuela and South America so ultimately they're spreading their destructive influence of spreading this is a threat to global security and as history has shown us if these threats are not nipped in the bud they're only going to get worse we certainly saw some action against Iran with the previous administration and the targeting of Qasem Soleimani etc etc not so much with the current administration let's go up north now because as the fighting continues with Hezbollah there are all sorts of reports about some sort of offer some sort of agreement that Israel is willing to make with Lebanon under the condition that Hezbollah is being pushed back over the Litany River what do we know there has been several days and a little bit more than that actually of negotiations that are apparently being led by the Americans the French and perhaps the Qataris all aimed at de-escalating the situation in Southern Lebanon Israel's demand is very clear the reality the status quo that existed up until the 7th of October in which Hezbollah death squads it's Radwan elite unit and other Hezbollah units positioned on the border able to launch an infiltration just like Hamas's Nukhba force led on the 7th of October that reality is not acceptable Hezbollah has to pull back from the border whether those negotiations will succeed or not to me that seems very unlikely because Hezbollah's entire base of operations and base of support is centered in Southern Lebanon so for them to pull back is essentially for them to forfeit on their most important areas so I think what we're seeing here is both sides are playing for time Israel has an interest right now in completing the lion's share of its mission which is dismantling the Hamas terror army in the Gaza Strip prioritizing the Southern arena keeping the Northern arena as a secondary arena for now once Gaza I think becomes stabilized a lot of Israeli military resources will free up they can go north and then I think Israel will have to make a decision about setting up a buffer zone and when it makes that decision assuming these diplomatic talks fail my assumption is that they will fail you know maybe they won't maybe they'll surprise us all but assuming that they fail I think we are on course to an escalation in the Northern arena after we stabilize Gaza Only worrying news unfortunately Let's speak about the Americans because we are hearing today that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to arrive in Israel Monday before that we will see here Jack Sullivan National Security Advisor talk to us about what the American officials would probably like to gain with these visits obviously high profile visits that also send a message of support etc etc but they have a lot to discuss as well with Israeli officials Right So I think the Americans want to see the IDF wrap up the high intensity phase of this war in Gaza as soon as possible we heard dates which I think were unrealistic the first you know by the beginning of January that that seems unrealistic but I think they're going to apply that pressure for Israel to wrap up at least the high intensity phase of this as soon as Israel can do it so we'll see that pressure applied I believe and they will also see what can be done to stop this war from becoming as we were just discussing a regional war involving Hezbollah in the North and you know possibly Iran itself directly I would also remind the viewers that Iran itself has the Middle East's largest arsenal of missiles most varied arsenal and it itself could become an arena even though it prefers proxy warfare so I think the Americans are here to yes to support the Israeli war effort but also to try and bring an earlier end to the high intensity phase and to try to stop this war from becoming regional I think the first goal of the Americans is you know the Americans the Israelis can enter into negotiations and they can find some sort of middle ground about when to end the high intensity phase of this I think that's doable the second part that to me is seems very very much shrouded in mystery let's put it that way it's very unclear whether we can stop this from turning into original conflict and not always in our hands of course exactly as we speak about the war in Gaza for the military but for the Israeli public as a whole although everybody doesn't understand having said that the idea for today releases some information about how some of these soldiers have lost their lives with no less than 20 of them of a hundred or so have fallen have died as a result of friendly fire or operational accidents that is a fifth of all soldiers killed so far break down for us how concerning are these numbers are the exceptional tool friendly fire is a constant risk when it comes to you know putting a large numbers of forces on the ground in the air naval all firing in a relatively small area friendly fire is a constant risk and it's absolutely tragic you know for all involved both for the families of the fallen and the people who attempted to kill terrorists and the last thing they would ever want to do is to is to harm you know their comrades and their friends and arms their brothers and arms so you know when it comes to dealing with this problem I think technology is going to be the thing that the idea will try to do to reduce friendly fire right now it already has a digital command network and the job of that network is to show all field commanders the location of friendly forces as well as all known enemy force locations going forward I think that the idea is going to try to be able to track the location of every individual soldier and giving that information to field commanders will make as we speak there's rocket alerts in the north also a possible infiltration of a drone going right so you know I think that you know the idea is going to try and conduct after action reviews to try and bring these down to an absolute minimum and also to try and introduce more and more technology that will give more and more information about the location down to the individual soldiers to field commanders to try and reduce these horrible incidents down to the bare bare minimum Nakav Lapin thank you for that and now as we mentioned the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah as the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah residents of the south are also marking the far from happy holiday with a series of events related to the war here's the somber candle lighting of Kibbutz-Beri one of the main communities targeted on October 7th it's Hanukkah the festival of lights and Jews around the world are celebrating here in Kibbutz-Beri on the Gaza border targeted by Hamas terrorists on October 7th the celebrations are mixed with feeling of sorrow and despair a group of volunteer it's very chilling to be here it's my first time here this holiday is one of victory our victory will be completed when all the Israeli hostages will return home this was a part of a project led by the Brothers in Arms organization special ceremonies took place in 25 communities of the Gaza envelope in Bari one of the participants was Kamelia Hoter-Ishai the grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshenski who was abducted on October 7th and later released the moment I met Gali again was something I can't express in words my heart exploded from happiness but also from huge pain from all my granddaughter had to face I see this event as an opportunity to light a small light which will become bigger and bigger each day and hopefully we'll have a big light and all the hostages will be released and will eventually return to being a normal country another participant was former lawmaker Haim Yelin who has become a popular public speaker since October 7th we asked Haim about the meaning of the holiday which represents hope and miracles following the horrific events that occurred here I don't understand miracles I can only say that we buried many friends and it was very hard for all of us I hope that today as we light the first light of Hanukkah miracles will start to happen at least 90 people were murdered in Bari on October 7th and 30 were abducted as days go by more and more evidence of the horrific attack comes to light but residents of this small community are still determined to come here and to celebrate the Jewish holiday and to hope for a better future in Bari and the entire region yes days of mourning for the entire state of Israel and some light in the darkness none the last that's a wrap for now from the I-24 News Desk more updates coming up at the top of the hour I'm Guy Azrael thank you very much for watching is in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well a barrage of Israel's war now a day 67 a barrage of rocket and drone attacks on Israeli communities a short while ago on Israel's south and northern borders sirens ringing in the city of Ashkelon and neighboring area as well as large areas in the western galley meanwhile fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour this morning in Jabalia the Israeli forces located a number of locations of combat areas and weapons stockpiles used by Hamas inside residential neighborhoods and near a school stockpiles contained missiles and rpg launchers of various types explosive charges grenades and Kalachnikovs as well as military equipment and they fighting today also in the west bank where his very troops eliminated at least three Palestinian terrorists in the city of Gineen during an arrest operation in which the militants opened fire and threw explosives at the forces they were eventually targeted by an Israeli drone in the Red Sea the Iran backed Houthis confirmed they were behind the missile attack against the Norwegian tanker Strinda last night which they say was on its way to the Israeli port city of Ashdod let's take you straight to Israel's northern border I-24 news Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran Ariel Sirens ringing in many Israeli communities in the north a short while ago a possible drone infiltration what do we know and we're talking about no less than three suspected drone infiltration alerts sounding in northern border communities in the upper and western Galilee communities like Arab Al-Ram Sheikh Hanita Zari Ch'tula the latter two who also saw rocket sirens and so this is in a span of half an hour multiple alerts and sirens still know official confirmation as to what occurred from the IDF but under Lebanese side saying that an IDF Iron Dome interceptor exploded in the air above Lebanese territory in the area of El Chiam that is a lot to the east from where these sirens were sounded so it's not quite clear if those two incidents are connected but as details continue to emerge we will report as soon as we can but the situation now following multiple sirens drone infiltration as well as rockets in the upper and western Galilee so far no reports of injuries in any of these incidents and Ariel as we speak some 80,000 of those residents of those communities are no longer there they're in Tel Aviv in central Israel in many other places displaced from their homes what does the Israeli security establishment tell them about when would they be able to return right guy in many of these 80, 90,000 people not only in central Israel but also in northern border communities or northern communities a bit further away from the border entire communities absorbed by these communities here in the area as to what the Israeli leaders are telling them they're saying that they understand the concern of returning to their homes while there's still a threat from Hezbollah and IDF saying or Israeli leaders saying that following the war in Gaza there is expected to be some activity against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon Ariel us around reporting throughout the day there from the northern borders stay safe Ariel thank you for that update and now we'll go into studio and we're joined by Rafael Yoroshalemi a former senior intelligence officer in the IDF and a security analyst thank you for coming the show let's speak about the threat of these drones coming from Hezbollah in the north this is obviously a new equation in this war this is not something that we saw in previous operations or wars with Hezbollah or with Hamas but these drones are coming into use more and more as we saw by the way also in Ukraine Yes and as you said also in Ukraine because they have the same origin which is Iran they are Iran made drones supplied to the Hezbollah by the regime of the Ayatollahs in Tehran which implies the involvement actually of Iran in the attacking Israel these weapons are a first sign of a danger that's threatening us from the north and it not only the Hezbollah and it's not only Iran in between you have Syria and Iraq where Shiite militias are getting organized are getting supplied also by Tehran with drones and missiles a whole front is building up under our nose and I'm afraid something is going to have to be done and not only by Israel but maybe the Americans instead of sending the wrong signal right now we are getting mixed signals actually from the Washington do what you want finish when you when you will but please with less intensity but please be careful of collateral knowledge and please do not escalate this is a ridiculous mix up of messages and the wrong signals to the enemy especially that American interests themselves have been attacked in Iraq in Syria fortunately there were no casualties but they might be in the end so what what does happen what does the biggest army in the world the biggest power in the world is going to do in front of this new world that's building up it's an axis from Tehran through Baghdad through Damascus and Beirut this is a huge threat that's being posed to the stability of the Middle East that is so dear to Washington so what are you going to do about it just sit there and tell us to to restrain something's wrong there and it's very disquieting for us Israelis because well if people forgot a little country of less than 10 million people with a small army relatively not such a huge army can't compare army to the Iranian army so what are we going to do if the international community yet again sits there on the fence and doesn't do anything when the build-up is so obvious and it's reached a point when you cannot do in the Red Sea you cannot move freely around the world economy is being threatened by a group of armed rebels terrorists this is becoming really really disquieting and of course for a short while the U.S. thought that it could shift some of its interest from the Middle East into other areas well reality comes back to haunt you eventually if you ignore those threats stay with me Raphael I want to go now to our Pierre Kloscheindler is standing by for us in southern Israel up here more rocket alerts short while ago in Ashkelon what do we know yeah there was a rocket salvo some of it was directed at Kibbutz Nile Arm which is not far away from where we are and then further north 10 kilometers away toward the city of Ashkelon which has been the hardest city in the whole of Israel but according to the municipality of Ashkelon there were four interceptions no casualties no damage and Pierre as you speak to us we can see those plums of smoke behind you the operation the ground manoeuvre of the IDF is still in full force in many areas across the Gaza Strip absolutely now we are facing the northern sector of the Gaza Strip the sector of Bet Hanun and still there you can see that the army is still operating although there is full operational control in that particular sector the army is very busy in neutralizing tunnels destroying Hamas infrastructure destroying tunnel shafts because you heard the head of the Shin Bet General Security Services Ronin Barr who was accompanied by the chief of staff in Hanunas you saw them sitting on a sofa of Palestinian house and that was obviously a message to the Palestinians as fighting goes on in Hanunas that's the war is dubbed by Ronin Barr the war of the tunnel shafts because there's thousands of them strewn all over the Gaza Strip all over the 380 square kilometers of Strip and that obviously is a huge challenge to the Israeli ground forces because a terrorist can just pop out of a tunnel shaft to launch a rocket propelled grenade an RPG on a tank or on a food patrol they have also booby trapped some of the tunnel shafts some of the tunnel shafts are inclined in such a way that a terrorist can pose a mine underneath a tank as the tank is rolling and then disappear inside the tunnel so it's very complicated what we hear right now from Palestinian media affiliated to Hamas that Israel is targeting Rafa against one of the terror factions that are operating in Gaza and participated in the October 7 massacre the popular resistance committee they are very strong in the south of the Gaza Strip they make money out of smuggling in usual times smuggling between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and right now there are the IDF is targeting strongholds of the Palestinian popular resistance committee but they're also fierce fighting in the eastern outskirts of Hanyunas in Abbasan or in the north eastern outskirts such as in Bani Suheila there are also bombing in two places that the army has not yet invested such as the central refugee camps of Direl Balak El Borej Al Mourazi and at the same time for a 12th consecutive day forces are fighting in the small alleys of the Jebalia refugee camp as well as in the Shejaia neighborhood on the southeastern outskirts of Gaza city so right now the front is sectioned bisected by the ground forces there is the northern sector here then there is Gaza city with two pockets of resistance with battle-hardened battalions that are on the verge of crumbling according to the Israeli defense minister Joav Galant then you have the central sector of the refugee camps which are not yet conquered but then you have Hanyunas which is uncircled and from within and without and then the southern extreme southern sector of the Gaza Strip in Rafah where they are targeted aerial bombing of presumed terror targets now at the same time there are two humanitarian access that are open for the non-involved population one for the northern population that has not yet left there's a few tens of thousands and then also for the people that are trapped in the battleground in Hanyunas Pierre Kloschenler reporting from Israel's southern border near Gaza thank you very much for that update now as Israel is still reeling from the devastating onslaught of October 7th in which 1200 Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists most of them civilians murdered in their homes including infants babies children women elderly men questions about the colossal intelligence failure continue to echo and will be present in the Israeli debate in years to come one person who could shed some light on what led to this failure is Dr. Offer Grossbart a clinical psychologist and author of the cultural code series published by Ben Gurion University Dr. Grossbart you served as a psychologist in the Israeli military intelligence and have recently published an article that details some of the structural issues that led to the intelligence failure welcome on the show try to break down for us what did you learn during your service hello I learned many things you know there are two aspects to what I learned one aspect is looking inside inside us the organization the our intelligence and the other side looking outside about the enemy so it's simpler to talk about us because the problem is that Israeli intelligence is constructed by a group of quite young people very talented people but mainly analytical with analytical thinking and their social skills are less developed either because they are young or because they are very analytical and you know we are startup nation and and maybe we had maybe we still have the feeling that technology is the last word and and can solve too many problems so this is not true of course and so one problem is they rely too much on technology the other problem is Israel is quite creative place but in the army you know in the pyramid of the army of the specialist intelligence which is the brain of the army in the state people are not open enough at not thinking openly and creatively enough because it's an army and they want to advance with the ranks and sometimes saying what you think openly doesn't help to this don't help this aim so I think the intelligence need the help in order to be more flattened which means that people could say what they think and without any fear and yeah that was my impression from working at a short time relatively that I worked with them and this is two things that and directed inside the problem outside is maybe even bigger you know the problem that you project onto the enemy your own thinking and we think as modern western country but the other side think differently and and you know there is a a field called cross-cultural psychology and a lot was written about it in the world but my impression is that not just intelligence but all the security bodies in Israel are not aware to those things and the result is that the other side think differently you know for example we are talking about deterrence okay so we I'm not going to attack anybody if the damage I will have is greater than the advantage I will get okay this is analytical thinking more than western but what if the other side think about along different lines he thinks about humiliation and honor for example okay so it's a different perspective it's a different frame of reference and you are not aware of it so that attacked Israel after our six day war which was a huge success okay because he wanted to to rehabilitate Egypt's honor so we expected a lot a big deterrence as as in this massacre and there's no deterrence because the other thing differently for the other sometimes it's more important to to damage you then to do something good for him you know it's opposite than our thinking you are more important your failure or your damage is more important than his success okay so so as perhaps as as a former late Prime Minister Golda Mary said peace will come when they love their children more than they hate us and in this case this is what you're talking about yeah yeah that's a nice analogy of course and you yeah yeah and unfortunately and this is what we saw because when Hamas launched this attack it knew very well what sort of damage it would cause to Israel but beyond that also understood what sort of devastation it will bring to the people of Gaza as unfortunately we have to see today is Israel has to eliminate Hamas and we see what sort of suffering is is resulted from that obviously Hamas brought it on its own people talk to us about the failure of this concept there's a lot of talk about the concept that Hamas is deterred that Hamas will not attack Israel I was sitting here in studio on October 6th with a very high-ranking former IDF officer who repeated the the same claims that this this was the norm this was the thinking both in the military and in the government it seems like everyone fell in love with this idea yeah you're absolutely right you know it's it went for a long time this love of this love of this idea you know conception is something that make give you a piece of mind I have a conception I understand what happens you know it's difficult for anyone to be in to experience a threat as Israel does for a long time you get tired and conception is something that it make you being more tranquil or come down things like these you can't be for a long time with a high adrenaline let's say and so we have to be very careful of our conception yeah I mean always to live under the thought that someone else want to destroy you it's not easy but the point is that we have we should study the different we have thinking we set the point that we don't do okay so this is not only a problem of Israel you see Iran and America Iran and Western Europe Iran is playing with all kinds of games and tricks and lies and again and again the West falls in this trap so so it's very difficult it's it's you know to explain it it's a long conversation it's very difficult to the West and also to Israel which is part of the West to get rid of so what I call the illusion of peace or or and has an illness of peace I would say because it's illness you know so so when you look at it it's I mean we have to learn the other I mean our the Hamas thinking along traditional collective lines it's a different way of thinking you know the group is important not the individual and it makes all your thinking different okay so I say in a few words something that is quite complicated but what you see outside the lines the tricks the honor issues what is honor think about honor honor is something that you get from outside it's kind of of food you get from outside okay but we in the West would like to fulfill ourselves it's coming from inside so and for them the most important thing is honor versus not humiliation many times they said that's not humiliation we are ready for everything that's not humiliation so we have to learn the way they think and if we learn it we understand that that we don't deter them because they are thinking differently they don't mind to ruin all the whole Gaza as you see in these pictures they don't mind the people not at all okay of course we also saw such incredible support in surveys after this onslaught support among the Palestinian public not just in Gaza also in the West Bank even after the devastation already started many in the Palestinian streets still justified well not I'm not many I'm talking about 80% of the people who are interviewed in this survey that supported this onslaught what do you make of that about the complete different thinking on the Palestinian street and what is that related to I'll tell you something when you do a survey here is something very important in the Arab world often you don't get the right answer people saying people know that the neighbors are going to listen to them seeing them on TV or radio or whatever and they say what is expected from them what is the group expecting we are in the West will say what we think okay but they say what is expected what is the group is expecting it's a different way of thinking for example when you interview when you make a survey of Arabs what broadcasts to what media you watch so if the interviewer is Israeli Jewish Israelis they will say some Israeli channels if the interviewer is from Arab country they will say or something like this so you see they adjust themselves all the time to the group to others so they say okay they're afraid of Hamas so they say so and now when they're not afraid you see many of them in Gaza say we are against Hamas suddenly you hear these voices because the fear is disappeared and then they can say something more authentic obviously also related to to communal thinking and to the teaching that they're being given in schools and part of the socialization process etc not that excitement excitement is the most important thing we have to we have to confront it because you know what we see is mainly because of the excitement and very briefly how would you change the Israeli intelligence these groups that make all these decisions how can Israel's intelligence and Israel as a whole rebuild itself ahead of the future challenges what lessons will be learned very briefly I hope for the two the two aspects that I said first of all looking inside it should be more flat and less I mean it's something if you want to be creative and think openly you have to to you have to challenge the ranks you know something that is upper than you so this is one thing that Israel should learn to be the intelligence Israel is quite open but the intelligence should be much more open and the other side to really learn cross-cultural psychology to learn deeply how the other side think and don't think they think like you because they don't think like you they think on different lines absolutely fascinating and sad that we have to have this conversation following the tragedy and the colossal failure of the intelligence Dr. Offer Grossbard is clinical psychologist we thank you very much for your insight today thank you thank you still with me Rafeli Roshalmi wow that was a very enlightening conversation your main takeaways into how we can grow from that well I would add one point that wasn't mentioned I agree unfortunately 300% with this analysis that we just listened to and as a former member of the intelligence service I I agree also with what the doctor said I would just add two things there is also something called common sense and the Israeli street has common sense and for the South but a whole Israeli population whether they were psychologists or not psychologists knew that there was in Gaza a very dangerous organization that they were spreading our security and they asked the government for years for 20 years they asked the government to act upon it they didn't have cross-cultural psychology they just knew it's called common sense or maybe it's a nutrition they knew that these guys are horrible guys so on the 7th of October we were taken by surprise tactically but not really by this and then we had the problem with the government who didn't listen to them yes and there was always hope that if we give a better future for the people of Gaza we'll give them work that would change the situation and the thinking of Hamas unfortunately we were all bitterly wrong or failure charming thank you very much and that's a wrap for now from the i24 news desk more updates at the top of the hour news 24 he has our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well Ashkelon and neighboring area as well as large areas in the western Galilee meanwhile fighting against Hamas strongholds continues in various fronts across the Gaza Strip at this hour this morning in Jabalia the Israeli forces located a number of locations of combat areas and weapons stockpiles used by Hamas inside residential neighborhoods and near a school stockpiles contained missiles and rpg launchers of various types explosive charges grenades and Kalachnikovs as well as military equipment heavy fighting today also in the west bank where Israeli troops eliminated at least three Palestinian terrorists in the city of Gineen during an arrest operation in which the militants opened fire and threw explosives at the forces they were eventually targeted by an Israeli drone in the Red Sea the Iran backed Houthis confirmed they were behind the missile attack against the Norwegian tanker Strinda last night which they say was on its way to the Israeli port city of Ashdod let's take you straight to Israel's northern border I-24 News Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran Ariel Sirens ringing in many Israeli communities in the north a short while ago a possible drone infiltration what do we know okay we're talking about no less than three suspected drone infiltration alerts sounding in northern border communities in the upper and western Galilee communities like Arab Al-Ram Shehanita Zaritshtula the latter two who also saw rocket sirens and so this is in a span of half an hour multiple alerts and sirens still no official confirmation as to what occurred from the IDF but under Lebanese side saying that an IDF iron dome interceptor exploded in the air above Lebanese territory in the area of El Chiam that is a lot to the east from where these sirens were sounded so it's not quite clear if those two incidents are connected but as details continue to emerge we will report as soon as we can but the situation now following multiple sirens drone infiltration as well as rockets in the upper and western Galilee so far no reports of injuries in any of these incidents and Ariel as we speak some 80,000 of those residents of those communities are no longer there they're in Tel Aviv in central Israel in many other places displaced from their homes what does the Israeli security establishment tell them about when would they be able to return right guy in many of these 80-90,000 people not only in central Israel but also in northern border communities or northern communities a bit further away from the border entire communities absorbed by these communities here in the area as to what the Israeli leaders are telling them they're saying that they understand the concern of returning to their homes while there's still a threat from Hezbollah and IDF saying or Israeli leaders saying that following the war in Gaza there is expected to be some activity against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon Ariel, us around reporting throughout the day there from the northern borders stay safe Ariel thank you for that update and now we'll go into studio and we're joined by Rafael Yorushalemi a former senior intelligence officer in the IDF and a security analyst thank you for coming on the show let's speak about the threat of these drones coming from Hezbollah in the north this is obviously a new equation in this war this is not something that we saw in previous operations or wars with Hezbollah or with Hamas but these drones are coming into use more and more as we saw by the way also in Ukraine Yes and as you said also in Ukraine because they have the same origin which is Iran they are Iran made drones supplied to the Hezbollah by the regime of the Ayatollahs in Tehran which implies the involvement actually of Iran in the attacking Israel these weapons are a first sign of a danger that's threatening us from the north and it not only the Hezbollah and it's not only Iran in between you have Syria and Iraq where Shiite militias are getting organized are getting supplied also by Tehran with drones and missiles a whole front is building up under our nose and I'm afraid something is gonna have to be done and not only by Israel but maybe the Americans instead of sending the wrong signal right now we are getting mixed signals actually from the Washington do what you want finish when you when you will but please with less intensity but please be careful of collateral knowledge and please do not escalate this is a ridiculous mix-up of messages and the wrong signals to the enemy especially that American interests themselves have been attacked in Iraq in Syria fortunately there were no casualties but they might be in the end so what what does happen what does the biggest army in the world the biggest power in the world is gonna do in front of this new war that's building up it's an axis from Tehran through Baghdad through Damascus and Beirut this is a huge threat that's being posed to the stability of the Middle East that is so dear to Washington so what are you gonna do about it just sit there and tell us to restrain something's wrong there and it's very disquieting for us Israelis because well if people forgot a little country of less than 10 million people with a small army relatively not to such a huge army can't compare army to the Iranian army so what are we gonna do if the international community yet again sits there on the fence and doesn't do anything when the build-up is so obvious and it's reached a point when you cannot do in the Red Sea you cannot move freely around the world economy is being threatened by a group of armed rebels terrorists this is becoming really really disquieting and of course for a short while the US thought that it could shift some of its interest from the Middle East into other areas well reality comes back to haunt you eventually if you ignore those threats stay with me Raphael I want to go now to our Pierre Crosshainler is standing by for us in southern Israel up here more rocket alerts short while ago in Ashkelon what do we know yeah there was a rocket salvo some of it was directed at Kibbutz nir arm which is not far away from where we are and then further north 10 kilometers away toward the city of Ashkelon which has been the hardest city in the whole of Israel but according to the municipality of Ashkelon there were four interceptions no casualties no damage and Pierre as you speak to us we can see those plums of smoke behind you the operation the ground maneuver of the IDF is still in full force in many areas across the Gaza Strip absolutely now we are facing the northern sector of the Gaza Strip the sector of Bet Hanun and still there you can see that the army is still operating although there is full operational control in that particular sector the army is very busy in neutralizing tunnels destroying Hamas infrastructure destroying tunnel shafts because you heard the head of the Shin Bet General Security Services Ronan Bar who was accompanied by the chief of staff in Hanunas you saw them sitting on a sofa of a Palestinian house and that was obviously a message to the Palestinians as fighting goes on in Hanunas that the war is dubbed by Ronan Bar the war of the tunnel shafts because there are thousands of them strewn all over the Gaza Strip all over the 380 square kilometers of Strip and that obviously is a huge challenge to the Israeli ground forces because a terrorist can just pop out of a tunnel shaft to launch a rocket propelled grenade an RPG on a tank or on a food patrol they have also booby trapped some of the tunnel shafts some of the tunnel shafts are inclined in such a way that a terrorist can pose a mine underneath a tank as the tank is rolling and then disappear inside the tunnel so it's very complicated what we hear right now from Palestinian media affiliated to Hamas that Israel is targeting Rafa against one of the terror factions that are operating in Gaza and participated in the October 7 massacre the popular resistance committee they are very strong in the south of the Gaza Strip they make money out of smuggling in usual times smuggling between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and right now there are the IDF is targeting strongholds of the Palestinian popular resistance committee but they're also fierce fighting in the eastern outskirts of Hanyunas in Abbasan or in the north eastern outskirts such as in Bani Suheila there are also bombing in two places that the army has not yet invested such as the central refugee camps of Direl Balak El Burej Al Murazi and at the same time for 12 consecutive day forces are fighting in the small alleys of the Jabalia refugee camp as well as in the Shejai neighborhood on the southeastern outskirts of Gaza city so right now the front is sectioned bisected by the ground forces there is the northern sector here then there is Gaza city with two pockets of resistance with hardened with battle-hardened battalions that are on the verge of crumbling according to the Israeli defense minister Yohav Galant then you have the central sector of the refugee camps which are not yet conquered but then you have Hanyunas which is uncircled and from within and without and then the southern extreme southern sector of the Gaza Strip in Rafah where they are targeted aerial bombing of presumed terror targets now at the same time there are two humanitarian axes that are open for the non-involved population one for the northern population that has not yet left there's a few tens of thousands and then also for the people that are trapped in the battleground in Hanyunas Peter Kloschenler reporting from Israel's southern border near Gaza thank you very much for that update now as Israel is still reeling from the devastating onslaught of October 7th in which 1200 Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists most of them civilians murdered in their homes including infants babies children women elderly men questions about the colossal intelligence failure continue to echo and will be present in the Israeli debate in years to come one person who could shed some light on what led to this failure is Dr. Offer Grossbard a clinical psychologist and author of the cultural code series published by Ben Gurion University Dr. Grossbard you served as a psychologist in the Israeli military intelligence and have recently published an article that details some of the structural issues that led to the intelligence failure welcome on the show try to break down for us what did you learn during your service hello I learned many things you know there are two aspects to what I learned one aspect is looking inside inside us the organization our intelligence and the other side looking outside about the enemy so it's it's simpler to talk about us because the problem is that Israeli intelligence is constructed or by a group of quite young people very talented people but mainly analytical with analytical thinking and their social skills are less developed either because they are young or because they are very analytical and you know we are startup nation and and maybe we had maybe we still have the feeling that technology is the last word and and they can solve it too many problems so this is not true of course and so one problem is relying too much on technology the other problem is even when it's quite creative place but in the army you know in the pyramid of the army of the speciality intelligence which is the brain of the army in the state people are not open enough at not thinking openly and creatively enough because it's an army and they want to you know to advance in the with the ranks and sometimes saying what you think openly doesn't help to this don't help this aim so I think the intelligence need the help in order to be more flattened which means that people could say what they think and without any fear and yeah that was my impression from working at a short time relatively that I worked with them and this is two things that and directed insight the problem outside is maybe even bigger you know the problem that you project onto the enemy your own thinking and we think as a modern western country but the other side think differently and and you know there is a a field called cross-cultural psychology and a lot was written about it in the world but my impression is that not just intelligence but all the security bodies in Israel are not aware to those things and the result is that the other side think differently you know for example we are talking about deterrence okay so we I'm not going to attack anybody if the damage I will have is greater than the advantage I will get okay this is analytical thinking modern western but what if the other side think about along different lines he thinks about humiliation and honor for example okay so it's a different a perspective it's a different frame of reference and you are not aware of it so that attacked Israel after our sixth day war which was a huge success okay because he wanted to to rehabilitate Egypt honor so we expected a lot a big deterrence as as in this massacre and and there's no deterrence because the other thing differently for the others sometimes it's more important to to a to damage you then to a do something good for him you know it's opposite than I was thinking you are more important you're a failure or you're a damage is more important than his success okay so so it's a way as perhaps as a former a late prime minister Golda Mary said peace will come when they love their children more than they hate us and in this case this is what you're talking about yeah yeah that's a nice analogy of course and unfortunately and and this is what we saw because when Hamas launched this attack it knew very well what sort of damage it would cause to Israel but beyond that also understood what sort of devastation it will bring to the people of Gaza as unfortunately we have to see today is Israel has to eliminate Hamas and we see what sort of suffering is is resulted from that obviously Hamas brought it on its own people talk to us about the failure of this concept there's a lot of talk about the concept that Hamas is deterred that Hamas will not attack Israel I was sitting here in studio on October 6th with a very high-ranking former IDF officer who repeated the the same claims that this this was the norm this was the thinking both in the military and in the government it seems like everyone fell in love with this idea yeah you're absolutely right you know it's it went for a long time this love of the love of this idea you know it's conception is something that make I mean give you a piece of mind I have a conception I understand what happens you know it's it's difficult for anyone to be in to experience a threat as Israel does for a long time you get tired and conception is something that you know it make you being more tranquil or come down or things like this you can't be for a long time we say high adrenaline let's say and so we have to be very careful of our conception and yeah I mean always to live under the thought that someone else want to destroy you it's it's not easy but the point is that we have we should study the different we are thinking we that's the point that we don't do okay some this is not only a problem of Israel you see Iran and America Iran and the and your Western Europe Iran is playing with all kind of games and tricks and lies and again and again the West falls in this trap so so it's very difficult it's it's you know to explain it it's a long conversation it's very difficult to the West and also to Israel which is part of the West to get rid of the what I call the illusion of peace or or the illness of peace I would say because it's illness you know so so when you look at it it's I mean we have to learn the other I mean our the Hamas thinking along traditional collective lines it's a different way of thinking you know the group is important not the individual and it makes all your thinking different okay so I say in a few words something that is quite complicated but what you see outside the lines the tricks the honor issues what is honor think about honor honor is something that you get from outside it's kind of of food you get from outside okay but we in the West would like to fulfill ourselves it's coming from inside so and for them the most important thing is honor versus and not humiliation many times they say that's not humiliation we are ready for everything that's not humiliation so we have to learn the way they think and if we learn it we understand that that we don't deter them because they are thinking differently they don't mind to ruin all the whole gaza as you see in these pictures they don't mind the people not at all okay of course we also saw such incredible support in surveys after this onslaught support among the Palestinian public not just in Gaza also in the West Bank even after the devastation already started many in the Palestinian streets still justified well not I'm not many I'm talking about 80% of the people who are interviewed in this survey that supported this onslaught what do you make of that about the complete different thinking on the Palestinian street and what is that related to I'll tell you something when you do a survey here is something very important in the Arab world often you don't get the right answer people say people know that the neighbors are going to listen to them seeing them on TV or radio or whatever and they say what is expected from them what is the group expecting we are in the West will say what we think okay but they say what is expected what is the group is expecting it's a different way of thinking for example when you interview when you make a survey of Arabs what a broadcast what media you watch so if the interviewer is Israeli Jewish Israelis they will say some Israeli channels if the interviewer is from Arab country they will say Jazeera or something like this so you see they adjust themselves all the time to the group to others so they say okay they're afraid of Hamas so they say so and now when they are not afraid you see many of them in Gaza say we are against Hamas suddenly you hear these voices because the fear is disappeared and then they can say something more authentic obviously also related to to communal thinking and to the teaching that they're being given in schools and part of the socialization process etc not that excitement excitement is the most important thing we have to we have to confront it because you know what we see is mainly because of the excitement and very briefly how would you change the Israeli intelligence these groups that make all these decisions how can Israel's intelligence and Israel as a whole a rebuild itself ahead of the future challenges what lessons will be learned very briefly I hope for the two the two aspects that I said first of all looking inside it should be more flat and less I mean it's something if you want to be creative and think openly you have to to you have to challenge the ranks you know something that is upper than you so this is one thing that Israel should learn to be the intelligence Israel is quite open but the intelligence should be much more open and the other side to really learn cross-cultural psychology to learn deeply how the other side think and don't think they think like you because they don't think like you they think on different lines absolutely fascinating and sad that we have to have this conversation following the tragedy and the colossal failure of the intelligence Dr. Offer Grossbard is clinical psychologist we thank you very much for your insight today thank you thank you still with me Raphael Roushami wow that was a very enlightening conversation your main takeaways into how we can grow from that well I would add one point that wasn't mentioned I agree unfortunately 300% with this analysis that we just listened to and as a former member of the intelligence service side I agree also with what the doctor said I would just add two things there is also something called common sense and the Israeli street has common sense and for years and years not only the inhabitants of the south but the whole Israeli population whether they were psychologists or not psychologists knew that there was in Gaza a very dangerous organization that they were spreading our security and they asked the government for years for 20 years they asked the government to act upon it they didn't have cross-cultural psychology they just knew it's called common sense or maybe it's an intuition they knew that these guys are horrible guys so on the 7th of October we were taken by surprise tactically but not really by this and then we had the problem