 Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. In news edition, I'm Benita Levine, coming to you live from Tel Aviv. A major breakthrough in the Israeli Defense Forces' ongoing operation to eliminate the Hamas terror group following the massacre in southern Israel on the 7th of October. Confirmation a short while ago that 300 suspects have been arrested during the ground operation inside Gaza. They have been brought to Israel for questioning. Now, today is World Children's Day, celebrated in many parts each year. There are no celebrations in this part of the world on this day. When the focus of the nation is on the hostages being held by Hamas, including 38 children, the youngest, 10-month-old Kfir Bebas. He was nine months old when he was abducted during that terror onslaught on the 7th of October, plus reports of a newborn, a child, born to a Thai woman in captivity in recent days. At this hour, there are 236 known hostages inside Gaza. The international Red Cross has still not been able to get access to them in the past six weeks. Many relatives still don't know if their loved ones are alive. Families of the hostages are meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu and the War Cabinet on Monday evening, hoping that the Prime Minister can help secure their freedom amidst reports of a deal being broken by Qatar. The U.S. is also said to be involved in these negotiations, which are said to include a pause of a few days to allow for the release of some of the hostages. Now, for the latest on the ground, we cross live to our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Osaran. He joins us from southern Israel and confirmation, Ariel, just a short while ago that 300 suspects were detained during the IDF ground operation inside Gaza and have been brought to Israel. What kind of information have investigators found out so far? What do we know? Right, Benita, before we start on that, I'll just, our cameraman, Roy, will show you the latest from what's going on these seconds in northern Gaza. We're talking about an intensification in the fighting in the northern Gaza neighborhoods of Beit Hanun and Beit Lahia. This includes continuous artillery fire, airstrikes. We're also hearing exchanges of fire, the IDF saying that in the areas in eastern and northern Gaza, the soldiers are, the troops are fighting in close proximity against Hamas terrorists. You can also hear the buzz of the drones all the while. That's the latest here on the ground just across the border from northern Gaza. But as what you described a short while ago, the IDF allowing to publicize the details of about three, the information that 300 Hamas terrorists were arrested during the ground operation, nearly four weeks into it. These interrogations that have been taking place inside Israeli territory have enabled to identify the locations of underground tunnel shafts as well as arms depots, also Hamas fighting tactics on the ground, as well as how Hamas terrorists and other factions embed themselves among civilian population, especially in hospitals. Let's take a listen to the interrogation of one of these terrorists explaining how Hamas terrorists embed themselves inside Shifa Hospital. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about. Dramatic details from that interrogation. Thank you very much. We're going to have to leave it for now, but we will be coming back to our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Osirin, in southern Israel in the coming hours. Thank you, Ariel. And right now, it's a pleasure to welcome Gershon Baskin, negotiator in the Gilad Shalit exchange and Middle East director of international communities organization, joining us from Jerusalem. Gershon, thank you so much for joining us at this very difficult time in the country. It's World Children's Day, 38 children amongst the hostages being held by Hamas for more than six weeks now. It's unimaginable for the families. Also reports obviously around this deal in the pipeline and many suggesting that Israel needs to be laying down the terms here. You know the situation all too well. What kind of insights can you share? How does Israel get all hostages safely home? First of all, I think it's important for us to realize that Israel can't really lay down the terms here. We're really at the mercy of Hamas. It hurts me to say that, but we have very little leverage on the decision making of Yahya Sinwar somewhere underground in Gaza. We have to insist that Hamas release all the women, all the children, all the elderly, the wounded and the sick at the minimum that has to be the Israeli demand. And we have to insist that the United States and others apply extreme pressure on Qatar to force Hamas into a deal. But I may even worry about whether or not Qatar has the ability to put pressure on Hamas, because I don't think the decisions are being made in Doha. I think they're being made in Gaza underground. And therefore the Egyptian channel of negotiation seems to be much more important, where the Egyptians have much more direct contact with Hamas in Gaza and with Islamic jihad. And that's where our tension needs to turn, I believe. It also bears repeating, of course, that there was a ceasefire in place on the 6th of October. You made mention of the Egyptians. The Wall Street Journal is citing officials from Egypt, saying that Israel is meticulously verifying a list of possible Palestinian prisoners to ensure none of them are connected to Hamas. Now, we need to reiterate, this is a report. But what is your take on a deal that involves the release of Palestinian prisoners at this juncture? I think that the most important thing is to get hostages home as quickly as possible and as many as possible. Even at the risk of releasing Palestinian prisoners, I think that Israel can deal with them after the release of the hostages, after we manage to get all the hostages home that we can through search and rescue operations. The releasing of prisoners, of course, Israel has to maintain that certain prisoners who have created the most heinous crimes will not be released. But I think that Israel can release the women and children prisoners under the age of 18. We can release prisoners who are above the age of 65 or 70 years old without taking risks. We need to look at the issue of bringing the hostages home and not so much the consequences of the immediate deal. The bizarre situation is that we're essentially negotiating with people that Israel intends to kill, which makes a very difficult and unusual negotiation. And certainly we've seen the extent of the depravity and the brutality in terms of the Hamas massacre on the 7th of October. What are the concerns about even trusting any person or any entity right now in terms of making sure that the hostages that are alive stay alive as this deal is ironed out, so to speak? We have no way of maintaining that, knowing that and ensuring that. What we have to do is get them out of Gaza as soon as possible. When a deal is made, we will know that the deal is made. The government of Israel will vote for it and pass it. And then the third parties implementing the deal will get it to work, the International Red Cross, who will oversee the release of the hostages and the transferring, verifying their identity and transferring them the same if any Palestinian prisoners are released from Israel. They will verify identity and make sure that the deal is done at the same time. The Egyptians on the ground at the Rafa crossing are essential. The Israelis will have to be ready with ambulances and buses and helicopters to transport Israelis who are released in the deal as soon as possible, as fast as possible. It's all very complex, but it needs to be done quickly because we have no idea how the hostages are and every day that they're in Gaza endangers their lives. It certainly is unfathomable to think it's been six weeks more than that now and the International Red Cross has yet to have access to these hostages, proof of life. As you say, medicines haven't been arranged as well. It certainly is very concerning. There are security experts raising concerns about the duration of a pause, a ceasefire, whatever term one wants to use, that it might give time for Hamas to regroup. Your take. They will regroup. There's no doubt about it. Any pause, any ceasefire, the Hamas. We used to reorganize, regroup, rearm themselves, whatever it might be. But we need to do that to facilitate the release of hostages. Israel will not stop the war. There is no scenario where this war ends with Hamas running Gaza still. Israel will go after the leaders, the political leaders and the military leaders and the commanders and find the stockpiles of weapons and their infrastructure and the Hamas ability to govern Gaza will no longer be there at the end of this war. There's no other scenario. We can take a pause for three days, four days, five days, whatever it's required to get hostages home and then the war will resume. Certainly is a very terrifying situation as it all unfolds on the ground. One more question if you don't mind. We want to take a look at the day after Gaza. Many are suggesting the Palestinian Authority could have a role in Gaza. Joe Biden talking about a revitalized Palestinian Authority. We heard the rhetoric out of the PA talking about who really was behind the massacre on the 7th of October. It was stunning to hear such allegations when we know that Hamas actually filmed the atrocities themselves, casting any doubt on who was behind it is just insane, frankly, for want of a better word. But given the clear stance out of Ramallah, how can the PA realistically be involved in a future role in terms of Gaza after the war? Your thoughts. Look, the PA last time was elected in 2006. If there's one thing that almost every Palestinian agrees on is that they want new elections and they want to elect a legitimate leadership. Mahmoud Abbas with all due respect is in the 18th year of a four year term. And there's virtually no one in Palestine who supports them. Him Hamas authority. There needs to be elections. There needs to be stabilization. There needs to be reform in the Palestinian Authority fighting corruption and making sure that the Palestinian Authority is committed to a peace process with Israel. The international community needs to wrap its arms around the Palestinian issue and make sure that the Palestinians engage in free, fair and open elections where there are guidelines for participation. No party which supports an arm struggle should be allowed to participate in those elections. And I think it's fair. Democratic countries put boundaries on who can participate in elections. The Palestinians need to lead the process, eventually control the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank and need to enter into a peace process which is based on a revitalized, viable to state solution because there is no other solution to the reality of seven million Palestinians and seven million Israeli Jews living on the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. There is no one state solution. We need to go back to the idea of a two state solution and figure out how to make it work with all kinds of international guarantees. And based on the total lack of trust between the two parties, we need to negotiate intelligent agreements that have backstops and ability to move forward only once the parties implement the obligations that they take upon themselves. Well, that certainly sounds a long way off right now. The focus on the hostages and as we know, the families of these hostages will be meeting with the war cabinet a little bit later. We will be following all the developments, but we so appreciate your insights. Thank you very much for speaking to us here on I-24 News. Go Sean Baskin. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Meanwhile, red alert siren sounding in the south and in the north earlier in the day, day 45 of the war with that rocket fire out of the Gaza Strip and out of southern Lebanon. Inside Gaza, fighting is intensifying, including near the Indonesian hospital with three more soldiers killed, bringing the Israeli death toll during the retaliatory ground incursion to 66. The Hamas run health ministry in Gaza, saying thousands of Gazans have been killed, but these numbers have not been independently verified as it's not clear how many of those killed are terrorists. Senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev has more. Israeli ground forces entered Gaza from three different directions, the north from the east and from the south here, thus encircling the Gaza Strip from three different directions, the fourth direction being this one, the Mediterranean Sea, where the Israeli Navy operates. Everything in green is our areas taken over by the Israeli army, but there's still enclaves here of Hamas control, neighborhoods notorious for terrorism, Jabalia, Sheikh Radwan, and Zaitun, for example. And this is now where the fighting takes place. Israeli forces closing in on these neighborhoods exactly. This is probably the place where rockets were fired towards central Israel over the weekend and the rocket fire, which has decreased dramatically towards central Israel, will probably decrease even more once these areas are taken over. That's as far as the neighborhoods are controlled, but let's remember there are hospitals, Shifa Hospital on the western part of Gaza City, closer to the Mediterranean, and here not so much fighting, but a lot of Israeli activity to disclose exactly what is under the ground, under the Shifa Hospital, the tunnels, the security cameras, and all of the terror infrastructure under the Shifa Hospital to the north, to the area of Bed Hanun, where the Indonesian Hospital is as well. Israel is hoping to uncover also the underground activity there, probably tunnels, probably terror infrastructure, as we've seen the hospitals in Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital, the Shifa Hospital, and many, many others are not only there to save lives or also headquarters for those who want to take lives. Senior Defence Correspondent Jonathan Regev. And now for more, we welcome to Studio Retired Colonel and meet us, a former member of the Israeli Security Agency. And may thank you so much for being here in Studio, many developments on many fronts at the same time. I want to start with the intense fighting underway inside the Gaza Strip. We heard the sounds behind my colleague Ariel earlier on in the broadcast. Your insights as to what is going on right now inside the Strip? I think what we see is a lot of pressure. What we know is that we are holding Gaza from all the sides, and the pressure is like from all the sides to the center. And they are moving themselves inside and inside. And they are with their back to the wall, as we say. And with their back to the wall, they cannot lose anything. So they are fighting from street to street, from window to window. And it's very difficult for us, as we know, to fight in this kind of environment, using, of course, tanks inside streets, using air force during this operation. But it's step by step, getting street by street, building by building, to get all of the Hamas members all down. I mean, stay with us. We're going to unpack more of that. But right now, I want to check back in with our Emily Francis. She's in Tel Aviv at a UNICEF protest. And Emily, we know the families of the hostages are waiting for answers. What is happening where you are? What update can you share? Hi, Benita. And you're right. Families are waiting for answers, and they're simply not getting anything. And now they're doing everything they can to get those answers. And because it is World Children's Day, we have about 200 people here, including one of the mothers who is speaking on stage right now in front of the UNICEF building, because the UNICEF is supposed to protect children. And they are here to protest that they are not protecting our children that are held hostage, which are as many as 40 children. I'm going to step out of the shots of my cameraman, Itamar, could pan and see what they're doing and what they're displaying on the building of UNICEF, where you're seeing people in the offices looking out, not coming outside. They're posting, they're putting up pictures of the children that are right now being held in captivity. We are desperately trying to get news about our loved ones. We have been unable to get it. And UNICEF is the organization that's supposed to help us do that. So that is why they are here. Hold on. I'm going to stop talking for a second so you can hear. We've also been doing SOS signals as well on the building. You hear everybody saying Akshav, which means now, now, now. Now we have a performance. I think it's moving for me to not speak and let you all listen. So the performance has just started and there are just so many people here to lend support and you can feel bubbling over the frustration. We know obviously the families are frustrated with the government, but for UNICEF to not be giving answers, even going on the UNICEF website, which I just did right now, everything on it is showing the faces of children in Gaza. Nothing about the Israeli children is on the website. And I just checked five minutes ago. So you could understand why people are upset and calling on UNICEF to do their job. That is all for now. Back to you in the studio. Thank you so much, Emily Francis, and Tel Aviv. More to come from Emily in the coming hours. Thank you. And still in studio, retired Colonel Amit Asar. So it's so heartbreaking to think what these families are going through waiting for these answers. You've been describing the fighting underway inside the Gaza Strip. How does the fact that there are potentially 236 hostages in tunnels scattered around the Strip, it's not clear? How does that impact the fighting that we are seeing underway inside the Strip right now? Of course, it's a fact on the fighting. When we know that there is any shelter, there is any bunker, there is any tunnel that Hamas is using, we have to be very, very careful about what we are doing there. And as we are talking about the information that we need to have, when we are getting into this kind of area, intelligence is very, very important in that case. And the intelligence is working. As we know, these 300 people from the Hamas that investigated now in Israel is part of it. It's part of it is to get the most information about the hostages inside, and also the structure of underground Gaza that will have the troops to get more specific action inside without any casualties of the people that we want to save. I may stay with us. We're going to unpack more of that right now. News just in. Rocket siren sounding in the north. It looks like a barrage. Let's find out first hand our correspondent, Zach Anders is in northern Israel. Zach, what can you tell us? Yeah, we're seeing those red alerts too. And the early report that comes in as I'm looking at the notifications, they appear to be another hostile aircraft. Now when they label these hostile aircrafts, these are likely the drones, the Iranian supply drones to Hezbollah. These are pieces of equipment that are loaded with explosives, and they're quite quick. They can move very fast across the ground. They don't sometimes they can reach high altitudes, but for the most part, to try and evade air defense systems, they do fly rather low. So they try and slip past the air defenses so far. The aerial defense array here in the north has worked very successfully. It's been very efficient at intercepting these unmanned drones, but we'll have to wait and see. Of course, this alert just coming in as we are with you here on the air. So just seconds ago, and we're waiting to see if there are any reports of impacts or damage. Thank you so much. We will be coming back to you for more updates. Appreciate it for now. Stay safe. That's our Zach Anders in northern Israel. Thank you, Zach. So Amit, as we're talking about the fighting unfolding in the Gaza Strip, we're hearing more siren sounding up in the north near Mezskav Av and other arenas as well. What is your take on what is unfolding? Gisbala is escalating this front line. And we know that these drones, these suicide drones, from Iran drones. We know that Iran sells these drones also to Moscow to use it against Ukraine. And we know what is the base of these drones. And it's escalating. Nasrallah is sending a message. We are escalating. And as he is doing all the time, trying to see where is the red line of the Israelis is trying our nerves. And it's a kind of a game for him. And this escalating of drones getting into Israel, it's checking our nerves. One might have thought that a red line would have been the targeting of IDF bases like has happened earlier on in the day. Yeah, but still, we understand that IDF is waiting, is waiting for the right moment. I think it's not a surprise and it will not be a surprise when IDF will attack southern Lebanon and also inside Lebanon in the northern side of Lebanon and will hit Lebanon to the ground. But it will be for a change for a lot of attacks inside Lebanon. And Gisbala knows about it and is checking where is the red line. Where is the red line of the prime minister of Israel or the prince, the minister of defense? Certainly, unbelievable to think that both fronts are simmering as we speak. I want to go back, though, to the south because we heard earlier on in this broadcast part of an interrogation. There are 300 suspects taken in, if you're just joining us now, by the IDF in terms of this ground operation. We heard an excerpt from the interrogation and they're detailing how people dressed as nurses were actually Hamas fighters inside hospitals. What do you make of the evidence that is being presented by Israel right now? We don't have much time. There is a lot of evidence coming through. Is it enough to convince the world? I'm sure that this evidence is working for us at the international community. And this is the purpose for it. All the evidence that IDF is bringing out as this evidence of interrogation. It's very clear that they are telling the truth. They are not telling some story that you build and you don't have any evidence for it. So it's part of the pictures, all the evidence that we got from the CCTV inside the Gaza and Shifa hospital. Hostages being dragged. You can see it on your screen right now into the hospital and yet they're on denial. Against they will. Against they will. It's not that they are treating in hospital for because they wounded. It's not that. It's dragging in as hostages because it's a safe place for the Hamas to put them. The evidence is there on your screen. It keeps on coming. We will keep bringing you all the verified information as it is released right now. Retired Colonel Amit Assa. Thank you as always for being here in studio. And that is a wrap for this edition of our breaking news coverage. I'm Benita Levine in Tel Aviv. Our rolling coverage continues shortly. Stay tuned and thank you for watching. Is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. This breaking news edition. I'm Benita Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv. A major breakthrough in the Israeli Defense Forces ongoing operation to eliminate the Hamas terror group following the massacre in southern Israel on the 7th of October. Confirmation a short while ago that 300 suspects have been arrested during the ground operation inside Gaza. They have been brought to Israel for questioning. Now today is World Children's Day celebrated in many parts each year. There are no celebrations in this part of the world on this day when the focus of the nation is on the hostages being held by Hamas, including 38 children, the youngest, 10 month old Kfir Bebas. He was nine months old when he was abducted during that terror onslaught on the 7th of October. Plus reports of a newborn, a child born to a Thai woman in captivity in recent days. At this hour, there are 236 known hostages inside Gaza. The International Red Cross has still not been able to get access to them in the past six weeks. Many relatives still don't know if their loved ones are alive. Families of the hostages are meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu and the War Cabinet on Monday evening, hoping that the Prime Minister can help secure their freedom amidst reports of a deal being broken by Qatar. The US is also said to be involved in these negotiations, which are said to include a pause of a few days to allow for the release of some of the hostages. Now for the latest on the ground, we cross live to our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Osaran. He joins us from southern Israel. And confirmation, Ariel, just a short while ago that 300 suspects were detained during the IDF ground operation inside Gaza and have been brought to Israel. What kind of information have investigators found out so far? What do we know? Right, Benita, before we start on that, I'll just, our cameraman, Roy, will show you the latest from what's going on these seconds in northern Gaza. We're talking about an intensification in the fighting in the northern Gaza neighborhoods of Beit Hanun and Beit Lahia. This includes continuous artillery fire, airstrikes. We're also hearing exchanges of fire, the IDF, saying that in the areas in eastern and northern Gaza, the soldiers are, the troops are fighting in close proximity against Hamas terrorists. You can also hear the buzz of the drones all the while. That's the latest here on the ground just across the border from northern Gaza. But as what you described a short while ago, the IDF allowing to publicize the details of about three, the information that 300 Hamas terrorists were arrested during the ground operation, nearly four weeks into it. These interrogations that have been taking place inside Israeli territory have enabled to identify the locations of underground tunnel shafts as well as arms depots, also Hamas fighting tactics on the ground, as well as how Hamas terrorists and other factions embed themselves among civilian population, especially in hospitals. Let's take a listen to the interrogation of one of these terrorists explaining how Hamas terrorists embed themselves inside Shefa hospital. We're going to check the situation here. We're going to check the situation here. We're going to check the situation here. After the 1980s, the 1980s. The 1980s? The 1980s. The 1980s? The 1980s for Hamas. Hamas and Gaza. There's a hospital. There's a hospital. Shefa? Shefa. Aha. They're not just a medical unit, they're not just a medical unit. They're not just a medical unit. Hamas, they're not just a medical unit. They're not just a medical unit. Dramatic details from that interrogation. Thank you very much. We're going to have to leave it for now, but we will be coming back to our Middle East correspondent Ariel Ozeran in southern Israel in the coming hours. Thank you, Ariel. And right now, it's a pleasure to welcome Goshaan Baskin, negotiator in the Gilad Shalit Exchange and Middle East director of international communities organization joining us from Jerusalem. Goshaan, thank you so much for joining us at this very difficult time in the country. It's World Children's Day, 38 children amongst the hostages being held by Hamas for more than six weeks now. It's unimaginable for the families. Also reports obviously around this deal in the pipeline and many suggesting that Israel needs to be laying down the terms here. You know the situation all too well. What kind of insights can you share? How does Israel get all hostages safely home? First of all, I think it's important for us to realize that Israel can't really lay down the terms here. We're really at the mercy of Hamas. It hurts me to say that, but we have very little leverage on the decision-making of Yahya-Sinwar somewhere underground in Gaza. We have to insist that Hamas release all the women, all the children, all the elderly, the wounded, and the sick at the minimum that has to be the Israeli demand. And we have to insist that the United States and others apply extreme pressure on Qatar to force Hamas into a deal. But I may even worry about whether or not Qatar has the ability to put pressure on Hamas because I don't think the decisions are being made in Doha. I think they're being made in Gaza underground. And therefore the Egyptian channel of negotiation seems to be much more important where the Egyptians have much more direct contact with Hamas in Gaza and with Islamic jihad. And that's where our tension needs to turn, I believe. It also bears repeating, of course, that there was a ceasefire in place on the 6th of October. You made mention of the Egyptians. The Wall Street Journal is citing officials from Egypt saying that Israel is meticulously verifying a list of possible Palestinian prisoners to ensure none of them are connected to Hamas. Now we need to reiterate this is a report. But what is your take on a deal that involves the release of Palestinian prisoners at this juncture? I think that the most important thing is to get hostages home as quickly as possible and as many as possible. Even at the risk of releasing Palestinian prisoners, I think that Israel can deal with them after the release of the hostages, after we manage to get all the hostages home that we can through search and rescue operations. The releasing of prisoners, of course, Israel has to maintain that certain prisoners who have created the most heinous crimes will not be released. But I think that Israel can release the women and children, prisoners under the age of 18. We can release prisoners who are above the age of 65 or 70 years old without taking risks. We need to look at the issue of bringing the hostages home and not so much the consequences of the immediate deal. The bizarre situation is that we're essentially negotiating with people that Israel intends to kill, which makes a very difficult and unusual negotiation. And certainly we've seen the extent of the depravity and the brutality in terms of the Hamas massacre on the 7th of October. What are the concerns about even trusting any person or any entity right now in terms of making sure that the hostages that are alive stay alive as this deal is ironed out, so to speak. We have no way of maintaining that, knowing that and ensuring that what we have to do is get them out of Gaza as soon as possible. When a deal is made, we will know that the deal is made. The government of Israel will vote for it and pass it. And then the third parties implementing the deal will get it to work. The International Red Cross who will oversee the release of the hostages and the transferring, verifying their identity and transferring them the same if any Palestinian prisoners are released from Israel. They will verify identity and make sure that the deal is done at the same time. The Egyptians on the ground at the Rafa crossing are essential. The Israelis will have to be ready with ambulances and buses and helicopters to transport Israelis who are released in the deal as soon as possible, as fast as possible. It's all very complex, but it needs to be done quickly because we have no idea how the hostages are and every day that they're in Gaza endangers their lives. It certainly is unfathomable to think it's been six weeks more than that now and the International Red Cross has yet to have access to these hostages, proof of life. As you say, medicines haven't been arranged as well. It certainly is very concerning. There are security experts raising concerns about the duration of a pause, a ceasefire, whatever term one wants to use, that it might give time for Hamas to regroup. Your take. They will regroup. There's no doubt about it. Any pause, any ceasefire, the Hamas, we used to reorganize, regroup, rearm themselves, whatever it might be, but we need to do that to facilitate the release of hostages. Israel will not stop the war. There is no scenario where this war ends with Hamas running Gaza still. Israel will go after the leaders, the political leaders and the military leaders and the commanders and find the stockpiles of weapons and their infrastructure and the Hamas ability to govern Gaza will no longer be there at the end of this war. There's no other scenario. We can take a pause for three days, four days, five days, whatever it's required to get hostages home and then the war will resume. Certainly is a very terrifying situation as it all unfolds on the ground. One more question, if you don't mind. We want to take a look at the day after Gaza. Many are suggesting the Palestinian Authority could have a role in Gaza. Joe Biden talking about a revitalized Palestinian Authority. We heard the rhetoric out of the PA talking about who really was behind the massacre on the 7th of October. It was stunning to hear such allegations when we know that Hamas actually filmed the atrocities themselves, casting any doubt on who was behind it is just insane, frankly, for want of a better word. But given the clear stance out of Ramallah, how can the PA realistically be involved in a future role in terms of Gaza after the war? Look, the PA last time was elected in 2006. If there's one thing that almost every Palestinian agrees on is that they want new elections and they want to elect a legitimate leadership. Mahmoud Abbas with all due respect is in the 18th year of a four year term. And there's virtually no one in Palestine who supports him and his authority. There needs to be elections. There needs to be stabilization. There needs to be reform in the Palestinian Authority fighting corruption and making sure that the Palestinian Authority is committed to a peace process with Israel. The international community needs to wrap its arms around the Palestinian issue and make sure that the Palestinians engage in free, fair and open elections where there are guidelines for participation. No party which supports an armed struggle should be allowed to participate in those elections. And I think it's fair, democratic countries put boundaries on who can participate in elections. The Palestinians need to lead the process, eventually control the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank and need to enter into a peace process which is based on a revitalized, viable to state solution. Because there is no other solution to the reality of seven million Palestinians and seven million Israeli Jews living on the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. There is no one state solution. We need to go back to the idea of a two state solution and figure out how to make it work with all kinds of international guarantees. And based on the total lack of trust between the two parties, we need to negotiate intelligent agreements that have backstops and ability to move forward only once the parties implement the obligations that they take upon themselves. Well, that certainly sounds a long way off right now. The focus on the hostages and as we know the families of these hostages will be meeting with the war cabinet a little bit later. We will be following all the developments, but we so appreciate your insights. Thank you very much for speaking to us here on 24 News. Go, Sean Baskin. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Meanwhile, Red Alert siren sounding in the South and in the North earlier in the day. Day 45 of the war with that rocket fire out of the Gaza Strip and out of southern Lebanon. Inside Gaza, fighting is intensifying, including near the Indonesian hospital, with three more soldiers killed, bringing the Israeli death toll during the retaliatory ground incursion to 66. The Hamas run health ministry in Gaza, saying thousands of Gazans have been killed, but these numbers have not been independently verified, as it's not clear how many of those killed are terrorists. Senior Defense Correspondent Jonathan Regev has more. Israeli ground forces entered Gaza from three different directions, the north from the east and from the south here, thus encircling the Gaza Strip from three different directions, the fourth direction being this one, the Mediterranean Sea, where the Israeli Navy operates. Everything in green are areas taken over by the Israeli army, but there are still enclaves here of Hamas control, neighborhoods notorious for terrorism, Jabalia, Sheikh Radwan, for example, and this is now where the fighting takes place. Israeli forces closing in on these neighborhoods exactly. This is probably the place where rockets were fired towards central Israel over the weekend and the rocket fire, which has decreased dramatically towards central Israel, will probably decrease even more once these areas are taken over. That's as far as the neighborhoods are controlled, but let's remember there are hospitals, Shifa Hospital on the western part of Gaza City, closer to the Mediterranean, and here not so much fighting, but a lot of Israeli activity to disclose exactly what is under the ground, under the Shifa Hospital, the tunnels, the security cameras, and all of the terror infrastructure under the Shifa Hospital to the north, to the area of Betchanon, where the Indonesian hospital is as well. Israel is hoping to uncover also the underground activity there, probably tunnels, probably terror infrastructure. As we've seen the hospitals in Gaza, the Indonesian hospital, the Shifa Hospital, and many, many others are not only there to save lives or also headquarters for those who want to take lives. Senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev, and now for more, we welcome to studio retired Colonel Amit Assa, former member of the Israeli Security Agency. Amit, thank you so much for being here in studio, many developments on many fronts at the same time. I want to start with the intense fighting underway inside the Gaza Strip. We heard the sounds behind my colleague Ariel earlier on in the broadcast. Your insights as to what is going on right now inside the Strip? I think what we see is a lot of pressure. What we know is that we are holding Gaza from all the sides, and the pressure is like from all the sides to the center, and they are moving themselves inside and inside, and they are with their back to the wall, as we say. And with their back to the wall, they cannot lose anything. So they are fighting from street to street, from window to window. And it's very difficult for us, as we know, to fight in this kind of environment using, of course, tanks inside streets, using air force during this operation, but it's step by step getting street by street building by building to get all of the Hamas members all down. I mean, stay with us. We're going to unpack more of that. But right now, I want to check back in with our Emily Francis. She's in Tel Aviv at a UNICEF protest. And Emily, we know the families of the hostages are waiting for answers. What is happening where you are? What update can you share? Hi, Benita, and you're right. Families are waiting for answers, and they're simply not getting anything. And now they're doing everything they can to get those answers. And because it is World Children's Day, we have about 200 people here, including one of the mothers who is speaking on stage right now in front of the UNICEF building, because the UNICEF is supposed to protect children. And they are here to protest that they are not protecting our children that are held hostage, which are as many as 40 children. I'm going to step out of the shot so my cameraman eats a mark and pan and see what they're doing and what they're displaying on the building of UNICEF, where you're seeing people in the offices looking out, not coming outside. They're posting, they're putting up pictures of the children that are right now being held in captivity. We are desperately trying to get news about our loved ones. We have been unable to get it. And UNICEF is the organization that's supposed to help us do that. So that is why they are here. Hold on. I'm going to stop talking for a second so you can hear. I've also been doing SOS symbols, signals as well on the building. You hear everybody saying Akshav, which means now, now, now. Now we have a performance. I think it's moving for me to not speak and let you all listen. So the performance has just started and there are just so many people here to lend support and you can feel bubbling over the frustration. We know obviously the families are frustrated with the government, but for UNICEF to not be giving answers, even going on the UNICEF website, which I just did right now, everything on it is showing the faces of children in Gaza. Nothing about the Israeli children is on the website. And I just checked five minutes ago so you could understand why people are upset and calling on UNICEF to do their job. That is all for now. Back to you in the studio. Thank you so much, Emily Francis and Tel Aviv. More to come from Emily in the coming hours. Thank you. And still in studio, retired Colonel Amit Asar. So it's so heartbreaking to think what these families are going through waiting for these answers. You've been describing the fighting underway inside the Gaza Strip. How does the fact that there are potentially 236 hostages in tunnels scattered around the Strip, it's not clear? How does that impact the fighting that we are seeing underway inside the Strip right now? Of course, it's a fact on the fighting. When we know that there is any shelter, they're very, very careful about what we are doing there. And as we are talking about the information that we need to have, when we are getting into this kind of area, intelligence is very, very important in that case. And the intelligence is working. As we know, these 300 people from the Hamas that investigated not now in Israel is part of it. It's part of it is to get the most information about the hostages inside and also the structure of underground Gaza that will have the troops to get more specific action inside without any casualties of the people that we want to save. Amit, stay with us. We're going to unpack more of that right now. News just in. Rocket siren sounding in the north. It looks like a barrage. Let's find out firsthand. Our correspondent, Zach Anders is in northern Israel. Zach, what can you tell us? Yeah, we're seeing those red alerts, too. And the early report that comes in as I'm looking at the notifications, they appear to be another hostile aircraft. Now, when they label these hostile aircrafts, these are likely losses and they're quite quick. They can move very fast across the ground. They don't sometimes they can reach high altitudes, but for the most part to try and evade air defense systems, they do fly rather low. So they try and slip past the air defenses. So far, the aerial defense array here in the north has worked very successfully. It's been very efficient at intercepting these unmanned drones, but we'll have to wait and see, of course, this alert just coming in as we are with you here on the air. So just seconds ago and we're waiting to see if there are any reports of impacts or damage. Thank you so much. We will be coming back to you for more updates. Appreciate it for now. Stay safe. That's our Zach Anders in northern Israel. Thank you, Zach. So, Amit, as we're talking about the fighting unfolding in the Gaza Strip, we're hearing more siren sounding up in the north near Mezskav Av and other arenas as well. What is your take on what is unfolding? It's escalating. Hezbollah is escalating this front line. And we know that these drones, these suicide drones are from Iran drones. We know that Iran sells these drones also to Moscow to use it against Ukraine. And we know what is the base of these drones. And he is doing all the time trying to see where is the red line of the Israelis is trying our nerves. And it's a kind of a game for him. And this escalating of drones getting into Israel, it's checking our nerves. One might have thought that a red line would have been the targeting of IDF bases like has happened earlier on in the day. Yeah, but still we understand that IDF is waiting. He's waiting for the right moment. I think it's not a surprise. And it will not be a surprise when IDF will attack southern Lebanon and also inside Lebanon in the northern side of Lebanon and will hit Lebanon to the ground. But it will be for a change for a lot of attacks inside Lebanon. And Hezbollah knows about it. And he's checking where is the red light? Where is the red line of the Prime Minister of Israel or the Prince, the Minister of Defense? Certainly unbelievable to think that both fronts are simmering as we speak. I want to go back though to the south because we heard earlier on in this broadcast in terms of this ground operation, we heard an excerpt from the interrogation and they're detailing how people dressed as nurses were actually Hamas fighters inside hospitals. What do you make of the evidence that is being presented by Israel right now? We don't have much time. There is a lot of evidence coming through. Is it enough to convince the world? I'm sure that this evidence is working for us at the international community. And this is the purpose for it. All the evidence that IDF is bringing out as this evidence of interrogation. It's very clear that they are telling the truth. They are not telling some story that you build and you don't have any evidence for it. So it's part of the pictures, all the evidence that we got from the CCTV inside the Gaza and Shifa hospital. Hostages being dragged. You can see it on your screen right now into the hospital and yet they're on denial. Against they will. Against they will. It's not that they are treating in hospital for because they wounded. It's not that. It's dragging in as a hostages because it's a safe place for the Hamas to put them there. The evidence is there on your screen. It keeps on meeting us. So thank you as always for being here in studio. And that is a wrap for this edition of our breaking news coverage. I'm Benita Levine in Tel Aviv. Our rolling coverage continues shortly. Stay tuned and thank you for watching. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line. But the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. You're watching I-24 News. We're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 45 of Israel's war with Hamas. The IDF says it brought some 300 terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups to Israel from Gaza to be interrogated. The army intelligence unit says the terrorists have willingly revealed the location of Hamas tunnels and weapons depots. We'll take a listen to some of those recordings later in the program. Three more Israeli soldiers have fallen in the fighting in Gaza. They have been named as Sergeant Yunan Tamir and Staff Sergeant Devere Barazzani. Both of the 890th paratroopers battalion along with Israeli troops who have been killed in the fighting. And on this World Children's Day Israel has published this photo the 38 babies and children who are among the 240 people who were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7th. The families of the hostages are attending a conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem tonight. We'll bring you that live as soon as the meeting gets underway. There were heated scenes in the Knesset earlier today when an MK for the hard-line Jewish power party clashed with one of the family members over his party's plans to pass a bill to enact the death penalty for terrorists. All of that coming up in the next hour with me in the studio this hour. Shiri Fang Rossman. She's the former head of regional affairs at the Israel National Security Council. Thanks for being with us Shiri. Good to see you again. And with regard to the hostages of course, very much on everyone's minds 45 days now. They still haven't been seen by the Red Cross or any other humanitarian organization. We know three of the hostages were murdered and we keep getting leaks from Qatari and Egyptian mediators about a possible hostage deal. Nothing of course is materialised so far. Yeah last night really late around midnight or so there was a story broke out that they actually one of the really gave a lot of people a lot of hope and sure enough in the morning we saw nothing happen. Israel of course denied. Sometimes it does happen that in many of these cases it starts with the Arab media reporting first and then later Israel or international media later but this time both international media and Israeli officials denied it. It seems like we're getting closer but we can also be played and there's so much so much that can go wrong in either direction. Hamas has an interest of course in dragging out any potential negotiation for as long as possible doesn't it? Just to interrupt to say we have rocket alert sirens going off right now in central Israel not here in Jaffa but in Tel Aviv at the moment so again 45. There we go it's here, apologies. Okay we're gonna stay here. You want to say? I can tell you I had a discussion with Liron the producer by the way. I can only be here until late because I have to come back and make sure my husband can take the kids to the shelter. I told her today is 88 the gun down by British soldiers in 1935 and actually we know Hamas military wing is called as is the diner's kasam brigades after that is a diner's kasam. He's actually from Syria originally. We can see all the sirens going off right now. He's actually from Syria originally he fought against I'm sorry for the history lesson but it's just appropriate because I saw this coming since this is exactly 88 days to the 88 years through his being gunned down by British soldiers. So he's originally from Syria he fought against the French he fought against in Lebanon and Syria and then escaped to Haifa. He also learned the study that the al-Zahar Muslim Brotherhood University in Egypt like many of Hamas and other ISIS and Muslim Brotherhood ideologic you know so I'm not surprised that we have a lot of rockets today there's been a lot of work I think I think so I haven't heard of it but I told Liron you know I think we're gonna have rockets tonight because it's been a while we've had a few days of quiet yeah we had it we had on Friday when everybody was sitting for Shabbat dinner most of Israel it all they had to have northern Gaza am I right in saying is now under IDF control so presumably these rockets are being fired from the south am I right yeah presumably so again like we said time and time again there's so many shafts piers you know holes in the ground for this pits thousands of rockets and they're they're they're either going to do it where you know there's the biggest impact to terrorize Israelis or in celebration of special events like like like what I just mentioned Shabbat dinner yeah they're trying to hit people going to school and again today's the anniversary of 88 years for people in central Tel Aviv they're looking at people there you go people yeah sitting down they should not sit be standing up they should be lying on the ground you should be lying on the ground or at least kneeling because that way I know we're near a car as well it has to be said exactly exactly I mean this is I wonder if this is linked as well earlier today the government said that schools in central Israel should return to normal from tomorrow I don't think so that is I mean that's it usually on some side of an intelligence assessment of how many rockets and where are what's the trend in going but yeah it could be a lot of things again they don't need really reasons to fire workers I do I do want to stress you know the the whole concept of free Gaza from the river to the sea as to Palestinians living here so this you know is a little Kassam who was actually from Syria when he migrated in the early 20s to Haifa back then they didn't register the British where you're coming from only Jews were limited from migrating to Palestine Jews were limited under the Ottoman Empire and then the British Empire so when you say free Gaza from the river to the sea it's okay if you're Muslim to live here but if you're Jewish you can't and of course Israel's Muslim citizens are as much under rocket attacks exactly all other all it doesn't discriminate I saw this video about a Bedouin family I think two or three of its kids were were murdered by the rocket yeah there's a wife wife yeah they have nine nine kids all very uh orthodox uh a religious family she was gun down uh the terrorists don't distinguish between Jews and Muslims they go after all Israelis we're all seen as targets let's talk a bit more about the possible hostage has made it clear no prisoners with any links to Hamas will be released that is a red line for them if it is if they keep that I'll be very happy I think the the hostage should be released under no precondition it's an absolute war crime children women elderly disabled there should be released immediately also the civilian men and of course the soldiers I can understand why it's a different class but but again there's such a vast difference between prisoners in Israel and the hostage we're taking Israel has a judiciary system by the way they have legal rights to lawyer to medical care teeth the other go teeth surgery they even go to academia they even purchase a degree while they're there and I know I'm just a story maybe your viewers don't know Yixin Arar actually had a brain tumor back in 2000 um Gaiusin were the the head of Hamas the head of Hamas in Gaza who was released in the Gila Chalit deal in 2014 a few years prior to that had a brain tumor and Israeli saved them I mean he had he went to a procedure they took the tumor out he was fine it just goes to show you the difference not that we need more explanation but it's good people know there's ten months old Kaffir three-year-old and also a newborn a newborn who was born in captivity to a Thai mother and the Red Cross and the other humanitarian groups have not had any contact at all with the hostages we simply don't know uh tragically if they're if they're still alive uh we don't know what condition they are in we don't know where they're being held we their families have no information whatsoever yeah and yesterday I mean and again we see from the UN Secretary General that I'm pleading not to protect children um but he should plea Hamas to protect children and not fire from schools and not use them as human shield this is widely used by Islamist radical terrorists I saw videos coming out of American soldiers and British soldiers who were fighting in Afghanistan against the Taliban in Iraq against Ash against ISIS and telling how it's a very common practice for for these kinds of terrorists to use civilians as human shields but when they when Americans did that or British soldiers they believe them but when it happens to Israeli soldiers people fail to bless and talking about believing Israel Israel has provided overwhelming evidence to show that the chief of hospital or video just a short while ago of CCTV from the from the chief of hospital of hostages being taken in uh to the hospital I mean do you think that you know the they've taken journalists in as well that we can see that video for you now um you can see we're seeing we're seeing a man being held against his will fighting his captors and saying oh this is actually justifies justifies our behavior like we gave them medical care while she was not the first hospital that was closest to the scene to get patients there so again who wants to believe Hamas a terrorist vicious organization that's that's their problem well some people some people seem to believe them and seem to be um you know lending some credibility to the words okay we're going to go to the kinesi in Jerusalem because the families of the hostages are at a conference now let's take a listen with gill dickman and nephew of one of the hostages thank you i'll try to be brief i'd like to thank you for hosting us here it's supposed to be self-evident but it's not in these days when there's such a consensus around this subject there's nothing that unite the Israeli society more than this even when we all in positions everybody from all walks of life from all religions the Israeli mosaic somewhere is reflected with the hostages families it's terrible but it also strengthens us because it's enable us together to imagine a future where we have a real victory photo and that is bringing the hostages back i want to thank you profusely for giving us this possibility to do this in the knesset a home for the families i know that i didn't always have the feeling that somebody is listening to us and that the members of the knesset are really attentive and listening to us and i want to say that this mosaics is reflected also when we spoke to the members of knesset in the last day and we asked them to sign a commitment that they commit themselves that the return of the hostages is on the highest priority of the state of israel as simple as that we're not sure how many people are going to sign it but more than a hundred members of parliament members of knesset and the cabinet and government have signed i don't remember such a number it's a real consensus and the israelis so they all signed some of the factors all of them signed but nevertheless i'd like to say that there are people who haven't signed this commitment and it's important to us it means that in the moment of truth you are going to be there with us you're going to support the return of the hostages home we know there are quite a few dilemmas but we need all of you all the 120 members of parliament together with us i want to give an opportunity to people who are here of the members of knesset and government who didn't sign yet amir ohana yoav kish miri regev avi dihter israel katz amihai shikli danie danon moshi saada mayi golan boaz besmet bezal el smotrich irat al ofir sofer orit sruk moshi salamon tzvisukot simcha rothman itamar ben gvir avigda lebe man and oded for her and i'm sure that you had very busy days and that's the only reason why you didn't sign this commitment because i don't think of any other reason and i'm quite sure good this i call upon all of you i think everybody was approached as far as i know okay just a second maybe they're not here no just a second we will deal with that but not because it's important for people to hear this is not instead of anything else we just want to tell you that we need all your signatures if there are other people who didn't sign maybe some people don't even know about it maybe they haven't heard about it i'm talking about both ministers and mks we shall approach everybody i'm sure all of them will know how to approach us and again i'd like to thank you for this consensus of more than a hundred mks from all factions from all opinions this is very important thank you and i passed the baton but finally you are a family also of hostages so why don't you tell us a little bit about it karmely would have really been upset if she knew i was talking about here she loves india she toured there three months before she came back before october 7th yarden who is the wife of my cousin you know yarden roman was kidnapped together with her three and a half year old daughter and yarden gave the small child to another friend and she said go go without me in show she saved her daughter karmel and yarden loved so much by us we really want to see them home and i want to thank you for this opportunity to tell the stories and it's important for people to hear them thank you have a mic there we'll be happy if you can tell us thank you everybody mr speaker members of kneset with your permission i want to tell a little bit about myself here is 19 just celebrated he is a soldier in the education corps who volunteered to do this damned saturday in place of a friend he and two of his friends were abducted from their base and transferred to gaza at seven o'clock in the morning they were already abducted they were safe and sound they they were on their feet and now let me jump ahead and say that as and with our three soldiers and many other families who's loved ones are now in gaza but they were healthy they were on their feet the responsibility for their life is on your shoulders each and every one of you plus of course the murderous terror organization which is called hamas the responsibility to bring them back safe and sound is on all of us it gets tamir recruited to the army with the trepidations he was an anxious type of a youngster with a lot of social difficulties but at the end finished his exams with the distinction he volunteered finally to the education corps he did his boot camp also with distinction and he went to the unit in the gaza base it's a base that is supposed to help the gaza population and he started his service with peak motivation a unit that didn't have an education system for a year he established it he did it with a lot of interfaces with a lot of offices he loved his positions had a lot of motivation a week before the terrible disaster he was interviewed to become an officer because he really wanted it because he saw his future in a military career in education to date we don't know what his condition is or any of the others i think most of us here are families of civilians not of soldiers from you know my opinion is decisive everyone everyone has to come back home all of them but the voice of the idf soldiers in gaza has disappeared completely is mute and that's shameful it cannot be that our sons and i beg your pardon all the other families it cannot be that if they were on the shift no matter what they did what their position was but we feel they neglect in a blatant way really in any aspect the voice of the soldiers is not heard the soldiers in gaza are not heard so i don't know what happens in closed rooms i'm not sure i should know that i must know definitely not about intelligence issue but it cannot be that we will be neglected to such an extent that nobody talks about the soldiers at all i don't want to say things which are a lot popular i'll maybe say it's a large family i don't know all of them i'm trying to think what would have happened if god forbid any of your sons or daughters were on their shift as a soldier in the idf on that saturday and was now in gaza in captivity how would you react what you would have done to bring them back with everybody else with no selection there's a selection it's a very harsh word selection again all of them have to be released there should be a comprehensive agreement and not a narrow one of a deal for these over the others and i welcome it but the agreement should be comprehensive and wide that will include all the hostages in gaza with sub sections certain dates certain groups but it cannot be that god forbid a Thai citizen or a Nepali citizen is worth more than my son or their families or their sons it cannot be on the face of it that's what's gonna seems to be that's the way we feel anyway so don't put yourselves in the deals yes no vis-a-vis this murderous organization must be comprehensive including everybody with Qatar and Egypt and maybe even Turkey with a very tight supervision of the Europeans and the americans that's the only way because the victory will not be completed until all of them come back home that's the way it should be thank you thank you alone i'm geffen i'm here unfortunately like all of us it's an impossible situation i'm clara's daughter and i'm an niece of gavriela louis is the partner of my mother and mia is my cousin they were uh abducted from the kibbutz that's the place where i grew up apart from my mother they were guests they came to visit them for the weekend and on that terrible moment they were abducted 11 o'clock in the morning from the safe room the safest place in the house i know what's happening in the near town of sderot if we are two hours in the safe room we have no chance to get out of it because if the idf is not here yet we have no chance and that's exactly what happened apart from them four others of the kibbutz were abducted lioro dayev and tal haimi and the others unfortunately are not no longer with us the local council in our local council two hundred thousand people two hundred people were murdered it's impossible i can't even think about it i'm demanding from you every day just think of what you did and especially what are you doing tomorrow in order to release them it's you you are with us like the whole state is with us when we leave this building we want to see statements that will be sensitive and to be together with us so i ask you apart from asking you what you're going to do in the next few days to release them stand behind us and demand and sign the deal that all of them are released if there's a logistic buses to take out israelis from gaza so okay do it by uh in stages but it cannot be that even one more day these people don't go back to their families i must embrace my mother my aunt cousin and his brother there are my entire world the entire family is now in gaza the extended family all the rest are in argentina that's what we have nothing is left except for them the only way they'll come out a lot is to take them out now every minute is important and i know that after they'll sign a deal there's a time of legalization and uh supreme court okay reduce it i want them here as soon as possible without them thank you for the opportunity a really heart wrenching testimony from the some of the families of the hostages who are still being held in gaza they've been held for 45 days now well with me is oris lonin former special advisor to the minister of defense on hostages and missing people thank you very much for being with this i don't know how much of that you were able to to hear um but we we heard from um the father of one of the hostages who's been taken captive and the point he was making is it that is that it is unfair to divide the hostages um based on nationality come home um i just wonder what are your thoughts on that my thoughts are the same and i can add to his argument which are which are fully accepted another argument that many many parts of such a of such a deal or whatever you call it can make more manipulations more more things that we we're not expecting but you know to prolong it to endless spirit do you think Hamas and Qatar are trying to manipulate Israel by using the hostage issue actually what what what is in their mind but the fact is that it was taking a kidnap a kidnap people who were not armed out of the rooms or were dancing somewhere and took them to gaza old old people mothers with babies babies without mothers and youngsters and some of them were raped on the way and raped in gaza in front of all their friends so it's not it's not it's not a real war it's a real a real crime against humanity well you you were involved i believe in it to a certain extent in the hostage negotiations to release the soldier gilad shalit back in uh 2011 um this time the Israeli government is saying there will be no prisoners whatsoever with any links to Hamas released but do you see some kind of deal where Palestinian prisoners could be released i don't i don't i don't know i don't want to declare declarations on behalf of my government but in order to bring uh such a such a big amount you know so many human beings i believe that things should be done with the lots of lots of you know cleverness and i rely on my country for my government do you agree with the assessment of the defense minister you have gallant that the best way to get the hostages home is to keep up the military pressure on Hamas i hope it's it's the right the right thing to to to to think about i'm not a military i'm not a general i rely on on these words but i think that the more you the more you you're staying in and waiting for another you know pieces of negotiations i heard you speak in a previous interview about the conditions that Gilad Shalit was kept in when he was held by Hamas in Gaza and he was in almost complete solitary confinement it's really hard but can we draw any lessons from that about the conditions that the current hostages might be held in? Christopher Gilad Shalit was a single human being being held in a cell for five years without without meeting or seeing or hearing any human other human being even his food was supplied to him by you know below the door but he was one and we're talking here of 236 human beings we're talking about babies we're talking about the old people about the age of 85 something something more a little bit okay well we thank you very much Dori Sunim thank you very much as you thank Wasserman is with me in the studio and you were listening to the the families as well really heartbreaking to hear what they're going through still six weeks on a never-ending torment not knowing what has happened to their families but there is this kind of discussion going on now about whether the hostages should be divided should it be mothers and children should it be families what what are your thoughts on that it's a very tough dilemma and honestly I'm not sure how much this one whoever controls the negotiations is Yixi Senewar and maybe Muhammad Def both from the extreme extreme wing army wing of Hamas I'm not even sure Qatar has enough leverage or or Egypt it's really more a matter of when do you get to the breaking point when it's worthwhile to release the hostages and get some advantage on the ground and and right now it just I guess it seems like we haven't reached that breaking point but at the same time we're getting a lot of pressure to have a ceasefire in place so I find the Israeli government and this is exactly what they did I would do everything again to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians who are going and suffering not easy to say the least conditions on the ground there we had some stormy weather recently and last week and both this week that doesn't make things easier so I I presume that will that will be the focus of the Israeli government right now to alleviate as much as possible just a thin line of without them crashing completely going in now exactly they have fuel mainly for the sewage infrastructure to that runs by the electricity then you can't take care of the sewage system and then field hospitals you've got a lot of hate going on yeah so we have so yeah so we saw Jordan I mean that's not a factor for Hamas is it they don't care if the Palestinian civilians are suffering or not no no no so again they don't care but we care because we have been pressured on that from the international community especially the U.S. and other Western allies so I'm not saying Hamas cares about that at all the only breaking point of Hamas will be all right I'm almost I'm almost defeated let's let me get some something in my negotiations before I'm completely defeated that's right unfortunately how things are appear right now and I think and I said this in the past if international organization especially the U.S. Secretary General and other U.N. organizations and and people who are care about Palestinians what they should do is condemn Hamas as you don't I mean if you you don't want to condemn until you have an investigation you would say hey children are protected the civilian facilities are protected if you hide behind them you violate violate international law and it's a war crime and we're going to investigate on the allegations of of Israel but they're not doing that they're they're not doing that they're just saying stop the rockets even though these rockets have we just saw are being population which is the double war crime it's not the first person that says that but if you really care about Palestinians you would say stop using civilians as human issues basically providing more evidence of that okay well let's talk about intelligence because 300 terrorists from Hamas and other Palestinian groups have been bought into Israel from Gaza and they have been interrogated by the IDF's intelligence unit we can take a listen to one of those interrogations now so there you are the IDF has released that video of an interrogation of one of the garrsons who've been bought into Israel to be interrogated sure how do you interpret that what are we saying about the hospital about the presence of terrorists inside the hospital it's not the first time we've seen interrogations that the IDF released about operative clues in a new Hamas terrorist that operated on the October 7 saying that Hamas is operating within the hospitals using the hospitals to to hide to operate to to have guns there because they know Israel won't go there because it's protected so it's again it's a it's a it's a system that it's not just one occasion or two occasion and that's exactly I think what the IDF tried to show the world this is not a coincidence that we use she for hospital or the other hospital this is a systematic way to use and exploit civilian facilities hospitals are especially protected by humanitarian international law so again it's just unfortunate it is interesting that they're putting a big Israeli sign on the back inside I didn't see a part of the psychological warfare yeah okay all right but they're saying that they gave up the information easily so I guess I guess that is a part of it isn't it all right well let's go to the south of Israel thank you sherry let's go to the south of Israel our aerial us around is there an error in the last hour of course we've had a barrage of rockets fired at Tel Aviv the first time since Friday I believe indeed Laura a barrage of about seven rockets launched from the Gaza Strip we could see the rockets heading your way to the area of Tel Aviv the vast majority of them intercepted but there was a direct hit to a car from a shrapnel in Holon but there are no injuries in that incident and yeah the fact that they can that Hamas can fire to Tel Aviv that I mean it shouldn't surprise us as we've seen this since the start of the war that it has diminished given that the Israeli operation on the ground continues to deepen and more and more of the north is going becoming under Israeli control and that makes it more challenging to fire the rockets from the northern part of the Gaza Strip where much of the barrages over the years that we've seen towards Tel Aviv were launched from the northern part of the Gaza Strip rather than the south so the fact that Israel the idea of controls the northern part of the Gaza Strip makes it more challenging but we will still see don't be surprised if even until the last day of this war whenever that will be Hamas will still be able to launch rockets towards Tel Aviv but indeed we have seen a gradual decline in the rate of fire not only in the range in the nearly four weeks of Israel's ground invasion in fact the the northern border is more active with more cross-border launches that pendulum switched over the past week and until then we've seen more fire coming out from the Gaza Strip now the vast majority of the activity obviously on the ground inside the Gaza Strip that's also one of the aims of the war to try and reduce the damage caused to the home front and so as the Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip continues continues to deepen it will challenge increase the challenge on Hamas to continue to launch rockets towards border communities towards central Israel but we will still be seeing these launches as we saw about 35 minutes ago okay Ariel thank you very much Ariel lost around there in southern Israel well the Palestinian Authority has deleted a statement it posted yesterday which denied Hamas murdered more than 350 people at a rave in southern Israel on October 7th the PA claims that Israeli helicopters were responsible a claim derided as the Palestinian Authority spokesman in Ramallah said something utterly preposterous it denied that it was Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre at the nature festival near Gaza it actually accused Israel of carrying out that massacre that this is a complete reversal of truth Abu Mazen who in the past has denied the existence of the Holocaust today is denying the existence of the Hamas massacre and that's unacceptable well the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is no stranger to denying atrocities he wrote a thesis for the Soviet Academy of Sciences claiming that Jews or Zionists as he called them conspired with the Nazis during the Holocaust to talk more about that we're joined by Isabella Tabarowski she's from the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center and is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs good evening Isabella thank you for being with us um do you think that Mahmoud Abbas actually actually believes what he says and what he writes or is this more about casting enough doubt on what happened about muddying the waters so to speak be honest with you I don't even think it matters what he really thinks what matters is what he says and what he hopes his words will elicit in his audiences and as you say he has in the past denied various aspects of the Holocaust he has questioned the numbers at various times he questioned he claimed that it was Jews own fault that Hitler turned against them and so it's very much along kind of aligned with some of the things we hear from him before and it's very much aligned with his thesis which as you say he defended in the Soviet Union where he claimed essentially that it was Zionists who are guilty of the Holocaust and I think that what the reason that this outrageous lie works is that it it's it builds on an old trope that demonizes Jews so much that it becomes easy to believe that they will do something so horrible that no other people would ever do which is to murder its own people in mass and it's interesting isn't it because Holocaust denial is illegal in several European countries yet he does have relations with European leaders and indeed European countries send him a great deal of money year on year well absolutely and I think that I think more recently actually right before October 7th there was another instance in which he said something like this and European countries this time commented on it but I think part of the reason that we haven't seen them do it is is well there are all kinds of reasons but some of it is that he talks about Zionists a lot of times and you know this this separation between Jews and Zionists has enabled all kind of anti-Semitic tropes to be brought into public conversation simply replacing Zionists with Jews but using the same anti-Semitic tropes and yet that confuses people and it gives people a way out to say that this is well this is just the criticism of Zionism it's just criticism of Israel yeah I want to talk a bit more about that in a moment but can you tell us a bit more about this thesis that he wrote and how it fits in with the Soviet anti-western propaganda that that persists today in which does seem to have taken hold among many young people in the West so he defended his thesis in 1982 in Moscow at the Institute of Oriental Studies and this is significant for a number of reasons those were the years when the Soviet Union in fact conducted a massive propaganda campaign against Israel and Zionism it was an international campaign it actually lasted for nearly 20 years you know in multiple languages and dozens of languages directed at dozens of countries via various sources and various channels and the Institute of Oriental Studies was in fact a crucial part of that propaganda it was part of several academic institutions whose goal it was and whose task it was from the top to legitimize this propaganda to make it look like it's actually legitimate academic research it was headed by Yevgeny Primakov who was an arabist associated with Soviet intelligence his entire career future prime minister of Russia so very much you know you could see how this propaganda is directed from the top down and Abbas's thesis essentially replicates he draws you can see it from the footnotes he draws on Soviet propaganda on deeply anti-Semitic books and it replicates all of the tropes that we hear replicated today in the West suggesting that Zionism is fascism and Zionists are racist and Israel is the colonial and apartheid state so all of the tropes that we hear replicated mostly on the left today but not only they all are there in his dissertation and and as you point out I mean you can't walk around civilized countries today shouting about how much you hate the Jews you can talk about how you hate the Zionists though how is this effort to separate Jews and Zionists one of the more defining and successful aspects of this disinformation campaign well I think it's absolutely crucial because you see what it gives people as I already mentioned kind of a way out they can say well I'm not being anti-Semitic I'm just being anti-Zionist it's something we hear today all the time and it's actually something that Moscow used to say all the time during the Cold War when the West accused it of spreading anti-Semitic propaganda internally and globally and they would say well we're just being anti-Semitic and Zionists always try to deflect from the criticism of the state of Israel by claiming that that this is anti-Semitism it's precisely what we're hearing today for the educated elites in American universities it's a godsend they can continue to use the same conspiracies and disemitic tropes that have been so harmful to Jews by replacing the word Zionist the word Jew with the word Zionist but of course you know this is just a trick because if you are still using the same ideas the same explanatory logic the same conspiracies tropes you're still dealing in anti-Semitic conspiracy theory yeah the ideas promoted by the Soviet Union live on long after the Soviet Union fell uh Isabel Tabarowski fascinating thanks very much indeed great to talk to you. Shiree Fagwassman's with me in the studio and Mahmoud Abbas the Palestinian Authority President is an active Holocaust denier we know that he's now becoming an October 7th massacre denier as well this is the man that President Joe Biden wants to take over and run Gaza. I think the penny is falling in the Biden administration and in other European capitals as well I think they're tired of Palestinians who who deny Holocaust who are anti-Semitic who support violence in any way although we have to say that Mahmoud Abbas has been has not has been violent not the supportive of violence as is the one who was before Yassar al-Fath but still the incitement and especially in the we call it the waves of knives in 2015 2018 three years a very violent in the propaganda by the Palestinian Authority was was very prominent in social media again there's the pay the slay policy where they pay terrorists while they're in prison a monthly monthly wage and there are numerous examples I want to say something more a little bit more interesting in my view is that I've been digging around the last three days and in World War one the Palestinians chose the Ottoman Empire and decided and fought with it then World War two they were on the side of Germany and Italy and are we seeing Russian links with Hamas and we're and what just Isabella told about the the connection between Mahmoud Abbas and the so previous so there's like a tendency to choose the wrong side and be on the wrong side of Israel and it's always an open door to change to change things and and I just have to say I support you know self-determination for Palestinians I just wish to stop violence and I just want to ask you as well because given your experience on the Abraham Accords the leaders in those countries have also expressed privately perhaps you know in a level of impatience with the the Palestinian leadership the crampers of Bahrain was actually quoted I think in the in the last weekend but exactly that and condemned the massacre and it occurred and of course Abu Dhabi and other capitals were less vocal there's been no one really denied it but look I mean there's some kind of human sentiment that wishes this wasn't so and any denial this actually report if I can explain where it came from it came from an article in Aharetz by Josh Breiner that actually as they were investigating what happened at the party they found out that the helicopter was there and tried to shoot one of the terrorists and by accident it hit one or two of the of the party goes there but there were about 400 people murdered in that party so that has nothing to do and they just and I start and I saw it yesterday in the news of the Palestinian outfits and it just spread that article from Aharetz spread like wildfire became a bloodline interesting to see a lot of people who hate Israel posting it in Hebrew as well rather than because an English version exists but it didn't say exactly what they wanted so I found that quite interesting just talking about proof and evidence of what Hamas did on October 7th and this is very disturbing a warning this is new cc tv footage that has emerged it's from the Kibbutz Alameem in southern Israel two young women managed to escape the supernova party near Reim several kilometers away and they got here and here they are running away from the terrorists they can see the young person a young girl in a white shirt there this was published by the South First Responders Group on Telegram you see the girls being shot dead in cold blood by the Hamas terrorists unarmed girls who had been at a music festival managed to get away forced to beg for their lives they were executed by Hamas terrorists our apologies for showing this footage it is disturbing but we take the view that the world needs to know what is going on especially when you have so many attempts to downplay or actively deny what happened on October 7th yeah just more proof of what happened on that horrendous day women children men old people elderly people you know murdered i am a member of Forum de Voire we we support gender equality and promote women uh everywhere in the silence of women feminists women are resisted around the world about gender-based crimes sexual rapes and sexual crimes and rapes that went on they just it's just horrifying and i just want to say to anyone's watching who is undecided somehow that it's okay to fill empathy and sympathy with both sides you can still cry for Palestinian babies if they're accidentally killed by by IDF and war and then using human shields and you can cry and you can outcry for for us women and for women who were shot dead in the head or or raped uh it's just it's just uh it's a human it's just innocent it's innocent life isn't it it does seem but perhaps uh it kind of it doesn't mean you we take you take a side just just yeah you can take sides exactly uh she'll find gospel wise words uh we'll leave it there thank you very much um and just a reminder of what has been happening in the last uh hour or so Hamas has claimed responsibility for a barrage of rockets fired at central israel including Tel Aviv uh no reports of any injuries um a car um has reportedly been hit uh in uh Rehovot uh just uh or hold on i'm sorry just south of Tel Aviv uh so Hamas has claimed responsibility uh for that we have had a few days of quiet with quiet with regard to the rockets uh and also the uh families of the hostages um are holding a conference uh at the Knesset in Jerusalem tonight uh calling on lawmakers uh understandably to do everything they can to bring home their loved ones uh men women and children babies as well have been held by Hamas terrorists uh in Gaza uh for 45 days now we'll keep you updated right after this stay with us