 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 lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Anand Banisa Levine, another major rocket barrage towards Israeli cities, right now happening in Beersheba, the east and the west, and in central parts of the Negev, as we speak, that's in the south, close to the Gaza border, red alert sirens are sounding right now. Warning of incoming projectiles from the Gaza Strip. Earlier on in recent hours, sirens also sounding in parts of central Israel and also up north, close to the Lebanon border, day 59 of the war. And the president of the International Red Cross is now in Gaza, as 137 hostages remain in captivity, held by terrorists for more than eight weeks now. Meryana Spoliarek taking to social media to repeat their urgent call for civilians to be protected in line with the laws of war and for aid to enter unimpeded. She also says the hostages must be released and the Red Cross must be allowed to visit them safely. Now families of the hostages abducted during the Hamas terror onslaught on the 7th of October have lambasted the Red Cross for not yet getting access to them as more testimonies emerge about the conditions in captivity. Meanwhile, thousands of mourners, including senior military officers, have attended the funeral of the commander of the Gaza Division's Southern Brigade, Colonel Asav Hamami, one of the most senior officers to fall on the 7th of October. Defense Minister Joav Galant saying the 41-year-old Colonel had led his troops valiantly on the day of the terrorist massacre. And now for more insight on to all the security developments. We welcome to studio Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves, Doron Avital, former commander in the Special Forces in the IDF. So thank you very much for being here in studio. Developments on several fronts in recent hours. Let's start with the siren sounding in the south right now. Many might wonder how, given the operation that has been unfolding by the IDF, the ground operation, how are these rockets still able to be fired into Israeli territory right now? Well, they still have capabilities. Even in the northern Gaza, we don't have a full control where there are many places like Sa'ajir and other places that are still there, that we are working there. And of course, the south, so it's not clear for me from where the rockets were launched, but the capabilities are there. There was even sirens in the center of Israel during the noon time. So they have the capabilities. We are still fighting. Day 59, still fighting. And those tanks inside the Gaza Strip are approaching Khan Yunus. We know this is a major stronghold for Hamas. Leaders are believed to be hiding in the tunnels there. Talk to us about the complicated operation that is likely to unfold there in the coming hours and days. I think Khan Yunus is the next target. It's clear that this is the stronghold of many of the commanders and many, maybe, of our hostages. So the moment it was clear that there is this movement to the south, and Khan Yunus is such a stronghold, we have to move south, and we do it. I'm not sure there's this fog of war. We don't know exactly where are the forces and what do they do, but you know that there was heavy bombardment, and we saw the moving of the forces south. So I don't know what's the timetable, but this is the target. One of the most concerning issues as the nation waits to see what unfolds with this operation is the fact that it is known that there are 137 hostages still being held captive by Hamas somewhere in the Gaza Strip, potentially in tunnels, potentially in homes, potentially in Khan Yunus. Talk to us about how this complicates the fighting on the ground right now. There's no question. We know, for example, that the representative of the family is demanded to meet the war cabinet, and they're going to meet them, I think, in a day or two. For sure, this is one of the considerations among the forces, how to move forward. There's a full command under the command of a general, a very talented general. It's not only responsible for this kind of gathering of the intelligent and possible exchanges. And the idea is that as we put force on Hamas and Khan Yunus, either we'll have some offering for new deals, or if we are lucky, intelligence gathering that would lead us to some rescue operation. So this is part of the way the forces moves, and the special forces are among the other brigade, the engineering, the tanks, and the infantry. There's so much made about the fighting on the ground and what it looks like. And obviously, there is a concern around the civilians that could be close to where the fighting unfolds. We know that the president of the Red Cross is there as well right now. How does this impact what is happening right now, that the Red Cross finally is actually there physically looking at what is unfolding? I think the civilian casualties is one of the tragic dimension of this war, and one of the hardest that makes the fighting so hard. If there was no, if there was a regular army stationed in Khan Yunus, then we would have the tactics and the way to go, which would be clear for us. This is a different story. We have to take it into account. Something we're going to unpack in a short while. Stay with us right now. Let's go to our senior defense correspondent, Jonathan Regev in Storot in southern Israel. What can you tell us? What are you seeing? Yes, I'm looking backwards. We're seeing something landing in Gaza right now. I'm not exactly clear what it is. They're exploding inside the Gaza Strip. You spoke about the siren sounding in the city of Bersheva. We also saw the rockets being sent just from that area behind us. A lot of activity here today, Benita. A lot of artillery shelling we're hearing. And there we could hear the explosions as well. I hope you can hear it as well. A lot of artillery being fired from the Israeli side. And as you mentioned in the studio, there's still rockets that were sent just about seven minutes ago, rockets fired towards Bersheva. Earlier in the day, there were a couple of sirens, red alert sirens here in the city of Storot. And also further to the north, even in central Israel, earlier today, as you mentioned, so a lot of activity happening all across the Israel-Gaza border. And certainly, dramatic images behind you as we came to you. And as you said, those sirens sounding just as we started this broadcast. But for the most part, Jonathan, the southern communities close to that border have been evacuated. Give us a sense of how many people would likely be impacted by rocket fire coming down towards those border communities at this juncture, day 59 of the war. Yes, the border communities, it's true that they're mostly evacuated, but still many people are there. But there are soldiers there, their units. Those who are ready to enter Gaza are many times stationed in or near the border communities. And therefore, they're impacted. And I think that Hamas is well aware that the rockets that they fired towards Bersheva and the area of Tel Aviv earlier today, they will be mostly intercepted. And most of the times there are hardly any. And there are no casualties, hardly any damage. But still, it's a message. It's a saying. And you said it yourself in the studio just minutes ago. How can they still fire with all the separation? They can. They can and they do. And this is something that they maintain. They're saying even after two months of fighting with Israeli tanks all over the place, we're still firing. And at the same time, we also know, Jonathan, that dozens of tanks are approaching Khan Yunus. And we also know that Israel is under pressure to limit civilian deaths as it continues with its goal to eliminate Hamas. Give us an idea of what those efforts entail. What do they include right now to warn civilians to move to safety? Israel has basically divided the area of Khan Yunus to various quarters, saying to the residents of certain quarters, this is the time to leave to safer areas, especially in an area called Mawasi, which is just to the west of the city of Khan Yunus itself. It has an operational disadvantage, because once Israel does that, then Hamas is also aware of the next area where the IDF will operate. But this is some a risk that the army is taking in order to try and minimize as much as possible the civilian casualties as opposed to Hamas, which is hiding behind its citizens. Israel is trying to preserve the life of citizens on both sides. As the sun sets on day 59 of the war, dramatic images there. Thank you for that update. As always, senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev, live from Storot in southern Israel. Stay safe, Jonathan. And still in studio, Doron Avito. And you'll take on exactly what is unfolding right now, what we were talking about with Jonathan and this care, the urgent need to make sure that while this fighting continues, civilians are kept safe. It's very difficult to do in a war time. Not many armies take the care and the lengths that Israel does. Nonetheless, what exactly does it involve? You've been on the ground. Explain to us what it means. Well, of course, it's crucial aspect of the way we conduct the war there. And of course, we spread and we even do ascending messages, whatever we can, in order to really locate the citizens in certain areas that have different numbering. And the citizens know about this numbering. And we direct them where they should evacuate to. So this is what we are trying to do in Hanunas. And then we can continue the campaign in a fashion that would hurt less casualties among the civilians, which is also part of the directives. We don't want, of course, to hurt civilians. And of course, our allies think that we should be very careful about that. And we are trying to do our best in the context of this terrible landscape of war. There's no question. And this terrible landscape of war, as you are describing it, involves developments in the north as well. And as we are speaking, rocket sirens are sounding in Kerryat Shmoner and in Tel-Khai up in northern Israel. So let's go straight to our correspondent, Pierre Stekelbach, in northern Israel. Sirens sounding right now in several border towns. What can you tell us? What is the latest there, Pierre? Right, Benita, well, sirens are currently sounding in Kerryat Shmoner and Tel-Khai, two localities in the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border, not far away from where we stand right now. And this is not the first time, Benita, that sirens are sounding in northern communities. At about 2 p.m. local time, sirens were sounding in Shtula and in Matat, which is a bit further on the western side of the Israel-Lebanon border. No casualties were reported there. But that really just shows you how volatile, again, the situation has become after the relative calm that residents here have experienced during the ceasefire with Gaza now. Now that sirens are sounding in Kerryat Shmoner, this is a city, a major city with several thousands of inhabitants that have been evacuated even when the first round of skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah before the ceasefire. It is a city that is about five kilometers away from the Israel-Lebanon border and all those communities in a proximity of five kilometers, those residents there were called upon to leave. Now, we know that during the ceasefire, we expect that several residents have gone back to those communities, but really it just shows you how dangerous it is there now in coming rocket alert there. But these communities specifically in such close proximity to the border have regularly been targeted by both anti-tank missiles and also mortar shells. So if you see that there is an alert, that there's incoming rocket alert, it might as well mean those anti-tank missiles and mortar shells that we've been seeing numerous, numerous times being fired from Southern Lebanon mostly by Hezbollah towards communities in northern Israel. We actually also saw different examples and more locations throughout the day where we speak about Hezbollah claiming responsibility for firing into northern Israel. Yesterday in one of those incidents where an anti-tank missile was fired towards Bet-Hilel, a Mosheva community also in the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border, 11 people were injured, including also Israeli soldiers that are still stationed obviously in this area and that really just shows you that the skirmishes that we've seen on a very, very regular basis before the ceasefire are very much back and they are expected to continue as long or at least as long as the war with Israel in Gaza is continuing, Benita. And very briefly, you're talking about skirmishes, but it must be very frightening for people up there close to that part of the country. Obviously that tenuous truce was broken last Friday when Hamas violated the pause. But now many questions around what Hassan Nasrallah and as we keep on saying by extension Iran is likely to do down the line. What are the concerns about a much bigger role for Hezbollah in the coming weeks? Well, these concerns have been there even before this current ceasefire. Hezbollah has made it very clear and also Hassan Nasrallah himself that they will make their actions dependent on Israel's actions in Gaza. Now, will the front escalate? We don't know, but already the northern front is very much open. These skirmishes that we have been seeing that we continue to see do have major consequences on the civilians on both sides of the border, by the way. We speak about thousands of people who are already evacuated on the Israeli side who left their homes without really knowing when they will be able to come back. Now, we can assume that the threat that Hezbollah poses sitting on the Israeli northern border will also continue to exist after the war in Gaza will be over. So there are much more, much more bigger questions, especially here for the civilians, for the residents in the north to be asked how the threat that Hezbollah poses will be treated after the current war with Gaza will be over. Stay safe. Thank you for now. Our correspondent Pierre Stegelbach, live from northern Israel, more to come from Pierre, of course, in the coming hours. We now turn our focus to developments abroad, particularly in the United States at local campuses. A recent survey finding that nearly three quarters of Jewish college students in the US experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism on their campus since the start of the academic year. The research by the Anti-Defamation League has been tracking anti-Jewish incidents amid the ongoing war. Federal officials had charged a student at Cornell University for making anti-Semitic threats in an online forum, while the University of Pennsylvania had to call in the FBI to look into what it called a series of vile, disturbing emails. And now we welcome Dr. Kenneth Stein, President of the Center for Israel Education, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern History and Political Science and Israel Studies at Emory University, joining us from Atlanta. Thank you so much, Professor, for your time. Now these scenes unfolding on some American campuses in the past eight weeks are alarming for many watching from this part of the world. Talk us through your assessment of why the anti-Israel sentiment is so strong at some institutions following this brutal terror attack against Israelis on the 7th of October. Your thoughts. It's a very difficult question to answer in a short period of time. Suffice it to say that what we're seeing on university campuses now is only the tip of the iceberg of the anger or the animosity or the antipathy that's held toward those who are learning and teaching aspects of modern Israel from an objective point of view. I don't mean to take you back historically, but I think it's fair to say that the degradation and the demonization of Israel that began before the 48 war and continues through Nasser and the Soviet Union and Zionism, racism, and down through Durban, all of that has infiltrated very slowly onto university campuses. And so that there is this historic antipathy. And then you have, in addition to that, you have how Israel is taught in the classroom. And it's very much taught from a point of view of the personal professor and the polemics of the professor or the politics that may not be what you and I would call nuanced or logical or showing both sides of the issue. Right. Then you add to that the other is American politics. American politics has become very personal, very polemical, very argumentative, very much even before Trump where Americans would argue points of view without wanting to listen with someone else had to say. And that has exploded on university campuses with historic tropes of anti-Semitism. You talk about going back in history, this terror attack, of course, happening 50 years and one day since the start of the Yom Kippur War. So tell us more about the years directly after the way that foreign funds from oil producing countries had hijacked the direction of studies in American colleges. Take us back to that time period. Well, after 67, Israel's was perceived as moving from being the David to the Goliath. Israel was now cheek to jail with the Palestinians and the territories. Then you get to the 73 war and you get to quadrupling of the oil prices. And a lot of businesses, a lot of think tanks, a lot of universities went looking for recycling petrodollars. And petrodollars meant bringing funds back to the United States for particular purposes. And that included maybe teaching positions. But it wasn't as extensive as we think it was as it has become today. Today it is quite extensive. But it doesn't mean just because they're foreign money that's being expended, that it's necessarily being expended as anti-Israeli. What you do have is you did have a lot of money that went into the development of Middle Eastern studies programs. Now, Israel's one of 22 or 23 countries in the Middle East, however you wanna call the number. But most of the students who were educated in the 70s and the 80s did not study Zionism. They didn't study Hebrew. They studied Arabic. They studied Turkish. They studied Persian. They came back from the Peace Corps. They were very qualified, highly talented academics who staffed major American universities. And they weren't teaching the Arab-Israeli conflict. And maybe by the time you get to the 80s and to the early 90s, some of these professors are now putting their hand up and saying, you know, I'll teach a course on the conflict. What their actual knowledge of the conflict has more to do with what they read in their own newspaper than what has to do with any scholarship or any articles that they may have read. So what you have essentially evolving are courses and individuals who have specialty in Middle Eastern studies and not necessarily Israeli studies. My good friend, Dylan Trone, who's in Ben-Gurion University, wrote a very fine article on the evolution of Israel studies. Israel studies in the United States does not really begin until the mid-1980s. My center at Emory University in 1998, 1998, 25 years ago, was the first center for Israel studies in the United States. Take by comparison what happened in the study of Holocaust studies. Holocaust became the emblem of Jewish-American learning of who they are in their own history. And we hallowed the Holocaust. Well, we didn't study Zionism. We didn't study Ben-Gurion. We didn't study Katz Nelson. We didn't study Jabotinsky. We didn't study the Six-Day War because no one wanted to teach it. No one wanted to learn it. And as a consequence, you have kids coming to campus today who don't really know Israel's story and they therefore can't even speak up well. Some of them do, but they don't speak up well and sufficiently enough to make the case. Certainly one of the many challenges that lies ahead, one of the many challenges outlined by people in terms of going forward, being able to educate people around the world, not only in the United States, but around the world. Many challenges ahead. Dr. Kennet Stein, we so appreciate you speaking to us. Lie from Atlanta, be well. And thank you so much for your insights on this day. Thank you. Many questions, many challenges lie ahead. And back here in Israel, so many questions around exactly what has been happening in captivity for the hostages that are still being held after eight weeks inside Gaza. And doctors treating the freed hostages are shocked. Here's more from Efrait Braun Haalev, the CEO of the Schneider Children's Medical Center. But none of us could imagine, not even me that I see the toughest children that come to us during these last 30 years, the toughest conditions, the toughest medical situations that we have to deal with. None of us have seen such a tough situation as receiving those 19 children, six mothers, and one grandmother back from captivity during these last 10 days. We heard stories of two sisters being together in captivity with nobody else around them and the older sister deciding how much she will eat so that she can keep some of the food for her 80-year-old sister. So she would not eat for days so that her young sister should eat. Can you imagine such a decision being made by a 15-year-old girl? The last time that I've read about it was about 80 years ago in the history books of us, Jews without their state. And imaginable details emerging about captivity at the hands of Hamas and still in studio, Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves Doron Avital. And when one hears an account like that, one's heart cannot help but just say, please get all the hostages, men, women, children, the elderly, the young, get them home. What is it gonna take Doron? I think it brings the dilemma of the hostages, rescuing the hostages to the forefront. I think the Israeli public is definitely stand there fast around this aim of the war and thinks that this is really the main objective. Of course we have to defeat Hamas, of course, but we'll have months and years to defeat Hamas and to punish Hamas in all many ways, so many ways. But this is an urgent thing. People has to sustain our terrible condition. Some of them will not survive. We have to do whatever we can in order to rescue them. It can be for negotiation. There can be another ceasefire if there would be a deal coming up and it can be by rescue operation, but we have to do the most in order to take them out from there. It's our main, this is the call of the country. This is the call of the society. This is the call of the IDF. This is the promise to our soldiers there and our citizens there. Talk to us about what the ceasefire or truce or pause, however you want to describe it. What does it mean for the momentum of the IDF operation right now? There was a concern that maybe it would be impacting the way the IDF would be able to continue with its goal of eliminating Hamas. Has that been the case? I think in the beginning, some of us were a little bit worried because you know momentum is really one of the main principles of war. When you have the momentum, then you succeed, but I think the army proved that it can use those days the ceasefire also for itself, to plan better, to gather the intelligence, to train the forces, to refresh the forces. So of course the Hamas did the same, but I think we used them very wisely those days that we had. Also it was important, the hostages that were rescued. This is, there's no way to undermine to, it's a great objective and a great success in this respect until now. So I think the army proved that it can get back to the fighting and it's doing it in the same fashion, the same tenacity, the same force. And we've maybe new lessons learned from the first phase of the war. A White House delegation is in Israel to discuss the issue of the day after the war. Very briefly, what kind of impact does a visit like that have right now as this operation to eliminate Hamas unfolds? Very briefly. I think one thing for sure we know that the day after means no Hamas. So this is the main objective and I think even Harris, the vice president was outlining some of the principle. But no Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip, who rules it? What is the, in what fashion the Palestinian Authority may be in the end, a new renewed Palestinian Authority can take hold of the Gaza Strip? I don't know, but it's one of the questions that will have to be answered in the future. Lieutenant Colonel in the reserve, Doron Avital, thank you as always for being here in studio. 137 hostages remain in captivity. Our coverage ends right now. Thank you for watching. 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 lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. And I'm Vanessa Levine, another major rocket barrage towards Israeli cities right now happening in Beersheba, the east and the west and in central parts of the Negev as we speak that's in the south, close to the Gaza border, red alert sirens are sounding right now. Warning of incoming projectiles from the Gaza Strip. Earlier on in recent hours, sirens also sounding in parts of central Israel and also up north, close to the Lebanon border, day 59 of the war. And the president of the International Red Cross is now in Gaza as 137 hostages remain in captivity, held by terrorists for more than eight weeks now. Mirjana Spoliarek taking to social media to repeat their urgent call for civilians to be protected in line with the laws of war and for aid to enter unimpeded. She also says the hostages must be released and the Red Cross must be allowed to visit them safely. Now, families of the hostages abducted during the Hamas terror onslaught on the 7th of October have lambasted the Red Cross for not yet getting access to them as more testimonies emerge about the conditions in captivity. Meanwhile, thousands of mourners, including senior military officers have attended the funeral of the commander of the Gaza divisions, Southern Brigade, Colonel Asav Hamami, one of the most senior officers to fall on the 7th of October. Defense minister Joav Galant saying the 41-year-old Colonel had led his troops valiantly on the day of the terrorist massacre. And now for more insight onto all the security developments. We welcome to studio Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves, Doron Avital, former commander in the Special Forces in the IDF. So thank you very much for being here in studio. Developments on several fronts in recent hours. Let's start with the siren sounding in the south right now. Many might wonder how, given the operation that has been unfolding by the IDF, the ground operation, how are these rockets still able to be fired into Israeli territory, right? Well, they still have capabilities. Even in the northern Gaza, we don't have a full control where there are many places like Sa'ajir and other places that are still there, that we are working there, and of course the south. So it's not clear for me from where the rockets were launched, but the capabilities are there. There was even sirens in the center of Israel during the noon time. So they have the capabilities. We are still fighting. Day 59, still fighting. And those tanks inside the Gaza Strip are approaching Khan Yunus. We know this is a major stronghold for Hamas. Leaders are believed to be hiding in the tunnels there. Talk to us about the complicated operation that is likely to unfold there in the coming hours and days. I think Khan Yunus is the next target. It's clear that this is the stronghold of many of the commanders and many, maybe, of our hostages. So the moment it was clear that there is this movement to the south, and Khan Yunus is such a stronghold, we have to move south, and we do it. I'm not sure there's this fog of war. We don't know exactly where are the forces and what do they do, but you know that it was heavy bombardment. And we saw the moving of the forces south. So I don't know what's the timetable, but this is the target. One of the most concerning issues as the nation waits to see what unfolds with this operation is the fact that it is known that there are 137 hostages still being held captive by Hamas somewhere in the Gaza Strip, potentially in tunnels, potentially in homes, potentially in Khan Yunus. Talk to us about how this complicates the fighting on the ground right now. There's no question. We know, for example, that the representative of the family is demanded to meet the war cabinet, and they're going to meet them, I think, in a day or two. For sure, this is one of the considerations among the forces, how to move forward. There's a full command under the command of a general, a very talented general. It's not only responsible for this kind of gathering of the intelligent and possible exchanges. And the idea is that as we put force on Hamas in Khan Yunus, either we'll have some offering for new deals, or if we are lucky, intelligence gathering that would lead us to some rescue operation. So this is part of the way the forces moves, and the special forces are among the other brigade, the engineering, the tanks, and the infantry. There's so much made about the fighting on the ground and what it looks like, and obviously, there is a concern around the civilians that could be close to where the fighting unfolds. We know that the president of the Red Cross is there as well right now. How does this impact what is happening right now that the Red Cross finally is actually there physically looking at what is unfolding? I think the civilian casualties is one of the tragic dimension of this war, and one of the hardest that makes the fighting so hard. If there was no regular army stationed in Khan Yunus, then we would have the tactics and the way to go, which would be clear for us. This is a different story. We have to take it into account. Something we're going to unpack in a short while, stay with us right now. Let's go to our senior defense correspondent, Jonathan Regev in Storot in southern Israel. What can you tell us? What are you seeing? Yes, I'm looking backwards. We're seeing something landing in Gaza right now. Not exactly clear what it is. They're exploding inside the Gaza Strip. You spoke about the siren sounding in the city of Bersheva. We also saw the rockets being sent just from that area behind us. A lot of activity here today, Benita. A lot of artillery shelling we're hearing, and there we could hear the explosions as well. I hope you can hear it as well. A lot of artillery being fired from the Israeli side. And as you mentioned in the studio, there's still rockets that were sent just about seven minutes ago. Rockets fired towards Bersheva. Earlier in the day, there were a couple of sirens, red alert sirens here in the city of Storot. And also further to the north, even in central Israel earlier today, as you mentioned, so a lot of activity happening all across the Israel-Gaza border. And certainly dramatic images behind you as we came to you. And as you said, those siren sounding, just as we started this broadcast, but for the most part, Jonathan, the southern communities close to that border have been evacuated. Give us a sense of how many people would likely be impacted by rocket fire coming down towards those border communities at this juncture, day 59 of the war. Yes, the border communities, it's true that they're mostly evacuated, but still many people are there, but there are soldiers there, their units, those who are ready to enter Gaza are many times stationed in or near the border communities, and therefore they're impacted. And I think that Hamas is well aware that the rockets that they fired towards Bersheva and the area of Tel Aviv earlier today, they will be mostly intercepted. And most of the times there are hardly any, and there are no casualties, hardly any damage, but still it's a message. It's a saying, and you said it yourself in the studio just minutes ago, how can they still fire with all the separation? They can, they can and they do, and this is something that they maintain. They're saying even after two months of fighting with Israeli tanks all over the place, we're still firing. And at the same time, we also know, Jonathan, that dozens of tanks are approaching Khan Yunus, and we also know that Israel is under pressure to limit civilian deaths as it continues with its goal to eliminate Hamas. Give us an idea of what those efforts entail. What do they include right now to warn civilians to move to safety? Israel has basically divided the area of Khan Yunus to various quarters, saying to the residents of certain quarters, this is the time to leave, to safer areas, especially in an area called Mawasi, which is just to the west of the city of Khan Yunus itself. It has an operational disadvantage because once Israel does that, then Hamas is also aware of the next area where the IDF will operate, but this is some a risk that the army is taking in order to try and minimize as much as possible the civilian casualties as opposed to Hamas, which is hiding behind its citizens. Israel is trying to preserve the life of citizens on both sides. As the sun sets on day 59 of the war, dramatic images there. Thank you for that update. As always, senior defense correspondent, Jonathan Regev, live from Storot in southern Israel. Stay safe, Jonathan. And still in studio, Doron Avito. In your take on exactly what is unfolding right now, what we were talking about with Jonathan, and this care, the urgent need to make sure that while this fighting continues, civilians are kept safe. It's very difficult to do in a war time. Not many armies take the care and the lengths that Israel does. Nonetheless, what exactly does it involve? You've been on the ground. Explain to us what it means. Well, of course, it's crucial aspect of the way we conduct the war there. And of course, we spread and we even do ascending messages, whatever we can in order to really locate the citizen in certain areas that have different numbering and the citizen know about this numbering. And we direct them where they should evacuate to. So this is what we are trying to do in Chanyunis. And then we can continue the campaign in a fashion that would have less casualties among the civilians, which is also part of the directives. We don't want, of course, the civilians. And of course, our allies think that we should be very careful about that, and we are trying to do our best in the context of this terrible landscape of war. There's no question. And this terrible landscape of war, as you are describing it, involves developments in the North as well. And as we are speaking, rocket sirens are sounding in Kerryat Shmoner and in Tel Chai up in northern Israel. So let's go straight to our correspondent, Pierre Stekelbach, in northern Israel. Are sirens sounding right now in several border towns? What can you tell us? What is the latest there, Pierre? Well, Benita, well, sirens are currently sounding in Kerryat Shmoner and Tel Chai, two localities in the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border, not far away from where we stand right now. And this is not the first time, Benita, that sirens are sounding in northern communities. At about 2 p.m. local time, sirens were sounding in Stula and in Matat, which is a bit further on the western side of the Israel-Lebanon border. No casualties were reported there, but that really just shows you how volatile, again, the situation has become after the relative calm that residents here have experienced during the ceasefire with Gaza now. Now that sirens are sounding in Kerryat Shmoner, this is a city, a major city, with several thousands of inhabitants that have been evacuated even when the first round of skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah before the ceasefire. It is a city that is about five kilometers away from the Israel-Lebanon border and all those communities in a proximity of five kilometers, those residents there were called upon to leave. Now, we know that during the ceasefire, we expect that several residents have gone back to those communities, but really it just shows you how dangerous it is there now incoming rocket alert there, but these communities specifically in such close proximity to the border have been regularly been targeted by both anti-tank missiles and also mortar shells. So if you see that there's an alert, that there's incoming rocket alert, it might as well mean those anti-tank missiles and mortar shells that we've been seeing in numerous, numerous times being fired from Southern Lebanon, mostly by Hezbollah towards communities in northern Israel. We actually also saw different examples and more locations throughout the day where we speak about Hezbollah claiming responsibility for firing into northern Israel. Yesterday in one of those incidents where an anti-tank missile was fired towards Bet-Hilel, a Mosheva community also in the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border, 11 people were injured, including also Israeli soldiers that are still stationed obviously in this area and that really just shows you that the skirmishes that we've seen on a very, very regular basis before the ceasefire are very much back and they are expected to continue as long or at least as long as the war with Israel in Gaza is continuing, Benita. And very briefly you're talking about skirmishes, but it must be very frightening for people up there close to that part of the country. Obviously that tenuous truce was broken last Friday when Hamas violated the pause, but now many questions around what Hassan Nasrallah and as we keep on saying by extension Iran is likely to do down the line. What are the concerns about a much bigger role for Hezbollah in the coming weeks? Well, these concerns have been there even before this current ceasefire. Hezbollah has made it very clear and also Hassan Nasrallah himself that they will make their actions dependent on Israel's actions in Gaza. Now will the front escalate? We don't know, but already the northern front is very much open. These skirmishes that we have been seeing that we continue to see do have major consequences on the civilians on both sides of the border, by the way. We speak about thousands of people who are already evacuated on the Israeli side who left their homes without really knowing when they will be able to come back. Now we can assume that the threat that Hezbollah poses sitting on the Israeli northern border will also continue to exist after the war in Gaza will be over. So there are much more, much more bigger questions, especially here for the civilians, for the residents in the north to be asked how the threat that Hezbollah poses will be treated after the current war with Gaza will be over. Stay safe. Thank you for now. Our correspondent Pierre Stegelbach, live from northern Israel, more to come from Pierre, of course, in the coming hours. We now turn our focus to developments abroad, particularly in the United States at local campuses. A recent survey finding that nearly three quarters of Jewish college students in the US experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism on their campus since the start of the academic year. The research by the Anti-Defamation League has been tracking anti-Jewish incidents amid the ongoing war. Federal officials had charged a student at Cornell University for making anti-Semitic threats in an online forum, while the University of Pennsylvania had to call in the FBI to look into what it called a series of vile, disturbing emails. And now we welcome Dr. Kenneth Stein, President of the Center for Israel Education, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern History and Political Science and Israel Studies at Emory University joining us from Atlanta. Thank you so much, Professor, for your time. Now these scenes unfolding on some American campuses in the past eight weeks are alarming for many watching from this part of the world. Talk us through your assessment of why the anti-Israel sentiment is so strong at some institutions following this brutal terror attack against Israelis on the 7th of October. Your thoughts. It's a very difficult question to answer in a short period of time. Suffice it to say that what we're seeing on university campuses now is only the tip of the iceberg of the anger or the animosity or the antipathy that's held toward those who are learning and teaching aspects of modern Israel from an objective point of view. I don't mean to take you back historically, but I think it's fair to say that the degradation and the demonization of Israel that began before the 48 war and continues through Nasser and the Soviet Union and Zionism, racism and down through Durban, all of that has infiltrated very slowly onto university campuses. And so that there is this historic antipathy. And then you have, in addition to that, you have how Israel is taught in the classroom. And it's very much taught from a point of view of the personal professor and the polemics of the professor or the politics that may not be what you and I would call nuanced or logical or showing both sides of the issue. Then you add to that the other is American politics. American politics has become very personal, very polemical, very argumentative, very much even before Trump, where Americans would argue points of view without wanting to listen with someone else had to say. And that has exploded on university campuses with historic tropes of anti-Semitism. You talk about going back in history, this terror attack, of course, happening 50 years and one day since the start of the Yom Kippur War. So tell us more about the years directly after, the way that foreign funds from oil producing countries had hijacked the direction of studies in American colleges. Take us back to that time period. Well, after 67, Israel was perceived as moving from being the David to the Goliath. Israel was now cheek to gel with the Palestinians and the territories. Then you get to the 73 war and you get the quadrupling of the oil prices. And a lot of businesses, a lot of think tanks, a lot of universities went looking for recycling petrodollars. And petrodollars meant bringing funds back to the United States for particular purposes. And that included maybe teaching positions. But it wasn't as extensive as we think it was as it has become today. Today it is quite extensive. But it doesn't mean just because they're foreign money that's being expended, that it's necessarily being expended as anti-Israeli. What you do have is you did have a lot of money that went into the development of Middle Eastern studies programs. Now, Israel's one of 22 or 23 countries in the Middle East, however you wanna call the number. But most of the students who were educated in the 70s and the 80s did not study Zionism. They didn't study Hebrew. They studied Arabic, they studied Turkish, they studied Persian. They came back from the Peace Corps. They were very qualified, highly talented academics who staffed major American universities. And they weren't teaching the Arab-Israeli conflict. And maybe by the time you get to the 80s and to the early 90s, some of these professors are now putting their hand up and saying, I'll teach a course on the conflict. What their actual knowledge of the conflict has more to do with what they read in their own newspaper than what has to do with any scholarship or any articles that they may have read. So what you have essentially evolving are courses and individuals who have specialty in Middle Eastern studies and not necessarily Israeli studies. My good friend, Dylan Trone, who's in Ben-Gurion University, wrote a very fine article on the evolution of Israel studies. Israel studies in the United States does not really begin until the mid-1980s. My center at Emory University in 1998, 1998, 25 years ago, was the first center for Israel studies in the United States. Take by comparison what happened in the study of Holocaust studies. Holocaust became the emblem of Jewish-American learning of who they are in their own history. And we hallowed the Holocaust. Well, we didn't study Zionism. We didn't study Ben-Gurion. We didn't study Katz Nelson. We didn't study Jabotinsky. We didn't study the Six-Day War because no one wanted to teach it. No one wanted to learn it. And as a consequence, you have kids coming to campus today who don't really know Israel's story and they therefore can't even speak up well. Some of them do, but they don't speak up well and sufficiently enough to make the case. Certainly one of the many challenges that lies ahead, one of the many challenges outlined by people in terms of going forward, being able to educate people around the world, not only in the United States, but around the world. Many challenges ahead. Dr. Kenneth Stein, we so appreciate you speaking to us. Lie from Atlanta, be well. And thank you so much for your insights on this day. Thank you. Many questions, many challenges lie ahead. And back here in Israel, so many questions around exactly what has been happening in captivity for the hostages that are still being held after eight weeks inside Gaza. And doctors treating the freed hostages are shocked. Here's more from Efrat Braun Hailev, the CEO of the Schneider Children's Medical Center. But none of us could imagine, not even me, that I see the toughest children that come to us during these last 30 years, the toughest conditions, the toughest medical situations that we have to deal with. None of us have seen such a tough situation as receiving those 19 children, six mothers, and one grandmother back from captivity during these last 10 days. We heard stories of two sisters being together in captivity with nobody else around them and the older sister deciding how much she will eat so that she can keep some of the food for her 80-year-old sister. So she would not eat for days so that her young sister should eat. Can you imagine such a decision being made by a 15-year-old girl? The last time that I've read about it was about 80 years ago in the history books of us, Jews without their state. Unimaginable details emerging about captivity at the hands of Hamas and still in studio, Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves, Doron Avital, and when one hears an account like that, one's heart cannot help but just say, please get all the hostages, men, women, children, the elderly, the young, get them home. What is it going to take, Doron? I think it brings the dilemma of the hostage, rescuing the hostages to the forefront. I think the Israeli public is definitely staying there fast around this aim of the war and thinks that this is really the main objective. Of course, we have to defeat Hamas, of course, but we'll have months and years to defeat Hamas and to punish Hamas in all many ways, in so many ways, but this is an urgent thing. People has to sustain our terrible condition. Some of them will not survive. We have to do whatever we can in order to rescue them. It can be for negotiation. There can be another ceasefire if there would be a deal coming up and it can be by rescue operation, but we have to do the most in order to take them out from there. It's our main, this is the call of the country, this is the call of the society, this is the call of the IDF, this is the promise to our soldiers there and our citizens there. Talk to us about what the ceasefire or truce or pause, however you want to describe it. What does it mean for the momentum of the IDF operation right now? There was a concern that maybe it would be impacting the way the IDF would be able to continue with its call of eliminating Hamas. Has that been the case? I think in the beginning, some of us were a little bit worried because you know, momentum is really one of the main principles of war. When you have the momentum, then you succeed, but I think that the army proved that it can use those days, the ceasefire, also for itself, to plan better, to gather the intelligence, to train the forces, to refresh the forces. So of course the Hamas did the same, but I think we used them very wisely those days that we had. Also it was important, the hostages that were rescued, this is, there's no way to undermine to, it's a great objective and a great success in this respect until now. So I think the army proved that it can get back to the fighting and it's doing it in the same fashion, the same tenacity, the same force. And we've maybe new lessons learned from the first phase of the war. A White House delegation is in Israel to discuss the issue of the day after the war. Very briefly, what kind of impact does a visit like that have right now as this operation to eliminate Hamas unfolds? Very briefly. One thing for sure we know that the day after means no Hamas. So this is the main objective and I think even Harris, the vice president was outlining some of the principle, but no Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip, who rules it? What is the, in what fashion the Palestinian Authority maybe in the end, a new renewed Palestinian Authority can take hold of the Gaza Strip? I don't know, but it's one of the questions that will have to be answered in the future. Lieutenant Colonel in the reserve, Doron Avital, thank you as always for being here in studio. 137 hostages remain in captivity. Our coverage ends right now. Thank you for watching. I-24 News Channel, broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondents throughout the world, brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries. The country is completely sundown in their beds. De la frontière qui sépare Israel, the state of emergency and war in Israel. Bringing Israel's story to the world. I-24 News Channels, now on Hot. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely sundown 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. 24 News, we're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day, the Israel's war with Hamas. The IDF says it hit some 200 Hamas targets in Gaza overnight. This is tanks advance on the city of Hanyunis. Civilians are instructed to leave the conflict zone and head south once again. The president of the Red Cross is also in Gaza and is called for civilians to be protected and for aid workers to be allowed access to the remaining hostages. And a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon today at northern, central, and southern Israel, no injuries reported. While we can find out more on the situation in the north, now our P.S. Steckelback joins us from close to the border with Lebanon. So Pia, Hezbollah has fired a barrage of rockets at the Mount Dov area today. The IDF has been striking back this afternoon. In fact, about an hour ago, rocket alert sirens were sounding in Kiryat Shmone and further north in Tel Chai. This is one of a few incidents that we've seen today where fire was coming out of southern Lebanon. As per protocol, the IDF is striking back in southern Lebanon. Now the latest army statement saying that the IDF targeted a weapons depot in southern Lebanon earlier on as a result of a fire towards Stula and Matat, which are two communities more on the western side of the Israel-Lebanon border. The IDF there saying while striking back there, we're targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and also a command center there. So that really just shows you that as the ceasefire with Gaza is over, so is the calm that residents have experienced here that one week of where the truce was holding with Gaza, Gaza is also over now here in the north. Yesterday you had an example where there were casualties where an anti-tank missile was launched towards the eastern community of Bet-Hilal-11. People were wounded among them, also soldiers. You saw these scumishes also continue really throughout the day, launches falling into open area, not causing any casualties throughout the day there, but the latest example of fire onto Kiryat Shmone and area, a major city basically that has been evacuated just shows you how volatile the situation is now. We do know that those communities in the proximity of five kilometers to the border were evacuated, but there are still residents remaining. We can also assume that some of them went back during the period of come, during the ceasefire basically. It's very hard to assess those numbers, but that really just shows you this incident that we have seen really throughout the day, how dangerous the situation here is when you're very close to the Lebanon border because Hezbollah has vowed to react in accordance to what is happening in Gaza now that the war is continuing, also do the scumishes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. And what is the situation inside Lebanon here? We know that earlier on in the conflict just after October 7th, a lot of civilians left Beirut, didn't they, to head to safety in the north. I'm just wondering as this tit-for-tat conflict drags on for two months now, whether people are returning or if they still consider it unsafe? Well, we do know that also civilians in southern Lebanon do consider those border areas, those communities that are very close to the Israeli border. As unsafe, we do know that people are still continuing to flee. Now also they have experienced a period of truth, a period of relative calm, but these scumishes are of course expected to continue. You just have to listen to the words coming out of the mouth of Hezbollah politicians. They are saying that they will react according to what is happening in Gaza. And as we do not see any end approaching to the war in Gaza, we can expect these clashes to continue, which first and foremost, obviously endanger civilians here on the Israeli side, but also on the Lebanese side, because we do know that the Israeli army is retaliating. We could even hear the artillery fire coming out to those communities that are on the other side, on the other side of Kirajman on the Lebanese side, we're relatively close to that. And obviously these civilians that are still in those border areas are majorly endangered also by that simple artillery fire coming out of northern Israel in retaliation for their Hezbollah strikes. Pia, thank you very much. Pia Stechelbach is in northern Israel with the latest on the situation there. We'll join him in the studio this hour. Yakov Lapin is a security and military analyst at the Miriam Institute and the Jewish News. So good to see you. Thank you for being with us. We'll talk about the progress of the offensive in Gaza in just a moment, but just a word, if you would, on what we're seeing in the north, because we have seen quite an escalation in the last couple of days, haven't we? It's escalating. Notable is the long range anti-tank missile strike on an IDF vehicle in Betilel, which almost caused a mass casualty incident and the soldiers were able to leave the vehicle in the last minute. And now we're seeing further escalation. So it seems to me that the northern arena is on a trajectory of escalation. This is also part of the threats that we've been hearing out of the entire Iranian axis that the longer and deeper the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza will be the more they will escalate. They've dropped hints throughout this war that this is what's going to happen. And I think, you know, Hezbollah very much in coordination with Iran and under Iranian orders is implementing exactly that plan. Well, let's talk about what's happening in Gaza then because the IDF said it destroyed some 200 Hamas targets overnight. Very heavy airstrikes that have been going on night after night since the ceasefire was broken on Friday. We're now looking at a much more complicated situation, aren't we? A lot of civilians. Once again, the urban nature of Hanoonis. Just talk us through how you see the offensive progressing so far. So we've got a million people who've left Gaza City and northern Gaza heading south and now we've got another approximately 400,000 Gazans from the southern Gaza area who also listened to IDF evacuation or has then left their homes. So absolutely, it's a much more complex situation down south because those 400,000 people have not gone to a different part of Gaza. They've simply left their own local areas and have headed to shelters or schools that are being used as shelters. But the IDF is trying to focus them into the western part of the Gaza Strip and into the Rafah area to these two main zones. And of course, some people will comply with that. Some will not. So what that means is that as the IDF ground offensive starts to take shape in the south, there's going to have to be a very close coordination between the intelligence on where the civilians are and the use of firepower. And if that means stopping and starting the ground offensive, I think we'll probably see that a lot more in terms of tactically holding off, say, on a brigade taking this area until the IDF can be certain that a certain percentage of people have left that area. Those kinds of tactical considerations, I think we'll be seeing much more of compared to the south, where a million people were able to leave and that was a much different operational environment for the IDF to operate in. All right, well, let's get an update. Thank you, Jacob. Let's get an update. Then our Jonathan Regev joins us now from the south of Israel. And Jonathan, as we've been reporting, IDF tanks in rolling towards Khan Yunis. This is the stronghold, isn't it, of the Hamas leader, Sinwar. We've also got a new brigade operating in Gaza for the first time since, I believe, 2005. That is correct. The Kfir Brigade, it was established in 2005, and now they're getting their first real-time, let's call it, in-depth action. In the Second Lebanon War in 2006, there was still a new brigade. They did not participate in combats deep inside Lebanon. And neither did they do it in any of the previous operations in Gaza. Now they're in, they're in deep, and the Kfir Brigade unveiled and discovered at least 30 tunnel shafts and dismantled them. So this is regarding Kfir, regarding Khan Yunis, the stronghold of Hamas, now it seems. It's true that they're also operating from the Gaza city, which has not been completely conquered, perhaps completely encircled. But still, the operations of Hamas in Gaza have been seriously hit in the previous round of the ground operation. Now the main aim is Khan Yunis. We're hearing of constant, constant Israeli shelling there. And we're speaking about an hour ago, just about an hour ago, there were sirens in the city of Beersheva. Beersheva is just parallel to Khan Yunis, so we can assume that the rockets were fired from the eastern part of the city of Khan Yunis. We also saw the rockets from here being fired to the south of us, where Khan Yunis is, is Hamas perhaps feeling that this is the time to use all the ammunition that they have from this area, because soon enough, they will not be able to operate there. This could be an option. Israel is striking hard in Khan Yunis, probably as a preparation for a possible ground incursion into Khan Yunis. The assumption is that the Hamas leadership, Icheh Sinwar, for example, who's originally from Khan Yunis, that the leadership is hiding there, there's also quite a good possibility that many of these Israeli hostages are still left there. Khan Yunis, let's remember, also parallel, if we look at the Gaza border to Niroz, to Re'im, where the party was, the closest Palestinian city to all those places is Khan Yunis, so we can assume that both the leadership and many of the hostages are held in that area. Jonathan, thank you very much. Jonathan Regev there, and that is complicating, of course, the IDF offensive in Gaza. 137 hostages are still being held, while Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied accusations from the families of some of the hostages that his war cabinet is ignoring them. He says a meeting has been set for Wednesday. These are scenes coming to us from Herzliya, where supporters of the hostages have gathered to put pressure on the government. One of the protest leaders has called on Netanyahu's government to free the hostages at any price. Our Emily Francis is in Herzliya and joins us now. Emily, what's happening? Hey, Laura, listen, it's really quite remarkable. Hundreds of people are lined up here on the street in Herzliya, this is despite all of these deflated spirits of the fact that no more hostages have come home. People are here to celebrate the return of a brother and sister, Maya and Etai Regev. They were a brother and sister duo who were at the Nova Music Festival with their father on the phone with them recounting their experience as the terrorists were coming and committing the worst massacre Israel has ever seen. Maya, age 21, had injuries for her leg. She was treated at the hospital in Bersheba for her 18-year-old brother, Etai. They were separated, they were taken together, but then they were separated the whole time that they were held hostage. It was a very emotional reunion, the two of them reconnecting at the hospital. And here there are people just to cheer them on. People have been lining the streets for the better part of the past hour with balloons, Israel flags. Usually in the past several months before the war, this is where people would gather the protests against judicial reform. Now they're here for a happier occasion. It is a silver lining in spite of the fact that we're still going through a nightmare vis-a-vis the hostages that haven't been released, but again, a glimmer of hope and support here. Most of the people here don't even know Maya, any time, but they've become household names in Israel. We've seen their picture all over the place, the two of them together. And I actually am joined by a really nice woman, Orly, who is here with her daughter, Son-in-law and her two grandchildren. Why is it so important to be here supporting their return? Because we're all one in one nation. We are so happy for everyone that is coming home, Maya. I'm unable to get a meeting with the war cabinet. They're willing to sit and have a sit-in tonight. Again, the war cabinet is said to be meeting with them, which is supposed to happen tomorrow, if it happens. But the last time it happened, they didn't even let all the families in, so they just keep giving reasons for the families to feel discouraged. But for you, Orly, how, as a representative of Israel society, is there a reason to hope? Even though we still have 137 hostages, we don't know about. We are seeing that I'm coming home. And with minor injuries, to be physical, we don't know the psychological yet. Yes, they're eating with smiles and with cheers. This is something we haven't seen for two months. So it is a big relief. But again, we cannot forget about the other hostages. Nobody is forgetting about the other hostages. And this fight is gonna continue till everybody comes home. That's all for now, Laura. Emily, thank you very much. Emily Francis there in Hell to Leah, where Mia Regev and her brother, Ritai, are returning home. You can see well wishes out on the streets there. As the brother and sister who were kidnapped and kept separately by terrorists in Gaza have been reunited and are now back home. But as Emily pointed out, 137 hostages remain in Gaza and among them, 28-year-old Aidan Zaxacaria. She was escaping in a car with her boyfriend and friends from the supernova desert, Rave Nereim, on October 7th when Hamas terrorists began shooting at their car. She was later captured and taken to Gaza. The last her mother heard from her was a frantic phone call in which she said the terrorist was shooting at them. Well, Aidan's uncle, Aidan Zaxacaria, is with us now. Aidan, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. 59 days now, your family must be going through an absolute hell. Yeah, it is very, very difficult, extremely difficult. And ups and downs. And, you know, we lost, we were supposed to to have some releases. There were all the passage towards releases and on last Thursday, all the hostages were canceled and the ceasefire was broken. And we're back again in war. And Aidan is one of 17 women that they believe are still being held by Hamas terrorists. Hamas, of course, was supposed to come up with a list of women that it would hand over. I mean, some of the families say they're very angry with the government and they don't think they're being listened to. Can you tell me what is your experience? First of all, I think that it's not as if we are not being listened to, at least from my side, you know, I cannot speak for everyone, but I can speak for our family. And we are being listened to. It's just that we are not being updated on a regular basis. Means once in a week, meeting with families, give them the, you know, the latest update and the line of the course of actions, something that will give us some basic information about our loved ones and what are the next actions that the government are going to take towards releasing them. So the only piece which was missing is an ongoing regular update for the families about the course of action. And this is what we were missing. We were actually, you know, presenting it today in the press conference to the government what we are asking. Eventually, the government did acknowledge. I mean, they were supposed to release all of the women, weren't they? That was part of the agreement. And, you know, some women are older than Aidan were released. As I say, she's 28 years old. She wasn't a soldier. She wasn't in uniform. Do you have an idea in your mind as to why Hamath, why the terrorists might be holding on to her? Honestly, I don't know. I don't know why they didn't came up with an additional list of women and children because they have them in their hands. We know they have them. So the only step that was missing towards, you know, continuation of the beats, that's what they call it, towards releases towards beat eight and nine was to say this, this is the next list. These are the women and children that we are going to release. And this didn't happen. And I don't know why. I honestly don't know why they did that. And we could all gain from it. It was a complete win-win situation for all of us, for Hamath, for us, for the negotiators. And releasing the women and the last women and children and gaining a few more days of ceasefire for the Gazan people as well. So it was a complete win-win situation that I don't know how it was missed. And why was it broken? Do you think that the fact that the army is now operating in Hanyunis, where it's believed some of the hostages are being held, could see her free? Do you hoping that that will be the way to get her home? Listen, I'm not going into the tactical operation of how the government should release our loved ones. But what I do know is that they should do everything in their hands to do it. So negotiation is one thing. Give and get is the other thing. It's part of the negotiation. Whatever they can do to make it happen, I prefer the negotiation way. It's less harmful for everyone, including to the people of Gaza. They're getting humanitarian aid. They gain a few days of relief. And we are getting our loved ones. This is the best way that I see that both sides can gain and whatever they are not going to tell the government how to do it. It's not my job. I'm not a diplomat. I'm not a politician. Of course, I'm scared or some worried for Eden because of the military operation. It's a risk for everyone, for all the hostages. Yes, it is. So I am concerned, but I don't know how to not into the complete details of the operation to know and to... It's the government's responsibility to bring Eden back. We're looking at pictures of your niece as we're talking to you. I understand she loves her dogs. They're her babies, the two dogs. Eden has two vis-la, amazing two vis-la dogs, giant ones, very active. And they are very full of life, running all the time. So her last words before the call was hung up, she asked her mother and father to take care of the dogs. She knew that this is coming. Someone was shooting at them. So that was our last wish from our parents until that point of time. An amazing woman, Eden, an amazing, loving person, constantly seeking for ways to... For peace. She was a peaceful person, seeking for peace constantly. Even with the Palestinians, she was a part of the left-wing side. I wish she'll come back to us. Our dogs, we miss how they feel, are absent. So it is very, very difficult. Yeah, another family ripped apart. It's awful. I'm so sorry this is happening to you and your family, and we hope Eden is back with you where she belongs, very, very soon. Thank you very much, Laura. Thank you very much. Thank you, Elan. Elan, take care of you there. Yakov Lapins with me in the studio. 137, 17 women, of course, Hamas refused to come up with the list of women and children who are still being held. That's why one of the reasons the ceasefire came apart. I mean, the Americans have confirmed there are no negotiations going on now. It's been cut off. Yeah, we have reached an impasse with the entire outline that involved the release of hostages and the release of security prisoners of terrorists and truth stays. I think it was clear as the days progressed that this was coming more and more untenable, because Hamas was going to start trying to play for time, trying to claim that it couldn't come up with the names. This was the reason that the ceasefire collapsed, because it did not provide the list of 10 names as it was required. And it also started firing rockets an hour and a half or so before the truce. So Hamas is the reason that the truce collapsed, just like Hamas is the reason that this war began. And now, Israel is going to be applying military pressure as part of its campaign. And it's going to be looking to serve both of its central war campaign objectives. And that is the release of more hostages and the dismantling of the Hamas terror army. In Israel's logic from day one is that both of these things can be achieved through the same course of action, whereas Hamas tried to paralyze Israel and tried to force it to choose between one objective or the other. Israel is coming along and saying, actually, I can do both at the same time. So far, Israel's theory has proven correct. Large numbers of hostages have been released and have gained a second chance at life. That wouldn't have happened without the military pressure that was applied on Hamas. Some people dispute that. I was speaking to Gershwin Baskin, for example, yesterday. He says, no, that they would have been released earlier if the path of negotiations had been followed. You disagree with that. You say the military pressure is essential. Essential. The fact that Hamas was willing to accept a situation in which three security prisoners per every one Israeli hostage would be released, that's an unprecedented ratio from Hamas. You can look back and see the kinds of prices that Hamas demanded in the past. Nothing like this has occurred. And the fact that Hamas was being pressed against the wall when you're the Hamas leadership and you hear those guns approaching you, and the artillery and the airstrikes, that paints a different picture when it comes to trying to buy another day, another two days, another three days, and hoping for some sort of dynamic from Hamas's perspective that could prolong the ceasefire. Some analysts say that, you know, Sinwar, he knows it's over for him. Israel will never let him survive. And it's not until he's dead that the remaining, or Hamas leadership, what is left of it will agree to release some hostages. Do you agree with that? It's very hard to get into Sinwar's head. Many people have tried and failed. I don't consider him to be a rational decision maker. I think if he believed that he could pull off a mass murder attack and that this wouldn't be the outcome, then clearly he's not a rational decision maker. And if he did think this would be the outcome, that also puts him in the irrational camp in my mind. So it's very hard to get into his head. What I will say is that when it comes to being able to conduct negotiations in a post-Sinwar era, I am hopeful of a scenario in which the IDF in Israel will be able to conduct negotiations directly with the hostage holders without going around this long circle involving Qatar and the Hamas overseas leadership, et cetera, just being able to make very localized deals to the hostage holders and tell them, look, you know, if you want to safe passage out, let go of the people that you're holding. Your leadership is gone anyway. And when they see that the Hamas framework is collapsing around them, that would also hopefully act as a carrot for them to cooperate in these kinds of negotiations. So I'm hopeful of that scenario in the future as well. All right, Yakov, thank you for now. Yakov Lapin there. We're taking a short break. When we come back, we'll get more detail on what's happening in the north with Hezbollah expert, Sahabi. I would also talk about the Hossis harassing and attacking ships in the Red Sea. Should the US respond more forcefully, that's next. He is in a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where he is. He has our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. This is this, this is this. I am a big friend of the Jewish people in Israel. The IDF has been striking multiple targets, belonging to the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon, following a barrage of rockets fired at northern Israel in the last few days. And there are calls for the United States to respond more forcefully after another Iranian proxy, Yemen's Huthis, attacked a US warship and several cargo ships in the Red Sea. Well, let's start though with the situation in the north of Israel. We're joined by Lieutenant Colonel Sahabi, the Founder and President of the Alma Research and Education Center and an expert on Hezbollah. Thank you very much for being with us. So Hezbollah observed the seven day ceasefire that was in place between Israel and Hamas. It's now resumed hostilities. In terms of the intensity of the attacks, would you say it is similar or more or less intensive than before the ceasefire? Almost completely similar. The past three days were tough. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today, four days. We've seen around 10 attacks and also tries of attacks when you see the IDF succeeded in preventing with various means like anti-tanks and rockets and all over the area and in every time, not just in the afternoon like it was in the beginning of the war. So definitely we are back to the situation as it was. And I must say as a resident of the Kali, the feeling here that for me, from the area where I live in it kind of getting back to routine not for those who are evacuated but for others. And there is kind of contradiction between what is happening on the border to what is happening in other areas where the kids are going back to school and things like that. So would you say people are adapting then to this kind of strange situation where there's an ongoing conflict at the border? I'm saying that these are the instructions of the IDF or the home front command. And that's why we are working according to these instructions but we are still left with many questions of how exactly do we resume the routine, feeling safe every day. And you've been warning us for a long time now, Sa'it, about the Radwan Force, the elite unit of Hezbollah. You say that they would and would be able to carry out an attack similar to or worse than what Hamas did in the south of Israel on October 7th. How would you assess their movements so far? What do you think they are planning and do you think the IDF is prepared? First, yes, the IDF is prepared. The forces of the IDF are spread up north. Even though, as I've said, we've seen some changes here. What I can say is that Radwan was not strategically damaged yet. It was tactically damaged, not only Radwan, also other units of Hezbollah. We've seen the killing of almost 90 Hezbollah military operatives, not only from Radwan, from various units, but this is not, it doesn't mean that Radwan lost its capability to invade. It means that its capability was damaged, that it is more challenging. It means that it will meet IDF soldiers in opposed to what happened in the south that there were no forces to meet Hamas when it invaded, but I'm not sure it will be enough to prevent completely the battles on the Israeli side of the border. And that's why the communities are still evacuated. When we talk about a conflict with Hezbollah on Lebanese soil, if Israel were to strike Hezbollah, just talk us through how it would be different to what's happening in Gaza right now. Of course, it's very different terrain. It's rocky soil rather than sandy soil. So I understand there are less tunnels and that kind of infrastructure. And of course, thankfully, we don't have this awful hostage situation as well. Just talk us through what it might look like. You think first, if Radwan will execute its plan or succeed in executing its plan, we will have hostages in Lebanon as well because this is the plan. It is similar. Second, it is true that the terrain is different and it works for both sides, meaning that in opposed to Hamas, Hezbollah will not be able to send hundreds that will be able to cross quickly passing tens of kilometers. They will be able to pass, but I'm not sure it will be the same speed as it happened with Hamas because of the terrain is different. At the same time, there are tunnels. There are strategic and tactical tunnels in South Lebanon. Hezbollah net of tunnels was built back to the 90s. And though the terrain is different and it took Hezbollah a long time to build these tunnels, they exist. And we know even from 2006 that Hezbollah hiding in tunnels in Ayat-e-Aishaib in the areas of the fighting, even back then. So, and if we speak about the winter, it's another challenge that work for both sides because there is fog and it will be rainy and the north is different than Tel Aviv. The weather is completely different than in Tel Aviv here. We have many more days of rain and it pose a challenge for both sides. Hezbollah will and plans to, if it will try to invade to maneuver on the main roads which IDF can block, this is an advantage. But at the same time, since this complicated terrain, there are more places to hide and it will be more difficult, more of a challenge to clear the areas where these terrorists may hide and to make sure that 100% no terrorists are inside Israel. And of course, one of the big failures of Israel that led up to October 7th was an intelligence failure. Does Israel have a better understanding of Hezbollah and what its plans are compared to Hamas? Well, I don't know, I'm not with intelligence anymore. I want to believe that we have good intelligence. You know, as far as I understand what everything that happened, the problem is not with the information. The problem, as it was in 73 and as it was in 2023, is about the conception, is about, do you believe what will actually happen? Do you believe when your enemy is saying that it's going to invade? Do you believe that they are capable to do what they are planning to do? And if you believe, what do you plan to do against that to make sure that it will not happen? I think that this is more of a problem rather than the information itself. Lieutenant Colonel Sahidzahabi, thank you. Thank you. Yakov Lapins with me in the studio, military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish News Syndicate and the Miriam Institute. Yakov, I just want to ask about, you know, I think there is an understanding, certainly among Israel's allies, that Hamas must be destroyed. Do you think there is the same sympathy for Israel's war with Hezbollah? Because we've seen, you know, tens of thousands of civilians have had to move away from the border. It is not a normal situation. There is a war going on. The Americans were keen to restrain Israel early on. But do you think that there will be sympathy for Israel's war with Hezbollah if and when it comes? Well, you know, I think the fact that the Americans are trying to restrain Israel from essentially broadening the war to pull back the Hezbollah threat from the northern border is an indication that there is less sympathy for this front. I think from the American perspective, that is because the U.S.'s goal from day one of this war has been to try and limit it to an Israeli Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and not broaden it to include Hezbollah, possibly Iran itself and the remainder of Iran's proxies that would pull in more American military resources. And the Americans, I think, want to still cling to the goal of focusing on China in the Pacific arena. So they want the high intensity phase of this war to be over as soon as possible so that they can start moving their carrier strike groups and other assets away from the region if and when that's possible. An escalation in the north would be a reversal of that. So I think that's the American calculation. And globally, I think there's very little understanding of the extent of the threat that Hezbollah poses to the state of Israel. Well, especially given the fact that Israel made a deal with Hezbollah just a couple of years ago, a maritime border deal that was broken by the Americans, I mean, that must do something to the perception of how much of a threat the group is. Right. So, you know, officially, the deal was made with the Lebanese government. But of course, it couldn't have happened without Hezbollah's approval. And Hezbollah was actually very aggressive in the months that led up to that deal. But look, essentially, Hezbollah's role, and this is something that Sarit from the Alma Institute has talked about extensively, Hezbollah's role is to take over Lebanon and export the Islamic Revolution. That's its main primary goal. As part of that, it is willing to risk war with Israel. And it calculates that if a war does occur, it's not running into a war, but if a war does occur, it can probably take over the ruins of Lebanon. And that's why I think when we try to understand how Hezbollah thinks, we shouldn't make the same mistake that we did with Hamas and project this sort of Western cost-benefit calculation onto Hezbollah. They are willing to risk war. I'm not saying that they want it tomorrow, but they're taking all the risks that could lead to one. And that means to... Tens of thousands of Lebanese casualties. Yeah, exactly. And devastation, you know, like we've seen in Gaza, but in Lebanon, but probably much more. The thing that I would stress more than anything else is that we're all looking at RAD1 and rightly so. But really, that element of surprise does seem to have decreased severely. What element of surprise remains, the firepower of Hezbollah. The missiles. The huge arsenal that it has, including precision-guided missiles, that is something that could still shock the Israeli people if it's launched in a massive way. Now, the IDF has its own huge level of firepower it can deploy right back at Hezbollah's targets. So really, we have a sort of standoff here, and that's what's going on in the background. Everybody's looking at the water, but we should really be looking at the firepower strikes that are lurking in the background here as well. It's sort of a mini Cold War going on in Israel. Yeah, mini Cold War, which is already a little bit hot already on the border. Hanging up quickly, yeah. All right, Yakov, thank you. Well, let's talk about the other front in this conflict, Yemen's Houthis, because there are calls for the United States to respond more forcefully after Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a U.S. warship, the USS Karni, with drones. It also took over a number of cargo vessels in the Red Sea, attacked them, and one of them was left in distress. The Houthis have declared war on Israel in solidarity with the people in Gaza, and have fired several missiles as well at the southern city of Hela. Let's listen to the IDF military spokesman, Daniel Higari, talking about those Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Today, missiles were fired at two commercial ships without a connection to the state of Israel. I will repeat that so it's clear, without any connection to the state of Israel. One ship was significantly damaged, and it is in distress, and apparently is in danger of sinking, and another ship was lightly damaged. This is a negative, subversive incident organized by the Houthis. It should be understood that the weapons with which the Houthis carry out the operation are Iranian weapons. The intelligence, the capabilities, the methods are Iranian. This shows the negative Iranian subversion in the region, and it's a global problem, a regional problem, and we need to see how the world responds to this. The freedom of navigation is becoming dangerous in this part of the world. Well, to talk more on that, we're joined now by Jason Brodsky. He's the policy director at the group United Against the Nuclear Iran. Great to see you, Jason. Thanks for being with us. So here we've got a terrorist group, a sub-state actor, the Houthis in Yemen, attacking a warship belonging to the most powerful country on Earth. Are we going to see the US respond more forcefully? It's great to be with you, Laura. Well, let's look back to 2016 when ballistic missiles were fired by the Houthis at the USS Mason. That prompted a kinetic response by the United States under the Obama administration. Fast forward to 2023, we have seen repeated attacks on commercial vessels and international waterways, not to mention drones being launched at US warships multiple times, but there has yet to be a response from the United States. This is what happens when there is no deterrence. And when we try to deescalate, the Houthis and the IRGCs try to escalate. So we need to restore deterrence very rapidly to avoid a catastrophic mass casualty incident. I mean, just how dangerous is it becoming for shipping in this part of the world? I think it's becoming quite dangerous. And I think the United States and its allies are signaling that freedom of navigation in that part of the world is not really a core interest if they're not prepared to defend it. And let's not conflate the very heroic attempts to rescue international commercial vessels that have been in distress because of Houthi attacks with the lack of deterrence. Defense is very important. And I think the US and its allies have been doing a good job at that, but we have not been deterring these operations and they're becoming more frequent and more lethal. And that needs to change. And the Biden administration, of course, removed the Houthis from a list of terrorist groups, partly because it said it would complicate aid efforts into Yemen, but Washington also actively prevented the Saudi leg coalition from destroying the Houthis in Yemen. And again, citing humanitarian concerns, is this just a case of the chickens coming home to roost, if you will? I agree. I think that it was a very big mistake for the United States not only to remove the Houthis foreign terrorist organization designation, but they also removed the specially designated global terrorist organization as well. And the removal of that terrorism architecture from the Houthis was really a symptom of the United States viewing it nearly as an issue related to Saudi Arabia and its ongoing involvement in Yemen. But let's not forget that the Houthis are demonstrating that they are a transnational threat beyond Saudi Arabia and they are increasingly focusing their ire on Israel. And they are a terrorist organization. It is time for the United States to redesignate them as such and for the Biden administration to correct the mistake it made in February, 2021. And as you point out, this is part of a wider picture of Iranian backed attacks on numerous US assets and troops in the region. I think there have been 76 attacks since October 7th. The Biden administration's priority seems to be very much to contain this conflict and not let it spiral into a regional conflict. I mean, what is behind that? Is it because we're coming up to an election year and isn't it a little late for that? I agree it's late for that. I think that the Biden administration's best efforts to contain and deescalate and prevent it from becoming a wider regional war has actually resulted in the reverse. And that has been seen through the mounting attacks on US forces of which there has been a lackluster response and in some cases, no response. And that has increased the risk appetite of Tehran and the IRGC. And that has created a very dangerous situation for US forces in the Middle East. The Biden administration is showcasing that attacks on US personnel and forces in the Middle East are cheap. And that is a very big, dangerous situation that we have to reverse. And of course, for many years now, Jason, you've been warning that US policy with regard to Iran is too lax, has led Iran get too powerful. The JCPOA, the nuclear deal, just one example of that. But do you see a shift at all in Washington? Do you think the policy is changing? No, I don't, unfortunately. I see that Washington and also in Europe, they are still wedded to old assumptions regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. And let's not underestimate what happened on October 7th. The IRGC, through its partner Hamas, perpetrated the worst massacre of the Jewish community since the Holocaust. And if that's not a wake-up call, I don't know what would be. There has to be a complete reset of our Iran policy. We cannot just view Iran solely through the lens of a nuclear file. And over decades of doing so, the chickens are coming home to roost now with what happened on October 7th. And Israelis are on the front line and paying the price. Let me draw your attention to a Gallup poll that's out this afternoon. 60% of Democrats approve of President Biden's handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. But only 36% of Democrats approve of Israel's military action in Gaza. This kind of mirrors what we're seeing with the administration, doesn't it? They want Hamas to be destroyed, but they want Israel to do it in a way that causes no civilian casualties, no displacement, something that has never been achieved by any military power in the history of the world. Right. Well, I think the Biden administration is walking a tightrope. The President feels deeply, in terms of his personal history of a connection to the security of the state of Israel. That's palpable. But at the same time, there are these countervailing pressures within the Democratic Party where allies are treated like adversaries and adversaries are treated like potential partners. And unless and until the Democratic Party reconciles that we're gonna continue to have these tensions. All right, Jason Broski. Great to talk to you, policy director at United Against the Nuclear Run. Thanks very much. Thank you. All right, well, Yakov Lapin's still with me in the studio and just reacting to what you just heard there. You know, we've got an increasingly belligerent Iran and its proxies attacking not only Israel, but also US and British assets in the region. Is there gonna be a point where the US is gonna have to grasp the nettle here? It's gonna have to tackle this threat head on? I hope so because what's at stake is not only regional security, but global security as well. The Houthis in my view are being activated by Iran as a way of threatening global commerce as well as the transfer of substantial amounts of oil and gas that all flow through the Babylon-Amanda region. And essentially, the Iranians are using the Houthis to extort the world and the global economy to say pressure Israel into some sort of ceasefire or the global economy will get it. That's the kind of extortion racket I think that the Iranians are trying to run right now. But behind that is a much larger threat, which is that every time Iran is going to end up in a situation where it's not happy about where things are going in terms of its own radical agenda, it's going to activate a proxy in order to sabotage and extort and undermine and threaten global security. And this is the Iranian playbook. This is why it's set up all of these proxies all over the Middle East. And the Saudis and the Emiratis and the Egyptians, the moderate Sunni bloc behind the scenes are all looking to the United States to see what happens next because the entire regional architecture is founded on the ability of the U.S. to lead it. And if the U.S. ends up being missing in action, that's going to have a very detrimental effect on the whole region. This is much more than just Israel and Hamas. And push Arab countries closer towards Russia and China perhaps. Perhaps against their will. But certainly we saw already how the Saudis basically were forced to engage the Iranians diplomatically. This was not a real detente and I don't believe it was for a second, but it was a basically de-escalation management. But it was also a sign of distress. I think the Saudis and the Emiratis and the Bahrainis are all saying, who is leading this bloc? And the Iranians are getting stronger. Their economy was growing stronger. Their nuclear program is advancing. Nobody was doing anything about it. And now, as was said just now very accurately, the results are in and they're not good and action is needed, I think, by the U.S. as well. All right, Yakov, thank you very much. Yakov Lapin there. Well, volunteers from around the world have jetted into Israel over the past few weeks to help with the war efforts, including a group from as far away as Taiwan. They've come to help farmers in the coastal Israeli city of Rishbon. Uri Shapira has this report. More than 8,000 kilometers separates Israel and Taiwan. But today it seems that the two countries are closer than ever. Officials from Taiwan have decided to join the current Israeli war effort and volunteered to work in the fields of the coastal village of Rishbon. Since the whole world looked at October 7th, Hamas terrorist in Harro, Taiwan was one of the first countries to express our solidarity with Israel and express our condolence to the perished people. And the political support is very strong. And over the past 30 years, the social foundation between the two societies and people are also very deep rooted. So we feel it's important to come more support with the civilian sectors, including agricultural sectors. This is a part of a project led by Hashomer Chadash for the New Guard, an Israeli organization which helps farmers across the country. Its co-founder says that walking in the field is a prime goal in Israel today as there is a lack of tens of thousands of workers. The power of this nation, the power of the people, the power of the society inside Israel, this is the strongest power that we have. And to tell you the truth, I spoke with the Minister of Education and I told him, please let the students come to the field for a few months to the field, start the learning and come to the field and work because people all over Israel need to eat. Among the volunteers we found Yanir and Maayan, two students and a couple who decided to take time off university and contribute to local industry. It's a tough job, but it is very rewarding. Exactly. It is nice to see the container getting full of fruit. I think that working in the field really binds us as a couple. Yes. The Taiwanese representative in Israel says that despite the different cultures, Israel and Taiwan have a lot in common. Like Israel, Taiwan has been under constant threat from our neighbor, country, China. We understand the commitment to defend the homeland and we understand the commitment to exercise the right of our defense. Despite the hot weather, volunteers are not worried by the hard work and continue their contribution, one of many since October 7th. Nice to see people jetting in from as far afield as Taiwan to help Israel out. And Yakov Lapin, I mean, this war is costing the economy dearly, isn't it? It's going to be an enormous bill that the economy is going to have to foot. And, you know, we have so many businesses in the north and the south that are not functioning. They're going to need help. The Ministry of Economy has unrolled an assistance package. There have been complaints that it's not sufficient, so there's going to be a lot of back and forth, I think, between struggling businesses and the government, especially as the next budget, is formulated. But in addition to all of that, you know, I think that the fact that so many reservists have been called up and we're away from their job places is also going to have a huge effect. The military expenses are astronomical. It's going to be many billions. So when you put it all together, this is a huge economic challenge. You know, it reminds me of Corona. I don't have the exact figures, but, you know, we're in that ballpark. Yeah, there's going to be a big recovery effort after this war, as with all wars, of course. And Israel still very much needs international investment. That is key, isn't it? All right, Yakov Lapin, great to talk to you. Thank you very much indeed. And we'll just go back to Herzliah now because two of the freed hostages, Maya and Itai Regev, brother and sister, have returned. They've been released from hospital. There you can see them in that van. They're driving through Herzliah. Crowds of well-wishers in the central city of Herzliah have come out onto the streets to welcome them home. There we can see them in the front seat. You recognize Maya with the long brown hair. There's her brother. They were separated. They were both taken hostage separately from the Reim. The Nova Music Festival near Reim. They were held separately. Mia, who was shot in the leg, was seriously injured. She was released earlier. Itai followed, I think, a day or two later. And now they are reunited. Their parents must be absolutely thrilled. They have been through hell. And they're now back in the community with their families, with their friends, where they belong. And, of course, a reminder that 137 hostages, the overwhelming majority of them, Israeli, are still being held by terrorists in Gaza. And no one in this country forgets them for one second, even when we see joyous scenes like this. These scenes always tinged with sadness that many of our people are still not back home. Stay with us. Our coverage continues here on I-24 News.