 directly impacted the area, two of the victims, including the man who was killed himself, are actually from the Gaza Strip. They were working in Israel with permits. The third was a Bedouin Israeli man. Now residents of the South are feeling the brunt of the rocket attacks, and many have chosen to flee their homes for safer refuge in the North at this point. There aren't any, aren't a lot of people left in the world right now. Most people drove away to stay away from the bombing with their families, with their children. Those who stayed are very tense, nobody's working. So in addition to the fear, the tense, there's also big economic problems and people are being hurt. Well, at this point, over 70 people have received medical care in Israel since the start of Israel's Operation Shield and Arrow in the Gaza Strip, targeting the Islamic Jihad. And two people have been killed. This morning alone, the IDF says it's taken out another two Islamic Jihad command centers in the Strip, along with three underground rocket launchers. The Hamas Rangazah Health Ministry says that at least 33 people have been killed in the over 370 airstrikes that Israel has carried out, and over 140 have been injured as well. The IDF for its part says that at least 17 of those killed were terrorists, and four were civilians that were killed by failed Islamic Jihad rocket launches that fell short into Ghazan territory. Now according to reports, Israel has rejected a ceasefire deal from Egypt and talks are stalled. The Israeli Chief of General Staff Major General Herzi Halevi says, quote, we are prepared to continue the targeted countermeasures and attacks in a precise and increasing manner as we've done in recent days. Like to turn now to our correspondent, Hamda Salhu, who joins us from southern Israel just near the Iron Dome Air Defense System. So we know now that that 35 year old man who was killed by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket just a couple of hours ago in the southern Israeli community of Sholkedah was actually from the Gaza Strip. He was working in Israel on a permit along with another Gaza man who was seriously injured. So what kind of response are we hearing from the Palestinian community in the Gaza Strip, especially known that there are over 20,000 workers from Gaza in Israel? Look at this time, we're not really hearing much from the Palestinians other than shock and it would be quite surprising to hear anything from the leadership inside of Gaza about their own rockets targeting their people inside of Israel on work permits. We do know there's a lot of conflicting reports when it comes to how many people killed in the Gaza Strip, what weapons killed, what people, but we do know on the Palestinian side there will always be denial and they will continuously put the blame on the Israeli military. I'm standing here with the Iron Dome Missile Defense System behind me, which has been working at around a 91% success rate. There have been over 1200 projectiles launched from the Gaza Strip. We're talking about mortars, rockets and other sort of projectiles that the Iron Dome has been able to intercept and do with its policy. They don't really go for projectiles that are going to fall into open areas, but in terms of saving lives, this missile defense system is doing just that. Now we are hearing reports that Israel has rejected a ceasefire deal from Egypt. At this point, how long can we expect this conflict to last? And you know, are Israeli residents of the south supporting the continued move? Well, look, it's still unclear how long this conflict will last, especially because there are now talks of Hamas joining in on the fighting. And Islamic Jihad's leaderships, the Al-Quds Brigades, the Military Wing, putting out a statement earlier today saying that they're ready for months of conflict and they really don't care about the consequences. They're just ready to avenge the deaths of their leaders. Since we've been standing here, the Iron Dome Missile Defense System has gone off multiple times to intercept rockets in this area directly overhead. Red Alerts still in several parts of southern Israel for continued rocket fire. No signs of any sort of ceasefire just yet. But earlier today in the early morning hours, PIJ saying that they're willing to talk to the Egyptians and are appreciative of their efforts. But there are a lot of things that both PIJ and Israel want off the table that's not the case at this time. All right, Hamd, I'd like to thank you for joining us. We will have you back with us later on in the studio. I'd like to turn now to Major General in the Reserve Zetan Dan Goti, as a former military secretary to three Ministers of Defense. Now, the IDF chief of staff said that Israel is prepared to continue these targeted assassinations. But there clearly seems to be no interest agreeing to any type of ceasefire at this point as a result of that. What does this mean for the future of the conflict? I think that it does not as, maybe I will surprise you, any impact of the chance to get, stop the fire, even if it's not a ceasefire by the Egyptians in their dialogue with the Jihad Islamic. Because I think the message for the chief of defense staff is the message for IDF goals. Goals is to continue to strike and to beat the people from the Jihad Islamic according to heroic activities, operations as we are did with success now. And I think that the Jihad Islamic in a way, they are going down the capability to survive. On the other end, we don't know what the chief of defense staff is recommending in the discussion with the prime minister and the minister of defense. I've been in such discussions, it's good that it's not published. I think that one thing is clear. On one end, Israel will not stop the fire till Jihad Islamic continues to fire and to launch rockets. Even you can identify signs, it's going weaker and weaker. Secondly, I think that the efforts to stop the fire by the Egyptian, the main player maybe are surprised is not the Jihad Islamic is the Hamas. Because Hamas has a lot of impact on the Jihad Islamic concerns some reasons. One of them, for example, is the fact that Hamas is the entity for 2.3 million people that will be already one week under fire. The Jihad Islamic has no kind of obligation towards this population at all. Secondly, we are very close to Jerusalem Day coming next Thursday. And as you are more and more coming to it, the motivation of Hamas not to stop the fire will be higher. So it can be developed. If you ask me now, what are the chances, I will tell you 50-50. Interesting. All right. Well, that is exactly what I wanted to mention was that Jerusalem flag march that's coming up on Thursday. That is what is kind of seen as a triggering point for the conflict that we saw back in May of 2021 with Hamas. What kind of response can we expect at this point from Palestinian factions? Because you're essentially saying that Hamas will get involved. Look, what is the circumstances? What happened because of a prisoner that was died in the jail belong to the Jihad Islamic has no great symbol or meaning to all the others. When you are coming to Jerusalem Day, you are coming to the Jihad Islamic. Multi-area terror threat towards Israel. Jerusalem in the middle. So the ambitious of Hamas, Hezbollah, North, Lebanon, the Golanites, West Bank is quite different. It can be another story if it moves towards it. All right. Well, I'd like to thank you for joining us. Unfortunately, we are out for a quick break. We have to take a commercial break here. But when we get back, we are going to continue with our discussion on where this conflict is headed. We saw as we see no ceasefire in sight in the coming days for now. Again, I'm Natasha Kierke things for joining us. We'll be back in the next couple of minutes. 9 30 PM GMT continues to grow into the most dynamic mobile hardware portfolio in the market today. The tech in Paris this June, the tech is Europe's bigger business meets innovation, jumpstart business deals with the leaders in tech, discover cutting edge innovation, minds changing the world. Is it worth it? Weren't you listening? It's the number one startup and tech event in Europe. Be there. We are back on I-24 News. I'm Natasha Kierke and thanks for sticking with us. Israel's Maghende Viva Dome Ambulance Service says that it has now provided medical treatment to over 70 people since the start of the IDF's operation Shield and Arrow on Tuesday. Two people have been killed in rocket attacks from the Islamic Jihad, one of whom was a Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip who was working here in Israel on a permit. The IDF is continuing to carry out targeted strikes against PIJ military sites as we speak. We know that 33 Palestinians have been killed according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 17 of whom the IDF claims were terrorists. Israel at this point has rejected a ceasefire deal and Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently in the midst of a security briefing, which hopefully we're going to have more information about shortly. I'd like to turn now to our guests in studio. We have our senior correspondent Owen Alterman joining us along with Major General and the Reserves Ehtan Dangot, he's a former military secretary to three ministers of defense. Owen, I want to turn to you first here because we haven't really been discussing much in the past couple of hours. The international response to this latest round of violence that we're seeing between Israel and the PIJ, break down kind of some of the rhetoric that we're hearing right now. Right, obviously people here in Natasha especially focused on Washington for obvious reasons. And we've seen their readouts of two phone calls and they kind of sets us up on a timeline showing the direction of events. First a few days ago, a call between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, his Israeli counterpart, Zakhia Negbi, and there the money words essentially emphasizing the need for de-escalation. Those are the words used in the American readout of that phone call. Forward to a phone call yesterday between Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on one hand, Ron Dürmer, Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister, on the other, of course Dürmer very, very close to Benjamin Netanyahu. And the language used in that American readout, urgency for an immediate ceasefire, right? So emphasizing the need to de-escalation, I use my hands to show you right, urgency for an immediate ceasefire. You can see where the left hand is heading and the right hand is heading in real directions. Well, this government seems to be saying that's nice, but no thank you because we know from reports that they have just rejected a ceasefire deal that Egypt put forward. So what does that say in terms of the relationship right now between this current government and the United States? Well, a couple of things. First of all, what it says is that ultimately when the Israeli leadership meets in the closed room, and Eitan Dhangut has been in those rooms, right? And has to make its decisions, they're taking a lot of things into account. And of course Israel's international standing is part of it, but it's certainly not the only thing. There's obviously public opinion here, and most importantly, at least I would hope that the security situation itself, right? And what exactly the military and the intelligence officials recommend, and what's the right move for Israel's security and policy? So the USM element, I'm sure is in the room, but it certainly isn't decisive or definitive, although obviously very, very important. But don't forget Natasha, in the big picture, Israel seem to have wanted a ceasefire for days now, simply not being able to agree to the conditions that Islamic jihad is putting down. At any rate, an interesting statement coming out from two European foreign ministers from France and Germany, and the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan meeting a day or two ago in Germany. And coming out with a long statement where essentially they say the same thing, right, urging an immediate ceasefire, and then going on and pivoting and talking about the need for a political process and a two-state solution and so forth. By the way, a statement that was endorsed by the European Union and Foreign Service itself. Well, go ahead, the thing is I just would like to turn to a Palestinian journalist that we have online with us right now, Rami Aman. He's a Palestinian journalist and peace activist from Gaza who is now in Cairo. And we really have one to kind of get more of a Palestinian perspective in terms of this ongoing violence. Give us a sense of how this conflict has impacted Palestinian support for the Islamic jihad more specifically. Let's support all of the Palestinians continue thinking about that. We have under very bad situation coming from the Palestinian division, coming from this kind of escalation from Israel, coming from everyone. So inside any Gaza, you are to create more kind of hopelessness about everything. Some people maybe will think to join a Palestinian faction. Islamic jihad or Hamas and any other faction, but some people, some other people will think about how can I make any kind of revenge coming from myself. And in a community like Gaza, you can find any groups can attract anyone suffering from Israeli army. In this kind of escalation, just to check how many civilians killed as always. There are not Islamic jihad, there are not Hamas, there are not including in this conflict. But you are inviting him to join this conflict and you are to create more enemies. To join Islamic jihad, to join Hamas, already you are to create a big circle against you. So I kind of want to talk though about support for the different Palestinian factions, whether or not that's Hamas or Palestinian Islamic jihad. Or even in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority. We've been seeing these waves and waves of violence over and over and over again. How has this changed who the Palestinian public supports? Who do they want to see be their leaders? The Palestinians already don't have any kind of a chance to make any kind of election if the Israeli government or America or the European Union want the Palestinians to make elections to find a new leadership, they will make it. But until now, we have no chance to create a new leader. The international community, including Israel, they want this regime. They want this kind of Palestinian leadership. They want this kind of division. They want to create more kind of hits. But forever, until what? You are just to create nothing. I want to ask you, we're hearing now a report from Al Jazeera saying that foreign and diplomatic delegations from Gaza are going to be evacuated due to this escalation. What does that mean to locals who are living in the Gaza Strip? Do they expect the situation to get worse if we know that these foreign delegations are now leaving? The people in Gaza know everything. People in Gaza know the reality of this country. What is it? Promoting the media is a different kind of reality. The European countries, they have, of course, their visions. They have their agendas. And this kind of you just create to make something against Israel or make something against this country. And then also they are the conclusion is feeding this company, benefit or benefit from this company. In war time or in ceasefire or in normal time, who benefited from this company? Just ask about the ceremony for any European representative working in the United Nations or working in the European Union in Gaza or in Israel. Ask him about the ceremony. And in the end, just meetings and talking and media press and nothing. Right. So it seems that the people of Gaza have basically lost hope in any of the leadership that exists right now. This is our normal life waiting another massive coming from here or from there. The Palestinians called the Israelis. Right. In the end, I miss my son, I miss my father, I miss my family, I miss my whole. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that that's kind of the narrative that we're hearing from both sides is that most of the people on the ground want this to end. And they feel that the leadership in place isn't really representing their direct needs, and that's both from the Palestinian public and Israeli public perspective. I'd like to thank you so much, Rami, for joining us and kind of letting us hear what it is that you have to say. All right, I'm going to turn back to our guests in the studio, Major General in the Reserve Zetan, Dan Goethe. I'd like to turn back to you. 33 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The IDF says that at least 17 of them were terrorists, that four were killed by PAJ rockets that ended up falling short in the Gaza Strip so they didn't make it into Israeli territory. But the Israeli military has also admitted to at least ten casualties, civilian casualties. And they say that that's extremely difficult to avoid given the fact that the PIJ is launching rockets from highly densely populated areas. My question for you is, having sat in those security assessment rooms, do you believe Israel is doing enough to avoid these kinds of casualties? Because that is obviously one of the biggest critiques that we're hearing from the international community. I'm not thinking I'm sure, because I've been there. I participate in some activities. And I know how it's coming to such discussions. From the time you decide to confirm an operation, till even when the aircraft on the way, and it identifies something that is stop and turn around back. And there is not few stories about it, but quite many. And there is a procedure that you are escorted by a special Royal Department military that are checking what you are doing. And sometimes they are coming against the commander's decision concerning confirming such activities. On the other end, you have to be aware, we spoke with the army. Unfortunately, 2.3 million people from Gaza are living their life. But Hamas, Jihad Islamic, are using this urban area to get a life shelter to themselves, inside hospitals, inside the apartments, inside everywhere. By the time we are talking now, 17,000, it was not published. 17,000 Palestinians workers didn't return back last Tuesday to Gaza. They are staying in Israel during the rockets shooting from Gaza to Israel. They are in some places in Ashkelon, other places. And even today, one of them unfortunately was hurt. So Israel didn't take a step and say everybody going back to Gaza. Do you identify that on their level of humanitarian activities, Israel will continue as general? We have two crossing. Both of them were launched by rockets today. Air is crossing, yesterday Kerem Shalom crossing. So on the other end, from all this kind, first of all, we have to define our people, our civilians, and we are doing it. I'm not coming to say it's the best army that are taking an account, civil life, et cetera. I know concerning ourselves that we have a lot of checking before we are doing it. And even in the beginning of this operation, there was discussion. Sometimes you have to pay because these three killers were in their apartments, were in apartments with people who are helping them with maybe some family members. And after it, we are checking again what happened there to us. So in my opinion, we are doing it, not as many armies all over the world. So you were just obviously referring to the three Palestinian Islamic Jihad senior members who were targeted in that first surprise attack on Tuesday morning. And these were almost nine to 10 people. Right, right. And there were their wives, children, and other people who were killed as well in that specific attack. I'd like to turn now to you, Owen, because this kind of brings me directly to the question of media coverage and how the media has been covering this latest cycle of violence. What have you been seeing on that end? Not much. I mean, the international media seems not to be interested. I mean, if you're watching from home, pick your international media website, okay? Not one based in the Middle East. Not us, of course, or Al Jazeera or TRT, for that matter, of course, Turkey holding its elections tomorrow. But an international website, and see where this scroll down, and see where this lands up with their headlines. You'll be scrolling for a long time. It's one of the really unanswered questions and really intriguing questions about this round of fighting, why the international media is so disinterested. I think it's something we in Israel should be paying a lot of attention to. Do you really understand why? I think we all can have our own theories about why, whether it's just exhaustion of the Israel Gaza story, if it's the rise in prominence of the Ukraine war in China and other foreign policy issues, or for that matter, the Turkish elections. But it's an unanswered question. I think there are a lot of hypotheses out there that I think will be worth reporting on and testing. It's a very, very important question. I think for Israel, strategically going forward. All right, well, I'd like to thank you both so much for joining us. Unfortunately, we are out for a break right now, but we will be continuing with our rolling coverage of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic jihad in the coming hours. So make sure.