 Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where we see it. As our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. To this special broadcast here at I-24 News, as we continue our rolling coverage on day 47 of the war here in Israel, it's a deal with the devil and yet a deal worthwhile. In the last 24 hours, the hostage release agreed on with Hamas is set to begin with soldiers confirming to I-24 News a potential cease of fire take effect by 10 a.m. local time tomorrow morning, following which the first group of hostages, children, their mothers and elderly women kidnapped from their beds on October 7th supposed to be making their way back home from captivity in the Gaza Strip to Israel, nerve-wracking hours still ahead as God is in the details. And so is the devil. Many questions still unanswered. Who will return and who will not? How will families be split up? What will happen to those who remain captive and whether Hamas, who is engaged in extortion more than negotiations, will actually deliver its part of the deal without last minute tricks and what happens if it won't? One thing is for certain, there is a difference between a price and a cost and bringing the hostages back home is worth it all. So with the outline of the hostage deal, I-24 News Middle East correspondent Ariel Osserman. 47 days since the start of the war in Gaza and a glimmer of hope for the families of over 230 hostages held captive by Hamas. Early Tuesday morning, Israel's cabinet approved a hostage deal with Hamas that would see the release of 50 women and children hostages in exchange for a four-day ceasefire. Tonight, we face a difficult decision, but it is the right decision. All the security factors fully support it. They clarified in their full professional assessment the security of our forces will be guaranteed during the days of ceasefire and that the intelligence effort will be maintained. Under the deal confirmed also by the US and Qatar, 50 civilian hostages will be released in four batches one day at a time. After four days, the ceasefire will be extended by one day for the release of 10 additional hostages. In exchange, Israel will release 150 Palestinian security prisoners, women and minors, but non-convicted of murder. Israel commits to limit its drone surveillance activity in northern Gaza and to completely suspend it in the south during the ceasefire. Israel will also allow 300 aid trucks to enter Gaza, including fuel. Without the continuation of military pressure, there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages that we want to bring back. I believe that we are at a decisive moment in this matter and we all hope that there will be a temporary truce according to which the hostilities will be halted for a few days. Relief entry to our people will be intensified and civilians, women and children, will be exchanged for women and children from the occupation prisons. The Lebanese newspaper Nidal Watan reports that while not a side to the deal, Hezbollah will adhere to the ceasefire as well, provided Israel does so too. As for the families of the hostages, news of the expected deal were received with mixed feelings. On one side, I'm happy. Second, I'm worried, okay? Because nobody told me that my family will be there in this deal, okay? There was 40 children in South Gaza and they go through this only 30, where are the others? I don't know and I hope that everybody will release. A deal with the devil, some Israelis are calling this, but with no real alternative, Israel will have to prove that the war effort is interred by it. The same thing goes to the chances to bring back the rest of the hostages. And we want to turn now to former director general of the Israeli ministry of strategic affairs, Brigadier General Yosef Cooper Vassar, former head of the research division at the IDF. Thank you very much, Brigadier General Cooper Vassar, for joining us. Before we begin our conversation, let me just update you and our viewers. Once again, this afternoon, red alerts being heard across Israeli northern communities. And we will be bringing you more information once it becomes available. Brigadier General Cooper Vassar, there are foreign reports that Mossad chief David Bornea is a route to Qatar, to Doha, to make sure that the hostage deal is actually materializing at this point in time, sir, what can foil it? Well, in my mind, only very limited things can foil it. Both sides have agreed to the deal. There are all kinds of issues that may be still open, like what happens if some Hamas terrorist appear in the area controlled by the Israelis in northern Gaza, and how we supposed to not shoot a team or can we take action against him? These are all kinds of small details that can still cause trouble at this point. And of course, the rest of the things that I think that the head of the Mossad is going to be involved with while he's in Qatar is just to exchange the names and make sure that he gets everything that needs to be given to Israel before the exchange begins. Because indeed, the first indication or the first step of this hostage deal is set to begin tonight, not tomorrow morning. And that is the release of the list of the hostages that are to be released tomorrow by Hamas, of course. Yes. And until now, we haven't heard what names of the children and women are in Hamas captivity and who are in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad captivity and who are in the hands of all kinds of families, private families in Gaza. So we're still in the dark on many of the specifics of this deal. Right. And as a side note to that, Hamas is promising if the promises of Hamas worth anything that during the ceasefire, they will use the time to locate those hostages they claim not to be in their hands at this point in time. Brigadier General Koupervasser, it might seem on the sidelines of this deal, but it is likely to be an issue that continues to be at the center of attention for months if not years to come. We are hours away from the spending deal and yet on the Israeli side, there's still the Supreme Court kosher stamp as in rejecting pleas that will seek to halt the deal. In any case, police is getting ready to prevent celebrations of those terrorists being released in East Jerusalem and elsewhere, not an easy concession here and yet one that is worthwhile. Yes, there is the half full glass that we have to look at. And two things that we have managed to accomplish. One is to release the children and women that are going to be released. And that's something very important because time is of the essence in this respect because they are in a very dangerous situation. We don't know how long something like that can last with children of less than four years old. So it's something that has to be solved fast and that's why we accepted the deal. And the second thing that's not less important is the understanding that we have reached with the Americans. This is very critical for what's going to happen when the ceasefire of the pose gets to its end. We are now at the same page with the American administration on the fact that after the pose, the military operation will continue and we should keep the pressure on Hamas until we upload Hamas from Gaza, eliminate it there and make sure that Gaza will not be a threat for the people of Israel living next to Gaza or anywhere else. And this is the most important thing I think beyond releasing the hostages. Yes, the price is painful and the celebrations of terrorists that were only recently arrested after carrying out all kinds of terror attacks. This is going to be painful for us to watch and I hope the police will be able to do something about it but I'm skeptical about that. And yes, we are still going to have many Israelis in captivity in Gaza. So the situation is not going to be easy after the deal is implemented but that's the, as you said, this deal was the devil. Yes, and this is what hell looks like and yet perhaps a glimmer of hope amidst all of it. Brigadier General Cooper Vassar, before we discuss what this ceasefire is going to look like on the ground and of course what is to happen next, we do want to turn now to the Vatican, to the Israeli ambassador, to the Vatican, Ambassador Eiffel shoots joining us from there. Thank you very much, Ambassador, for talking to us. Well, only a short hours ago you were present of course at this meeting of members of the families of the hostages with the Pope himself. What can you tell us? Well, a small correction. I didn't participate in the meeting because the Pope was adamant on having only family members and it is okay. I don't have any problem with that but of course I spoke with the families after they left the meeting. Prepare to have some connectivity issues? Yes, okay, yeah. The Pope listened very well. Okay, can I continue? Yes, keep on going, Ambassador, please, yeah. May I go? Okay, so what I heard from the families was that the Pope was empathic and listened very carefully and shared their deep feelings and their pain regarding the current reality. Some of the members of the families felt that the meeting was a little bit too short and they didn't have time to express themselves but in general terms the messages came through and the Pope was clear on making every effort that he can in order to... Yes, Ambassador Raphael shoots some port and unfortunately we're having some troubles hearing you properly but again an important meeting taking place earlier today in the Vatican members of the family of the families of the hostages met with the Pope today vowed to do whatever he can to help maybe we can restore the connection with Ambassador... Ambassador indeed a lot of empathy conveyed by the Pope but I wouldn't say little call for action but rather little ability to actually act here. Well, I would say that the Pope isn't the natural let's say intermediate although he's trying to help also in Crane and in other parts of the world goodwill from him is important one of the pillars of his vision in his decade as Pope was improving relations with the Muslim world so maybe he will be able to use that now in order to exercise some leverage you know when you have a situation like that you are trying every way in every channel and with the hope that something can help. Ambassador Raffael Schutze joining us from Rome, thank you very much Ambassador for speaking with us, we appreciate it thank you. Thank you. I'm back with Brigadier General Josef Kupavassar thank you very much for staying with us well let's do talk about how the seas fire that is set to begin short hours from now is going to look like underground, how each side if we can put it that way is going to utilize this pause in fighting let's begin with the enemy how can what will Hamas be doing in order to regroup how significant is the no aerial intelligence gathering from the Israeli side for Hamas I think Hamas is going to be focusing on two things simultaneously first on the operational and tactical level is going to regroup and redeploy forces and replenish its stocks especially fuels that's the main product that they've missed and they lack and they're going to do everything in their capacity to get as much fuel as they can because for living in the tunnels as they do they need this fuel to make sure that they have the ventilation necessary and they think that this is going to be a major effort and they're going to also move their forces from one place to another taking advantage of the fact that in part of the day there's no surveillance by the Israelis that they're going to make the best out of it that's one thing they're going to do and I'm worried about that this is going to make them more capable after four days or even larger or longer time that this pose can last on the other hand the other thing that they're going to be focusing on is making sure that trying to make sure that military operations by Israel are not going to be resumed once the pose is getting to its end in that respect like one thousand and one nights we're going to find all kinds of tricks by the Hamas to prolong the pose of the ceasefire as they call it and actually it's built in the agreement that if they will bring 10 more people or hostages and day after the four days and then days that this is part of the tactic the plan of Hamas to try and linger and stall the fighting on the ground as much as possible because they want to see happening is that Israel will give up on the targets of the war that was agreed upon by the Israeli public and the Israeli government which is to eliminate Hamas they want to see us satisfied with what we have accomplished so far and stop the war at this point this is their goal and they are using the hostages and they are using a lot of other means to convey the message to President Biden to convince him turn the Israelis to stop the war at this point and that's why it was as I said before we are sure that President Biden is on our side and believes that the war should continue until Hamas is eliminated Yes Brigadier General Mustafa Kupavasser please do stay with us once more because we want to turn now to one of many alarming fallouts of this war the war on US campuses triggering or rather revealing a shocking wave of anti-Semitism not just talk but action and we're turning now to Raphael Green counter-terrorism researcher at ActiveFence Raphael ActiveFence has been researching those student groups spearheading the pro-Hamas anti-Israeli demonstrations and actions and the findings are beyond terrifying Yes so what we did recently was wrote a report about a group called Students for Justice in Palestine this is a student group that has chapters in 200 campuses across the US and it's been spreading incitement for terrorism on social media and various platforms since the outbreak of the war on October 7 Yeah and we're talking about supportive terrorism encouraging martyrdom and celebrating civilian deaths there's no other way to put it Yes so what we've seen from this group from SJP our outright expressions of support for the October 7 attack these branches talked about the heroic resistance they talked about they said that there's no distinction between civilians and soldiers justifying the kidnapping and killing of civilians and they are goading the further violence from terrorist groups and Raphael you know what I find very interesting is that most of the pro-Hamas activists or many of them at least are covering their faces what do you make of it Do you mean in the demonstrations Yeah or ripping or ripping those posters we see many of them again with covered faces and reading your findings it doesn't necessarily add up So what I think we show in the report is that SJP has a history of support for terrorism it has a close affinity with the popular front for liberation of Palestine PFLP in terms of support that they offer for this organization and glorification of its leaders throughout its years and they've been propaganda on the internet on social media platforms and on the campuses themselves Yeah perhaps the silver lining here to an extent if we can use this term is that masks are now off when it comes to their true intentions not less alarming Raphael before we will let you go is the fact that many universities administrations are its best staying silent whilst facilitating those activities how do you fight back Well we've seen some steps to curtail support for terrorism the SJP support for terrorism we've seen the University of Brandeis Columbia and some others ban the SJP activity on campuses I think we need to continue to monitor and analyze what this group, SJP and others are saying online on social media to make sure that there's no support for groups that were designated by the U.S. as terrorist groups and that there's no incitement for terrorism so that we can keep the internet safe Yes indeed the fight is still long and all of you all of us need to keep up the fighting Raphael Green counterterrorism research at ActiveFence thank you very much for speaking with us before we had live to what is now for 47 days now dubbed the Haas Square in Tel Aviv you're seeing now live images of the Gaza Skyline just short hours before the ceasefire is set to take effect 10 a.m. local time tomorrow morning according to sources confirming this time to I-24 news and very soon in the coming hours the first indication that this deal is actually materializing Hamas is set to release the list of the first batch of hostages that are to make their way back home from the Gaza Strip to Israel as early as tomorrow the Israeli Mossad chief in Qatar and Doha in a bit to finalize all the little details that are still left to be to be finalized and we want to turn now to I-24 news senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman and again what is named the Haas Square in Tel Aviv hopefully this evening perhaps the beginning of the end for the Haas Square in Tel Aviv hopefully the beginning of a process in which hostages will be back home as soon as possible Owen the preparations ahead of the first batch are already underway and we're talking about hospitals getting ready also governmental institutions what does it mean how is it going to look like medically mentally in terms of bureaucracy listen Ellie these hostages obviously are going to need a lot of help you need medical attention both with their mental and mental health they're going to obviously need time to be with their families they're going to potentially imagine more challenging for small children but intelligence officers naturally in the military going to want to talk to them we had a guest on an intelligence expert on with us last night Israel time who was talking us through this right about how important it is to talk to the hostages and to talk to them right away because they may have operational information that can actually be used to find other hostages or give information about being in the welfare and the health of other hostages as well and as you mentioned when we spoke about an hour ago the very very difficult task for the soldiers who initially meet especially the children to try to do something to dodge questions about where the parents are because the parents in some of these situations in some of these circumstances may still be in the strip with God forbid hope not or the mothers may be separated at least temporarily or the parents might not be well after what happened October 7th how many of these households some orphans some orphans in the Gaza Strip their children parents have been murdered in on the October 7th massacre yeah I was trying to talk around it Ellie but there's really no way to do that in the meantime let me just give you a picture of what's happening here in Hostages Square I'll step away so you can take a look an artist now taking to the stage just a moment ago as we were speaking before her was Rami Kleinstein a well-known Israeli musician who tends to be but certainly here in Hostages Square plaintiffs on so very quickly do a pan around you can see a table set up for the needing of the Chalam or religious oriented ceremony and then all the way around a group that is or at least was standing in prayer for the evening prayers dissipating Ellie in general as I mentioned an hour ago the effort to free the hostages in the end the campaign has had more of a secular feel because of the demographics of the hostages but religiously observant Israeli is also finding ways to get involved now not to stop the fights until all of them are back home and thank you very much for this in Tel Aviv and now we want to move to the south to the Israel Gaza border Jonathan Regev a lot of activity in the evening before the expected ceasefire yes ceasefire is expected at 10 a.m. tomorrow watch some 16 perhaps a little bit more hours from now on the ground the ceasefire I don't know if you can hear but a lot of artillery here around us and we saw plenty of smoke now it's a bit more difficult to see because of the darkness but earlier a lot of a smoke coming from behind us from the Jabalia neighborhood inside the Gaza Strip so at least on the ground there seems to be a lot of action going on this evening just ahead of the ceasefire expected to begin tomorrow morning and we're seeing those light players are right there behind you Jonathan Regev from the Israel Gaza border 10 hours ahead nerve-wracking days ahead thank you for this and before we conclude this broadcast we want to go back to former director general of the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs Brigadier General Yosef Kuprovasser thank you very much Brigadier General Kuprovasser for staying with us throughout this broadcast well indeed in a few hours this ceasefire is supposed to take into effect is there anything to see during the ceasefire in terms of the Israeli forces underground well there's an opportunity to improve all kinds of things that while you fight you can't pay attention to refresh the forces allow them to mend all kinds of small things that went wrong and learn lessons from one group to another you can use the time to be better prepared for the resumption of the military activities once the pose is over and of course a very big intelligence effort to make sure that we know what the enemy is doing while we are posing and that's while they take advantage of the situation there's a lot of tasks for the military and be ready all the time, be alert all the time because you cannot trust the Hamas and that they are going to be prepared to resume the fight on their side while they have the opportunity so we have to be very much alert and we all remember what happened during the ceasefire back in 2014, Hamas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers back then they don't need to kidnap anybody they have so many people at their custody they really don't need this infamous picture during the ceasefire way back when with the scenery of the devastation and the Gaza Strip let's see if he has the audacity to do the same this time and Brigadier General SF Cooper Busser thank you very much for this our rolling coverage continues at the top of the hour, thanks for watching is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well to the special broadcast here on I-24 news as we continue our rolling coverage of the 1947 of the war here in Israel it's a deal with the devil and yet a deal worthwhile in less than 24 hours the hostage release agreed on with Hamas is set to begin with sources confirming to I-24 news a potential cease of fire take effect by 10 a.m. local time tomorrow morning following which the first group of hostages children, their mothers and elderly women kidnapped from their beds on October 7th taking their way back home from captivity in the Gaza Strip to Israel nerve-wracking hours still ahead as God is in the details and so is the devil many questions still unanswered who will return and who will not how will families be split up what will happen to those who remain captive and whether Hamas who is engaged in extortion more than negotiations will actually deliver it's part of the deal without less than a trick and what happens if it won't one thing is for certain there is a difference between a price and a cost and bringing the hostages back home is worth it all so with the outline of the hostage deal I-24 news Middle East correspondent Ariel Osserman 47 days since the start of the war in Gaza and a glimmer of hope for the families of over 230 hostages held captive by Hamas on Tuesday morning Israel's cabinet approved a hostage deal with Hamas that would see the release of 50 women and children hostages in exchange for a four day ceasefire tonight we face a difficult decision but it is the right decision all the security factors fully support it they clarified in their full professional assessment the security of our forces will be guaranteed during the days of ceasefire and that the intelligence effort will be maintained under the deal confirmed also by 50 civilian hostages will be released in four batches one day at a time after four days the ceasefire will be extended by one day for the release of 10 additional hostages in exchange Israel will release 150 Palestinian security prisoners women and minors but non-convicted of murder Israel commits to limit its drone surveillance activity in northern Gaza and to completely suspended in the south during the ceasefire Israel will also allow 300 aid trucks to enter Gaza including fuel without the continuation of military pressure there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages that we want to bring back I believe that we are at a decisive moment in this matter and we all hope that there will be a temporary truce according to which the hostilities will be halted for a few days relief entry to our people will be intensified and civilians women and children will be exchanged for women and children from the occupation prisons the Lebanese newspaper Nidal Watan reports that while not aside to the deal Izbullah will adhere to the ceasefire as well provided Israel does so too as for the families of the hostages news of the expected deal were received with mixed feelings on one side I'm happy second I'm worried okay because nobody told me that my family will be there in this this deal okay there was 40 children in Gaza and they go through 30 where are the others I don't know and I hope that everybody will release a deal with the devil some Israelis are calling this but with no real alternative Israel will have to prove that the war effort is interred by it the same thing goes to the chances to bring back the rest of the hostages and we want to turn now to former director general of the Israeli ministry of strategic affairs Brigadier General Yosef Cooper Vassar former head of the research division at the IDF thank you very much Brigadier General Cooper Vassar for joining us before we begin our conversation let me just update you and our viewers once again this afternoon there are other threats being heard across the Israeli northern communities and we will be bringing you more information once it becomes available Brigadier General Cooper Vassar there are foreign reports that Mossad chief David Bona is a route to Qatar to make sure that the hostage deal is actually materializing at this point in time sir can you foil it well in my mind only very limited things can foil it both sides have agreed to the deal there are all kinds of issues that may be still open like what happens if some Hamas terrorist appear in the area controlled by the Israelis in northern Gaza and are we supposed to not shoot a team or take action against them these are all kinds of small details that can still cause trouble at this point and of course the rest of the things that I think that the head of the Mossad is going to be involved with while he's in Qatar is just to exchange the names and make sure that he gets everything that needs to be given to Israel before the exchange begins because indeed the first indication or the first step of this hostage deal is said to begin tonight not tomorrow morning and that is the release of the list of the hostages that are to be released tomorrow by Hamas of course yes and until now we haven't heard what names out of the children and women are in Hamas captivity and who are in Palestinian Islamic Jihad captivity and who are in the hands of all kinds of families private families and Gaza so it's still in the dark on many of the specifics of this deal right and Hamas as a side note to that Hamas is promising if the promises of Hamas worth anything that during the ceasefire they will use the time to locate those hostages they claim not to be in their hands at this point in time Brigadier General Cooper Vaster it might seem on the sidelines of this deal but it is likely to be that continues to be at the center of attention for months if not years to come we are hours away from the spending deal and yet on the Israeli side there's still the Supreme Court kosher stamp as in rejecting pleas that will seek to halt the deal in any case police is getting ready to prevent celebrations of those terrorists being released in East Jerusalem and elsewhere not an easy concession here and yet one that is worthwhile yes there's the half full glass that we have to look at and two things that we have managed to accomplish one is to release the children and women that are going to be released and that's something very important because time is of the essence in this respect because they are in a very dangerous situation we don't know how long something like that can last with children of less than four years old so it's something that has to be solved fast and that's why we accepted the deal and the second thing that's not less important is the understanding that we have reached with the Americans this is very critical for the what's going to happen after the ceasefire or the pose gets to its end we are now on the same page with the American administration and the fact that after the pose the military operation will continue and we should keep the pressure on Hamas until we uproot Hamas from Gaza, eliminate it and make sure that Gaza will not be a threat for the people of Israel living next to Gaza or anywhere else and this is the most important thing I think beyond releasing the hostages and yes the price is painful and the celebrations of terrorists that were only recently arrested after carrying out all kinds of terror attacks this is going to be painful for us to watch and I hope the police will be able to do something about it but I'm skeptical about that and yes we are still going to have many Israelis in captivity in Gaza so the situation is not going to be easy after the deal is implemented but that's as you said this deal was the devil yes and this is what hell looks like and yet perhaps a glimmer of hope amidst all of it Brigadier General Cooper Vassar before we discuss what this disease far is going to look like underground and of course what is to happen next we do want to turn now to the Vatican, to the Israeli ambassador to the Vatican, Ambassador Efelech Schuetz joining us from there, thank you very much Ambassador for talking to us well only short hours ago you were present of course at this meeting of members of the families of the hostages with the Pope himself what can you tell us well small correction I didn't participate in the meeting because the Pope was adamant on having only family members and it is okay I don't have any problem with that but of course I spoke with the families after they left the meeting we appear to have some connectivity issues yes we can listen very well ok yes keep on going ambassador please may I go ok so what I heard from the families was that the Pope was empathic and listened very carefully and shared deep feelings and pain regarding current reality some of the members of the families that the meeting was a little bit too short and they didn't have time to express themselves but in general terms messages came through and the Pope was clear on making every effort that he can in order to yes Ambassador Efelech shoots important unfortunately we're having some troubles hearing you properly but again an important meeting taking place earlier today in the Vatican members of the families of the hostages met with the Pope today vowed to do whatever he can to help maybe we can restore the connection with ambassador shoots ambassador indeed a lot of empathy conveyed by the Pope I wouldn't say little call for action but rather little ability to actually act here well I would say that the Pope isn't the natural let's say intermediate although he's trying to help also in crane and in other parts of the world goodwill from him is important one of the pillars of his vision in his decade as Pope was improving relations with the Muslim world so maybe he will be able to use that now in order to exercise some leverage when you have a situation like that you are trying every way in every channel and with the hope that something can help Ambassador Efelech shoots joining us from Rome thank you very much ambassador for speaking with us we appreciate it thank you back with Brigadier general Efelech Kupovas thank you very much for staying with us well let's do talk about how the ceasefire that is set to begin short hours from now is going to look like on the ground how each side if we can put it that way is going to utilize this pause in fighting let's begin with the enemy how can what will Hamas be doing in order to regroup how significant is the no aerial intelligence gathering from the Israeli side for Hamas I think Hamas is going to be focusing on two things simultaneously first on the operational and tactical level is going to regroup and redeploy forces and replenish its stores of especially fuels that's the main product that they've missed and they lack and they're going to do everything in their capacity to get as much fuel as they can because for living in the tunnels as they do they need this fuel to make sure that they have the ventilation necessary and I think that this is going to be a major effort and they are going to also move their forces from one place to another taking advantage of the fact that in part of the day there's no surveillance by the Israelis that they are going to make the best out of it that's one thing they are going to do and I'm worried about that this is going to make them more capable after four days or even larger or longer time that this pose can last on the other hand the other thing that they are going to be focusing on is making sure that trying to make sure that military operations by Israel are not going to be resumed once the pose is getting to its end and in that respect like one thousand and one nights we are going to find all kinds of tricks by the Hamas to prolong the pose or the ceasefire as they call it so that actually it's built in the agreement that if they will bring 10 more people or hostages and day after the four days and then days that this is part of the tactic the plan of Hamas to try and linger and stall the fighting on the ground as much as possible because they want to see happening is that Israel will give up on the targets of the war that was agreed upon by the Israeli public and the Israeli government which is to eliminate Hamas they want to see us satisfied with what we have accomplished so far and stop the war at this point this is what this is their goal and they are using the hostages and they are using a lot of other means in order to convey the message to President Biden to convince him turn the Israelis to stop the war at this point and that's why it was as I said before so important to make sure that President Biden is on our side and believes that the war should continue until Hamas is eliminated Yes Brigadier General Mustafa Kupavassar please do stay with us once more because we want to turn now to one of many alarming fallouts of this war the war on US campuses triggering or rather revealing a shocking wave of anti-Semitism not just talk but action and we're turning now to Raphael Greene counter-terrorism researcher at ActiveFence Raphael ActiveFence has been researching those student groups spearheading the pro-Hamas anti-Israeli demonstrations and the findings are beyond terrifying Yes so what we did recently wrote a report about a group called Students for Justice in Palestine SJP this is a student group that has chapters in 200 campuses across the US and it's been spreading incitement for terrorism on social media and various platforms since the outbreak of the war on October 7 Yeah and we're talking about support of terrorism encouraging martyrdom and celebrating civilian deaths there's no other way to put it Yes so what we've seen from this group from SJP our outright expressions of support for the October 7 attack these branches talked about the heroic resistance they talked about they said that there's no distinction between civilians and soldiers justifying the kidnapping and killing of civilians and they are goading the further violence from terrorist groups and Rafael you know what I find very interesting is that most of the pro-Hamas activists or many of them at least are covering their faces what do you make of it Do you mean in the demonstrations Yeah or ripping or ripping those posters we see many of them again with covered faces and reading your findings it doesn't necessarily add up So what I think we show in the report is that SJP has a history of support for terrorism it has a close affinity with the popular front for liberation of Palestine PFLP in terms of support that they offer for this organization and glorification of its leaders throughout its years and they've been pushing this propaganda on the internet on social media platforms and on the campuses themselves Yeah perhaps the silver lining here to an extent if we can use this term is that masks are now off when it comes to their true intentions not less alarming Rafael before we will let you go is the fact that many universities administrations are at best staying silent at worst facilitating those activities how do you fight back Well we've seen some steps to curtail support for terrorism at the SJP's support for terrorism we've seen the University of Brandeis Columbia and some others ban the SJP activity on campuses I think we need to continue to monitor and analyze what this group SJP and others are saying online on social media to make sure that there's no support for groups that were designated as terrorist groups and that there's no incitement for terrorism so that we can keep the internet safe Yes indeed the fight is still long and all of you all of us need to keep up the fighting Rafael Green counter-terrorism our researcher at ActiveFence thank you very much for speaking with us Thank you before we had live to what is now for 47 days now dubbed maybe if you're seeing now live images of the Gaza skyline just short hours before the ceasefire is set to take effect 10am local time tomorrow morning according to sources confirming this time to I-24 news and very soon in the coming hours the first indication that this deal is actually materializing Hamas is set to release the list of the list of the first batch of hostages that are to make their way back home from the Gaza Strip to Israel as early as tomorrow the Israeli Mossad chief reportedly now in Qatar and Doha in a bit to finalize all the little details that are still left to be to be finalized and we want to turn now to I-24 news our diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman and again what is named the hostage square in Tel Aviv hopefully this evening perhaps the beginning of the end for the hostage square in Tel Aviv hopefully the beginning of a process in which all hostages will be back home as soon as possible Owen the preparations ahead of the first batch are already underway and we're talking about hospitals getting ready also governmental institutions what does it mean how is it going to look like medically mentally in terms of bureaucracy listen Ellie these hostages obviously are going to need a lot of help you need medical attention both with their physical and mental health they're going to obviously need time to be with their families they're going to potentially imagine more challenging for small children but intelligence officers especially in the military going to want to talk to them we had a guest on an intelligence expert on with us last night Israel time who was talking us through this about how important it is to talk to the hostages and to talk to them right away because they may have operational information that can actually be used to find other hostages or give information about the well-being and the welfare and the health of other hostages as well and as you mentioned when we spoke about an hour ago the very very difficult task for the soldiers who initially meet the children to try to do something to dodge questions about where the parents are because the parents in some of these situations in some of these circumstances may still be in the strip with God forbid hope not or the mothers may be separated at least temporarily or the parents might not be well after what happened October 7th in so many of these households some orphans in the Gaza Strip their children, parents have been murdered in on the October 7th massacre yeah I was trying to talk around it Ellie but there's really no way to do that in the meantime let me just give you a picture of what's happening here in Hasidjah Square I'll step away so you can take a look an artist now taking to the stage just a moment ago as we were speaking before her was Rami Gleinstein a well-known Israeli musician and you can see the crowd gathering around just so much of Israeli music tends to be but certainly here in Hasidjah Square plaintive songs will very quickly do a pan around you can see a table set up for the needing for a religious oriented ceremony and then all the way around a group that is or at least was standing in prayer for the evening prayer is dissipating. Ellie in general as I mentioned an hour ago the effort to free the Hasidjahs in the end the campaign has had more of a secular feel because of the demographics of the Hasidjahs but religiously observant Israelis also finding ways to get involved and of course the vow not to stop the fight until all of them are back home thank you very much for this welcome to the Israel Gaza border art 2040 senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev Jonathan a lot of activity in the evening before the expected ceasefire yes ceasefire is expected at 10 a.m. tomorrow what's on some 16 perhaps a little bit more hours from now on the ground no ceasefire I don't know if you can hear but a lot of artillery here around us and we saw plenty of smoke now it's a bit more difficult to see because of the darkness but earlier a lot of a smoke coming from behind us from the Jabalia neighborhood inside the Gaza Strip so at least on the ground there seems to be a lot of action going on this evening just ahead of the ceasefire expected to begin tomorrow morning and we're seeing those light flares are right there behind you Jonathan Regev from the Israel Gaza border 10 hours ahead nerve-wracking days ahead thank you for this and before we conclude this broadcast we want to go back to former director general of the Israeli ministry of strategic affairs Brigadier General Yosef Coop Professor thank you very much Brigadier General Coop Professor for staying with us throughout this broadcast well indeed in a few hours this ceasefire is supposed to take into effect what are we to see during the cease of fire in terms of the Israeli forces on the ground well there's an opportunity to improve all kinds of things that while you fight you can't pay attention to refresh the forces, allow them to mend all kinds of small things that went wrong and learn lessons from one group to another you can use the time to be better prepared for the resumption of the military activities once the pose is over and of course a very big intelligence effort to make sure that we know what the enemy is doing while we are posing and that's while they take advantage of the situation there's a lot of tasks for the military and be ready all the time, be unalert all the time because you cannot trust the Hamas and that they are going to be prepared to resume the fight on their side while they have the opportunity so we have to be very much unalert and we all remember what happened during the ceasefire back in 2014 Hamas kidnapped Pena to Israeli soldiers back then they don't need to kidnap anybody they have so many people that really don't need also this infamous picture of Yixin Huar during the ceasefire way back when with the scenery of the devastation and the Gaza Strip let's see if he has the audacity to do the same this time around Brigadier General Sef Cooper Busser thank you very much for this our rolling coverage continues at the top of the hour, thanks for watching we are 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 bringing Israel's story to the world i24 news channels now on hot Israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well come to our special coverage here on i24 news Israel and Hamas have agreed on a four-day ceasefire to allow the release of 50 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange, Israel will release 150 Palestinian women and juveniles in prison in Israel Israel has more 47 days since the start of the war in Gaza and a glimmer of hope for the families of over 230 hostages held captive by Hamas early Tuesday morning Israel's cabinet approved a hostage deal with Hamas that would see the release of 50 women and children hostages in exchange for a four-day ceasefire tonight we face a difficult decision but it is the right decision all the security factors fully support it in their full professional assessment the security of our forces will be guaranteed during the days of ceasefire and that the intelligence effort will be maintained under the deal confirmed also by the US and Qatar 50 civilian hostages will be released in four batches one day at a time after four days the ceasefire will be extended by one day for the release of 10 additional hostages in exchange Israel will release 150 Palestinian security prisoners women and minors but non-convicted of murder Israel commits to limit its drone surveillance activity in northern Gaza and to completely suspend it in the south during the ceasefire Israel will also allow 300 aid trucks to enter Gaza including fuel without the continuation of military pressure there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages that we want to bring back I believe that we are at a decisive moment in this matter and we all hope that there will be a temporary truce according to which the hostilities will be halted for a few days Relief entry to our people will be intensified and civilians, women and children will be exchanged for women and children from the occupation prisons the Lebanese newspaper Nidal Watan reports that while not a side to the deal Hezbollah will adhere to the ceasefire as well provided Israel does so too as for the families of the hostages news of the expected deal were received with mixed feelings on one side I'm happy second I'm I'm worried because nobody told me that my family will be there in this deal there was 40 children in south Gaza and they got to release only 30 where are the others I don't know and I hope everybody will release a deal with the devil some Israelis are calling this but with no real alternative Israel will have to prove that the war effort is interred by it the same thing goes to the chances to bring back the rest of the hostages now let's get the reaction and try to understand better what's behind the deal with me here in the studio is Brigadier General Israela Aron, former deputy head of the National Security Council thank you for coming what are the pluses and minuses of this deal it depends on the interest for Israel there is a big minus the first one is about the ceasefire which will allow Hamas to rearrange its forces and to be prepared for the next stage of fighting which is a problem for Israel somehow the seas of the intelligence gathering above Gaza is also a problem because they will be allowed to move forces and ammunition from place to place and also hostages and we are afraid that we will not have enough information about it so this is one thing another thing is that as you can see nobody in Israel is really happy about this deal because we were forcing to it and there was no other choice but to agree to it because we wanted the children and their mothers to be released I am looking on the half empty glass about the hostages that are still there and who knows when and how they will be released and what will be the cost of it the plus being of course 50 children and their mothers hopefully will be released which is obviously a big relief for many families and people and the flip side of the coin is that almost 200 will still remain there so any guess what the next phase would look like? I think the Hamas is using the powerful weapons that they have and this powerful weapon is the hostages they are using it in a very clever way first of all they release only 50 and children and then I think they assume the depression on them will be not so hard as it was and people will get used to it the hostages are still in Gaza I must say that this is not and they will ask for in return a price that Israel will be a force to pay with regard to the intensity of the fighting in Gaza so I believe that the price will not be easy for Israel in every stage when the fighting is stopped it is not they are prepared better so it could cost us always casualties among the Israeli soldiers so now they are going to release another 10 and then Israel will give them another day and then they will release another 3 etc etc etc and this will be a never ending war we'll wait and see about this meanwhile I-24 News or an alterman is with the families of hostages waiting for any piece of information when this deal will get into effect tomorrow at 10am what are the other details well first of all Jacob even before then it's been cleared for publication across Israeli media Dari Barnea the head of the Mossad intelligence service is in Qatar supposedly negotiating the final dotting the I's and crossing the T's the list of the 10 hostages to be freed tomorrow this again is reportedly part of the terms of the deal that each night before the installment of the next day Israel will get the list of hostages set to be released so in any case that's expected to happen over the course of the next few hours in the evening hours here in the Middle East then tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the morning local time the ceasefire reportedly going into effect and that will kick off a 6 hour period in which Hamas is supposed to bring two Israeli soldiers within the Gaza Strip 10 at least 10 Israeli hostages out of the 50 set to be released over the four day period and once those hostages have been handed over to the Israeli military and only then the Israeli military the Israeli government will release from Israeli prisons three Palestinian security prisoners for each hostage release so if 10 are released tomorrow hostages then 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released this cycle is expected to continue each day for the next four days so on Thursday then on Friday then on Saturday and then on Sunday and given that there are 50 hostages set to be released over the course of the four days it stands to reason that some at least one but maybe more of the installments will actually have more than 10 hostages so that you can get to that number 50 by the way Jacob in the government decision passed last night it is specified that these need to be live hostages so there had been some speculation into the run up to this deal that some of the 50 might not actually be living hostages but it is a specified term of this deal beyond the four days if Hamas would like to it can continue to produce to Israel hostages and in exchange for each hostage receive in return three additional Palestinian security prisoners up to a full number of 100 so up to three additional ones and if on any individual day Hamas produces 10 or more hostages then it's entitled to a day of a ceasefire so those are the deals obviously the implementation remains to be seen Jacob to say the least a lack of trust here in Israel with those that are stealing within the other side in the Hamas terror organization in Gaza very tense days in Israel we can only imagine what the families are going through very dramatic hours what's the atmosphere like over there at all plaintive Jacob as it has been here in hostages square over the last number of weeks a short time ago in the square behind me Rami Kleinstein a well-known Israeli musician took to the stage I'll give you in the viewers a sense of the scene here you can see people still gathered around the stage maybe for another musical act over to the left a meeting of the Chalab Red in preparation for Shabbat a more religious religious ceremony again this is a as I've said over the last two hours Jacob in an effort that has had more of a secular atmosphere given the demographics by and large of the hostages but of course religiously observing Israelis also getting involved Jacob oh and thank you very much we'll get back to you later thank you for the update with us now is Dr. Gershon Baskin who has connections in Gaza and also was instrumental in the negotiations leading to the previous deal with Hamas thank you very much for joining us Dr. Baskin how do you see this current deal I think it's a good deal I mean we should all be celebrating the fact that Israeli hostages children and women are coming home and hope that it takes place as is planned and goes over the four days without any hitches to it and continues to her fifth sixth seventh eighth day until all the civilian hostages are let out of Gaza do you think there's a path to releasing all of the hostages no I don't I think that Hamas's plan is to hold the soldiers we don't know the exact number I don't know if we're saying in public what the number is but it's tens many tens of young men and young women who are soldiers and Hamas intends to negotiate them to free all the Palestinian prisoners in Israel something which is a non-starter for the Israeli side you know the suspicion in Israel will Hamas play by the rules or play for time I think that both sides have zero trust in each other and both sides are playing out their own interest here but I think that there is an interest in the immediate days to see this deal done Hamas wants the ceasefire my impression is that Hamas is happy to get rid of the young children and women hostages as well it's a burden on their abilities on their logistics and they don't need to hold them as long as they're holding so many soldiers it's also against their own principles if they believe in their own principles it's against the Holy Quran to hold women and children and elderly people as hostages but let's say that they don't even believe in what they're supposed to believe in I think that this is in everyone's interest and everyone will try to make it happen assuming this deal goes through five days and 50 for 150 and so on how will the next phase look like if at all Well immediately if the deal goes through there's the option of Hamas adding 10 hostages each additional day and Israel already saying in advance that it will observe another day of ceasefire so we don't need to renegotiate this could be expanded to include all the women and all the children they could add to it the elderly people that's it if everything goes according to plan and if Israel is willing to extend the ceasefire additional days there's no reason why it shouldn't go forward the next stage of negotiations will be increasingly difficult because we all know that the war is going to resume and this part of the war is going to be focused on the south of the Gaza Strip this was going to be aiming toward Khanunis and the villages around Khanunis where it's very likely that the most of the hostages are being held as well as the Hamas military and political command and Israel will go after them in my mind from what I understand there's no scenario where at the end of this war Hamas can remain in place and govern Gaza its days are numbered even if they don't realize it yet there will be no Hamas running Gaza at the end of this war Yeah so it's an ongoing dilemma here I mean Israel will have to decide once again is the war a first priority or hostages first priority that's that's for sure and it's also the most bizarre negotiation that ever took place in the world because essentially it's not a negotiation there's one side that makes an offer or puts a deal on the table and the other side the Israeli side that either says yes or no and it's also the case where Israel is negotiating with people that intends to kill well this is a very strange way to negotiate when you're intending to kill the very people you're negotiating with but that's the reality that we're in this is very much dictated by Hamas Israel is almost a sideline player in this horrible game of negotiations of trying to free innocent Israeli civilians who were taking brutally from their homes Israel could change the cards a little bit by it making the offer to Hamas unlikely to happen that's not the way Israel negotiates in these cases so many things that we haven't seen before it's quite amazing I want to ask you about the mediators Qatar and the United States how do you see their role in this I think we shouldn't forget the role of Egypt Egypt has played a major role here even if it's not being talked about because Egypt has the direct line to the underground in Gaza both the military and the political wing in Gaza it's the Egyptian intelligence that's in contact with them the Qataris played a surprisingly positive role I think it was because President Biden personally leaned very heavily on them we all recognize that Qatar is not a neutral element here Qatar is a supporter of Hamas they have funded Hamas their hosts the Hamas leadership their Al Jazeera Arabic station is the mouthpiece for Hamas so nonetheless because of the ability the Americans to put pressure on Hamas on Qatar they did play a positive role here but as I said it was the communication channels we saw some of the Hamas leaders in particular Khalil Haia who I noticed was on this program just before I came on Khalil Haia is the deputy of Sinwar and he left Gaza before the war began apparently to be the channel of communication between Doha and Gaza and he was in Cairo last week meeting with Abbas Kamil the head of central intelligence in Egypt so these negotiations will go on it's really this triangle of Qatar Egypt and Gaza that's really important good point we'll put more attention on Egypt in this regard Dr. Gershon Baskin I thank you very much for that thank you let's go to Y-24 news defense correspondent Jonathan Regev near the border with Gaza Jonathan what are the ramifications of this deal for the IDF which is still in the middle of a war in Gaza the ramifications are that there will be tens of thousands of soldiers in Gaza basically standing there not moving because at least for four days they will be asked to stop their actions when Israel is clearly on the offensive when the momentum is clearly favoring the IDF and that will come to a stop if this ceasefire will last for four days we don't really know but say it really lasts for four days those four days are gone it will be after Hamas set the chance to rest to regroup to rearm itself at least in the northern part of the Gaza Strip more and more neighborhoods and parts are taken by the IDF and yes still under the tunnels but Hamas terrorists will have the chance to perhaps regroup put back communication lines which may have been brought down and it's clearly a price that the IDF did not want to pay but when the reward is 50 hostages possibly even more coming back then it's a hard price but one that Israel is willing to pay right what's happening today along the border with Gaza and inside Gaza it was up until about an hour ago it was very loud we saw lots of smoke we heard explosions there from the place where we are overlooking the Gaza Strip it was very active in the last hour it calmed down a bit we're hearing less artillery than we heard before but throughout the morning and the afternoon it was quite loud in Gaza meaning that if the ceasefire will really go into effect tomorrow at 10 am at 9.59 probably still here fighting Jonathan Regev, thank you very much we'll get back to you later back here in the studio with Brigadier General Israel our own former deputy head of the Israeli National Security Council we're talking about women and children I'm going to ask you about the issue of women women who were killed, massacred and raped during this terrible raid on October the 7th yet you don't hear much from women's organizations around the world unfortunately you know I was a member of quite a few international women's organizations in the world for many years we were dealing with atrocities against women in war zones etc and I was always part of this group but right now when I approach those organizations I don't get any answer is if Jewish women and Israeli women are raped this is not an issue the UN Women Organization for example this is only one example this is issues that they are dealing with it seems to me as if the October 7th disappeared from their calendar and this is something that women organizations really need to think about how come that when those atrocities happen to Jewish women it's okay not to deal with it it's okay not to condemn it I understand that on the other side of the border Palestinian women are hurt but this is not a good enough reason to really ignore what happened on October 7th to the Jewish women so what's the answer they just ignore it those organizations they if they don't ignore it they are like saying that they are sorry what happened on October 7th some of them say it most of them don't by the way they don't mention what happened on October 7th and if you ask me how can I explain it I really don't know the answer for it and this is very strange and it is against the principles of those organizations unless the principles that they believe in we are against atrocities that are done to women unless they are Jewish which organizations are we talking about can you name that? yes I'm talking for example about an organization called UN Women this is a very big organization and they really include many countries and the last statement didn't mention what was done to Jewish women on October 7th by the way the UN Security Council is holding a discussion right now in New York about women and children in the Gaza war will be there later in the program and see what's happening there meanwhile almost 400 party goers were massacred in the Nova Festival on October 7th one body of a young woman Shani Gabay was identified just today those who survived need all the help they can get now here's their story there's a need for survivors of the Nova Festival in Israel to be together in a caring supportive place a place where everybody has lived through the same horrors the same language the language of survival we organized the healing space healing place for all the survivors and all the families of the murder and the kidnap and people from the festival we know that this is our responsibility give us life Zarel is one of the nine Nova Festival producers when the attack took place he was on one of the festival's three stages he escaped by running and hiding in the bushes Nimrod one of the other producers lost his sister Matan Kido one of the DJs died Yarin on the other hand survived there were 4000 people at the Nova Festival and in 1964 lost their lives 40 are Hamas hostages I have one picture that don't leave me big car the terrorist shoot RPG and the people inside inside the car just start and search for help and people from outside started to open the doors and they didn't succeed and this moment the terrorists still shooting us since October 7 three centers have been dedicated to survivors of the Nova Festival this one near Caesarea offers wellness and workshops it also has items which were left behind at the festival for survivors and their families we bring all the stuff that the police don't know who is belong we invite all the families and all the survivors to come here to check for those stuff if there is something that belong to them Alina is a makeup artist at around 6.30 in the morning she finished painting someone's body we just take a hug and she go to dance and 5 minutes after all the people screwing and not understand and you feel lost this is the only one place that you can really feel like you know like understand because the people here all the people same and all the people feel the same terrible feeling in the evening there are free concerts prayers and workshops on November 30th the venue will be closing and the partiers will be left with their nightmares this is our mission to come back to the regular life to celebrate the life to feel happy almost 400 killed in a music festival just think about that and we'll be right back with more special coverage here on I-24 News is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well special coverage here on I-24 News let's go to correspondent Nicole Serek near the Israeli Lebanese border yes we continue to see really this daily back and forth between Hezbollah and the Israeli military which we have seen for nearly 47 days now however today I can tell you even within the past hour here Jacob we did hear red alerts even in the town where I am we had to run into our shelter and just following that we heard very very strong outgoing Israeli artillery firing towards southern Lebanon now and exactly the incident was we haven't heard from the IDF but this just goes to show we continue to see these incidents today alone Hezbollah claiming responsibility for at least six different attacks on northern Israel two of them including the use of Birkan rockets which are these pretty short range rockets but with a very very heavy warhead that can cause pretty significant damage now the IDF has said that they have also struck different Hezbollah military targets today we continue to see this constant back and forth and in fact just recently we heard from Israeli Foreign Minister Ali Cohen talking about this situation that we are seeing in the north in northern Israel saying that these attacks by Hezbollah which is an extension of Iran in his words he says that they could absolutely lead to a war in Lebanon which he also adds is not something that Israel wants to see they don't want to expand this war because the fighting is already happening in the south however he added that this daily these daily attacks cannot continue it is not something that we can continue to have on the Israeli border now as far as what we are going to see in these next coming days Hezbollah says telling different Arab media outlets that they are going to abide by the ceasefire while Hamas is abiding by the ceasefire in the south they say they will as well as long as Israel also abides by the ceasefire on their northern border although we have continued to see these back and forth attacks by both Hezbollah and the IDF in response as far as what happens when that ceasefire goes into effect expected tomorrow morning it could be a different picture when it comes to the north here however as I said that comes after a very strong warning from the Israeli Foreign Minister so definitely there is still a tense time here and something that people are definitely keeping their eyes on Alright Nikol Tzedek in northern Israel thank you very much for that Thank you to the studio Brigadier General Israel our own former deputy head of Israeli National Security Council the fact that Hezbollah volunteered to join the ceasefire tomorrow with Hamas what does it tell you? It tells me that since the state of Israel is to separate from those two forms to separate one form from another because Israel doesn't want to deal simultaneously with the two forms so if the interest of Israel is to separate Hezbollah wants to connect they want to show Hamas and the Arab world that they are fighting the same war and they are supporting Hamas etc I think that they are not sorry very much that they are joining the ceasefire and if they will start again Israel knows how to react So it's a good excuse for Hezbollah also to relax because they also apparently do not want to escalate the situation over there No they don't want I think it was made very clear also by the Israeli leaders but mainly by President Biden the first week of the war they very clearly don't On the other hand there are many voices in Israel also in the defense and military establishments that are saying that Israel will have to deal with Hezbollah sooner or later I believe it's true if Israel will not deal with the Hezbollah it will be very tough or almost impossible for the villages near the border with Lebanon to get back to their houses and to continue their lives they are rightfully afraid of what could happen if there are a few less than one kilometer from the border they are also worried about the tunnels possible tunnels and worried about what will happen if Hezbollah will attack them So Israel has to give some kind of an answer but I'm not sure that the answer answer Everybody is talking about the deterrence of Hezbollah against Israel because of their long range and accurate missiles but I think that Israel can come to some kind of a deal of course with the help of the United States without the need to start a wide range of war with Hezbollah I think that the state of Lebanon is in a very how shall I say it it's almost collapsing the state of Lebanon so maybe some kind of incentives, economical incentive will do however Hezbollah doesn't do anything without the permission of Iran so if there will not be a bigger deal or another deal with other countries like the United States talking not only about the nuclear threat which is a threat but this is something we can deal with but the biggest problem is the proxy of Iran like the Houthis like Hezbollah and like other places the militias in Iraq that are activated I would say by Iran and they are doing nothing without the permission from Iran so it's not only a problem between Israel and the Hezbollah because many other actors are involved with it a quick update now Israeli Supreme Court has rejected appeals against the hostage deal clearing the way for this to go ahead this is breaking news at this moment Iran's foreign minister is visiting Beirut to meet with Lebanese leaders his visit comes after the hostage deal let's take a listen I am in consultation with high authorities of Lebanon about the ways of providing maximal security in the region the methods of realizing the rights of Palestine will have consultations and discussions there is no doubt that the future of Gaza and the future of Palestine will be decided by the Palestinian people we have heard from leaders of the resistance in the region that until the complete realization of the full rights of the nation of Palestine and until reaching a result in confronting the occupation in the region the hands of the resistance will remain on the trigger with us now is Dr. Walid Farris for joining us give me your best guess if you will what would Iranian foreign minister say to Lebanon's prime minister when they have met there is this perception in the media in the Middle East, the Arab world and even in the West this is a picture of a foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran visiting another country which has a sovereign government and they are negotiating and discussing that's not reality reality is that the Iran regime controls Hezbollah that basically controls the Lebanese government and is in control of the national security discussions this is for the forum this is to show both inside Iran and worldwide and in the region and in the Arab world that Iran conducts negotiations if remote from these battle fees have nothing to do with the October 7 operation can have influence on Hezbollah this is how western press basically at the end of the day projected reality is different any move as the former guest has said any move on the ground in tactical ways will have to obtain the permission or at least the authorization if not the support of the Iran as the Iran could force who are in charge of these four fronts or five fronts in the Middle East so yes this is the media how it looks like you know I'm thinking about Lebanon and what's going on there now there's a low intensity war along the border with Israel initiated by Hezbollah now I don't think Prime Minister Mikati would like to see this coming to be ruled right absolutely not I mean the government of Lebanon is made of these facades political facades which are under I would say the influence or deterrence or pressure of Hezbollah which political party are talking about inside the government but Prime Minister Mikati would like to have a status quo country try to fix the economy of Lebanon ruling downtown and see what can be done in terms of foreign aid and money situation so of course they are not going to be happy but the question is that many in the region need to understand is they don't have the decision in their own hands meaning if the United States goes and reason with the government of Lebanon they are talking to the government of Lebanon which will have to take the okay of Hezbollah which actually is a long arm of Iran so we are talking about large facades individually ministers in Lebanon some of them at least and the Prime Minister would like nothing to happen to call to get back to the status quo in southern border but that's not their decision unfortunately no political power behind them to achieve that Lebanese government no the only political coalition that was able to push back against the Iran access in the region the last we heard last we saw was the famous or now the gone Cedars revolution in 2015 in 2005 when there was 1.5 million people on the streets of Beirut like the green revolution in Iran and the result of that was a kind of a coordination between those political forces who actually won the elections in 2005 but because of mismanagement and disorganization among the opposition as of 2008 Hezbollah actually took back the streets by force it was like a wazai coup in 2008 and since 2008 the state in Lebanon is actually under the pressure of Hezbollah you won't see any security plan if Iran is not agreeable now let me add one thing it's in the interest also of the leadership of Hezbollah they are becoming business people you know they are waiting for the gas situation they are waiting for they like to do a show every once in a while like they've done in 96 in 2006 but sometimes it could goes out of control like this time you know if you look at what happened in Gaza obviously you live there this is too risky for Hezbollah to wage a large war and I would add one last point the situation inside Lebanon there are many areas inside Lebanon who do not like Hezbollah there have been many incidents that the international media has not paid attention to enough that people may rise against Hezbollah if a war occurs Yeah because I wanted to ask you about the people I mean people of Lebanon are really suffering they see their money goes out the window they see their future going out the window and if this war goes north that's gonna be the end of Lebanon Yes from an economic social perspective people who dislike Hezbollah or of course Hezbollah are very concerned that this would get to them to their areas meaning north of Saida all the way to Beirut and the north but what can they do they would have to make a huge decision to reorganize themselves and some of the politicians including members of parliament may well go to the point of declaring those areas as neutral in this conflict they cannot really defeat Hezbollah not armed the army is not really moving what they can do is express their will in front of the United Nations the United States and there is a petition now moving here in the United States where all the areas north of Jazeen will actually appraise politically and demand an international recognition that those areas should not be part of any war with Israel or with any other faction All right Dr. Walid Faris I thank you very much for that Thank you I work from you here Israel in the studio the Israeli perspective Israel wants to make sure Hezbollah is as far as possible from the border Israel has no issues with the state of Lebanon right Israel doesn't have any issues with the state of Lebanon on the contrary we are I think Israel will benefit if the state of Lebanon not ruled by Hezbollah but ruled by other parties will be prosperous and do you remember the gas agreement right and this is also part of the interest of Israel however they are not free to do their own choices because of what was said earlier the real ruler of Lebanon is Iran so Hezbollah David Houd is with us now Hezbollah and Lebanon expert thank you very much for joining us let's take it from there Iran is the one who runs the business in Lebanon it depends on what you mean Hezbollah whether we like it or not is an integral part of the Lebanese social fabric some Lebanese would like to deny that but the reality is in the last parliamentary election 2022 Hezbollah garnered the most votes out of any party didn't garner the most seats because of how the seats are distributed but it garnered 350,000 votes that was almost 150,000 votes more than the Lebanese forces which came in second let me ask you about the equivalent that was elected in Gaza look what happened to Gaza sure but the point that I'm trying to make here is that look in Gaza Hamas really doesn't have competition in the sense that Palestine as long as you have the resistance committees you have all these groups but Hamas is the government whereas in Lebanon Hezbollah to a certain degree has to play the game of Byzantine Lebanese politics until that overrides any I wouldn't call it Hezbollah's loyalty to Lebanon but Hezbollah's recognition of its realities given the fact that it exists in Lebanon we've seen this in the past for example in 2006 when it felt that Iranian interests overrode whatever interests it had it had towards Lebanon so it's not exactly that Iran runs everything in Lebanon but Iran through Hezbollah can override the Lebanese decision making when it comes to foreign policy and when it comes to peace peace and war So Hezbollah enjoys power in Lebanon apparently also good life and a lot of money as opposed to other Lebanese people they have a lot to lose in case of a devastating war That's good Of course they do and look I think the preference for Hezbollah right now let's take a step back Iran's resistance axis are promising a major big regional war against Israel I think we should take them at face value when they say that but that war isn't here now as tense as things seem it is not the war that open on all fronts where all the resistance axis militias are kind of firing at full strength they want to be able to survive for the day when they can execute a major big war so they have to survive this round and not just survive, they want to minimize the harm that Israel will be justified in doing to them during this round so I think they're taking advantage Hezbollah for example is taking advantage of Israel being occupied with the Gaza Strip this is something that Mesrallah said in his November 3rd speech that what Hezbollah has done to date since October 8 the Israelis would not have tolerated under different circumstances Israeli forces kind of tax Israel's military capabilities as much as possible spread them on two fronts call up more reserves the impact on the Israeli economy in the hope of slowing the Israeli invasion in Gaza and hopefully from their perspective getting a premature ceasefire that would allow Hamas to survive rebuild and attack again in the future now in the interim on their end though they're going to minimize, like I said the harm that Israel is justified in doing to them so they're playing this game very smart they're coming right up to the edge they're not going beyond that I think we can expect that during the ceasefire that is expected to come as part of the deal with Hamas that Hezbollah will actually take things back a little bit from on the northern border during these five days because again they don't want the Israelis to be banned because there's going to be a military pressure from Israel there's going to be some diplomatic pressure maybe from France, from the US maybe from the UN for the Hezbollah to pull back on the ground any flexibility there on their part or not at all it depends on what you mean by pullback could we see a continuation I'm talking about 1701 decision by the UN the implementation I don't think that's possible I don't think that's realistic look for that to be implemented Lebanon would have to do so and Lebanon is simply because of the way it's made up because Hezbollah is again like we said a legitimate component of Lebanon's decision making Hezbollah is not going to shoot itself in the foot it's never going to give the green light for the Lebanese government to either disarm it or pull it back to such a place it's not going to be disarmed and the Lebanese government the other factions will not do so with Hezbollah and its current military and social strength that's very critical that we remember that Hezbollah does have social strength so the expectation that somehow through negotiations or diplomacy Hezbollah will pull back its assets behind the Litani I think is unrealistic it's a mirage and no one should bet on that thank you Israeli, I want to comment on that Yes, I do just imagine I'm dreaming about some kind of a scenario that France and the United States will approach the Lebanese government and offer them and offer that they cannot refuse with regard to the rehabilitation of Lebanon and they will have to decide because the price will be that Hezbollah Lebanon will implement 1701 what do you think will happen? I think that this will be a very critical moment to expose exactly what's going on in Lebanon that Lebanon is not a free country this is an extension of Iran but I think that this will be a very interesting exercise Thank you, Israeli About 60,000 Israelis were forced to leave their homes along the Lebanon border because of Hezbollah attacks all 180 families have had to leave the town of Matula I-24 News Emily Francis was there Driving through the pastoral village of Matula you would never know it's surrounded by military this is Lebanon you can see the border you see and for Mayan Weinberg who recently finished his army service war has called him to reserve duty you can see there they have eyes the daily I work with this vehicle in my yard and do a lot of stuff Mayan is making the rounds in Matula while the 2,000 residents are evacuated what is it like being here right now when everybody is evacuated and you have Hezbollah people you can throw a stone and hit them the Hezbollah people are not new to me I can show you my phone it's all with stones with Hezbollah before I'm in Matula because I can't go home to my parents' home I can't go to my apartment I can't walk around in Matula Matula has become a full-time military base for the IDF during the war where almost daily Hezbollah sends short-range anti-tank missiles all their windows were broke here and here and IDF soldiers are needing to respond quickly this is the tanks work they drove like in and out they're using Nuntet anti-tank missiles their range I think is about 4 km something like that so it's very close proximity you need to utilize and make sure it's effective so they're aiming it on houses so only this morning we had a direct hit on a house, genome family one of the many farms in Matula which has been an agricultural hub for over a century oh, thank you try it like this and then there's an interesting story because we were trying to get some of our young people to come and help take out the fruit because in a week or two this whole thing goes to waste and we were working on that and we actually had people volunteering and willing to come and what not and then a night before we got a situation very close to this area black down you can come in, you can come out the fact that we are here now is actually pretty unique Matula is the northernmost city in Israel we're the only village in Israel surrounded in three directions by the border of Lebanon to the east, north and west the only way into Matula is from the south founded by nearly 30 pioneer families in 1896 you could feel the history of the original stone homes and buildings still standing and nearly half of the original family's descendants still live here usually it's full of life and it doesn't look like this clearly you had a lot of IDF tanks coming back and forth we have a beautiful, beautiful community please come visit us when the war is over yes we will so that's Lebanon right there that's why we cannot move further from this point because we're going to be revealed bye bye during times of peace Matula is also a popular tourist destination for nature lovers so normally when we're not in this situation you can just wake up and you take a walk you can drink coffee and you just look at this view every morning, not bad you can look at this view still now but in normal days you can look over this way over those ways in the normal days to Lebanon you see this that's a UN base what are they doing? now? hiding when you stand there and you look towards Lebanon it's a beautiful country I want to think that there are some beautiful people over there that also suffers from the fact that Hizballah and Audouan forces are taking over and hurting their prosperity and their right to live peacefully these days it's the IDF they're using the local community center as their military command center with eyes and ears looking at what is happening on the other side of the fence there is a game of youngsters from Lebanon coming into one of our spots over there and then using the laser tags and just pointing at you when you are walking or just hanging up laundry to dry and then you get a red point funny to them, that's funny to us many will come home but the question remains whether they will ever feel totally secure if someone has to leave it's Hizballah this is our land here and our community for 127 years we will always stay and be here if we leave it will be like a domino effect people will have to leave Kiryat Shmoner Tiberias and in the end it will get all the way to Tel Aviv and Israel will become even tinier this isn't an option I'm not looking at it it's like all we or them it's just us the best we can do I want to live here because I think here you can be the perfect life you can live in Israel