 rolling coverage of the war here in Israel. I'm Nicole Zadik alive in Tel Aviv. It's been 20 days since Hamas' full-scale attack on Israel. Overnight rockets from Gaza continue to target central Israel, with several people in Rishon Lezion and Perak Tzikva injured by rocket-trapnel. Now, as the Iron Dome intercepts rockets from the south, Israel's air defense systems also intercepted a missile launch towards the north from Lebanon. After leaders of three main terror groups has blocked Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad held a meeting in Beirut. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the nation, stating, while the number one priority right now is eliminating Hamas, once the war is won, Israel will have some major questions to answer. We are bringing down lethal fire on Hamas. We've already killed up thousands of terrorists, and this is just the beginning. And we're also preparing for the ground offensive. I'm not going to give any specifics on when, how, and how much. I'm also not going to specify the various considerations we're taking into account. Many of these considerations are not known to the general population in Israel, and that's a good thing, because we want to protect our soldiers' lives. I would like to be clear. The timing of the IDF operation was determined unanimously by the cabinet in charge of this war, together with the chief of general staff, and together with the cabinet, we operate in order to guarantee the most optimal conditions for our troops for the upcoming activities. And when we get into Gaza and then later on, we're going to get those murders who committed these horrendous, horrific events of Hamas-Isis to pay the full price. October 7th was a very dark and black day in our history. We will fully investigate what had happened at our southern border, the border with Gaza. Everybody will have to provide answers, myself included, but all that will happen only after the war. Now, as Netanyahu addresses the public, so does his Western ally, U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden continues to stand behind the State of Israel, recognizes the country will never look the same following the October 7th massacre. There's no going back to the status quo as it stood on October the 6th. That means ensuring Hamas can no longer terrorize Israel and use Palestinian civilians as human shields. It also means that when this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next. And in our view, it has to be a two-state solution. It means a concentrated effort for all the parties, Israelis, Palestinians, regional partners, global leaders to put us on a path toward peace. As President Biden continues to support Israel in its goal of destroying Hamas, U.S. Congress is stepping up as well. The new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, called up a resolution supporting Israel in his first action as leader of the House of Representatives. The non-binding measure was backed by a vote of 412 to 10, and reaffirms U.S. commitment to Israel while calling on Hamas to immediately cease attacks and release every hostage. This resolution condemns Hamas in Iran for its support of terrorist groups, such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, while also calling for all sanctions on Iran to be fully enforced. So I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution. It will send a clear message across the world that terrorists and their sponsors will be held to account for their atrocities, their crimes against humanity, their crimes of genocide. I wanna bring in my guest now, retired Colonel Mary Eisen, Director of the International Institute for Counterterrorism at Reichman University. Mary, thank you so much for joining us. The U.S. is continuing to show their support. We know two aircraft carriers still in the region, fighter squadrons, now also these politicians really stepping up. But how long will this support stay and how major is it really to have such Western allies showing their support for Israel? I'm not sure all of us really grasp yet right now how much the world changed on October 7th, because the frame so much right now is Israel-Israel against the Hamas terrorist group and in the international community a different frame. The United States, President Biden, all of Congress, let's not focus on the nays, let's focus on the 400 and over 20, that's like a kind of thing that you cannot imagine that understand that October 7th was an event that changed all of the world. That Hamas type of terrorism, homegrown, the challenges within that world is something that everybody needs to deal with. I think that this will last a long time because what Hamas did and is continuing to do, as you said, we're on the 20th day, it isn't over, they're trying to continue to do both the attacks and the rockets and the atrocities, that's something which is understood by leaderships around the world. We certainly are just in the beginning as you state, Mary. I'm curious though as we continue to see this support from Western allies and you say this is going to be a long standing support because they're recognizing the threat that these terror groups, these Iranian backed terror groups pose to not only Israel, but all of these Western allies. So with their continued support is now truly the time to be striking these Iranian proxies because we have a hand pushing us forward. Well, that's always going to be the question and decision making and certainly when we're talking about a war situation, I don't want to be cynical on TV, but you may have noticed we're in war. Israel is at war. Israel is all mobilized. Israel is functioning, but we're at war. It has a heavy toll on the society, on the military and we're not opening a front against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. We are already in a full scale war against them in the Gaza Strip, but we're talking about an additional very important component of a ground operation. When you say to open up against Iran, Iran's proxies and especially Hezbollah up North, I breathe in deep and I say these are decisions that we have to think about that the security cabinet has to think about that the IDF and certainly with these allies can handle, but it will be at a price. There is no additional front without an additional price and the price is not just Hezbollah and the Iranians, it will also be on the Israeli public, civilians, let alone military. Well, and Mary, when we're talking about threat from Hamas, Hezbollah, it's important to note that it's not just on our Southern and Northern borders, it's in the West Bank as well. In fact, US President Joe Biden condemning the violence that we're seeing in the West Bank right now, specifically between Israeli settlers and Palestinians since October 7th, I believe 90 Palestinians reportedly killed. However, the majority of them were armed terrorists, but how does also this tensions that we're seeing in the West Bank play into this? Well, let's put things in that, we still have the rule of law and the Israeli citizens cannot take the law into their hands and they need to be arrested. And as the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, have consistently talked with the Israeli Jewish communities that live in Judea and Samaria, in the West Bank, is that the IDF is the one responsible, the IDF, the security forces against the terrorism. The Hamas have a strong base in the West Bank too. Part of what was going on is that Hamas for many, many years, remember, they took over the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. They have been in conflict within the Palestinian arena. And when I say within that arena, none of us want the West Bank to be the supporters of Hamas. Hamas call for the annihilation of the state of Israel. So again, this isn't about that conflict, it is about the Hamas Hamas as a terror organization, Hamas that has support also in the West Bank, and we need to act against those terrorists which we have been doing. When you mentioned the amount of terrorists killed, they were killed in operations done by the IDF, by security forces in a way that we have not done in the past because October 7th was a watershed moment. They think it's much more about that against Hamas. And as I said, all Israeli citizens live under the law. None of us can take the law into our hands. And certainly as you reiterated that the number one goal right now is eliminating Hamas, whether that be in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. However, when we look at what's happening in the Gaza Strip, we say that it's going to completely reshape how the Gaza Strip operates. Do you think that this war in turn will also completely reshape how the West Bank operates? There's no question that in that sense, this context of the West Bank and of the Gaza Strip and Nicole, I'm breathing in deep, me who always has to breathe in deep, and also saying and East Jerusalem because East Jerusalem in that sense are much more like the West Bank than they are like the state of Israel. So that we have three different arenas that are going to be reshaped. I'm not leaving it for after the war. I think that right now this fight against Hamas is not just against the terror capabilities and atrocities. It's also in that sense of that basic support that we saw so clearly that the goal of Hamas is not just to annihilate the Israeli state, to annihilate the Jewish state. Those are like the terms that they write in their charter. We saw what they do. It's about murdering, butchering atrocities against Jews in the Israeli state. And we do not want that to be the ideology that people want to follow. I support two states the way that President Biden said so. And I say you have to show that that terrorism and the ideology that calls for our eradication and atrocities is not one that you are going to support. So it's a new future and we need to see alternative ideas. And I can hope that out of the horrifying pictures and the horrifying things that Hamas did, the decent people will look for a different way. It isn't easy. Mary Eisen, thank you. I want you to stay with us. But as you're talking about those horrifying scenes, I want us to actually turn our eyes to the South where our correspondent Pierre Kloschenler, our I-24 News correspondent, is right now in southern Israel. Pierre, overnight we continue to see major strikes targeting Gaza overnight. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagar even saying that this is all in preparation for the ground operation. Right, and we just got confirmation by the IDF spokesperson unity in which they said that a combined force of tanks and infantry Givati Brigade made an incursion into the Gaza Strip in order to prepare the battleground for a further in-depth incursion of the IDF inside the Gaza Strip in which they neutralized terrorists, anti-tank posts and other things, other obstacles and the forces returned safely to Israeli territory. In the night, there were many airstrikes on the Gaza Strip according to Palestinian reports. We know that tunnels have been neutralized in the western area of Gaza City. Buildings used by Hamas as command posts as well as tunnel shafts have been also targeted and at the same time the latest alert on Israeli territory, rocket alert was at 10 o'clock when a rocket barrage hit the vicinity of Ashkelon and Ashdod, two cities in southern Israel and at 9.30 p.m. local time there was a heavy rocket barrage on two cities in central Israel, Rishon Lezion and Petartikva. Rocket with a 60 kilogram warhead hit an old building with no private shelters by chance, by miracle, in this rocket barrage, there were only six people lightly wounded and a few others who were stricken by anxiety, people rushed to collective shelters. The building in Rishon Lezion which suffered a direct impact was devastated but again only six Israelis lightly wounded in that rocket attack and since 10 p.m. it's quiet on Israeli territory. A tense quiet knowing that it could change at any moment. Pierre, you're talking about these long range rockets continuing to target central Israel 19, 20 days since the initial attack. A lot of people are wondering when are they going to first run out of rockets and next run out of fuel. I'm curious as Israel continues to prepare for this ground operation but continues to delay the ground operation, how has Hamas prepared for this? Were they prepared to stay in those underground tunnels for nearly three weeks now? We know that Hamas' attack, slaughter on Israel in October 7 was prepared very much in advance. Tasmin news agency from Iran speaks about four years of preparation. Others are talking about at least one year of preparation. So when you prepare your forces you also prepare the infrastructure for those forces. Israel argues that there is no lack of fuel inside Gaza but the flow of humanitarian aid which is critical for the civilians not involved in the fighting in the Gaza Strip is only a trickle at this moment. Yesterday there was no entrance of humanitarian aid of food, medicine and water inside Gaza and that's part also possibly of the waiting period. Everybody is caught into the waiting period for a ground major incursion into the Gaza Strip by the IDF. First of all the hostage issue and also humanitarian aid and the fact that there are still non-involved civilians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip in spite of the IDF and the Israeli government urging civilians in Gaza to move south of Gaza City. We'll continue to keep our eye on there as it is mainly a tense waiting game for now. Thank you for bringing us the latest from southern Israel. And from the south I also want to move to our correspondent in the north. Pia Stegelback is standing by right now. Pia, overnight we see that the IDF continuing to strike terror cells in southern Lebanon even fighter jets destroying some Hezbollah military compound. What can you tell us? Well overnight the Israeli military said that it struck the origin of where a surface to air missile was fired toward an Israeli drone in southern Lebanon. It's interesting because when we are talking about those continuous skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah we are mostly talking about anti-tank missiles and mortar shells. Now this surface to ground missile was launched towards an Israeli drone. Yesterday the Israeli military said that it struck at least three squads in southern Lebanon to fire those anti-tank missiles. One of them succeeded in firing one towards an Israeli army base in the area of Avivim which is fairly close to the Israeli-Lebanese border. Now when we look at the north we also have to keep an eye at what comes out of the south because yesterday afternoon a rocket was launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip into the area of Haifa. That rocket exploded mid-air so no interception that was needed and no casualties or injuries reported there. If you needed any more proof that the fronts are actually in fact connected there was yesterday morning a meeting that Hezbollah itself published about a meeting between Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah together with the leader of the Palestinian-Islamic Jihad Ziaad al-Nakhle and one of the most senior Hamas officials Salha al-Aroori in Beirut which means that Iran is there trying to send a signal that it is trying to keep its proxies together there that meeting as Hezbollah friendly media said was in order to discuss the further steps that need to be taken in that sensitive stage of the war now and how to bring about what they said the victory of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza there. We have seen that Hezbollah throughout the year really was trying to emphasize that its goal was to combine the fronts to combine its own cause and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the West Bank and if you needed any more proof then you had it there yesterday with that meeting that comes about two weeks after the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also met in Beirut with the Iranian foreign minister there. That really shows you how much also Hezbollah wants to showcase that it is cooperating with the Palestinians here as that northern front continues to heat up, Nicole. P.S. to go back, we'll continue to keep our eye up there on the northern front. Thank you for bringing us all of that coverage. Now I want to bring in my guest in studio now. I'm joined by senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman. Owen quite a lot to discuss about just the international impact on this as well but quickly before we unpack it all I want to come back to our guest, retired Colonel Mary Eisen, just to talk about after speaking to our two correspondents. We have them up in the north, down in the south as well. Quite a lot to unpack, Mary. But specifically as we're seeing just more signs that Hezbollah, Hamas, P.I.J. they are absolutely all interconnected and working together to continue to fight this war against Israel. If you want to put the picture back again of the meeting yesterday of Hassan Nasrallah together with the head of Palestinian Islamic jihad and the number two to three in Hamas who lives in Beirut and in Qatar and he used to be a lot in Turkey. That's Salah al-Aroori. If you put that photo up again, just take note everybody of the photos that are on the wall because the photos on the wall are not of the Lebanese in any way. It is of Khomeini and Khamenei. It is the leaders of the Iranian Revolution, the present religious leader, the founder of that. And I say that in the background, yes, interconnected. Now, when we do that, that's part, I think, of the fear of the international community because if Hamas is connected to all of these other ones in this horrific war that Hamas has started is not just Hamas. It's also Hezbollah. It's also Hezbollah and Iran. Palestinian Islamic jihad has always been part of that. That is something that makes the world scared. And I look at that right now. I see the interconnection. All of us saw a few days ago that the Houthis, an additional Shiite Iranian proxy group that's the majority of the Shiites inside Yemen fired rockets against Israel that were intercepted by the United States. So the United States has clearly had its troops around. I think that both the United States and Europe very much see this as connected. Doesn't mean that Iran planned it and everything is happening in accordance to a plan. I'm not sure about that. I think that they were all planning something that perhaps Hezbollah would start or Hamas would start, but it doesn't matter in hindsight. They're in it together. Hezbollah has been participating from day one. It has been testing the waters. It has only been doing it along the direct borderline. But it has way more capacity 10 times what Hamas has. It has been training to do what Hamas did. And to me, I think the worst part in hindsight is these atrocities. They were planning these atrocities and that's part of the game plan, meaning you destroy the Zionist Jewish entity through atrocities. We don't deserve to exist. And as Hemenai, the guy up on the wall that we showed before would always say, and he says this every single week, Israel is the cancer in the world. And if Israel is the cancer in the world, you got to cut out the disease. And again, I don't want to be sarcastic, but look at it, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian-Islamic jihad, and everybody on that windbagon. This is not a time to be standing aside and looking at this as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mary Aniston, it truly is interesting just seeing the entire United States response from this. I want to bring in, once again, Owen Alterman joining me in studio after hearing from Mary just about how much the United States and our Western allies and Europe have to lose from this, especially as we continue to see how clearly Iran is involved. Right, well, a couple thoughts. First of all, obviously, Mary is right about the coordination between these groups. And what that means is, Nicole, almost by definition, Israel's strategy should be, and frankly, is to try to drive wedges between them, because, of course, their interests aren't exactly aligned. Particularly Hezbollah, right? We've seen just how little Hamas cares about the civilians in Gaza, right? And the way that Hamas treats the civilians in Gaza. With Hezbollah and Lebanon, it's more complicated. Hamas seems to have, and I said this with some caution, seems to have more commitment to his Shiite community base. And he also has to worry about the other communities in Lebanon. Because on the day after the war, his tribe, if you will, in Lebanon, the Shiite sector, the Shiite community, is going to have to live with the rest of the Lebanese public. And he knows he has to worry about that. And that restrains him. And Israel uses that as part of its strategy, right? Iran also has a wider strategy even beyond these groups. Of course, a hate-filled and strategy that is trying to advance Iran's interests, but Israel can also drive that wedge as well. As for support in the West, look, of course, it's about the issue of radical Islam and the issue about extremism in the Middle East. But of course, it's much larger, right? The American commitment to Israel is a marker of America's commitment to its allies around the world. Joe Biden has made that argument just about explicitly, right? By linking the fight here in Israel to the fight in Ukraine. And linking America's commitment to Israel to America's commitment to Ukraine, and for that matter, Taiwan, and to allies around the world. And Joe Biden clearly sees this as a test that's going to be watched around the world. But just how committed the United States is to its allies, to its network of allies. So the stakes here are not just local here in Israel or even regional. They're very much global. And it's not just the United States now really speaking up. I mean, we saw the first resolution that the House Speaker passed in favor of Israel. However, I'm curious. Is Israel or the United States truly speaking up right now, especially sending an important message in contradiction to what we've heard from the United Nations? Well, first of all, very quickly what happened in the House. You're right, there was the resolution that passed, but the question is about the money, right? Joe Biden has asked for $14 billion in aid for Israel. There's consensus in the House to support that. So that's not the issue. The issue is tactical for the Republicans about whether this is going to need to be bundled with aid for Ukraine, which in their view is more controversial or passed as a standalone. So we'll have to wait to see how that plays out. But of course, Nicole, what's happened at the United Nations over the past few days has made headlines here. There's a long history of relations between Israel and the UN. But this may be a new low. The comments two days ago by Secretary General Antonio Buterres, all of the fallout in the storm that have come after that. Take a look at this report, which gives you a bit of the latest. Even for Israel at the United Nations, it's a new low. With continued anger in Israel Wednesday, over the comments of Secretary General Antonio Buterres in New York a day earlier. It is important to also recognize the attacks by Amas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. Mr. Secretary General, in what war do you live? Definitely, this is not our world. Saturday, October 7, we'll go down in history as nothing less than a brutal massacre. Families of Israeli hostages went ahead Tuesday with their meeting with Guterres, but Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled his meeting. Israel began denying visas to UN officials. Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called for Guterres to resign. And the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Wednesday had this to say. Those who seek to understand, look for a justifying context, do not categorically condemn the perpetrators and do not call for the unconditional and immediate release of the abducted fail the test. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres failed the test. Guterres took to the podium Wednesday to explain Israel remained unimpressed. I am shocked by the misrepresentations by some of my statements yesterday in the Security Council as if I was justifying acts of terror by Amas. This is false. It was the opposite. Israel and UN institutions have had tense relations for decades. With Israel feeling UN bodies and UN officials do not give Israel's claims a fair hearing. That the United Nations has a deep-rooted anti-Israel culture. That has not always tainted the Secretary General himself, which is why the fury over Guterres's comments is news. And the storm comes at a sensitive time, with UN agencies a key force in the Gaza Strip, making this a high-stakes diplomatic fight for all involved. Owen, you said it yourself in this report. The United Nations has a long-standing history of spreading anti-Israel rhetoric. So does this really come as a surprise to anyone hearing from the UN Security General? Yes, it does. Because Nicole realized that the UN isn't one thing, it's many things. It's a sprawling organization with all kinds of bodies and all kinds of groups, some of which Israel has very, very difficult relations with. For example, the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Of course, UNRWA, which we're seeing before our eyes in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere and others. But there are other parts of the United Nations that Israel works with seamlessly. And there are UN agencies doing really important work on food, on health, and technology, and others. Something like this from the Secretary General himself is not the standard, and that's why it's gotten such a sharp reaction across the political spectrum here in Israel. That's 24 News. Senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman. As always, thank you for breaking this down. I want to quickly come back to our retired colonel, Mary Eisen, just to break it down as we continue the UN even vetoing a resolution that's condemned Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip. It's not going to happen from the UN. So as this continues to move forward, we're lacking that support from the United Nations. Not just from the United Nations. Why was it vetoed? And let's remember that Russia, China, they have that veto capability as well. This is both the United Nations. It's also about big countries who are not on our side. And when I say not on our side, they have not, in any words, condemned what's happened. Let's stay on the high moral ground and continue to say our truth and our morals. And that's what we, all we can do. Retired colonel Mary Eisen, thank you so much for joining us as always providing your insight, as well as I-24 News. Senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman. Quite a lot to break down here as we continue to look at the development of day 20 before you're in Israel. Thanks for tuning in. Rolling coverage of the war here in Israel. I'm Nicole Zadik alive in Tel Aviv. It's been 20 days since Hamas' full-scale attack on Israel. Overnight rockets from Gaza continue to target central Israel with several people in Rishon Lezion and Perak Tikfa injured by rocket-trapnel. Now as the Iron Dome intercepts rockets from the south, Israel's air defense systems also intercepted a missile launch towards the north of Lebanon. After leaders of three main terror groups has blocked Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad held a meeting in Beirut. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the nation stating well the number one priority right now is eliminating Hamas once the war is won. Israel will have some major questions to answer. We are bringing down lethal fire on Hamas. We've already killed up thousands of terrorists and this is just the beginning and we're also preparing for the ground offensive. I'm not going to give any specifics on when, how and how much. I'm also not going to specify the various considerations we're taking into account. Many of these considerations are not known to the general population in Israel and that's a good thing because we want to protect our soldiers' lives. I would like to be clear. The timing of the IDF operation was determined unanimously by the cabinet in charge of this war, together with the Chief of General Staff and together with the cabinet, we operate in order to guarantee the most optimal conditions for our troops for the upcoming activities and when we get into Gaza and then later on we're going to get those murders who committed these horrendous, horrific events of Hamas ISIS to pay the full price. October 7th was a very dark and black day in our history. We will fully investigate what had happened at our southern border, the border with Gaza. Everybody will have to provide answers, myself included, but all that will happen only after the war. Now as Netanyahu addresses the public, so does his Western ally, U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden continues to stand behind the State of Israel but recognizes the country will never look the same following the October 7th massacre. There's no going back to the status quo as it stood on October 6th. That means ensuring Hamas can no longer terrorize Israel and use Palestinian civilians as human shields. It also means that when this crisis is over there has to be a vision of what comes next and in our view it has to be a two-state solution. It means a concentrated effort for all the parties, Israelis, Palestinians, regional partners, global leaders to put us on a path toward peace. As President Biden continues to support Israel in its goal of destroying Hamas, U.S. Congress is stepping up as well. The new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, called up a resolution supporting Israel in his first action as leader of the House of Representatives. The non-binding measure was backed by a vote of 412 to 10 and affirms U.S. commitment to Israel while calling on Hamas to immediately cease attacks and release every hostage. This resolution condemns Hamas in Iran for its support of terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad while also calling for all sanctions on Iran to be fully enforced. So I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution. It will send a clear message across the world that terrorists and their sponsors will be held to account for their atrocities, their crimes against humanity, their crimes of genocide. I want to bring in my guest now, retired Colonel Mary Eisen, director of the International Institute for Counterterrorism at Reichman University. Mary, thank you so much for joining us. The U.S. is continuing to show their support. We know two aircraft carriers still in the region, fighter squadrons. Now also these politicians really stepping up. But how long will this support stay and how major is it really to have such western allies showing their support for Israel? I'm not sure all of us really grasp yet right now how much the world changed on October 7th because the frame so much right now is Israel-Israel against the Hamas terrorist group and in the international community a different frame. The United States, President Biden, all of Congress, let's not focus on the nays. Let's focus on the 400 and over 20. That's like a kind of thing that you cannot imagine that understand that October 7th was an event that changed all of the world. That Hamas type of terrorism homegrown the challenges within that world is something that everybody needs to deal with. I think that this will last a long time because what Hamas did and is continuing to do as you said, we're on the 20th day. It isn't over. They're trying to continue to do both the attacks and the rockets and the atrocities. That's something which is understood by leaderships around the world. We certainly are just in the beginning as you state, Mary. I'm curious though as we continue to see the support from western allies and you say this is going to be a long standing support because they're recognizing the threat that these terror groups, these Iranian backed terror groups, pose to not only Israel but all of these western allies. So with their continued support is now truly the time to be striking these Iranian proxies because we have a hand pushing us forward. That's always going to be the question and decision making and certainly when we're talking about a war situation. I don't want to be cynical on TV but you may have noticed we're in war. Israel is at war. Israel is all mobilized. Israel is functioning but we're at war. It has a heavy toll on the society, on the military and we're not opening a front against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. We are already in a full scale war against them in the Gaza Strip but we're talking about an additional very important component of a ground operation. When you say to open up against Iran, Iran's proxies and especially Hezbollah up north, I breathe in deep and I say these are decisions that we have to think about, that the security cabinet has to think about, that the IDF and certainly with these allies can handle but it will be at a price. There is no additional front without an additional price and the price is not just Hezbollah and the Iranians, it will also be on the Israeli public, civilians, let alone military. Mary, when we're talking about the threat from Hamas, Hezbollah it's important to note that it's not just on our southern and northern borders, it's in the West Bank as well. In fact, U.S. President Joe Biden condemning the violence that we're seeing in the West Bank right now, specifically between Israeli settlers and Palestinians since October 7th, I believe 90 Palestinians reportedly killed however the majority of them were armed terrorists but how does also this tensions that we're seeing in the West Bank play into this? Well let's put things in that, that we still have the rule of law and the Israeli citizens cannot take the law into their hands and they need to be arrested and as the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces have consistently talked with the Israeli Jewish communities that live in Judea and Samaria in the West Bank, is that the IDF is the one responsible, the IDF, the security forces against the terrorism. The Hamas have a strong base in the West Bank too. Part of what was going on is that Hamas for many, many years remember they took over the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, they have been in conflict within the Palestinian arena and when I say within that arena, none of us want the West Bank to be the supporters of Hamas. Hamas call for the annihilation of the State of Israel. So again, this isn't about that conflict, it is about the Hamas, Hamas as a terror organization, Hamas that has support also in the West Bank and we need to act against those terrorists which we have been doing. When you mentioned the amount of terrorists killed, they were killed in operations done by the IDF by security forces in a way that we have not done in the past because October 7th was a watershed moment. They think it's much more about that against Hamas and as I said, all Israeli citizens live under the law. None of us can take the law into our hands. And certainly, as you reiterated that the number one goal right now is eliminating Hamas, whether that be in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. However, when we look at what's happening in the Gaza Strip, we say that it's going to completely reshape how the Gaza Strip operates. Do you think that this war in turn will also completely reshape how the West Bank operates? There's no question that in that sense, this context of the West Bank and of the Gaza Strip and Nicole, I'm breathing in deep. Me, who always has to breathe in deep. And also saying, and East Jerusalem, because East Jerusalem, in that sense, are much more like the West Bank than they are like the State of Israel. So that we have three different arenas that are going to be reshaped. I'm not leaving it for after the war. I think that right now this fight against Hamas is not just against the terror, capabilities and atrocities. It's also in that sense of that basic support that we saw so clearly that the goal of Hamas is not just to annihilate the Israeli state, to annihilate the Jewish state. Those are like the terms that they write in their charter. We saw what they do. It's about murdering, butchering atrocities against Jews in the Israeli state. And we do not want that to be the ideology that people want to follow. I support two states the way that President Biden said so. And I say you have to show that that terrorism and the ideology that calls for our eradication and atrocities is not one that you are going to support. So it's a new future, and we need to see alternative ideas. And I can hope that out of the horrifying pictures and the horrifying things that Hamas did, the decent people will look for a different way. It isn't easy. Mary Isen, thank you. I want you to stay with us. But as you're talking about those horrifying scenes, I want us to actually turn our eyes to the south where our correspondent Pierre Kloschenler, I-24 News correspondent, is right now in southern Israel. Pierre, overnight we continue to see major strikes targeting Gaza overnight. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagar even saying that this is all in preparation for the ground operation. Right, and we just got confirmation by the IDF spokesperson unity in which they said that a combined force of tanks and infantry, Givati Brigade, made an incursion into the Gaza Strip in order to prepare the battleground for a further in-depth incursion of the IDF inside the Gaza Strip in which they neutralized terrorists, anti-tank posts and other things, other obstacles, and the forces returned safely to Israeli territory. In the night, there were many airstrikes on the Gaza Strip according to Palestinian reports. We know that tunnels have been neutralized in the western area of Gaza City, buildings used by Hamas as command posts as well as tunnel shafts have been also targeted. And at the same time, the latest alert on Israeli territory, rocket alert, was at 10 o'clock when a rocket barrage hit the vicinity of Ashkelon and Ashdod, two cities in southern Israel. And at 9.30 p.m. local time, there was a heavy rocket barrage on two cities in central Israel, Rishon Lezion and Petartikva. A rocket with a 60 kilogram warhead hit an old building with no private shelters by chance, by miracle in this rocket barrage. There were only six people lightly wounded and a few others who were stricken by anxiety. People rushed to collective shelters. The building in Rishon Lezion, which suffered a direct impact, was devastated. But again, only six Israelis likely wounded in that rocket attack. And since 10 p.m., it's quiet on Israeli territory. A tense quiet knowing that it could change at any moment. Pierre, you're talking about these long range rockets continuing to target central Israel 19, 20 days since the initial attack. A lot of people are wondering, when are they going to first run out of rockets and next run out of fuel? I'm curious as Israel continues to prepare for this ground operation but continues to delay the ground operation, how has Hamas prepared for this? Were they prepared to stay in those underground tunnels for nearly three weeks now? We know that Hamas' attack slaughter on Israel in October 7 was prepared very much in advance. Tasmin News Agency from Iran speaks about four years of preparation. Others are talking about at least one year of preparation. So when you prepare your forces, you also prepare the infrastructure for those forces. Israel argues that there is no lack of fuel inside Gaza but the flow of humanitarian aid, which is critical for the civilians not involved in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, is only a trickle at this moment. Yesterday, there was no entrance of humanitarian aid of food, medicine and water inside Gaza and that's part also possibly of the waiting period. Everybody is caught into the waiting period for a ground major incursion into the Gaza Strip by the IDF. First of all, the hostage issue and also humanitarian aid and the fact that there are still non-involved civilians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip in spite of the IDF and the Israeli government urging civilians in Gaza to move south of Gaza City. We'll continue to keep our eye on there as it is mainly a tense waiting game for now. Pierre Kloschenler, thank you for bringing us the latest from southern Israel. And from the south, I also want to move to our correspondent in the north. Pierre Stegelback is standing by right now. Pierre, overnight we see that the IDF continuing to strike terror cells in southern Lebanon, even fighter jets destroying some Hezbollah military compound. What can you tell us? Right, Nicole, overnight the Israeli military said that it struck the origin of where a surface to air missile was fired toward an Israeli drone in southern Lebanon. It's interesting because when we are talking about those continuous skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah we are mostly talking about anti-tank missiles and mortar shells. Now this surface to ground missile was launched towards an Israeli drone. Yesterday the Israeli military said that it struck at least three squads in southern Lebanon trying to fire those anti-tank missiles. One of them succeeded in firing one towards an Israeli army base in the area of Abibim which is fairly close to the Israeli-Lebanese border. Now when we look at the north we also have to keep an eye at what comes out of the south because yesterday afternoon a rocket was launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip into the area of Haifa. That rocket exploded so no interception there was needed and no casualties or injuries reported there. But if you needed any more proof that the fronts are actually in fact connected there was yesterday morning a meeting that Hezbollah itself published about a meeting between Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah together with the leader of the Palestinian-Islamic Jihad Ziyada Nakhle and one of the most senior Hamas officials Salha Al-Aroori in Beirut which means that Iran is there trying to send a signal that it is trying to keep its proxies together there that meeting as Hezbollah friendly media said was in order to discuss the further steps that need to be taken in that sensitive stage of the war now and how to bring about what they said the victory of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza there. We have seen that Hezbollah throughout the year really was trying to emphasize that its goal was to combine the fronts to combine its own cost and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the West Bank and if you needed any more proof then you had it there yesterday with that meeting that comes about two weeks after the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also met in Beirut with the Iranian Foreign Minister there so that really shows you how much also Hezbollah wants to showcase that it is cooperating with the Palestinians here as that northern front continues to heat up, Nicole. P.S. I go back we'll continue to keep our eye up there on the northern front thank you for bringing us all of that coverage now I want to bring in my guest in studio I'm joined by senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman. Owen quite a lot to discuss about just the international impact on this as well but quickly before we unpack it all I want to come back to our guest retired Colonel Mary Aisin just to talk about after speaking to our two correspondents we have them up in the north down in the south as well quite a lot to unpack Mary but specifically as we're seeing just more signs that Hezbollah, Hamas, Piag they are absolutely all interconnected and working together to continue to fight this war against Israel. If you want to put the picture back again of the meeting yesterday of Hassan Nasrallah together with the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the number two to three in Hamas who lives in Beirut and in Qatar and he used to be a lot in Turkey that Salah al-Aroori if you put that photo up again just take note everybody of the photos that are on the wall because the photos on the wall are not of the Lebanese in any way it is of Khomeini and Khamenei it is the leaders of the Iranian revolution the present religious leader the founder of that and I say that in the background yes interconnected now when we do that that's part I think of the fear of the international community because if Hamas is connected to all of these other ones in this horrific war that Hamas has started is not just Hamas it's also Hezbollah it's also Hezbollah and Iran Palestinian Islamic Jihad has always been part of that that is something that makes the world scare and I look at that right now I see the interconnection all of us saw a few days ago that the Houthis an additional Shiite Iranian proxy group that's the majority of the Shiites inside Yemen fired rockets against Israel that were intercepted by the United States so the United States has clearly have its troops around I think that both the United States and Europe very much see this as connected doesn't mean that Iran plant it and everything is happening in accordance to a plan I'm not sure about that I think that they were all planning something that perhaps Hezbollah would start or Hamas would start but it doesn't matter in hindsight they're in it together Hezbollah has been participating from day one it has been testing the waters it has only been doing it along the direct border line but it has way more capacity 10 times what Hamas has it has been training to do what Hamas did and and to me I think the worst part in hindsight is these atrocities they were planning these atrocities and that's part of the game plan meaning you destroy the Zionist Jewish entity through atrocities we don't deserve to exist and as Hamena the guy up on the wall that we showed is saying and he says this every single week Israel is the cancer in the world and if Israel is the cancer in the world you got to cut out the disease and again I don't want to be sarcastic but I look at it Iran Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic jihad and everybody on that wind bag in this is not a time to be standing aside and looking at this as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mary Aniston it truly is interesting just saying the entire state's response from this I want to bring in once again Owen Alterman joining me in studio after hearing from Mary and just about how much the United States and our Western allies and Europe have to lose from this especially as we continue to see how clearly Iran is involved Right well a couple thoughts first of all obviously Mary is right about the coordination between these groups and what that means is Nicole almost by definition Israel's strategy should be and frankly is to try to drive wedges between them because of course their interests are exactly aligned particularly Hezbollah we've seen just how little Hamas cares about the civilians in Gaza and the way that Hamas treats the civilians in Gaza with Hezbollah in Lebanon it's more complicated Nasrallah seems to have and I say this with some caution seems to have more commitment to his Shiite community base and he also has to worry about the other communities in Lebanon because on the day after the war his tribe if you will in Lebanon the Shiite sector the Shiite community went to the Lebanese public and he knows he has to worry about that and that restrains him and Israel uses that as part of its strategy right Iran also has a wider strategy even beyond these groups of course a hate filled and the strategy that is trying to advance Iran's interest but Israel can also drive that wedge as well as for support in the west look of course it's about the issue of radical Islam and the issue of extremism in the Middle East but of course it's much larger right the American commitment to the marker of America's commitment to its allies around the world Joe Biden has made that argument just about explicitly right by linking the fight here in Israel to the fight in Ukraine and linking America's commitment to Israel to America's commitment to Ukraine and for that matter Taiwan and to allies around the world and Joe Biden clearly sees this as a test that's going to be watched around the world but just how committed the United States is to its allies to its network of the allies so the stakes here are not just local here in Israel or even regional they're very much global and it's not just the United States now really speaking up I mean we saw the first resolution that the House Speaker passed in favor of Israel however I'm curious is Israel or the United States truly speaking up right now especially sending an important message in contradiction to what we've heard from the United Nations well first off to very quickly what happened in the House you're right there was the resolution that passed but the question is about the money $14 billion in aid for Israel there's consensus in the House to support that so that's not the issue the issue is tactical for the Republicans but whether this is going to need to be bundled with aid for Ukraine which in their view is more controversial or passed as a standalone so we'll have to wait to see how that plays out but of course Nicole what's happened at the United Nations over the past few days has made headlines here there's a long history of relations between Israel and the UN but this may be a new low the comments two days ago by General Antonio Guterres all of the fallout in the storm that have come after that take a look at this report which gives you a bit of the latest even for Israel at the United Nations it's a new low with continued anger in Israel Wednesday over the comments of Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York a day earlier it is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation Mr. Secretary General in what world do you live definitely this is not our world Saturday October 7 will go down in history as nothing less than a brutal massacre Families of Israeli hostages went ahead Tuesday with their meeting with Guterres but Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen cancelled his meeting Israel began denying visas to UN officials Ambassador to the UN called for Guterres to resign and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Wednesday had this to say those who seek to understand look for a justifying context do not categorically condemn the perpetrators and do not call for the unconditional and immediate release of the abducted fail the test UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres failed the test Guterres took to the podium Wednesday to explain Israel remained unimpressed I am shocked by the misrepresentations by some of my statement yesterday in the Security Council as if as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas this is false it was the opposite Israel and UN institutions have had tense relations for decades with Israel feeling UN bodies and UN officials do not give Israel's claims a fair hearing that the United Nations has a deep rooted anti-Israel culture that has not always tainted the Secretary General himself which is why the fury over Guterres' comments is news and the storm comes at a sensitive time UN agencies a key force in the Gaza Strip making this a high stakes diplomatic fight for all involved Owen you said it yourself in this report the United Nations has a long standing history of being anti-Israel spreading anti-Israel rhetoric so does this really come as a surprise to anyone hearing from the UN Security General Yes it does because Nicole realized that the UN is doing its many things it's a sprawling organization with all kinds of bodies and all kinds of groups some of which Israel has very very difficult relations with for example the Human Rights Council in Geneva of course UNRWA which we're seeing before our eyes in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere and others but there are other parts of the United Nations that Israel works with seamlessly and there are UN agencies doing really important work on food and health and technology and others something like this and that's why it's gotten such a sharp reaction across the political spectrum here in Israel 24 news senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman as always thank you for breaking this down I want to quickly come back to our retired Colonel Mary Eisen just to break it down as we continue to look at the UN even vetoing a resolution that's condemned Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip it's not going to happen from the UN so as this continues to move forward we're lacking that support from the United Nations not just from the United Nations why was it vetoed and let's remember that Russia China they have that veto capability as well this is both the United Nations it's also about big countries who are not on our side when I say not on our side they have not in any words condemned what's happened let's stay on the high moral ground and continue to say our truth and our morals and that's what we all we can do retired Colonel Mary Eisen thank you so much for joining us as always providing your insight as well as I-24 new senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman quite a lot to break down here as we continue to look at the development of day 20 before you're in Israel thanks for tuning in Israel is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking more than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity rolling coverage of the war here in Israel I'm in a cold static live in Tel Aviv it's been 20 days since Hamas's full skill attack on Israel the IDF launched a targeted raid overnight in the northern Gaza Strip sending in infantry forces and tanks to strike Hamas infrastructure and terrorists all while preparing the area for the next stage of the war meanwhile Israel is keeping an eye on the north as well as Israel's air defense systems intercepted a missile launched from Lebanon after leaders of the three main terror groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad held a meeting in Beirut this is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the nation stating well the number one priority right now is eliminating Hamas once the war is won we'll have some major questions to answer now we want to begin in Israel south with these new developments out of the region where our correspondent Pierre Kloschenler is standing by Pierre overnight a raid appears to be the largest IDF incursion into Gaza since the start of the war what can you tell us about this operation by the IDF so the IDF publishes a communique in which it stresses that forces usually combined forces of tanks, armored vehicles and infantry enter the Gaza Strip in order to prepare the battleground for a further mass incursion into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army and this is what they did today neutralizing anti-tank boats fighting terrorists that are closer to Israeli territory on Gaza territory destroying infrastructure making sure maybe that IEDs are not strewn on the way to potential further ground incursion into the Gaza Strip this is what they did tonight this is what they've done a long time ago and earlier on in the war efforts since October 7 and in addition to intensive air strikes on the Gaza Strip we still hear booms emanating from Gaza either tanks or artillery shells or air strikes at this moment so there is an unrelentness in Israel striking rockets inside the Gaza Strip and at the same time there's been a lull in rocket fire on Israeli territory since 10 p.m. yesterday evening local time there hasn't been any rocket attack on Israeli territory Pierre you're there in the south right now in the southern city of Stavos I'm curious we keep hearing about these preparations for the ground operation the ground offensive it's going to happen on the ground or do you think it's going to be happening very soon now look it depends on a few factors and those factors are piling up actually if at the beginning one of the major issues was of course the liberation of the hostages that are held in Hamas Palestinian Islamic jihad and even Gaza civilians hands now there's been also the issue of humanitarian aid in terms of medicine, water and food going into the Gaza Strip there hasn't been any such convoy of humanitarian trucks for the past couple of days also now the issue of the non-involved civilian population inside the Gaza Strip Israel is still urging both the army and the government are still urging the Gaza residents to go to the southern part of the Gaza Strip in order to avoid non-involved casualties and now there's also the safe passage of foreign residents that are stuck into the Gaza Strip so there's many elements and at the same time a lot of preparation on the Israeli army side a lot of soldiers and soldiers are training getting their full equipment all this takes time PR Kloschen, the reporting from southern Israel thank you for your coverage now I want to bring in my guest in studio right now I'm joined by Rafael Yerusalmi former senior intelligence officer for the IDF and security analyst as well as I-24 news correspondent and senior editor Guy Azrael thank you so much for joining me here we were just speaking to our correspondent PR in the south talking about this IDF forces this is the largest incursion into the Gaza Strip since the beginning of this war 20 days now nothing major nothing close at least to what we're expecting in terms of the official ground operation taking down the Hamas infrastructure including those tunnels we know of hundreds if not thousands of those tunnels under which these more senior Hamas conservatives the terrorists are hiding perhaps also with the Israeli kidnapped but this is the start of the operation for now this is the tactic of the IDF together in cooperation with the instructions of the Americans are very tightly involved in everything that is going on massive airstrikes targeting the Hamas infrastructure really as they say softening the head of that ground operation so that it would enable as less casualties as possible to the IDF troops as they will need to make their ways into these very tight streets in Gaza in Gaza city many other areas in Gaza that are very complicated for Israeli troops and we've seen that in some previous operations how complicated that is and also what we've seen in this attack of October 7th is the very advanced weapons and training that Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza have been getting mainly from Iran's more sophisticated weapons these are major dangers for the Israeli troops when they make their way there and therefore in that sense that is very wise of the IDF to really take their time and clean the area if you may ahead of these ground operations that will eventually have to take place but for now that is the tactic with all the considerations that have been mentioned by Pierre Rafael I'm curious we're 20 days now we're obviously preparing for a major ground operation but do you think Hamas was prepared for such a delayed response after committing such horrific attacks on October 7th Probably not but neither were we surprised and this is nerve wracking for both sides hopefully more for those inside the tunnels than for us but I can tell you it's nerve wracking for the reserve soldiers who have been sitting on the fence for days and then who are dying to go into action even though it's dangerous because they want of course to avenge our dead and try and liberate our hostages and put an end to this permanent threat of the Hamas so now the main point is for Israel to be strong politically anyway and the decision to attack when, how, if should be only in Israeli decision with all the due respect to the American support with all due respect to European Union sympathy we are the ones who are under fire we are the ones who are being attacked and we have the ones to take the decision the best decision for our security of our soldiers independently of all the pressures that we are going to have and we are going to get more and more of those pressures including the fact that Qatar is being so nice lately and Egypt everybody is being so nice and we are the naughty guys who are not cooperating so for sure it is very important and what we did last night he's a strong message he's addressed also to our allies not only to our enemies this is a very good signal but apart from being a signal it's a very important tactical move very important because first of all we discovered that we can go into in and out incursions before we start a massive offensive which is very important we could do that for days and weeks to just go in and out instead of and prepare the terrain gather intelligence what they did last night it was under the Givati brigade command infantry incursion with tanks and these tanks were against obstacles put there by the Hamas against tanks and especially against positions equipped with anti-tank missiles we destroyed these positions no tank as far as we know no tank was hit we didn't have any casualties we are landing the ground by these incursions we are landing the ground for a more massive entry into Gaza and we are also putting there things that will help us prepare the surprise we have in store for them without really bigger details I would say there are some sensors and some equipment that should be placed inside the Gaza Strip before we enter that will help us perform that surprise and also one last point which is very important last night there was also a first trial test of attacking a tunnel destroying the entrance to a tunnel with intelligent ammunition some of it is coming also now from the United States it's very special ammunition that could be a game changer in the fight against tunnels with the problem that inside those tunnels there are all the terrorists but also our hostages which absolutely complicates this that's something which is that right now Israel's main message is that they need to stand together however there's also a lot of calls on the leadership to address the major issues that happened here a guy we heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just yesterday talking about the main goals of this war but also stating that he has some questions to answer once it's done obviously Israel as Rafael mentioned needs to be united in this goal of fighting this war and we've seen this very large extent the unity among the people and also in the leadership and we've had this emergency unity government we've seen there is still a conversation about that failure it cannot be avoided it cannot wait all the way until the end of this war the public wants some answers and we've seen some claims of responsibility for the failure from the chief of the IDF and from the head of the Shin Bet yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking and coming very close to claiming some sort of responsibility maybe let's take a listen We are bringing down lethal fire on Hamas we've already killed off thousands of terrorists and this is just the beginning and we're also preparing for the ground offensive I'm not going to give any specifics on when how and how much I'm also not going to specify the very considerations we're taking into account many of these considerations are not known to the general population in Israel and that's a good thing because we want to protect our soldiers lives I would like to be clear the timing of the IDF operation was determined unanimously by the cabinet in charge of this war together with the chief of general staff and together with the cabinet in order to guarantee the most optimal conditions for our troops for the upcoming activities and when we get into Gaza and then later on we're going to get those murders who committed these horrendous horrific events of Hamas ISIS to pay the full price October 7th was a very dark and black day in our history we will fully investigate what had happened at our southern border Gaza everybody will have to provide answers myself included but all that will happen only after the war yes so Netanyahu obviously acknowledging the fact that many of us know that under his leadership Israel has allowed Hamas to grow to such extent right on Israel's border coming every week to the defense causing a lot of damage and gathering intelligence coming in about that intelligence failure yesterday we saw a report on Israeli broadcaster Khan speaking to two of the girls of the communication lookouts these girls are the eyes of the IDF on the border and their testimony was was horrifying because not only that only two of 25 of them have managed to survive this attack most of them slaughtered have been kidnapped only two remain to tell the story of what they know in this attack but even more horrifying is what they said about what they've seen over the past several weeks even months seeing very suspicious activity of Hamas operatives on the fans using vehicles using maps lookouts planning very carefully what they were planning to do those girls have informed their commanders what they see they even joked about who's going to be on shift when they raid Israel they pass this information but it seems like nothing has been done it's been looked away someone close these eyes and hoped that this is just training without any concrete action the result was catastrophic and these are many many of the questions that will be investigated both in the Israeli public and for certain in the committee that will be established after the war to examine the intelligence failures as we continue to learn more about everything that happened it poses so many questions onto the threat that is right under Israel's noses this entire time moving from the south I want to go up to another threat that we have in the north Hezbollah our correspondent Pia Stechelbach is in northern Israel right now Pia all eyes on kind of this tense calm that we're seeing in the north but the idea of continuing to strike terror cells in southern Lebanon even overnight and yesterday right Nicole the northern front is continuously heating up last night the surface to air missile was launched from southern Lebanon toward an Israeli drone Israel's air force after that striking toward the origin of that launch that comes after yesterday in the evening ours Israel was striking Hezbollah watched towers and also military attacks in southern Lebanon there comes also against the backdrop of an important meeting that took place in Beirut yesterday morning the Hezbollah chief the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah meeting with the leader of the Palestinian Islamic jihad Ziyad al-Nakhle and the senior Hamas official Salah al-Aroori in Beirut there discussing the next step to taking that sensitive stage of the war this is how to describe that and how to bring about the victory of what they call the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and that is another proof Hezbollah has been trying Hezbollah with Iran in the background of course to combine the fronts this is what has been emphasized specifically by Hassan Nasrallah throughout the year really and by publishing about that meeting themselves that really showcases how much they want to emphasize that cooperation if you needed another proof yesterday afternoon a rocket was fired towards the area of Haifa we're talking about northern Israel from the Gaza Strip and it was not the first time that this happened Hamas launching one of the main casualties or any injuries there but that really shows you how they're trying to foster their cooperation here as the northern front continues to heat up and of course people here are on the high tension but this has been going on since basically the beginning of the war here in the city of Nariya city that we've been visiting many times throughout the past two weeks you do see that people are going on to the streets again it has been a bit more lively here also in the morning hours now people do dare to go on the streets again but it is still very very intense as Israel also extends the range of places to evacuate here it has not reached the city of Nariya yet but from here we also do see the Lebanese border and again it is a very volatile situation here and skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have increased throughout the past weeks we have been seeing continuous motor shelling and also anti-tank missiles also yesterday Israel targeting three squads trying to launch anti-tank missiles one of them succeeded in striking a tank in an IDF base in the town of Avivim also very close to the Lebanese border but of course Israel and the forces stationed here many reservists also stationed here in the north are of course very vigilant towards anything that is coming out of southern Lebanon Nicole our correspondent Pia Stechelback we're all keeping an eye up there in the north as you said it is just a tense calm it could erupt at any moment now thank you for your coverage now as Pia mentioned the threat from Iran up in the north continues to not only concern Israel but US President Joe Biden is continuing to stand behind the state of Israel however he recognizes the country will never look the same following the October 7th massacre there's no going back to the status quo as it stood on October the 6th that means ensuring Hamas can no longer terrorize Israel and use Palestinian civilians as human shields it also means that when this crisis is over there has to be a vision of what comes next and in our view it has to be a two-state solution it means a concentrated effort for all the parties Israelis Palestinians regional partners global leaders to put us on a path toward peace now as US President Joe Biden continues to support Israel in its goal of destroying Hamas US Congress is stepping up as well the new house speaker Mike Johnson called up a resolution supporting Israel in his first action as leader of the House of Representatives the non-binding measure was backed by a vote of 412 to 10 and it reaffirms the US commitment to Israel while also calling on Hamas to immediately cease attacks and release every hostage this resolution condemns Hamas in Iran for its support of terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad while also calling for all sanctions on Iran to be fully enforced so I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution it will send a clear message across the world that terrorists and their sponsors will be held to account for their atrocities their crimes against humanity their crimes of genocide as we're hearing from these Western allies along with all the latest developments on the ground here in Israel one of the main dilemmas is the 220 at least hostages that remain held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists now some families of those kidnapped addressed the United Nations recounting the horrific details of October 7th and stating the international community is not doing enough to get their loved ones back Hirsh, honor, and 27 others managed to escape to a roadside bomb shelter and hid inside Hamas militants came to the doorway and began throwing in hand grenades which all witnesses with whom we have spoken said that honor managed to pick up eight of them and throw them back out but three of those hand grenades did get by and detonated inside next Hamas fired into this small concrete room of 29 music lovers an RPG and then sprayed the room with machine gun fire after a couple of moments of the dust settling Hamas entered most of those young people were now dead we know that Hirsh and two other young men were ordered to stand and when Hirsh stood up they all saw that his left arm had been blown off from the elbow we seem like we live in the same place but I like all of the mothers and all of the fathers and wives and husbands and children and sisters and loved ones of the stolen we all actually live on a different planet there are over 200 hostages being held in Gaza right now over 100 of them are from 33 countries where is the world we the families of the 200 hostages are far away on our own planet of Agony but where are you I want to come back to my guests in studio now Rafael Yursalmi and Guy Azrael here in the broadcast we're talking about Israel standing strong despite maybe pressures from the United States I'm curious as we just heard from different US speakers do you think that the United States is controlling Israel or putting too much of a say in exactly what's happening on the ground but in exchange for might I add very strong support that we also need I think there's a good balance meaning there is a pressure for sure from the United States justified this extraordinary support but it's also an understanding that we have to defend ourselves and their tactical and strategic conditions that might entice us to go into action even though the Americans might want us to wait a little more I will remind our viewers that the last time Europe hesitated and waited and the last time the Americans waited to enter into action we lost 6 million people so I think the hesitations and waiting game that they want to play is can be only for a little while longer but not that much longer we accept to play the game in the vague hope that our hostages would be liberated I personally do not believe in this I do not believe in the drip by drip drop by drop liberation of hostages it's everybody or nobody I mean we start with the Americans we start with this next time it will be the blue-eyed hostages and not the other ones that's not possible it's everybody or nobody that's the deal otherwise it's playing in the hand of Hamas a cynical game a blackmail game in the hands of the Qatar the Qatar is not helping the Qatar is playing a cynical game it's financing the Hamas it's trying just to put a nice face you know to the world so all this being said there are two things I believe that the Hamas doesn't want to get rid of at least all the hostages because they are the life insurance of the leaders of the Hamas if things get rough in Gaza city and the IDF will close on the high leadership in the towns of the Hamas they have one last rampart of defense it's the hostages they say hey guys let Mr. Silvan would say let me go let me go free let me go to Egypt I'll give you your guys back so I think they want to keep that it's a treasure it would be really silly on their part to give away those hostages for nothing second of all the hostages it's a very important problem but it cannot be at the expense of the lives of our soldiers delaying too much or not taking an opportunity we might have to attack these might endanger hundreds of soldiers so you also have to take that into account and the last thing is what is a hostage if we do not do the job now with the Hamas it's not 200 hostages we all be hostages of the Hamas and the Hezbollah the people of the south and north will never go back to their homes because the Hamas will still be there and we will be the hostages all of us so this is a completely crazy Jewish Talmud dilemma how do you solve this problem we're on a tight rope because we do want to liberate the hostages on the other hand we have important missions I remember that with Gilad Shalit we liberated one hostage one hostage for a thousand prisoners and these thousand prisoners some of them went back into action and killed 20 Israelis very difficult and important points I'll add to them a little bit we heard this morning from Israeli Ambassador to Washington our brother of President Herzog asked about the possibility that the US has vetoed that ground offensive he says there's no veto Israel is a sovereign state Israel will decide on its actions on its own speaking about the kidnapped well the numbers that came out yesterday say that roughly 140 of the 220 kidnapped have our dual nationals or have foreign citizenship Israel makes it very clear that it will not allow to differentiate between those who are simply just Israeli citizens and those who are dual nationals and speaking about the people of Israel being hostages well Benny Gantz saying yesterday it could take up to a year before those residents in these communities can go back to their homes there really is so much to unpack here but Rafael you sold me a guy Israel thank you for breaking down all of the latest especially when it comes to the hostage situation it continues to be one of the most difficult but we're doing our best to tackle it and I appreciate both of your insight on this breaking news edition of the I-24 news day over 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on I-24 news war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we don't know what to do we just don't know anything entire families including babies and elderly were putured in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity rolling coverage of the war here in Israel under cold static live in Tel Aviv it's been 20 days since Hamas' full-scale attack on Israel the IDF launched a targeted raid overnight in the northern Gaza Strip sending in infantry forces and tanks to strike Hamas infrastructure and terrorists all while preparing the area for the next stage of the war meanwhile Israel is keeping an eye on the north as well as Israel's air defense systems intercepted a missile launched from Lebanon after leaders of the three main terror groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad held a meeting in Beirut this is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the nation stating well the number one priority right now is eliminating Hamas once the war is won't have some major questions to answer now we want to begin in Israel south with these new developments out of the region where our correspondent Pierre Kloschenler is standing by Pierre overnight a raid appears to be the largest IDF incursion into Gaza since the start of the war what can you tell us about this operation by the IDF well every day or so the IDF publishes a communique in which it stresses that forces usually combined forces of tanks armored vehicles and infantry enter the Gaza Strip in order to prepare the battleground for a further mass incursion into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army and this is what they did today you know neutralizing anti-tank boats fighting terrorists that are closer to Israeli territory on Gaza territory destroying infrastructure making sure maybe that IEDs are not strewn on the way to potential ground further ground incursion into the Gaza Strip this is what they did tonight this is what they've done a couple of days ago and earlier on in the war efforts since October 7 and in addition to intensive air strikes on the Gaza Strip we still hear booms emanating from Gaza either tanks or artillery shells or air strikes at this moment so there is an relentless in Israel striking Hamas targets inside the Gaza Strip and at the same time there's been a lull in rocket fire on Israeli territory since 10pm yesterday evening local time there hasn't been any rocket attack on Israeli territory Pierre you're there in the south right now in the southern city of Stavos I'm curious we keep hearing about these preparations for the ground operation the ground offensive it's going to happen they say any day now what's your feeling on the ground or do you think it's going to be happening very soon now I think it depends on very on a few factors and those factors are piling up actually if at the beginning one of the major issues whether of course the liberation of the hostages that are held in Hamas's Palestine Islamic jihad and even Gaza civilians hands now there's been also the issue of humanitarian aid in terms of medicine, water and food going into the Gaza Strip there hasn't been any such convoy of humanitarian trucks for the past couple of days also now the issue of the non-involved civilian population inside the Gaza Strip Israel is still urging both the army and the government is urging the Gaza residents to go to the southern part of the Gaza Strip in order to avoid non-involved casualties and now there's also the safe passage of foreign residents that are stuck into the Gaza Strip so there's many elements and at the same time a lot of preparation on the Israeli army's side a lot of soldiers and soldiers are training getting their full equipment all this takes time Pierre Klosch in the reporting from Southern Israel thank you for your coverage now I want to bring in my guest in studio right now I'm joined by Raphael Yerousalmi former Senior Intelligence Officer for the IDF and Security Analyst as well as I-24 News Correspondent and Senior Editor Guy Asriel thank you so much for joining me here we were just speaking to our correspondent Pierre in the south talking about this overnight raid targeted raid by IDF forces this is the largest incursion into the Gaza Strip since the beginning of this war what are the days now nothing major nothing close at least to what we're expecting in terms of the official ground operation taking down the Hamas infrastructure including those tunnels we know of hundreds if not thousands of those tunnels under which these more senior Hamas operatives the terrorists are hiding perhaps also with the kidnapped but this is the start of the operation for now this is the tactic of the IDF together in cooperation with the instructions of the Americans who are very tightly involved in everything that is going on massive airstrikes targeting the Hamas infrastructure really as they say softening the ground ahead of that ground operation so that it would enable as less casualties as possible to the IDF troops as they will need to make their ways into these very very tight streets in Gaza, Gaza city many other areas in Gaza that are very complicated for Israeli troops and we've seen that in some previous operations how complicated that is and also what we've seen in this attack of October 7th is the very advanced weapons and training that Hamas and PIJ other terror groups in Gaza have been getting mainly from Iran more sophisticated weapons these are major dangers for the Israeli troops when they make their way there and therefore in that sense that is very wise of the IDF to really take their time and clean the area if you may ahead of this ground operation that will eventually have to take place but for now that is very quick with all the considerations that have been mentioned by PIER Rafael I'm curious we're 20 days now we're obviously preparing for a major ground operation but do you think Hamas was prepared for such a delayed response after committing such horrific attacks on October 7th probably not but neither were we so we were both surprised and this is nerve-wracking for both sides hopefully more for those inside channels than for us but I can tell you it's nerve-wracking for the reserve soldiers who've been sitting on the fence for days and then who are dying to go into action even though it's dangerous because they want of course to avenge our dead and try and liberate our hostages and put an end to this permanent threat of the Hamas so now the main point is for Israel to be strong politically anyway and this decision to attack when, how, if should be only in Israeli decision with all the due respect to the American support with all due respect to European Union sympathy we are the ones who are under fire we are the ones who are being attacked and we have the ones to take the decision the best decision for our security for the safety of our soldiers independently of all the pressures that we are going to have and we are going to get more and more of those pressures including the fact that the Qatar is being so nice lately in Egypt everybody is being so nice and we are the naughty guys who are not cooperating no so for sure it is very important and what we did last night is a strong message it's addressed also to our allies not only to our enemies we operate when you decide to operate this is a very good signal but apart from being a signal it's a very important tactical move very important because first of all we discovered that we can go into in and out incursions before we start a massive offensive which is very important we could do that for days and weeks to just go in and out, in and out instead of and prepare the terrain gather intelligence what they did last night it was under the Givati brigade command infantry incursion with tanks and these tanks were against obstacles put there by the Hamas against tanks and especially against positions equipped with anti-tank missiles we destroyed these positions as far as we know no tank was hit we didn't have any casualties we are laying the ground by these incursions we are laying the ground for a more massive entry into Gaza and we are also putting there things that will help us prepare the surprise we have in store for them without really bigger details and say there are some sensors and some equipment that should be placed inside the Gaza Strip before we enter that will help us perform that surprise and also one last point which is very important last night there was also a first trial test of attacking a tunnel destroying the entrance to a tunnel with intelligent ammunition some of it is coming also now from the United States it's a very special ammunition that could be a game changer in the fight against tunnels with the problem that inside those tunnels there are all the terrorists but there are also our hostages which absolutely complicates this no Raphael you said something point which is that right now Israel's main message is that we stand together however there's also a lot of calls on the leadership to address the major issues that happened here a guy we heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just yesterday talking about the main goals of this war but also stating that he has some questions to answer once it's done obviously Israel as Raphael mentioned needs to be united in this goal of fighting this war and we've seen this to a very large extent the unity among the people and also the leadership and we've had this emergency unity government we've seen there is still a conversation about that failure it cannot be avoided it cannot wait all the way until the end of this war the public wants some answers and we've seen some claims of responsibility for the failure from the chief of the IDF and from the head of the Shin Bet yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking and coming very close to claiming some sort of responsibility maybe let's take a listen we are bringing down lethal fire on Hamas we've already killed off thousands of terrorists and this is just the beginning and we're also preparing for the ground offensive I'm not going to give any specifics on when how and how much I'm also not going to specify the various considerations we're taking into account many of these considerations are not known to the general population in Israel and that's a good thing because we want to protect our soldiers lives I would like to be clear the timing of the IDF operation was determined unanimously by the cabinet in charge of this war together with the chief of general staff and together with the cabinet we operate in order to guarantee the most optimal conditions for our troops for the upcoming activities and when we get into Gaza and then later on we're going to get those murders who committed these horrendous horrific events of Hamas ISIS to pay the full price October 7th was a very dark and black day in our history we will fully investigate what had happened at our southern border the border with Gaza everybody will have to provide answers myself included but all that will happen only after the war yes so Netanyahu obviously acknowledging the fact that many of us know that under his leadership Israel has allowed Hamas to grow to such extent right on Israel's border coming every week to the defense causing a lot of damage and gathering intelligence and more information is coming in about that intelligence failure yesterday we saw a report of a broadcaster Khan speaking to two of the girls of the communication lookouts these girls are the eyes of the IDF on the border and their testimony was was horrifying because not only that only two of 25 of them have managed to survive this attack most of them slaughtered and several others have been kidnapped only two remain to tell the story of what happened in this attack but even more horrifying is what they said about what they've seen over the past several weeks even months seeing very suspicious activity of Hamas operatives on the fans using vehicles using maps lookouts planning very carefully what they were planning to do those girls have informed their commanders about what they see they even joked about they raid Israel they passed this information but it seems like nothing has been done it's been looked away someone closed his eyes and hoped that this is just training without any concrete action the result was catastrophic and these are many many of the questions that will be investigated both in the Israeli public and for certain in the committee that will be established after the war to examine the intelligence failures as we continue to learn more about everything that happened it poses so many questions onto the threat that is right under Israel's nose is this entire time moving from the south I want to go up to another threat that we have in the north Hezbollah our correspondent Pia Stechelback is in northern Israel right now all eyes on kind of this tense calm that we're seeing in the north northern Lebanon even overnight and yesterday right Nicole the northern front is continuously heating up last night a surface to air missile was launched from southern Lebanon toward an Israeli drone Israel's air force after that striking toward the origin of that launch that comes after yesterday in the evening ours Israel was striking Hezbollah watch towers and also military compound in southern Lebanon that comes also against the backdrop of an important meeting that plays in Beirut yesterday morning the Hezbollah chief the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah meeting with the leader of the Palestinian Islamic jihad and the senior Hamas official Salih Al-Aroori in Beirut there discussing the next step to taking that sensitive stage of the war this is how to describe that and how to bring about the victory of what they call the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and that is another proof that Hezbollah has been trying Hezbollah with Iran in the background of course to combine what has been emphasized specifically by Hassan Nasrallah throughout the year really and by publishing about that meeting themselves that really showcases how much they want to emphasize that cooperation if you needed another proof yesterday afternoon a rocket was fired towards the area of Haifa we're talking about northern Israel from the Gaza Strip and it was not the first time that this happened Hamas launching one of its long range missiles that exploded midair did not cause any casualties or any injuries there but that really shows you how they're cooperation here as that northern front continues to heat up and of course people here are on the high tension but this has been going on since basically the beginning of the war here in the city of Nahriyah city that we've been visiting many times throughout the past two weeks you do see that people are going on to the streets again it has been a bit more lively here also in the morning hours now people do dare to go on the streets again but it is still very very tense as Israel also extends the range of places to evacuate here it has not reached the city of Nahriyah yet but from here we also do see the Lebanese border and again it is a very volatile situation here and skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have increased throughout the past weeks we have been seeing continuous motor shelling and also anti-tank missiles also yesterday Israel targeting three squads trying to launch anti-tank missiles one of them succeeded in striking a tank and an IDF base in the town of Avivim also very close to the Lebanese border but of course Israel and the Nahriyah are also stationed here many reservists also stationed here in the north are of course very vigilant towards anything that is coming out of southern Lebanon Nicole. Our correspondent Pia Stackleback we're all keeping an eye up there in the north as you said it is just a tense calm it could erupt at any moment now thank you for your coverage now as Pia mentioned the threat from Iran up in the north continues to not only concern Israel but our western allies as well but US President Joe Biden is continuing he recognizes the country will never look the same following the October 7th massacre. There's no going back to the status quo as is stood on October the 6th that means ensuring Hamas can no longer terrorize Israel and use Palestinian civilians as human shields it also means that when this crisis is over there has to be a vision of what comes next and in our view it has to be a two-state solution it means a concentrated effort for all the parties Israelis, Palestinians, regional partners, global leaders to put us on a path toward peace now as US President Joe Biden continues to support Israel and its goal of destroying Hamas US Congress is stepping up as well the new house speaker Mike Johnson called up a resolution supporting Israel in his first action as leader of the House of Representatives the non-binding measure was backed by a vote of 412 to 10 and it reaffirms the US commitment to Israel while also calling on Hamas to immediately cease attacks and release every hostage. This resolution condemns Hamas in Iran for its support of terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad while also calling all sanctions on Iran to be fully enforced so I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution it will send a clear message across the world that terrorists and their sponsors will be held to account for their atrocities their crimes against humanity their crimes of genocide as we're hearing from these western allies along with all the latest developments on the ground Israel one of the main dilemmas is the 220 at least hostages that remain held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. Now some families of those kidnapped addressed the United Nations recounting the horrific details of October 7th and stating the international community is not doing enough to get their loved ones back. Hersh, Honor and 27 others managed to escape to a roadside bomb shelter and hid inside Hamas militants came to the doorway and began throwing in hand grenades which all witnesses with whom we have spoken said that Honor managed to pick up eight of them and throw them back out but three of those hand grenades did get by and detonated inside next Hamas fired into this small concrete room of 29 music lovers an RPG and then sprayed the room with machine gun fire after a couple of moments of the dust settling Hamas entered most of those young people were now dead we know that Hersh and two other young men were ordered to stand and when Hersh stood up they all saw that his left arm had been blown off from the elbow we seem like we live in the same place but I like all of the mothers and all of the fathers and wives and husbands and children and brothers and sisters and loved ones of the stolen we all actually live on a different planet there are over 200 hostages being held in Gaza right now over 100 of them are from 33 countries where is the world we the families of the 200 hostages are far away on our own planet of Agony but where are you I want to come back to my guests in studio now Rafael Yursalmi and Guy Azrael Rafael earlier in the broadcast we were talking about Israel standing strong despite maybe pressures from the United States I'm curious to hear from different U.S. speakers do you think that the United States is controlling Israel or putting too much of a say in exactly what's happening on the ground but in exchange for might I add very strong support that we also need I think there's a good balance meaning there is a pressure for sure from the United States justified by this extraordinary support but it's also an understanding that we have to defend ourselves from the global and strategic conditions that might entice us to go into action even though the Americans might want us to wait a little more I will remind our viewers that the last time Europe hesitated and waited and the last time the Americans waited to enter into action we lost 6 million people so I think the hesitations and waiting for the game that they want to play can be only for a little while longer but not that much longer we accept to play the game in the vague hope that our hostages would be liberated I personally do not believe in this I do not believe in drip by drip drop by drop liberation of hostages it's everybody or nobody I mean we start with the Americans we start with this next time it will be the hostages and not the other ones that's not possible it's everybody or nobody that's the deal otherwise it's playing in the hand the Hamas a cynical game a blackmail game in the hands of the Qatar the Qatar is not helping the Qatar is playing a cynical game it's financing the Hamas it's trying just to put a nice face you know to the world so all this being said there are two things I believe that the Hamas doesn't want to have at least all the hostages because they are the life insurance of the leaders of the Hamas if things get rough in Gaza city and the IDF will close on the high leadership in the towns of the Hamas they have one last rampart of defense it's the hostages they say hey guys let Mr. Silwan would say let me go let me go free let me go to Egypt I'll give you your guys back so I think they want to keep that it's a treasure it will be really silly on their part to give away those hostages for nothing second of all the hostages it's a very important problem but it cannot be at the expense of the lives of our soldiers delaying too much or not taking an opportunity we might have to attack this might endanger hundreds of soldiers so you also have to take that into account and the last thing is what is a hostage if we do not do the job now with the Hamas it's not 200 hostages we all be hostages of the Hamas and the Khizbala the people of the south and north will never go back to their homes because the Hamas will still be there Khizbala will still be there and we will be the hostages all of us so this is a completely crazy Jewish Talmud dilemma how do you solve this problem we're on a tight rope because we do want of course we want to to liberate the hostages on the other hand we have important missions remember that with we liberated one hostage one hostage for a thousand