 I'm Sivan Raviv and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Today is Day 47 of Israel's war with Hamas. The war that started when at least 1200 innocent Israeli civilians, including women, men and children and the elderly, fell victim to a brutal massacre in southern Israel on October 7th. There are currently 236 hostages held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza, including about 40 children. The Israeli government has taken a crucial step towards bringing home these hostages held in Gaza. The government convened last night and approved the outline of the first stage to release at least 50 hostages, predominantly women and children over the next four days. The hostage release deal with Hamas comes with conditions. In exchange for the release, first and foremost, Hamas will receive a four-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Israel will also release approximately 150 Palestinian prisoners, primarily women and minors. The agreement also includes the entry of food, medical aid and fuel into the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army has agreed to a six-hour daily suspension of flights over Gaza, allowing Hamas to locate hostages held by their operatives and separate factions. The first hostages are expected to be released on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that despite the temporary pause to return hostages, Israel is still at war and will continue until all war objectives are achieved, eliminating Hamas, returning all hostages and ensuring Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel. Let's take a listen. Outside there is a lot of nonsense talk. As if after we ceasefire for the release of the hostages, we will stop the war. So I would like to clarify, we are at war and we will continue to fight, continue to fight until we reach all our goals. Tonight, we face a difficult decision, but it is the right decision, all the security factors fully support it. They clarified in their full professional assessment the security of our forces will be guaranteed during the days of ceasefire and that the intelligence effort will be maintained. Joining us now on Israel's northern border is I-24 news correspondent Robert Swift. Robert, it appears that a four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas might also apply to the Lebanon border. So should we be expecting more Hezbollah strikes before the ceasefire? It does seem likely that that will be the case. Both Hezbollah and the IDF appear likely to want to get in a few last-minute hits before that ceasefire comes into effect. When I last spoke to you, I mentioned that Lebanese media was reporting that Israeli airstrikes were taking place in southwest Lebanon. And in the last hour, the Israeli military has confirmed that it is conducting airstrikes in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah positions. Now it has not confirmed the location, but you can assess that these are connected and that this is the IDF confirming those reports. Now along the border, people are, you know, looking out, waiting to see if the conflict here will escalate. For the time being, it's been relatively quiet as compared to yesterday. Just in the last couple of minutes, we've seen small traces of skirmishes, interceptor missile streaks in the sky, potentially, and also been hearing Israeli artillery firing a few rounds. Those are the sorts of actions that are pretty common and may indicate that the skirmishes taking place here may pick up, as they did yesterday, in anticipation of that ceasefire. But at the minute, that's not clear. One final point on Israel's far western end of its northern border. There were two rocket alarms that took place in the community of Roshanikra. Now the first of these, the IDF subsequently said, was a false alarm. But afterwards, the second incidence of that siren going off occurred. It's not clear yet if this is a repeat of that false alarm or if this is actually a security incident taking place, possibly rocket or mortar fire. Thank you very much, Robert Swift, on Israel's northern border. Joining us now in studio is Professor Uzirabi, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East Studies and Senior Researcher at the Center for Iranian Studies, both at Tel Aviv University. Thank you for joining us. We are seeing a hostage release deal in play right now. Hopefully by tomorrow, we will be seeing hostages coming home, but not all hostages are coming home. A lot are still left behind. And we've used, we know this word from the period of the Holocaust selection. There's a selection here of which hostages get to come home and which remain behind. From the first day, I knew that the guy who is sitting in the next side of the road, this cunning and shrewd, cruel, psycho guy named Yahya Sinwar, I mean, all these categorizations are, you know, from the beginning were pretty evident in his mind. And he is going actually to implement it. In spite of that, I wouldn't like to belittle what we actually have achieved here, because those 50 kidnapees or hostages, most of them are kids, citizens of Israel, that were neglected by the state. And this is a sacred mission. I hope and pray that what we do here from Prime Minister and the cabinet guys is going to be fully implemented, because this is the main battle and the main mission through which we're going to measure Israel's performance this time. We are paying the price of 15 years of naivete, negligence, irresponsibility. You can't deal with such groups or movements like Hamas and Hezbollah that way. We still pay that now with this whole categorizations, as you said that Yahya Sinwar is doing. But it would be the last time, because Israel has to eradicate Hamas in the end of the day, both politically and militarily. Anything less than that is a great failure. And this is something we have to put on the table as citizens of Israel, as the society at large, you know, you cannot build up a future for Israel when you have an adjacent neighbor like Hamas. So it's time for Israel to get back to its senses. You know, we are paying a heavy price, as we said. But this time, actually, we have to come back home with the goal being achieved completely. No more Hamas, neither as political nor military power, either in Gaza or in other Palestinian spot. Certainly, those two objectives of the war, eliminating Hamas and bringing the hostages home, stay with us. We'll be right back to discussing this. In the meantime, on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Pierre Kloshendler. Pierre, we heard sirens earlier on your front. What's the current situation on the ground? Well, the pounding of presumed terror targets is going on, as if there was no ceasefire in the offing. And yet, the army, as it is progressing around Jebaliah and in certain neighborhoods such as Cherzai, northwest of Jebaliah, is also neutralizing tunnels. We just heard from the IDF that 400 tunnel shafts were neutralized since the beginning of the war declared by Hamas on Israel on October 7. That means a lot of defense lines by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad. And hence, that's the reason why, although the IDF has full control over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, fighting is still going on in the two neighborhoods, in other spots of the Gaza Strip, such as Beth Hanun, Beth Lahia, because the lines of defense are so dense. Now, regarding the ceasefire, as the IDF is on movement, it's also calculating its positions, be it defensive or offensive, in case that Hamas would break away from the truth, from the humanitarian truth. That means that, and that's not the first time, in 2014, during another Israeli operation, Hamas broke a ceasefire and captured the body of two Israeli soldiers. And the Israeli army obviously doesn't want a rehearsal of what happened in 2014. In addition, maybe a window of opportunity for all the residents, the Palestinian residents only involved in the fighting, especially in the northern Gaza Strip. There are still, according to the UN, 167,000 inhabitants trapped in the battleground. The humanitarian truth could provide these residents to move away from the battleground, to move south. And this is what the IDF has been urging the residents to do since November 5, since then, about 400,000 Palestinians have already moved south. The UN is saying that 1.7 million residents of the northern Gaza Strip are already in the southern part of the Strip. So this is also not only a window of opportunity for Hamas to reorganize, but also for the IDF to reorganize its supplies, to reorganize its targets, and also to cleanse the battleground from any civilian presence which is not involved in the fighting. Thank you very much, Pierre, on Israel's southern border. And back in studio with us is Dr. Uzi Rabi. Dr. Rabi, we're seeing a cynical Hamas, a terror organization that is using a lot of psychological terror, especially when it comes to hostages and especially when it comes to children. Now, there's definitely this element of psychological terror. And if this deal comes through, is this setting a precedent that it's worthy to kidnap children? Well, I mean, unfortunately, yes. I mean, every deal actually is setting sort of a list of a set of precedents. But I would say that it depends on Israel whether we are going to have more of the same in the future or not. And this is just, I'm coming back to what I just said before, it is on Israel actually to prove that those guys who are that cynical, cruel as you said, who in no time could kidnap children and make them sort of a bargaining chip by which to batter their positions, this must be stopped. And the only way to stop it is to eradicate Hamas. This would be also a model. This would be a setting, an example for the whole Middle East, that if Israel is just saying enough is enough, it can put some teeth into it when it comes to its military technology. I hope that Israel actually has jumped to this conclusion. It is highly needed and it can be implemented. But only if Israel, as I said before, is 100% locked on the target, it would actually provide a lesson to groups like Hezbollah, to other parties in the Middle East when it comes to the Mu'awama axis. And this is something which is highly timely at this time. Let's take a listen to Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant who said to the cabinet in Tel Aviv that without the continuation of military pressure, there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages. Let's watch. Without the continuation of military pressure, there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages that we want to bring back. The release of abductees in my eyes is, first of all, a value issue, a moral issue, an issue of commitment between the state, the government, and the citizen. Mr. Uzair Rabi, there is this fear that if this ceasefire will extend beyond the four days, Israel will end up losing legitimacy to keep fighting, to keep on with this war and its objectives in terms of defeating Hamas, and that there will be international pressure to stop altogether. This is exactly what Yahya Sanwar has in mind. How to empty Israel from its legitimacy, so to speak, to go on with that, bring in international pressure, and he is entertaining himself that after the four days, and maybe another, actually, ceasefire that he would organize there, it would bring him some time to reorganize, to make sure that the international community is pressuring Israel in much stronger a way, and Israel would lose its energy, and the whole momentum which was being gathered won't be there. So, this is, first of all, what he thinks Israel should learn carefully what you just said now, and create in advance the whole procedure and tactics by which to, you know, make sure that all these things are not going actually to stop Israel from getting its goal. Basically, this is a real challenge. I do agree with you, but I couldn't agree more with the defense minister because people tend to think that actually the incursion to Gaza contradicts actually the whole possibility of bringing back the hostages. I don't think so. The more Israel is deeper in Gaza, the more Israel is closer physically to Yahya Sanwar and the trio, Marwan Issa and Muhammad Adave, the more Israel is there, the better in the sense of possibilities or chances to bring the hostages back. Basically, this is how the equation works. So I don't see any contradiction with, you know, going deeper, deeper into the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Just remember actually Gaza, the city was the main headquarters, but here comes the other one. In the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and Israel should had, I mean, Israel is heading toward there because this is the next one. If we are going actually to do what we did in the north, in the south, that would be actually the point of departure from which we can say that we achieved our goal. Well, we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the entry to Khan Yunus is not a question of if, but when. So we have yet to see if that works. Words, words, words, you know, we have to be very suspicious with what actually politicians say in Israel. This time, we would pass a judgment on deeds, not on words. Certainly actions are expected and not just words. Thank you very much, Professor Osvaldo. Thank you. And now Ben Biniamini and Gali Segal got engaged just days before October 7th, when Hamas terror attack on the Nova Music Festival began. They were there. They ran away to the nearest shelter where each one of them ended up losing their right leg. In between the long days of rehabilitation in the hospital, Gali and Ben shared their thoughts and experiences from that Black Saturday, alongside their plans for the future. Let's watch. A man gets to know a woman. She gets to know him. He pulls out a ring. She's happy. This is how the story of Gali and Ben begins. He loves her. She loves him. They're going to a party. When morning comes, they find themselves in a shelter crammed full of people, shooting outside and then someone shouts, grenade. A man and a woman opening their eyes after losing consciousness. They have a missing chapter in their memory, a few seconds, maybe a few minutes. They are between life and death. From the inferno, they pray for someone to come. And then they look down at their feet. I remember feeling my body and screaming, I don't have a leg. I don't have a leg. It's not normal that we lost the same leg. We have more or less the same injury. And we both came back from there. We met to Gali and Ben six weeks ago. Since then, we have been accompanying them. We were with them in surgery. The doctors did not believe we would survive. We were there during the long nights when they lay down, bed by bed. I don't know how I would cope if she wasn't here with me. We also saw moments of joy and small victories. Out of the darkness of October 7th, we found great love and a chilling shared destiny. We both have the same injury. We are both right leg amputees. It's unbelievable. How did you meet? We were sitting in a bar, me and a friend. Then Ben came with his friend and then the next day he asked for my phone number. And we were both after a breakup. And it was like, we want it, we don't want it. But then after a few months, we said, well, let's commit. They have been together for seven years. Gali is an interior design student and Ben works in real estate. But above all, he is a soccer player. Football is my whole life. I played a lot in the National League. If it's Natsarat-I-Lit, Kfar Kassem, with whom I went up to the National League, Ironia Shdod in League One. What position did you play on the field? Defender. And what type of player are you? Very aggressive. They have been together for seven years. At the end of May, they flew to Italy for a vacation and Ben prepared a little surprise for Gali. I took her to Venice. We took a gondola with a singer and... Romantic. I also brought a bunch of roses. You know, you don't hear the Italians sing that much in the video. At the end, we put a song by Omer Adam that she wanted. And that's it. And we got engaged and a week later, it happened. That Saturday, they went to a party to celebrate Ben's birthday. They were there together with members of family and also with Shani, a close friend. We were starting to see the murders. We just started running towards the car. Ben and I are traveling with Shani in the car. And people do this to you. No. Don't come here. Don't continue. And we see from the side of the road a shelter and a policeman signaling us to go inside. This is the shelter at the Alumim Junction. Several dozen people were crammed inside. This is how it looked in those minutes. Gali, Ben and Shani were inside. And then we started hearing gunshots. Hearing them slowly getting closer and closer. Then they started shooting at the entrance to the shelter. At the people who were at the entrance to the shelter. I actually pulled Ben and Shani down so they don't get hit by a bullet. And we're under pressure. After a few minutes of them shooting, we saw the grenade come in. There was a very loud boom. I told myself that's it. There's no way we're getting out of this. We must have lost consciousness. It is not clear how much time passed until they lost consciousness after the grenades exploded. When they opened their eyes, everything was black. I remember seeing Shani actually coming out of the shelter and she's talking on the phone and she says Gali and Ben are injured. I don't know. I think they're dead. I don't know whether to run or to stay. And I can't call her. I can't speak. There is a video of the shelter in those minutes. We decided not to broadcast it. The scenes in it are unbearable. I remember I was literally feeling my body and I started to go into shock and I screamed I don't have a leg. I don't have a leg. And Ben is next to me and he said to me keep your strength. Stop screaming. Keep your strength. He said to me if this is our destiny, if this is what has to happen, at least we're together. And I gave her a kiss and it felt like the end. His name is Dennis. He was part of the party security force. He arrived in directed fire at a terrorist who shot at the shelter and then went inside. I yelled inside. Is there anyone alive there? Many people were shouting. Some people didn't shout anymore. They were panicked, scared. Thanks to him we are here 100%. If he hadn't arrived at this time and handled things the way he did, we wouldn't be here. Dennis stopped vehicles that were fleeing the party. He asked the drivers to take the injured to the ambulances that were waiting at the entrance to the area. They pulled me out of the shelter first and put me in a car. They took me out and I saw a girl lying outside the shelter at the entrance with black hair. I tanked up like Gali was wearing and I was sure that Gali was the girl because they had brought her out, that she was dead. That's what I thought at that moment. I arrived at Soroka Hospital and I had really, really low readings and they thought I wouldn't survive. When do you meet? They took me out of bed towards the room and then I noticed that two beds away from me was Ben. And I yelled to him. And I just saw her too. We passed and I looked at the bed and just realized that it was Gali. That moment when we both realized that we're alive, it was like a weight had lifted off of my heart. There are moments when I don't even want my family to see me. But I don't have a problem with Ben because the pain I'm going through is also the pain he's going through. And you look at him differently after all of this? Yes. Ben and I are very different in our behavior. I'm more emotional and he's more reserved. And his reservation turned out to be a source of strength for me. And it seems to me that even if he is in pain, he doesn't say anything right so that you don't... He doesn't say anything at all. That's the thing. I remember that at first I asked the doctors here. I told them, why am I in pain and he's not. But they said, Gali, he's in pain. He just doesn't say it. He's suffering in silence, I think. He's protecting me. Maybe something like that. Did you choose well? Yes, it seems to me that I did. Not that I had any doubt before. It wasn't your plan to be here in the middle of life, was it? We didn't even think that something like this could happen. Five weeks. It feels like it was yesterday. There are moments when I'm optimistic and say it will be fine and it's small and it's only a leg. But there are also moments when I say, this is not me. They still have a long way to go, but they are the only couple in the rehabilitation department that has dozens of wounded from the war. They have something that no one else has. They have each other. And it's true, they don't have a wedding hall yet, and they're also debating the song as they walk to the bridal canopy, but they already know exactly what the path to it will look like. We want to come to the wedding with our prostheses, walking together. That's the goal? This is the goal. You both walk to the canopy? Already imagining it at night? I am. She already knows which prosthetics she wants and everything. With white glitter, of course. In this darkness that is happening here now, there's the point of light that I have. That I see something that I want to celebrate. This is our little victory. One story among thousands of others. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where we see as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome to I-24 News, I'm Stefaan Raviv and these are the latest developments coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Today is Day 47 of Israel's war with Hamas. The war that started when at least 1200 innocent Israeli civilians, including women, men and children and the elderly, fell victim to a brutal massacre in southern Israel on October 7th. There are currently 236 hostages held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza, including about 40 children. The Israeli government has taken a crucial step towards bringing home these hostages held in Gaza. The government convened last night and approved the outline of the first stage to release at least 50 hostages, predominantly women and children, over the next four days. The hostage release deal with Hamas comes with conditions. In exchange for the release, first and foremost, Hamas will receive a four-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas will also release approximately 150 Palestinian prisoners, primarily women and minors. The agreement also includes the entry of food, medical aid and fuel into the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army has agreed to a six-hour daily suspension of flights over Gaza, allowing Hamas to locate hostages held by their operatives and separate factions. The first hostages are expected to be released on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that despite the temporary pause to return hostages, Israel is still at war and will continue until all war objectives are achieved, eliminating Hamas, returning all hostages and ensuring Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel. Let's take a listen. Outside there is a lot of nonsense talk. As if after we ceasefire for the release of the hostages, we will stop the war. So I would like to clarify, we are at war and we will continue to fight, continue to fight until we reach all our goals. Tonight we face a difficult decision, but it is the right decision, all the security factors fully support it. They clarified in their full professional assessment the security of our forces will be guaranteed during the days of ceasefire, and that the intelligence effort will be maintained. Joining us now on Israel's Northern border is I-24 news correspondent Robert Swift. Robert, it appears that a four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas might also apply to the Lebanon border. So should we be expecting more Hezbollah strikes before the ceasefire? It does seem likely that that will be the case. Both Hezbollah and the IDF appear likely to want to get in a few last-minute hits before that ceasefire comes into effect. When I last spoke to you, I mentioned that Lebanese media was reporting that Israeli airstrikes were taking place in southwest Lebanon. And in the last hour, the Israeli military has confirmed that it is conducting airstrikes in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah positions. Now, it has not confirmed the location, but you can assess that these are connected and that this is the IDF confirming those reports. Now, along the border, people are looking out, waiting to see if the conflict here will escalate. For the time being, it's been relatively quiet as compared to yesterday. And just in the last couple of minutes, we've seen small traces of skirmishes, interceptor missile streaks in the sky, potentially, and also been hearing Israeli artillery firing a few rounds. Those are the sorts of actions that are pretty common and may indicate that the skirmishes taking place here may pick up, as they did yesterday, in anticipation of that ceasefire. But at the minute, that's not clear. One final point on Israel's far western end of its northern border. There were two rocket alarms that took place in the community of Roshan-e-Kra. Now, the first of these, the IDF subsequently said, was a false alarm. But afterwards, the second incidence of that siren going off occurred. It's not clear yet if this is a repeat of that false alarm or if this is actually a security incident taking place, possibly rocket or mortifier. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us now in studios, Professor Uzi Rabi, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East Studies and senior researcher at the Center for Iranian Studies, both at Tel Aviv University. Thank you for joining us. We are seeing a hostage release deal in play right now. Hopefully by tomorrow, we will be seeing hostages coming home. But not all hostages are coming home. A lot are still left behind. We've used this, we know this word from the period of the Holocaust selection. There's a selection here of which hostages get to come home and which remain behind. Well, from the first day, I knew that the guy who is sitting in the next side of the road, this cunning and shrewd, cruel, psycho guy named Bih Yasinia Sinwar. I mean, all these categorizations are from the beginning were pretty evident in his mind and he is going actually to implement it. In spite of that, I wouldn't like to belittle what we actually have achieved here because those 50 kidnappers or hostages, most of them are kids, citizens of Israel, that were neglected by the state. And this is a sacred mission. I hope and pray that what we do here from Prime Minister and the cabinet guys is going to be fully implemented because this is the main battle and the main mission through which we're going to measure Israel's performance this time. We are paying the price of 15 years of naivete, negligence, irresponsibility. You can't deal with such groups or movements like Hamas and Hezbollah that way. We still pay that now with this whole categorizations, as you said that Yasin War is doing. But it would be the last time because Israel has to eradicate Hamas in the end of the day, both politically and militarily. Anything less than that is a great failure. And this is something we have to put on the table as citizens of Israel, as the society at large, you know, you cannot build up a future for Israel when you have an adjacent neighbor like Hamas. So it's time for Israel to get back to its senses. You know, we are paying a heavy price, as we said. But this time, actually, we have to come back home with the goal being achieved completely. No more Hamas, neither as political nor military power, either in Gaza or in other Palestinian spots. Certainly, those two objectives of the war, eliminating Hamas and bringing the hostages home, stay with us. We'll be right back to discussing this in the meantime on Israel's southern border is our I-24 news correspondent, Pierre Kloeschendler. Pierre, we heard sirens earlier on your front. What's the current situation on the ground? Well, the pounding of presumed terror targets is going on, as if there was no ceasefire in the offing. And yet, the army, as it is progressing around Jebaliah and in certain neighborhoods such as Cherzai, northwest of Jebaliah, is also neutralizing tunnels. We just heard from the IDF that 400 tunnel shafts were neutralized since the beginning of the war declared by Hamas on Israel on October 7. That means a lot of defense lines by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad. And hence, that's the reason why, although the IDF has full control over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, fighting is still going on in the two neighborhoods, in other spots of the Gaza Strip, such as Beth Hanun, Beth Lahia, because the lines of defense are so dense. Now, regarding the ceasefire, as the IDF is on movement, it's also calculating its positions, be it defensive or offensive, in case that Hamas would break away from the truth, from the humanitarian truth. That means that, and that's not the first time, in 2014, during another Israeli operation, Hamas broke a ceasefire and captured the body of two Israeli soldiers. And the Israeli army obviously doesn't want a rehearsal of what happened in 2014. In addition, maybe a window of opportunity for all the residents, the Palestinian residents only involved in the fighting, especially in the northern Gaza Strip. There are still, according to the UN, 167,000 inhabitants trapped in the battleground. The humanitarian truth could provide these residents to move away from the battleground, to move south. And this is what the IDF has been urging the residents to do since November 5th, since then, about 400,000 Palestinians have already moved south. The UN is saying that 1.7 million residents of the northern Gaza Strip are already in the southern part of the Strip. So this is also not only a window of opportunity for Hamas to reorganize, but also for the IDF to reorganize its supplies, to reorganize its targets, and also to cleanse the battleground from any civilian presence which is not involved in the fighting. Thank you very much, Pierre, on Israel's southern border. And back in studio with us is Dr. Uzirabi. Dr. Rabi, we're seeing a cynical Hamas, a terror organization that is using a lot of psychological terror, especially when it comes to hostages and especially when it comes to children. Now there's definitely this element of psychological terror, and if this deal comes through, is this setting a precedent that is worthy to kidnap children? Well, I mean, unfortunately, yes, I mean, every, every deal actually is setting sort of a list of a set of precedents, but I would say that, you know, it depends on Israel whether we are going to have more of the same in the future or not. And this is just, I'm coming back to what I just said before. It is on Israel, actually, to prove that those guys who are that cynical, cruel, as you said, who, you know, in no time could, you know, kidnap children and make them a sort of a, a, a bargaining chip by, by which to batter their positions, this must be stopped. And the only way to stop it is to eradicate Hamas, this would be also a modal. This would be a setting, an example for the whole Middle, the Middle East, that if Israel is just saying enough is enough. It can put some teeth into it when it comes to its, you know, military technology. I hope that Israel actually has jumped to this conclusion. It is highly needed. And it can be implemented. But only if Israel, as I said before, is 100% locked on the target, it would actually provide a lesson to groups like Hezbollah, to other parties in the Middle East when it comes to the Muqawama axis. And this is something which is highly timely at this time. Let's take a listen to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who said to the cabinet in Tel Aviv that without the continuation of military pressure, there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages. Let's watch. Without the continuation of military pressure, there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages that we want to bring back. The release of abductees in my eyes is, first of all, a value issue, a moral issue, an issue of commitment between the state, the government, and the citizen. Professor Uzair Rabi, there is this fear that if this ceasefire will extend beyond the four days, Israel will end up losing legitimacy to keep fighting, to keep on with this war and its objectives in terms of defeating Hamas, and that there will be international pressure to stop altogether. This is exactly what Yahya Senwar has in mind. How to empty Israel from its legitimacy, so to speak, to go on with that, bring in international pressure. And he is entertaining himself that after the four days and maybe another actually ceasefire that he would organize there, it would bring him some time to reorganize, to make sure that the international community is pressuring Israel in much stronger way. And Israel would lose its energy, and the whole momentum which was being gathered won't be there. So this is, first of all, what he thinks Israel should learn carefully what you just said now and create in advance the whole procedure and tactics by which to make sure that all these things are not going actually to stop Israel from getting its goal. Basically, this is a real challenge. I do agree with you. But I couldn't agree more with the defense minister because people tend to think that actually the incursion to Gaza contradicts actually the whole possibility of bringing back the hostages. I don't think so. The more Israel is deeper in Gaza, the more Israel is closer physically to Yahya Senwar and the trio, Marwan Issa and Muhammad Zadef, the more Israel is there, the better in the sense of possibilities or chances to bring the hostages back. Basically, this is how the equation works. So I don't see any contradiction with going deeper and deeper into the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Just remember, actually, Gaza, the city, was the main headquarter. But here comes the other one, it's Hanyunas in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. And Israel is heading toward there because this is the next one. If we are going actually to do what we did in the north, in the south, that would be actually the point of departure from which we can say that we achieved our goal. Well, we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the entry to Hanyunas is not a question of if, but when. So we have yet to see if that. Words, words, words. We have to be very suspicious with what actually politicians say in Israel. This time, we would pass a judgment on deeds, not on words. Certainly, actions are expected and not just words. Thank you very much, Professor Ushan. Thank you. And now Ben Binyamini and Gali Segal got engaged just days before October 7th when Hamas terror attack on the Nova Music Festival began. They were there. They ran away to the nearest shelter where each one of them ended up losing their right leg. In between the long days of rehabilitation in the hospital, Gali and Ben shared their thoughts and experiences from that Black Saturday alongside their plans for the future. Let's watch. A man gets to know a woman. She gets to know him. He pulls out a ring. She's happy. This is how the story of Gali and Ben begins. He loves her. She loves him. They're going to a party. When morning comes, they find themselves in a shelter crammed full of people, shooting outside, and then someone shouts, grenade. A man and a woman opening their eyes after losing consciousness. They have a missing chapter in their memory, a few seconds, maybe a few minutes. They are between life and death. From the inferno, they pray for someone to come. And then they look down at their feet. I remember feeling my body and screaming, I don't have a leg. I don't have a leg. It's not normal that we lost the same leg. We have more or less the same injury. And we both came back from there. We met Gali and Ben six weeks ago. Since then, we have been accompanying them. We were with them in surgery. The doctors did not believe we would survive. We were there during the long nights when they lay down, bed by bed. I don't know how I would cope if she wasn't here with me. We also saw moments of joy and small victories. Out of the darkness of October the 7th, we found great love and a chilling shared destiny. We both have the same injury. We are both right leg amputees. It's unbelievable. How did you meet? We were sitting in a bar, me and a friend. Then Ben came with his friend and then the next day he asked for my phone number. And we were both after a breakup and it was like, we want it, we don't want it. But then after a few months, we said, well, let's commit. They have been together for seven years. Gali is an interior design student and Ben works in real estate. But above all, he is a soccer player. Football is my whole life. I played a lot in the National League. If it's Natsarat-Ilyt, Kvarkasem, with whom I went up to the National League, Ironia Shdod in League One. What position did you play on the field? Defender. And what type of player are you? Very aggressive. They have been together for seven years. At the end of May, they flew to Italy for a vacation and Ben prepared a little surprise for Gali. I took her to Venice. We took a gondola with a singer and... Romantic. I also brought a bunch of roses. You know, you don't hear the Italians sing that much in the video. At the end, we put a song by Omer Adam that she wanted. And that's it. And we got engaged and a week later, it happened. That Saturday, they went to a party to celebrate Ben's birthday. They were there together with members of family and also with Shanee, a close friend. We were starting to see the murders. We just started running towards the car. Ben and I are traveling with Shanee in the car. And people do this to you. No. Don't come here. Don't continue. And we see from the side of the road a shelter and a policeman signalling us to go inside. This is the shelter at the Alumim Junction. Several dozen people were crammed inside. This is how it looked in those minutes. Gali, Ben and Shanee were inside. And then we started hearing gunshots. Hearing them slowly getting closer and closer. Then they started shooting at the entrance to the shelter, at the people who were at the entrance to the shelter. I actually pulled Ben and Shanee down so they don't get hit by a bullet. And we're under pressure and we... After a few minutes of them shooting, we saw the grenade come in. There was a very loud boom. I told myself, that's it. There's no way we're getting out of this. We must have lost consciousness. It is not clear how much time passed until they lost consciousness after the grenades exploded. When they opened their eyes, everything was black. I remember seeing Shanee actually coming out of the shelter and she's talking on the phone and she says, Gali and Ben are injured. I don't know. I think they're dead. I don't know whether to run or to stay. And I can't call her. I can't speak. There is a video of the shelter in those minutes. We decided not to broadcast it. The scenes in it are unbearable. I remember I was literally feeling my body and I started to go into shock and I screamed, I don't have a leg. I don't have a leg. And Ben is next to me and he said to me, keep your strength. Stop screaming. Keep your strength. And he said to me, if this is our destiny, if this is what has to happen, at least we're together. And I gave her a kiss and... It felt like the end. His name is Dennis. He was part of the party's security force. He arrived in directed fire at a terrorist who shot at the shelter and then went inside. I yelled inside. Is there anyone alive there? Many people were shouting. Some people didn't shout anymore. They were panicked, scared. Thanks to him, we are here, 100%. If he hadn't arrived at this time and handled things the way he did, we wouldn't be here. We weren't here. Dennis stopped vehicles that were fleeing the party. He asked the drivers to take the injured to the ambulances that were waiting at the entrance to the area. They pulled me out of the shelter first and put me in a car. They took me out and I saw a girl lying outside the shelter at the entrance with black hair, a tank top like Gali was wearing. And I was sure that Gali was the girl because they had brought her out, that she was dead. That's what I thought at that moment. I arrived at the Zoloka hospital and I had really, really low readings and they thought I wouldn't survive. When do you meet? They took me out of bed towards the room and then I noticed that two beds away from me was Ben. And I yelled to him. And I just saw her too. She passed and I looked at the bed and just realized that it was Gali. That moment when we both realized that we're alive, it was like a weight had lifted off of my heart. There are moments when I don't even want my family to see me, but I don't have a problem with Ben because the pain I'm going through is also the pain he's going through. And you look at him differently after all of this? Yes. Ben and I are very different in our behavior. I'm more emotional and he's more reserved. And his reservation turned out to be a source of strength for me. And it seems to me that even if he is in pain, he doesn't have to worry about it. And it seems to me that even if he is in pain, he doesn't say anything right so that you don't... He doesn't say anything at all. That's the thing. I remember that at first I asked the doctors here. I told them, why am I in pain and he's not. But they said, Gali, he's in pain. He just doesn't say it. Suffering in silence, I think. He's protecting me. Maybe something like that. Did you choose well? Yes, it seems to me that I did. Not that I had any doubt before. It wasn't your plan to be here in the middle of life, was it? We didn't even think that something like this could happen. Five weeks. It feels like it was yesterday. There are moments when I'm optimistic and say it will be fine and it's small and it's only a leg. But there are also moments when I say, this is not me. They still have a long way to go but they are the only couple in the rehabilitation department that has dozens of wounded from the war. They have something that no one else has. They have each other. And it's true, they don't have a wedding hall yet and they're also debating the song as they walk to the bridal canopy but they already know exactly what the path to it will look like. We want to come to the wedding with our prostheses, walking together. That's the goal? This is the goal. You both walk to the canopy? Already imagining it at night? I am. She already knows which prosthetics she wants and everything. With white glitter, of course. In this darkness that is happening here now, there's the point of light that I have. That I see something that I want to celebrate. This is our little victory. One story among thousands of others. Thank you for watching. I'm Siobhan Raveave and this is our latest edition of I-24 News. The global network of the Dominicans. 300 Palestinian prisoners who could be released as part of a deal to free Israeli hostages held by terrorists in Gaza. The majority, males under the age of 18, who have been detained for rioting or rock throwing, most of the 13 females who have been named were jailed for attempted murder. Well, under the deal up to 50 Israeli women and children will be freed over a period of four days during which there will be a pause in the fighting according to Qatar. The ceasefire will come into force tomorrow morning. Israel says the truce will be limited to 10 days from the first hostage release. We'll talk about the deal in more detail in just a few moments. But let's find out now what is happening in Gaza. Our correspondent Pierre Klossendler is in southern Israel for us now. And Pierre, there has been something of an uptick in violence. Would you say ahead of that ceasefire that's due to come into force tomorrow morning? No, I don't think there is an uptake of violence or an intensification of the battleground. I think it's simply the army working according to plans as they say, iconically, each time that you ask them that kind of question. But there is indeed some pounding of the Gaza Strip on the northern sector. This is more or less the sector of the outskirts of the Jabalia refugee camp, which used to house about 180,000 Palestinian residents. Now there are still tens of thousands left according to the IDF who is urging them, of course, to leave the combat zone and join the cohorts of displaced Palestinians that are moving south on the humanitarian axis that the army has opened unilaterally on the 5th of November. The pounding is going on. The encirclement of Jabalia is going on. The fighting in Zeytun is going on. It's been going on for the past four days. But at the same time that the IDF is in movement, the IDF is already preparing its positions, both defensive and offensive, in case of a break in the ceasefire. Because in 2014 in a previous IDF operation inside the Gaza Strip, there was a ceasefire which was broken by Hamas. At the time two soldiers, two bodies of soldiers were snatched by Hamas and these bodies are still in the hands of Hamas. Up until now, nine years later, as well as two civilians that are there for the past nine years. Now there is a window of opportunity I would say on the humanitarian dossier that the IDF is running because according to the UN, 167,000 Palestinians are still trapped in the battleground in spite of the IDF urging them to leave. Now it's very possible that these people will use that truce in order to move south, also because they might have the realization that this is only a truce and that the combat, the fighting will start again at the end of that truce. Yeah, Israel says the truce will last no longer than 10 days from the first hostage release. The IDF has also given an update. Hasn't it Pierre on its progress in Gaza so far? It says it's destroyed some 400 tunnel shafts. That is key, isn't it? Absolutely. In Bet Hanun, which is just behind me in that direction, we saw such a detonation or destruction of such a tunnel shaft earlier in the day. We saw it and we understood it's a tunnel shaft because the length of the destruction was quite wide and also there was no intervention at the time of the artillery outgoings or the air force pounding that specific target. So indeed, there is such a dense line of defense that even if the Israeli army is in more or less full control of the northern sector of the Gaza Strip and has cut it off from the southern part, there's still a lot of work to be done. Pierre, thank you very much. Pierre Koschenda there with the very latest on what's happening inside Gaza as we are now around 22 hours out from when that truce is supposed to come into effect. Well, before we talk more about that, let's head north quickly to find out what is happening on Israel's northern front. Remember, there are ongoing skirmishes with the Iranian-backed Lebanese-based terrorist group. Hezbollah, our Robert Swift is there. Robert, what is the latest where you are? Around about 50 minutes ago there was rocket sirens going off in the Israeli central community of Natura. This is in the center of Israel's northern border. It's understood that this was a rocket attack. And in the last few minutes and also throughout the hour, we've been hearing is really artillery firing from close to our position. Now, in Lebanese social media accounts, they're describing that this is artillery landing in some of the towns just behind us. If I step to the side so my cameraman, Adam, can show you, on the horizon we're looking towards the Israeli town of Matula. That's a town that's come under repeated anti-tank attacks. And just on the border, just beyond essentially, you can see the barrier there. The town just on the other side of that, a Lebanese town, that's where it's reported that Israeli artillery fire has landed. We can't confirm that. This is from Lebanese social media. But these are the sorts of skirmishes that are taking place with both the Israeli military and Hezbollah firing across the border. Now, there's a little bit of an expectation that because of the ceasefire coming in tomorrow, both organizations may attempt to increase the tempo of their attacks in order to get in some last hits before that ceasefire takes effect. At the minute, I'd say that the level of skirmishes that's taking place is about par for the course. There is still time today for that to possibly escalate. There could be an uptick. And there are some developments in Iraq related to what's going on where you are as well, Rob. Yeah, indeed. So this is a different Hezbollah organization, not to be confused with the Lebanese Hezbollah. This is an organization that is part of the Shiite access in Iraq, essentially Iranian proxies. Now, since the early days of this war, they have been making attacks against the U.S. military, which is based in Iraq. Now, the United States armed forces have responded on occasions to that, mostly conducting airstrikes in Syria. But today, in the early hours of this morning, and also yesterday, the Israeli, excuse me, the United States military made attacks against Qatiba al-Hezbollah, killing one of its members yesterday in an apparent helicopter gunship attack, responding to a missile attack against the U.S. base. And then overnight, there's been further airstrikes. Now, this is the first time the United States has conducted airstrikes in Iraq since the killing of Soleimani, the Iranian IRGCQ commander. Now, interestingly, when he was killed, one of the people killed alongside him was one of the commanders of this organization that the United States is now in skirmishes with. All right, Rob, thanks very much indeed. Rob Swift there in the north of Israel with the latest on the Hezbollah front. But let's get more detail now on that deal. Israel has approved to free some 50 hostages in exchange for a pause in the fighting in Gaza. It's also agreed to release dozens of Palestinian prisoners. Well, in the last few minutes, Hamas has come out and said that there will be a temporary truce starting at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning with more details on the deal. Our Middle East correspondent, Arilos, around has this report. 47 days since the start of the war in Gaza and a glimmer of hope for the families of over 230 hostages held captive by Hamas. Early Tuesday morning, Israel's cabinet approved a hostage deal with Hamas that would see the release of 50 women and children hostages in exchange for a four-day ceasefire. Tonight, we face a difficult decision, but it is the right decision. All the security factors fully support it. They clarified in their full professional assessment the security of our forces will be guaranteed during the days of ceasefire and that the intelligence effort will be maintained. Under the deal confirmed also by the U.S. and Qatar, 50 civilian hostages will be released in four batches, one day at a time. After four days, the ceasefire will be extended by one day for the release of 10 additional hostages. In exchange, Israel will release 150 Palestinian security prisoners, women and minors, but non-convicted of murder. Israel commits to limit its drone surveillance activity in northern Gaza and to completely suspend it in the south during the ceasefire. Israel will also allow 300 aid trucks to enter Gaza, including fuel. Without the continuation of military pressure, there won't be any chance to bring back the next groups of hostages that we want to bring back. I believe that we are at a decisive moment in this matter and we all hope that there will be a temporary truce, according to which the hostilities will be halted for a few days. Relief entry to our people will be intensified and civilians, women and children, will be exchanged for women and children from the occupation prisons. The Lebanese newspaper Nidal Watan reports that while not a side to the deal, Hezbollah will adhere to the ceasefire as well, provided Israel does so too. As for the families of the hostages, news of the expected deal were received with mixed feelings. On one side, I'm happy. Second, I'm worried, okay, because nobody told me that my family will be there in this deal. Okay? There were 40 children in South Gaza and they got to release only 30. Where are the others? I don't know. And I hope that everybody will release. A deal with the devil, some Israelis are calling this, but with no real alternative, Israel will have to prove that the war effort isn't heard by it. The same thing goes to the chances to bring back the rest of the hostages. With me in the studio, Yaakov Lapin is a military and strategic affairs analyst at the Miriam Institute. Good to see Yaakov. Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for the soldier, Gilad Shaleed, including terrorists and murderers. This time, no murderers on the list, all under 18. But what do you think of the deal from Israel side? Because it won't be getting all of the women back, for example, will it? I think that, you know, if we have a situation, which we do, that the defense establishment, the IDF, the Shin Bet, is telling the war cabinet, look, right now this is the best deal we can possibly get. And the two options are other, to try and get a better deal thereby risking getting nobody or to go for this. I think that under these very, very difficult circumstances, the Israeli government made the decision to try and get as many people out as it possibly can, and that's through this deal. So, you know, I think that in terms of the negotiations that have been taking place, Israel has improved its ability to pressure Hamas militarily, and converted that pressure into this deal. And this appears to be the maximum at this stage that Israel can get, and therefore it is going for it. What about the fighting in Gaza then and Israel's objective to destroy Hamas? If there is a break in fighting of anything between five and up to ten days, how will Israel recover the momentum? So, you know, before this ground offensive, for example, there was no ground offensive, so Israel perfectly knows how to go to resumption of warfare. It's done it before, it will do it again. I think it's very important to note the statements coming out of the Israeli leadership, both political and military, that the goal of destroying Hamas' terror army in Gaza is in no way compromised and that the war will resume as soon as this truce is over. So, as long as that remains the case, I think that there is a reasonable balance here between the two central war efforts, which is to get as many hostages safely as possible and to destroy Hamas. I think we're seeing Israel maneuver and balance between these two objectives and on the ground, the military will have to make sure that its soldiers are not static, that they're training, that they're preserving their positions and achievements in northern Gaza, that they're reviewing and learning tactical lessons from the fighting that has gone on. There's an opportunity here for the IDF to also improve its position and not only for Hamas. I believe that they have something to gain from this deal. What could they do with a few days' pause? And what about what our reporter Pierre was saying about a similar ceasefire back in 2014, which Hamas terrorists used to kidnap the bodies of two Israeli soldiers? Well, absolutely. Regarding the second question, the IDF is going to be on full vigilance for any violations of the ceasefire and the soldiers will be under command to defend themselves, come what may. Look, Hamas understands that Israel is dedicated to destroying its regime and terror army in Gaza. So any delay in that is like oxygen for an oxygen-starved entity. They will take any delay. Their entire strategy right now, their survival strategy is based on buying time. And they hope, I doubt that they believe that this can be achieved, but they're certainly trying to prolong their existence and the ceasefire is a mechanism for them to do that. It's all about buying time and they hope that they can somehow create enough international pressure for Israel to step down from its goal of destroying Hamas. I think that's completely unrealistic, but that's really all they have going for them right now, so they're latching on to that. Right, because there is an argument that by releasing, as I say, not all of the women, but all of the children and some of the women, that will help them in terms of world opinion to get more pressure for a ceasefire and make them look slightly less terrible than they do. Yeah, I'm sure that that is a factor that they want to start, you know, do a little bit of damage control from their perspective and the Qataris, I think, are also pressuring them. But really, I think the main factor for them is buying time. The main goal for them is buying time. I don't think the Hamas military terrorist leadership, the inner circle that are running this war from the tunnels, I don't think they're very bothered about world opinion. I think what they want to do is buy time for their survival and to try and create dynamics that will veer Israel off course from its goal of destroying them and their terrorist organization. What about the fact that Israel has agreed to suspend there are reports Israel has agreed to suspend drone surveillance of northern Gaza. How could that affect operations? There are other ways of gathering intelligence and I have no doubt that Israel will be employing those ways. There's a whole host of ways that Israel can continue to gather intelligence over the Gaza Strip what Hamas is up to. And I think that in terms of its risk management and its maneuvering between these two main war goals, the defense establishment told the cabinet that it can deal with this tactical setback, this temporary tactical setback and that it can recover. So I believe the idea will continue to gather lots of intelligence. Of course that is hampered to a certain degree but it's a setback that can be managed from a military perspective. Another aspect is that if there is a pause in the fighting in terms of the fight for public opinion do you think that international journalists will be able to get into Gaza and get some coverage that might be sympathetic to the Palestinian side and increase pressure on Israel? Possible. I don't know if Israel will have access to go into Gaza or not, but I think ultimately in terms of the big picture I think Israel will be strong enough so long as the United States remains committed to this objective of destroying Hamas in the Gaza Strip so long as the Israeli war effort continues to receive American support. I believe that the state of Israel will be strong enough to withstand that kind of pressure from the world. Thank you Yakov Vlappin there. Yossi and personally affected by this hostage release deal Yossi Shnider's cousin Shiri was kidnapped along with her husband Yaden and two children, four-year-old Ariel and his baby brother Kveer who's just ten months old. Everybody's seen the pictures and the posters of those young children and Yossi is with us now Yossi thank you very much for joining us so just first of all how do you feel about this agreement? Well when I'm not reading since yesterday we're waiting for our news Hamas terrorists are still playing with us and still giving us half of information even when they say that they're going to release the 50 people they're still going to publish 10 people every day not going to give the list of the 50 people from advance so they're doing everything that they can to play psychologically with us and make sure that we're going to suffer until the end Yeah and I mean as you say the first hostages are supposed to be released on Thursday we don't know which hostages will be among them of course but we do know that it will only be women and children I mean it is particularly heartbreaking to think about Yaden that he won't be able to leave his family, his children, his wife will be allowed to leave and he will have to stay in Gaza It's an unbearable situation you know the result almost 240 people have been kidnapped women babies, childrens Holocaust survivors men's the list is very very long and of course we want everybody to come back safe and sound mentally and physically I don't we don't deal with a regular country that we negotiate we're dealing with a third organization that lies time after time and do their best to earn time and to to get whatever they want and their terms of deals so it's not easy for us but I think I have two things, first of all of course unfortunately if we have to decide we'll bring him back so unfortunately this is the situation and women and kids and babies I'm not there should be the first to come back even because they won't survive this situation it's been 45 46 days since they've been kidnapped in an horrible situation think about Ariel, he's four years old he needs to play, he needs to go to the kindergarten he needs to run, he needs to do things that kids in his age needs to do and instead of that he's been closed in some hole on the ground without seeing daylight without be able to move a lot it's not the situation that the kids needs to be involved with so unfortunately we need to choose and I hope that everybody else will come back as soon as possible it's sickening, it really is to think of what those people have done and we've all seen the videos of your family I think it's one of the images that has really traumatized the country and I'm sure must have really traumatized your family what message do you have for the humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross that you have manifestly failed in their duty to reach your family and find out what state they're in I don't think they failed I think they didn't even try you fail when you try something then you can fail if you don't try to do anything so you cannot fail they don't care about our people they just care about the prisoner of Gaza that's been held here in our jail for four meals a day and getting shower every day and getting a score they can go and make the grease inside of the jail and then still be concerned about them but the kids like fear and Ariel and Avigai have been held with no conditions it's something that they didn't even try to reach them I don't believe them I'm sorry to say that out loud but this is the situation I'm also very concerned about this deal that's been hopefully we're close today because I can't trust Hamas I can't trust them to feel the agreement until the end I can't trust them not to all our soldiers in the next four or five days that they're going to be a ceasefire you talked about it before with the other person and in the last operation when there was a ceasefire they killed and kidnapped Dal Golding and they're holding his body since then so we cannot trust them not to do the same thing again and my biggest concern is that we're going to supply them food and fuel and everything that they need and that means that they will have enough air to hold down for a more couple of weeks or months that means that the next negotiation will be postponed and I'm sorry for all the people that will have to stay there until we succeed to get them out and yesterday the Hamas given announcement that he doesn't know where all the children is he knows only about part of the children so unfortunately not all of the children will come back so I'm very very afraid for their life Yeah it's horrendous Yossi do you have a little bit more hope today than you did have two days ago? No, no I'm just you know we are it's just you know that the time is stopped since yesterday we're waiting for an answer we're waiting to know if she's in the kids on the list we're waiting to know if they're in the first come out or the last to come out we're waiting to know if they are okay mentally and physically and so when you hear news like that unfortunately by the news and not from somebody that's supposed to give the news like that so as you can understand it's unbearable just sit and wait for the unknown Yeah it's absolutely horrendous it's a an inhumane thing that you're going through now Yossi and we hope very much we're all hoping that your cousin Shiri and her two kids Ariel and Kavir are released soon and that Yarden will be freed as well thank you very much Yossi stay strong Yossi, thank you so much Yossi Schneider there That's the situation we're dealing with isn't it the families have this this deal now in front of them now they just have to wait this is why it's so important I think for Israel to go for what it can go at least if most of the children and the babies and the mothers can come out of this first wave that will go some way I think to restoring a degree of sanity both in the national psyche and most importantly for the people themselves these innocent people who have been held in the Gaza Strip violating every code of civilization and humanity and the sooner that they're suffering can come to an end the better and I think that's really behind this decision this government decision as of yesterday the government is right to go for this I think that it's a very difficult vote but I fully understand and sympathize with those who voted yes for this I think it's an entity of life that's guiding this decision and that's what makes Israel Israel yeah absolutely that has to be the priority doesn't it saving those people's lives alright thank you Yakov stay with us we're going to take a very short break when we come back we'll have more on the deal I'll be speaking to a member of the liquid party party for more detail on that stay with us each of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well and the Israeli government has agreed on a deal for the release of 50 of the hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza 50 women and children will be freed over a period of four days in exchange for a pause in the fighting and the release of between 150 and 300 Palestinian prisoners according to Qatar and Hamas now the ceasefire will come into force at 10 a.m. Thursday morning Israel says the truce will be limited to 10 days Yakov Lapins with me in the studio he's a military and strategic affairs analyst at the Miriam Institute Yakov so clearly Hamas think they have something to gain from a pause in the fighting how will they be using their time I think they will first of all try and get a bit better picture of what's going on above ground their military terrorist leadership has been underground cut off from its field leadership which is being systematically eliminated Hamas' entire ability to do command and control to do counter attack is being eliminated so the leadership really doesn't have much of an idea of what's going on above ground and I think the first thing they're going to want to do is to know what's going on and then they will see the extent of the devastation that the IDF has rained down on their targets as well as what's left of Gaza City and northern Gaza then they'll probably look to reposition themselves trying to get more fuel probably down underground into their tunnels and really try and basically buy themselves more time operationally and apply pressure globally on Israel because their whole game plan is to try and buy as much time as possible time is their oxygen so in terms of the fuel the fuel's coming in to southern Gaza via Rafer will they be able to get that up to northern Gaza well I think that you know Israel has made it clear that if it sees any signs of that fuel going into Hamas' possession it will not allow that to happen and I'm also you know equally sure that Hamas will try to get some of that fuel the fuel is what enables the Hamas stop clock to tick slower than what Israel wants it to tick down to which is to run out of the ability to pump oxygen and air through those tunnels once Hamas loses the ability to do that they're going to have to start to surface and then they're going to run into the IDF's firepower so certainly you know Hamas wants more fuel. Alright Yakov for now thank you very much let's talk a bit more about the deal I'm joined now by a member of the Israeli parliament and a member of the rolling record party thank you very much for being with us so we've got this deal there will be a four day pause in the fighting will Israel be able to recover the momentum and continue its fight to destroy Hamas after that pause? Absolutely absolutely that was a condition that the ministers asked very you know they were very specific about it and both the army and the prime minister and the defense minister assured them that it will not harm the ability of the IDF to continue the attack until the full conquer of Gaza once this agreement has pretty much exceeded its value. Now the deal will see the release hopefully of up to 50 Israeli hostages that is children and their mothers it doesn't cover all of the women being held in captivity do you think that's good enough? Well it's never good enough as long as there is a single soul being left in captivity it's never good enough but it's a question of getting what you can when you can and you know we have an ability now to release 50 people maybe a few more if Hamas manages to locate them as he says he does and let's say God forbid we we forgo this opportunity and in a day or a week or a month accidentally one of our missiles kills them or some of them or one of the terrorists decides to kill them you know it's a dilemma that is you can't really win either way but these people these innocent civilians these women these children that shouldn't have been there in the first place if we have a chance to retrieve them then we must to the deal will see the release of anything between 150 and 300 Palestinian prisoners now it has been discussed previously that it would be women and children for women and children we're now talking about the overwhelming majority of those prisoners being male no murderers but attempted murderers and people detained for throwing stones which is also attempted murder how did that come about well I'm gonna say not a popular thing I don't care I don't care how many of them release I don't care who of them will release eventually I care about retrieving our civilians back and eliminating Hamas as power in Gaza these are the two things I care about and if we need to release some more people in order to do so so we will release them that is not something that will harm our ability in any way or manner are these attempted murderers not gonna go on and become murderers and terrorists we need to make sure that they don't and if they do so we need to if they try to do so again then they will meet the full force of the IDF eventually this is the deal again if it was up to us then we won't release anybody and we will get all of our hostages back immediately but eventually this is the deal we need to do in order to get our people back and you know considering previous deals and the costs we paid then you cannot say it's not a reasonable price and again what is reasonable you know for a baby for a mother for a brother we need all of us to think what if it was one of our family members there you know for 45 46, 47 days already what the families are going through what they are going through in captivity we have to retrieve them this is our duty as a country towards them and afterwards we will retaliate from all those we need to retaliate from can I ask you about your coalition partners they are trying to push through a bill and bringing about the death penalty for terrorists, for convicted terrorists is that bill still on the table and what could be the implications of that for the remaining hostages well according to the Israeli laws you can't impose a death penalty without constitution you know the constituency of any new laws by the governing law you can do so already now when we have hostages held by Hamas terrorists is not something that we should do and therefore the government was right when they basically ordered the coalition leader to basically take off all these proposals as of now it was the right thing to do again if we want to impose the death penalty on someone we can do so we don't need to make new rules about it now from the liquid party, thank you very much thank you a Yakov Lapinis with me in the studio and your reactions what you heard from the liquid member there I think you know he's spelling out exactly the real-life dilemmas that these decision makers have had to confront and the conclusion that at the end of the day the decision was either to try and save everybody who could be saved now or risk not being able to save them later and as a result of this intrinsic Israeli Jewish value of sanctity of life and the obligation the national obligation that the state has to these people to these babies, to these children, to these mothers and the fathers and the elderly everybody who's being held hostage by this criminal terrorist organization the obligation is to save as many of them as possible that was set up as a war objective at the beginning of this war they said our two goals are to destroy Hamas and to bring the hostages home and we're seeing Israel maneuver between these two objectives and I think that this decision is in line with that maneuvering well let's talk a bit more about the humanitarian corridor that the IDF has been overseeing in Gaza hundreds of thousands of civilians have headed to the south of Gaza away from the conflict zone we've got more in this report now from channel 12 the Merkava tank has not yet cleared the route and thousands of Gazans are already rushing forward heading south trying to flee the war this humanitarian corridor is open for several hours every day but there is one moment when the heart stops beating and the breath really stops this happens when the intelligence personnel switch to Hebrew well do you have a jeep are you responsible for letting us in or also taking us out so this is the right jeep we started on the road into the Gaza Strip this morning from the burned houses of Kibbutz through the IDF positions scattered in everywhere until we reached the fence a moment later you can already see the destroyed villages hear the shooting up close and especially smell the battle from here on does the smell get better or worse it depends if you get used to it have you gotten used to it we get used to everything at the beginning of the trip a report there was a super fire on the humanitarian crossing and we were forced to stop it's close yeah about a hundred meters last night the Jerusalem brigade cleared the area and raided the building you see here in front of us it looks like an innocent house but when you go in it's not so innocent on the other hand it's a real crime it's against the people against the people all of the people who were here were not innocent and during the entire attack here there were no civilians and everyone who was here were terrorists and until the crossing opens we managed to find a coffee cart in the area what do you have to offer on the first day we found all the soldiers and all of them are here approximately how many girls are there in Gaza wow I have no idea how to answer this question I meant some female fighters how many female fighters I can tell you some me and two others right now scary tense but okay mom and dad know yes sure what did they say you know it's hints it's not like mom, dad I'm entering Gaza today because then they would just stop me it was like this I'm getting off standby and they understood and after a long hour the signal was given with the IDF's we found entry into the northern Gaza Strip leaflets were distributed calling on uninvolved civilians to leave and move south through the humanitarian corridor near Zaytun and since then thousands have arrived at this point every morning waiting for their turn while the fighting continues all around what happened shooting this is an attack hours yeah every day we're evacuated here which leaves Gaza only with terrorists it allows us to fight them freely without restrictions we're fighting there is the more the forces go inside then there's a larger evacuation of the population this is part of locating prisoners and missing persons are not being smuggled here that is why sometimes they speak Hebrew to call the prisoners and missing persons the flow of refugees to the south continues but everything is under review under control a strict verification and most of the steps can't be documented is there pity sometimes or pity for whom for every human being I think is merciful everyone has their own threshold of mercy I don't mean that everyone deserves it they live in an unpleasant environment their fault not their fault that's another question it's filmed something to tell my parents that I'm fine I don't know mom, dad everything is fine I'm fine Sasha everything is fine and it will be fine how does it feel here interesting the situation is not easy but we are strong that's the most important thing strong in the mission because of my father I'm going to die and on the way out it was hard to miss the battalion commander the poet and his entry video to Gaza that report from channel 12 Yakov Lapin is with me in the studio now, so let's talk about the gains that the INDF has made in northern Gaza we just got a glimpse of it there but talk us through statistics numbers, kilometers that kind of thing what have they managed to achieve I think that report showed the most important part of this which was the fighting spirit and the heroic spirit and the heroic spirit of the forces on the ground doing very, very difficult work the ground offensive is actually all things considered going very well for Israel in light of the urban warfare trap that Hamas attempted to set for the idea of ground forces that trap has failed to stop Israel from essentially taking control of most of Gaza city most of northern Gaza in Gaza city which are areas that are being encircled but this use of a digital command network this injection of real time intelligence to the forces on the ground the coordination between the ground forces the air force, the navy the special forces the destruction of 400 tunnel shafts not going into the tunnels but essentially blocking off the ability of Hamas terrorists to leave those tunnels because if the shafts are blown up and other sections of the tunnels are blown up there's nowhere for them to go and they turn them into graveyards for the terrorists so what we're seeing is a well planned military offensive there are heavy costs of course with fallen soldiers but I think the IDF can be very proud of itself for its activity and achievements so far and I think Hamas has been taken by surprise by how well the IDF has done in northern Gaza until now because it was a there was some delay wasn't there before the troops went in everybody was wondering when that ground offensive was going to take place I think it was almost three weeks that the army was sitting on the border of Gaza looking back now you think that was the right decision to delay that it looks like it was because they trained they created new operational plans based on they had older plans for invading the Gaza Strip but those had to be updated because many of those streets were changed by the air power that was applied before the ground offensive and their ability to basically update these plans the senior commanders the southern command chief Yaron Finkelman and military intelligence they all came together created new plans in those three weeks and now we're seeing those plans being implemented step by step very gradually and using just unprecedented levels of intelligence mixing that intelligence with fire power whether it's from the ground from the air the Americans warning the IDF about Middle Eastern urban warfare and with all due respect to those warnings the IDF said look we know what the Gaza Strip is and we know what the challenge is and it went in and I think that these are very very impressive military achievements inevitably the conflict is going to move to south Gaza isn't it how is that going to work given that the majority of Palestinian civilians are now in the south there is a tense city that's growing and the IDF because it has this digital command network and it's able to feed it with coordinates it will be able to adjust its firepower to know where to strike and where not to strike and I think that it's going to be able to adjust its operations moving south as it begins taking over and striking Hamas targets in those areas command center is weapons storage weapons firing, rocket launchers all the things that they're eliminating now they're going to be doing in the south firepower than they've used in the north it's going to be more cautious Hamas' center of gravity was Gaza city in northern Gaza that's the lion's share of Hamas' military terror power I mean there I think the adversary in central and southern Gaza is weaker and therefore the IDF will be able to proceed I think with more caution as it moves into those areas but the big big story here is the tunnels that's where the lion's share what's left of Hamas is and it's really waiting out that challenge and waiting for them to surface a word on what's happening in the north because we know that the Iranian foreign minister has just jetted into Beirut so since the beginning of this war I've described the north of Hezbollah as the elephant in the room because there's something very deceptive going on here we see sort of you know daily similar reports anti-tank missile attacks from Hezbollah and the IDF responds quite effectively it's probably eliminated over 80 Hezbollah members and we're seeing this continue and it's sort of lulling us all into this assumption that okay this is going on and at some point it's going to end but I don't think that's the situation because A, I don't see how 60,000 or so northern Israelis are returning to a reality in which Hezbollah, Radwan, elite commando terrorists are over the border these are also death squads and they're better trained better armed than the Nukhba death squads of Hamas so can we expect these people to come back I don't think so I think there are going to be some serious decisions there was a letter that was sent by the foreign minister by the Israeli foreign minister to the UN Security Council saying look if something doesn't change here we're risking regional war and so Lebanon could end up still becoming potentially the primary war arena here and I think the final word has not been said regarding the northern situation I don't know how it's going to play out but we shouldn't assume that the northern residents are going to go back to this reality after October 7th Yacov, thank you very much Yacov Lapin there While many voluntary relief groups have sprung up in Israel to support the war effort the non-profit organization in unity we rebuild in securing donations to support the residents of the border communities from the south more in this report Turning a hotel room into a kindergarten one of the many challenges facing the Eshkol Residence Association these communities near the Gaza Strip devastated by the October 7th massacre are trying to rebuild a sense of normalcy far from home Our task is to meet the needs of the Eshkol Residence there's housing and food of course but on top of that there's also schooling making sure the children are looked after the residents need to be cared for both physically and psychologically people have left home with nothing and some have nothing left and then of course we want to reconstruct communities so that people can regain a sense of belonging there are needs that necessitate substantial financing for communities that have suffered tremendous losses this is one of the six organizations that are being helped by the in unity we rebuild organization a volunteer platform that connects donors with vetted Israeli associations our goal is to enable anyone around the world whether they're Jewish or not to have a trusted platform to help the victims of the massacres and the reconstruction of the affected areas people can get in touch with us and we offer them a follow-up of the aid provided thanks to their donations after October 7th 30 volunteers from the city of HaDhasharon joined forces to do their bit it was unthinkable to remain inactive while Israel was going through such a crisis we immediately got in touch with six organizations operating on the ground including associations of local residents affected by the massacres an association that helps loan soldiers and united HaZala which provides emergency relief throughout the country we work with them and make sure they get the donations they need since the start of the war our nations have been pouring in all over the world people are stepping in to support Israeli associations in need we get help from all over the world from the United States and Europe of course but there are also people from Australia and from Saudi Arabia who are involved it's growing but there's still a long way to go the Ashkel residence association for example still lacks the resources to help young people it's crucial that we help young people they're one of the hardest hit populations the 32 villages and the Ashkel council all share the same secondary school so everyone knows everybody all the kids have lost loved ones or had friends kidnapped our job is to give them as much peace of mind and self-confidence as possible whether through sport yoga or meditation exercises we try to help them regain a sense of normalcy while the war on the Gaza Strip is likely to be lengthy the displaced inhabitants have no prospect of returning home but they are already trying to rebuild their lives in unity we rebuild offers a way to help them achieve this well just a reminder of where we are this hour and an official with Hamas says that a truce with Israel will come into force Thursday at 10 am part of a deal that the Israeli government has agreed to release up to 50 women and children of the hostages who are being held by terrorists in Gaza the Israeli government has named 300 Palestinian prisoners who could be on a list of 150 under 18 and female prisoners no murderers on the list some though were jailed for attempted murder the hostages will be released over a period of four days during which time that ceasefire will be in place the agreement was approved by the Israeli cabinet overnight the United Nations has praised the deal the the UN has praised the deal