 In the news edition, I'm Vanessa Levine, coming to you live from Tel Aviv. An early morning wake-up call in southern Israeli community siren-sounding in Nachal Oz and Kisufim in the past hour, warning of incoming rocket fire. Israeli forces on meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network, destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation. Soldiers in the enclave telling I-24 News, this is what they need to do to protect the country. Another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting. 29-year-old Sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin El-Makais from Jerusalem. This brings to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation. Day 34 of the war, more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel, which saw more than 1,400 people shot, tortured and butchered. A terrorist from the Hamas-Nukba force caught by Israel during the October 7th rampage has told Shin Bet interrogators he had been given orders to kill Israeli children, saying that they would grow up to become soldiers. The Haaretz newspaper reporting that the terrorist said he didn't regret anything he had done and said that in terms of the brutality there's no difference between Hamas and ISIS. Let's take a look at several overnight developments now, a terror attack in the West Bank. Two Israelis were shot while driving near the northern settlement of Itamar. A five-month-old baby girl was in the backseat of the car. She was not hurt. The couple were taken to hospital. And in Syria overnight, the war monitor there saying Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah sites near the capital Damascus, killing three pro- Iranian fighters. It also says Israel struck Syrian air defense sites in the southern Swida province and in a U.S. strike in Syria, nine people linked with Iranian-backed groups were killed early on Thursday in the eastern city of Derezor. And now for more. We welcome Professor Corby Michael, senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies and former Deputy Director-General in the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs. He joins us from Netsiyana. Thank you so much as always for your time. So many developments as always. Let's start with the terror tunnels. The IDF saying 130 of these underground tunnels have been destroyed. Obviously complicating efforts is the fact that the terror command center for Hamas is under the Shifa Hospital. Give us your assessment of the challenges and the difficulties for Israeli troops inside Gaza right now. Good morning. We are talking about a spider web, a network of hundreds of kilometers of tunnels. We don't have to destroy all the hundreds of the kilometers of the tunnels. We have to reach eventually to the centers of gravity. The most important tunnels where the command control, the operational rooms and the weapons storages are concentrated, as well as the crucial leaders of Hamas. It is important that we are able to destroy whatever we find. And I assume that there are accumulated damages to Hamas. And it has also a sort of, I would say a symbolic value. But at the end of the day, we must reach to Shifa Hospital and to the other hospitals because the most substantial centers of gravity of Hamas are located there. There are many security analysts suggesting that Hamas is losing control in the northern part of Gaza. And that civilians and more and more of them are making their way to the south as instructed by Israel. What is your take on the Hamas capabilities there now? And how is the military strategy in southern Gaza going to be different for Israel? First of all, I think that it is true. Hamas loses its control in the northern parts of the Gaza Strip. And as you mentioned, the ultimate indication for that is the number of the Palestinian residents from the northern parts that are making their way to the south, which means that Hamas is, first of all, is not capable to stop them like he did in the first days of the war. And secondly, it is an indication that the people, the residents of Gaza, stop believing Hamas. And they start believing Israel and they follow the walls that are provided by the IDF. With regard to the capacities of Hamas in the south, they are fewer than the capacities of Hamas in the north. The most crucial center of gravity of Hamas, be it military or governmental, are located in the north. Once these capacities will collapse, it will be much easier for the IDF to deal with the further capacities in the center and in the south parts of the Gaza Strip. But it will not be easy, mainly in the south. But we have to remember that most of the people that made their way to the south are located in the Mawasi, which is the beach area where the facilities of Hamas are located in the more eastern parts of the south. And therefore, the IDF will be capable to work there as well. And yet still, the concern remains what is happening up north and Hezbollah and whether Hassan Asrallah is just waiting a period out or is likely to get fully involved in this war. Your take right now about the possible developments out of Hezbollah. It looks that as much as the results in the northern parts of the Gaza Strip are more substantial, more significant, the desire or the epitome of Hezbollah and Iran to broaden the war in the north and to enter to a full scale war, drag Israel to a full scale war in the north is decreased. And I think that this is one of the main reasons to the importance of the final results and to the accomplishment of the mission successfully in the Gaza Strip. But we have to take into consideration that we are talking about a very high level of friction in the northern border. And Hezbollah uses a sort of approach which is Hamas with regard to the rockets and Hezbollah from time to time launches heavier rockets. And the rockets are statistic weapon. And if something will go wrong, I mean if one of the rockets will heath and will cause a very substantial damage, then we might find ourselves in a full scale war with Hezbollah as well. But it looks that the probability is I would say lower. Professor Corbyn Mikhail, appreciate your insights. Stay with us. We've got much more to discuss. But right now we're going to go to our correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler. He joins us live from southern Israel. Good morning to you, Pierre. So Siren sounding a nacho oz and kiss of him in the past hour, not the wake up call. Most people tend to experience. What can you tell us what is happening where you are there in the south? Well, there's been a lot. And that's the positive point about what you said. There's been a lot in the rocket fire on Israeli localities facing the Gaza Strip near the security fence, nacho oz and kiss of him for about 11 hours. And more than that. There's been a lot in rocket strikes over the center of the country for the past 30 hours. I think that the last rocket strike over Tel Aviv area was the day before yesterday at 10pm local time. So that's a good point. Well, it's only in this part of the world where we decide it's a lot when they've been a few hours without rocket fire coming towards civilian cities and towns. Give us a sense, though, of the updates about what is happening in terms of the fighting inside Gaza at this hour. What is known? Well, we know that both ground forces, air force and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip and stroke at Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets overnight. We know, for instance, I just got the detail on my cell phone from the IDF spokesperson unit that there was a takeover by an infantry brigade of a strong hold of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a joint stronghold by the two terrorist organizations in the Western Jibalia refugee camp, which is at the outskirts of Gaza City. We know also that the news around Gaza City not only is tightening, but inside Gaza City targets, major targets of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are being encircled gradually by the Israeli ground forces operating inside Gaza City. We know also from the IDF spokesman, Reirad Mirol Daniel Aghari, who gave a daily briefing yesterday evening that the estimation of the army is that the political and military leadership inside the Gaza Strip is disconnected, disconnected from their own terrorists that are confronting the Israeli ground force, also disconnected from the political leadership that sits in Qatar, Turkey or Lebanon and disconnected between themselves because they might be sitting in different bunkers. So that's also one of the positive points of the ground offensive that has started in October 27th. Meanwhile, Pierre, the UN says a rare delivery of emergency medical supplies and medicines has reached Shifa Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. Israel says Hamas has built its main command center underneath that hospital, something we were discussing earlier on in this broadcast. What is known about the aid coming through into Gaza right now? Well, it appears from UNRWA, the UN agency that take care of Palestinian refugees since 1949 and from the World Health Organization that this is the second delivery of medical supplies and medicines to the Shifa Hospital, which is the largest of the 20-something hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Now, if that happened and that's been confirmed by the UN, that means that it was coordinated with Israel because Israeli ground forces are operating a few hundred meters away from Shifa Hospital at this point. So they could not have crossed the lines of fire without prior coordination with Israel, at least. Now, Israel indeed argues and has shown to intelligence services around the world that are cooperating with Israel that Shifa Hospital underneath Shifa Hospital is maybe the most important command and operational headquarters of Hamas in the whole Gaza Strip. And thus this is an important prey for Israel in order to dismantle the organization of the terrorist organization in order to disorganize them in their fighting against Israeli ground forces. And that's evidently one of the main targets of the IDF operating inside Gaza City. We will be coming back to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler for regular updates for now. Thank you so much. Pierre, live from southern Israel. Thank you. And now we welcome to studio Daniel Sheck. Thank you very much for being here, political commentator and former ambassador as well. There's so much to discuss, so many developments. But I want to start with the hostages. 240 hostages still being held by the Hamas terror group. It's over a month. One cannot imagine what they're going through. We have spoken at the channel to so many family members waiting for answers. Let's start. You are very heavily involved in those efforts. What is known about the latest attempts to get freedom for 240 people who are being held by Hamas right now? Well, I'm part of a civil society based organization that supports the families of hostages. So in a sense, we do everything except the main thing. We don't negotiate their freedom. We don't have the authority or the ability to do so. The government is in charge of that. But we try to do everything else that can support them nationally, internationally, personally and as a group. And you know, there's all sorts of bits and pieces of information about possible avenues of negotiating at least a partial freeing of a partial liberation of some of the hostages. We obviously would hope that everything would be done at once, that all the hostages would be freed at once. I'm not sure that is realistic, but it's a fair objective that we need to keep in mind. Yesterday was an interesting development because there seemed to be a kind of competition evolving between Qatar and Egypt. Right. There was information about the Qatari involvement in negotiations, which is not a secret anymore. Everybody knows that they are involved. The Dutch Prime Minister Rute was there. Then he came to Israel. And immediately you had a leaked piece of information from Cairo saying that Egypt was actually involved in advanced far reaching negotiation about a possible liberation of hostages. So I would like to hope that this is a good sign that there's some kind of wish by these two countries to be involved in this very important humanitarian step. One of the reports that came through suggested there could be a humanitarian pause for around two to three days. And in that time, 10 to 15 hostages might be released. Interestingly enough, the families that we spoke to after that report all said all hostages need to be released. I don't want to hear about small groups. That said, since then there were more reports, some kind of moves towards some hostages being released. What is your sense from the people that you are speaking to, the relatives, people waiting for answers about some kind of negotiation around a smaller group of hostages being released first? I think everyone is ambivalent about it because on the one hand, obviously, each hostage that is liberated is a blessing and everybody would welcome it and celebrate with the family concerned. I have absolutely no doubt about that. But on the other hand, the objective, as I said, is the liberation of all the hostages, all 240 or 241. So if you look at this model that is now being discussed of two or three days of pause in the fighting for 10 to 15 hostages, at this rhythm, this is going to take far too long. Far too long, especially for the fragile hostages, the elderly, the children, the babies, the wounded, the sick. So I don't know. I can understand, quote, unquote, why Hamas wants to do that. It's a way to gain again and again a pause in the fighting. And I have no idea. It's not my area of expertise. What the implications for the idea for the army would be to just, you know, you freeze everything. And what do you do? You stay put, you withdraw your forces, you start again three days later. I can imagine that it's a very complicated decision. But on the other hand, again, as I said, each person that can be freed from this hellish situation is a blessing. And Daniel, there's also the issue of the verification of information. There was a suggestion in these reports that if there was a pause, there would be time for information to be confirmed. Who is there? As you say, the condition of the people who are there, which medicines are getting to the people who need it. What is known about that kind of confirmation? One cannot imagine what it is like for people who don't even know if their loved ones are alive or not, or if they're being held by the terror group right now. It's a terrifying experience. I can tell you that by, you know, I spend my days with them and you can understand it's the lack of clarity about who is in what condition, et cetera, is a main issue. And I think that getting clarity, getting a reliable list of the hostages and their condition is one of the first things that Israel needs. It's also not something that the Hamas is keen to give because I think they enjoy very much this lack of clarity. They can always say, you know, these people, we don't really hold them and those we've never heard of them. And then suddenly a month later, they appear on their lists. And so this is definitely a central part of the negotiation is to get these lists. Hamas claims that they do not control all the hostages that they have, maybe half of them. I think that is an absolutely not credible piece of information. Hamas may not have taken all of them personally, but Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip completely, has definitely, over the last 34 days, wanted to be in control of each and every hostage. There are also reports that later on in the evening, local time in Tel Aviv, there will be some kind of demonstration outside the Red Cross offices, including medical workers. They want answers and they want to be able to get that medical care to the people who have been there for over a month. It is unimaginable. What is your understanding of channels to the medical staff there? Well, first of all, this is a demonstration that will take place not just in Israel, but across the world, in many countries, and it's an operation that we've initiated. It's not meant to say to the Red Cross, you're not doing your job, or we'd like to think that they are doing what they can. But when somebody says, we're doing what we can, there's always a little something extra that they can do. And the most important part for us is to make sure that the Red Cross understands that there are many, many people in many countries around the world who care about these people, and not just because there are many foreign nationals, there may be 30 nationalities there, but because it is a universal humanitarian issue and it is the concern of everyone. The Red Cross was created by humankind to intervene in the what you could call extreme humanitarian crises. Well, this one definitely qualifies. There's no doubt about that. Daniel Sheik, thank you so much. As always, appreciate your insight. Such a sensitive and difficult and heart-wrenching situation right now. The issue of fuel, as we've been discussing earlier, being sent into the Gaza Strip is a heated one, with Israel saying Hamas uses that fuel for its own terror purposes, including to launch rockets at Israeli cities. Now Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate also has evidence of the way civilian infrastructure is used by the terror group. Here's a recording of a phone call detailing how Hamas is using ambulances for its own terror activities. Let's take a listen. Still with us, Professor Kobe Mikhail, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies. So, Professor, you heard that evidence that recording ambulances meant to save lives are being used by Hamas. Does this surprise you? What can you tell us? Not at all. This is something that was well known years ago, and not only in the Gaza Strip, by the way, but also in the West Bank. This is, I would say, a sort of a demonstration or an articulation of the cynical and brutality of Hamas and the other terror organization. This is an indication to their strategy about using human shields and using civilian facilities, be it ambulances or hospitals, clinics, mosques, schools, and so on and so forth. And I think that we have to understand that here I would like with your permission to make a comment with regard to the previous discussion that you had with the hostages. We have to understand that Hamas plays with our nerves, and we have to have iron nerves in this regard. We have to be very determined, and we have to know with whom we have a deal, with whom we are dealing. And in this regard, we have to be very tough, very determined, and to understand that Hamas, whatever Hamas does, it is not for the sake of each people in the Gaza Strip, but for the sake of their survival. And therefore, we have to behave accordingly. And we see the way that they use ambulances and the other things, and we have to understand that we have to deal with their survival, and they have to understand that we are threatening their survival. Only then they will be able to make some further concessions. So talk to us then about the hostages. As we were discussing here in studio, 240 people still somewhere across the Gaza Strip, potentially in tunnels as well, being hidden or certainly dispersed around a vast area. How does this impact the way Israeli troops are conducting their operations right now? It impacts in a very dramatic manner, because we have to be very cautious. We don't have the full intelligence in this regard. And our working assumption is that Hamas uses the hostages as human shields. If they use their own people as human shield, then there is no doubt that they use the hostages as human shield. But as I said before, we have to understand that they use or they hold the hostages not in order to improve the situation of the Gaza Strip or to stop the war in the Gaza Strip. On the contrary, they use the hostages in order to assure that the war will continue in order to assure that there will be more and more images of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. They use them in order to pressure Israel to bring the international media and the international community to pressure Israel and to assure their survival. And therefore, we have to have iron nerves in this regard. We have to be very determined. First of all, Qatar should be taken out of the negotiation. Qatar is the enemy. Qatar doesn't have an interest about the hostages or the citizens, the civilians of Gaza. Professor Kobe Mikhael. Hamas has an interest. Unfortunately, we do need to leave it there, but our coverage will continue. Always appreciate your insight. Professor Kobe Mikhael, thank you for your time. And that's the wrap for now. Back in a bit. Stay tuned. 1,500 people murdered and more than 3,000 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 i24 news. Esta semana news 24 Israel bajo ataque. News 24 en español trae el análisis y la información de los acontecimientos de la guerra espadas de hierro. Entrevistas exclusivas reportes desde la zona de guerra. La reacción de los países hispano parlantes. News 24 el único medio en español que te mantiene informado y conectado con la comunidad latina en Israel. News 24 únicamente en i24 news. News edition. I'm Vanessa Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv. An early morning wake-up call in southern Israeli community siren sounding in Nakhal Oz and Kisufin in the past hour. Warning of incoming rocket fire. Israeli forces on meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation. Soldiers in the enclave telling i24 news. This is what they need to do to protect the country. Another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting. 29 year old Sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin El-Makais from Jerusalem. This brings to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation day 34 of the war more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel which saw more than 1400 people shot tortured and butchered. A terrorist from the Hamas Nukba force caught by Israel during the October 7th rampage has told Shin Bet interrogators he had been given orders to kill Israeli children saying that they would grow up to become soldiers. The Haaretz newspaper reporting that the terrorist said he didn't regret anything he had done and said that in terms of the brutality there's no difference between Hamas and ISIS. Let's take a look at several overnight developments now a terror attack in the west bank to Israelis were shot while driving near the northern settlement of Itamar a five month old baby girl was in the backseat of the car she was not hurt the couple were taken to hospital and in Syria overnight the war monitored there saying Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah sites near the capital Damascus killing three pro-Iranian fighters it also says Israel struck Syrian air defense sites in the southern Swida province and in a U.S. strike in Syria nine people linked with Iranian backed groups were killed early on Thursday in the eastern city of Derezzar and now for more we welcome Professor Corby Michael senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies and former deputy director general in the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs he joins us from Nitsiyana thank you so much as always for your time so many developments as always let's start with the terror tunnels the IDF saying 130 of these underground tunnels have been destroyed obviously complicating efforts is the fact that the terror command center for Hamas is under the Shifa hospital give us your assessment of the challenges and the difficulties for Israeli troops inside Gaza right now good morning we are talking about a spider web network of hundreds of kilometers of tunnels we don't have to destroy all the hundreds of the kilometers of the tunnels we have to reach eventually to the centers of gravity the most important tunnels where the command control the operational rooms and the and the weapon storages are concentrated as well as the the crucial leaders of Hamas it is important that we are able to destroy whatever we find and I assume that there are accumulated the damages to Hamas and it has also a sort of I would say a symbolic value but at the end of the day we must reach to Shifa hospital and to the other hospitals because the most substantial centers of gravity of Hamas are located there there are many security analysts suggesting that Hamas is losing control in the northern part of Gaza and that civilians and more and more of them are making their way to the south as instructed by Israel what is your take on the Hamas capabilities there now and how is the military strategy in southern Gaza going to be different for Israel first of all I think that it is true Hamas loses its control in the northern parts of the Gaza Strip and as you mentioned that the ultimate indication for that is the number of the Palestinian residents from the northern parts that are making their way to the south which means that the Hamas is first of all is not capable to stop them like he did in the first days of the war and secondly it is an indication that the people the residents of Gaza stop believing Hamas and they start believing Israel and they follow the rules that are provided by the IDF with regard to the capacities of Hamas in the south they are fewer than the capacities of Hamas in the north the most crucial center of gravity of Hamas be it military or governmental are located in the north once these capacities will collapse it will be much easier for the IDF to deal with the further capacities in the center and in the south parts of the Gaza Strip but it will not be easy mainly in the south but we have to remember that most of the people that made their way to the south are located in the Mawassi which is the beach area where the facilities of Hamas are located in the more eastern parts of the south and therefore the IDF will be capable to work there as well and yet still the concern remains what is happening up north and Ghezbole and whether Hassan Asrallah is just waiting a period out or is likely to get fully involved in this war your take right now about the possible developments out of Ghezbole it looks that as much as the results in the in the northern parts of the Gaza Strip are more substantial more significant the desire or the epitome of Ghezbole and Iran to broaden the war in the north and to enter to a full-scale war drag Israel to a full-scale war in the north is it decreased and I think that this is one of the main reasons to the importance of the final results and to the accomplishment of the of the mission successfully in the Gaza Strip but we have to take into consideration that we are talking about a very high level of friction in the northern border and Ghezbole uses a sort of approach which is Hamas with regard to the rockets and Ghezbole from time to time launches heavier rockets and the rockets are a statistic weapon and if something will go wrong I mean if one of the rockets will heath and will cause a very substantial damage then we might find ourselves in a full-scale war with Ghezbole as well but it looks that the probability is is I would say lower Professor Corby Michael appreciate your insights stay with us we've got much more to discuss but right now we're going to go to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler he joins us live from southern Israel good morning to you Pierre so Siren sounding and Nakhal Oz and Kiselfim in the past hour not the wake-up call most people tend to experience what can you tell us what is happening where you are there in the south well there's been a lull and that's the positive point about what you said there's been a lull in the rocket fire on Israeli localities facing the Gaza Strip near the security fence Nakhal Oz and Kiselfim for about 11 hours and more than that there's been a lull in rocket strikes over the center of the country for the past 30 hours I think that the last rocket strike over Tel Aviv area was the day before yesterday at 10 p.m. local time so that's a good point well it's only in this part of the world where we decide it's a lull when there've been a few hours without rocket fire coming towards civilian cities and towns give us a sense though of the updates about what is happening in terms of the fighting inside Gaza at this hour what is known well we know that both ground forces air force and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip and stroke at Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets overnight we know for instance I just got the detail on my cell phone from the IDF spokesperson unit that there was takeover by an infantry brigade of a stronghold of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad a joint stronghold by the two terrorist organizations in the western Jibalia refugee camp which is at the outskirts of Gaza city we know also that the news around Gaza city not only is tightening but inside Gaza city targets major targets of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are being encircled gradually by the Israeli ground forces operating inside Gaza city we know also from the IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Agari who gave a daily briefing yesterday evening that the estimation of the army is that the political and military leadership inside the Gaza strip is disconnected disconnected from their own terrorists that are confronting the Israeli ground force also disconnected from the political leadership that sits in Qatar, Turkey or Lebanon and disconnected between themselves because they might be sitting in different bunkers so that's also one of the positive points of the ground offensive that has started in October 27th Meanwhile Pierre the UN says a rare delivery of emergency medical supplies and medicines has reached Shifa hospital in the north of the Gaza strip Israel says Hamas has built its main command center underneath that hospital something we were discussing earlier on in this broadcast what is known about the aid coming through into Gaza right now Well it appears from UNRWA the UN agency that take care of Palestinian refugees since 1949 and from the World Health Organization that this is the second delivery of medical supplies and medicines to the Shifa hospital which is the largest of the 20-something hospitals in the Gaza strip now if that happened and that's been confirmed by the UN that means that it was coordinated with Israel because Israeli ground forces are operating a few hundred meters away from Shifa hospital at this point so they could not have crossed the lines of fire without prior coordination with Israel at least now Israel indeed argues and has shown to intelligent services around the world that are cooperating with Israel that Shifa hospital and underneath Shifa hospital is maybe the most important command and operational headquarters of Hamas in the whole Gaza strip and thus this is an important pray for Israel in order to dismantle the organization of the terrorist organ organization in order to disorganize them in their fighting against Israeli ground forces and that's evidently one of the main targets of the IDF operating inside Gaza city we will be coming back to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler for regular updates for now thank you so much Pierre live from Southern Israel thank you and now we welcome to studio Daniel Sheck thank you very much for being here political commentator and former ambassador as well there's so much to discuss so many developments but I want to start with the hostages 240 hostages still being held by the Hamas terror group it's over a month one cannot imagine what they're going through we have spoken at the channel to so many family members waiting for answers let's start you are very heavily involved in those efforts what is known about the latest attempts to get freedom for 240 people who are being held by Hamas right now well I'm part of a civil society based organization that supports the families of hostages so in a sense we do everything except the main thing we don't negotiate their freedom we don't have the authority or the ability to do so the government is in charge of that but we try to do everything else that can support them nationally, internationally, personally and as a group and you know there's all sorts of bits and pieces of information about possible avenues of negotiating at least a partial freeing of a partial liberation of some of the hostages we obviously would hope that everything would be done at once that all the hostages would be would be freed at once I'm not sure that is realistic but it's it's a fair objective that we that we need to keep in mind yesterday was an interesting development because there seemed to be a kind of competition evolving between Qatar and Egypt there was information about Qatari involvement in negotiations which is not a secret anymore everybody knows that they are involved the Dutch Prime Minister Rutte was there then he came to Israel and immediately you had a leaked piece of information from Cairo saying that Egypt was actually involved in advanced far-reaching negotiation about a possible liberation of hostages so I would like to hope that this is a good sign that there's some kind of wish by these two countries to be involved in this very important humanitarian step one of the reports that came through suggested there could be a humanitarian pause for around two to three days and in that time 10 to 15 hostages might be released interestingly enough the families that we spoke to after that report all said all hostages need to be released I don't want to hear about small groups that said since then there were more reports some kind of moves towards some hostages being released what is your sense from the people that you are speaking to the relatives people waiting for answers about some kind of negotiation around a smaller group of hostages being released first I think everyone is ambivalent about it because on the one hand obviously each hostage that is liberated is a blessing and everybody would welcome it and and you know celebrate with the family concerned I have absolutely no doubt about that but on the other hand the objective as I said is the liberation of all the hostages all 240 or 241 so if you look at this at this model that is now being discussed of two or three days of pause in the fighting for 10 to 15 hostages at this rhythm this is going to take far too long especially for the fragile hostages the elderly the children the babies the wounded the sick so I don't know I can understand why Hamas wants to do that it's a way to gain again and again a pause in the fighting and I have no idea it's not my area of expertise what the implications for the IDF for the the army would be to just you know you freeze everything and what do you do you stay put you withdraw your forces you start again three days later I can imagine that it's a very complicated decision but on the other hand again as I said each person that can be freed from this hellish situation is a blessing and Daniel there's also the issue of the verification of information there was a suggestion in these reports that if there was a pause there would be time for information to be confirmed who is there as you say the condition of the people who are there which medicines are getting to the people who need it what is known about that kind of confirmation one cannot imagine what it is like for people who don't even know if their loved ones are alive or not or if they're being held by the terror group right now it's a terrifying experience I can tell you that by you know I spend my days with them and you can understand it's the the lack of clarity about who is in what condition etc is a main issue and I think that getting clarity getting a reliable list of the hostages and their condition is one of the first things that Israel needs it's also not something that the Hamas is keen to give because I think they enjoy very much this lack of clarity they can always say you know these people we don't really hold them and those we've never heard of them and then suddenly a month later they appear on their lists and so this is definitely a central part of the negotiation is to get these lists Hamas claims that they do not control all the hostages that they have maybe half of them I think that is an absolutely not credible piece of information Hamas may not have taken all of them personally but Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip completely has definitely over the last 34 days wanted to be in control of each and every hostage there are also reports that later on in the evening local time in Tel Aviv there will be some kind of demonstration outside the Red Cross offices including medical workers they want answers and they want to be able to get that medical care to the people who have been there for over a month it is unimaginable what is your understanding of channels to the medical staff there well first of all this is a demonstration that will take place not just in Israel but across the world in in many countries and it's an operation that we've we've initiated it's not meant to say to the Red Cross you're not doing your job or we we'd like to think that they are doing what they can but when somebody says we're doing what we can there's always a little something extra that they can do and the most important part for us is to make sure that the Red Cross understands that there are many many people in many countries around the world who care about these people and not just because there are many foreign nationals there may be 30 nationalities there but because it is a universal humanitarian issue and it is the concern of everyone the Red Cross was created by humankind to intervene in the what you could call extreme humanitarian crises well this one definitely qualifies there's no doubt about that Daniel Sheik thank you so much as always appreciate your insight such a sensitive and difficult and heart-wrenching situation right now the issue of fuel as we've been discussing earlier being sent into the Gaza Strip is a heated wine with Israel saying Hamas uses that fuel for its own terror purposes including to launch rockets at Israeli cities now Israel's military intelligence directorate also has evidence of the way civilian infrastructure is used by the terror group here's a recording of a phone call detailing how Hamas is using ambulances for its own terror activities let's take a listen still with us professor Kobe Mikhail senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies so professor you heard that evidence that recording ambulances meant to save lives are being used by Hamas does this surprise you what can you tell us not at all this is something that was well known years ago and not only in the Gaza Strip by the way but also in the West Bank this is I would say a sort of a demonstration or an articulation of the cynical and brutality of Hamas and the other terror organization this is an indication to their strategy about using human human shields and using civilian facilities be it ambulances or hospitals clinics mosques schools and so on so forth and I think that we have to understand that here I would like with your permission to make a comment with regard to the previous discussion that you have with the hostages please do we have to we have to understand that Hamas plays with our nerves and we have to have iron nerves in this regard we have to be very determined and we have to know with whom we have a deal okay with whom we are dealing and and in this regard we have to be very tough very determined and to understand that Hamas whatever Hamas does it is not for the sake of each people in the Gaza Strip for the but for the sake of their survival and therefore we have to to behave accordingly okay and we see the way that they use ambulances and the other things and we have to understand that we have to deal with their survival and they have to understand that we are threatening their survival only then they will be able to make some further concessions So talk to us then about the hostages as we were discussing here in studio 240 people still somewhere across the Gaza Strip potentially in tunnels as well being hidden or certainly dispersed around a vast area how does this impact the way Israeli troops are conducting their operations right now It impacts in a very dramatic manner because we have to be very cautious we don't have the full intelligence in this regard and our working assumption is that Hamas uses the hostages as human shields if they use their own people as human shield then there is no doubt that they use the hostages as human shield but as I said before we have to understand that they use or they hold the hostages not in order to improve the situation of the Gaza Strip or to stop the war in the Gaza Strip on the contrary they use the hostages in order to assure that the war will continue in order to assure that they will be more and more images of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip use them in order to pressure Israel to bring the international media and the international community to pressure Israel and to assure their survival right and therefore we have to have iron nerves in this regard we have to be very determined first of all Qatar should be taken out of the negotiation Qatar is the enemy Qatar doesn't have an interest about the hostages or the citizens the civilians of Gaza Professor Kolbin Mr. El Hamas has an interest unfortunately we do need to leave it there but our coverage will continue always appreciate your insight Professor Kolbin Mikhail thank you for your time and that's a wrap for now back in a bit stay tuned this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking more than a hundred 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 this is breaking news edition I'm Benita Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv an early morning wake-up call in southern Israeli community siren sounding in Nakhal Oz and Kisufim in the past hour warning of incoming rocket fire Israeli forces are meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network the IDF saying troops have captured key Hamas strongholds in Gaza and are battling gunmen earlier destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation soldiers in the enclave telling i24 news this is what they need to do to protect the country another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting 29-year-old sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin el-Makai is from Jerusalem this brings to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation day 34 of the war more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel which saw more than 1,400 people shot tortured and butchered a terrorist from the Hamas Nukba force caught by Israel during the October 7th rampage has meanwhile told Shin Bet interrogators that he had been given orders to kill Israeli children saying they'd grow up to become soldiers the Haaretz newspaper reporting the terrorist said he didn't regret anything he had done and said that in terms of the brutality there's no difference between Hamas and ISIS meanwhile overnight a terror attack in the west bank two Israelis were shot and wounded while driving near the northern settlement of Itamar a five-month-old baby girl was in the back seat of the car she was not hurt the couple were taken to hospital now for the latest we go to our correspondent Pierre Stechelbach she joins us from northern Israel so good morning to you Pierre still major concerns around Hezbollah's next possible move what is the latest on the northern front what update can you share from northern Israel and what is known about what's happening inside Lebanon right good morning Benita this has been a quiet night so far but yesterday evening there was a minute of scare when air raid sirens were triggered in different communities in the central part of the Israel-Lebanon border we're speaking about the communities of Avivin Baran and Yaron where it was alerted that there was a hostile aircraft infiltration now a few minutes after the IDF issued a statement that this was indeed false alarm there was no hostile aircraft however the Israeli home front command issued a different statement saying that a hostile aircraft was shut down there that comes in addition to several attempts from southern Lebanon to launch anti-tank missiles towards Israel Israel as per protocol the military is retaliating with artillery fire there that comes also in addition to another attempt of a cell to operate very close to the Israel border that cell was also struck by the Israeli military there and according to another Israeli army statement several Hezbollah targets have been struck towards throughout the night we're speaking about technological means other infrastructure and also launch sites there in southern Lebanon but that really just gives you an overview of how a regular day here at the northern border looks like these skirmishes these events have been happening basically since the beginning of the war and they will probably also continue to do so Benita Meanwhile, Pierre in Syria overnight an apparent Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah sites near Damascus also a U.S. strike in Syria what can you tell us? Well Benita as far as we know we do speak about two different strikes the Israeli one in Damascus in the west of the country and the American one in the east of the country the Israeli one reportedly targeting Hezbollah infrastructure there we do know that Syria hosts a number of Iranian proxies and also Hezbollah representatives there and we also do know that Israel has been striking Iran related targets and Syria really throughout the year also many times the airports of Damascus and Aleppo have come under Israeli fire that the Israeli army usually does not officially claim responsibility for that but we do know that this is something that happens regularly also the Israeli the American airstrike that has a response to the several attacks the U.S. is saying 40 since the beginning of the war on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria trying to also condemn the Iranian influence there and reportedly they targeted a weapon depot there in the east of Syria Correspondent Pierre Steckelbach updating us from northern Israel more to come from Pierre in the coming hours thank you for now Meanwhile disturbing ethical questions are being raised around the photographers and camera crews who documented the Hamas killing rampage in southern Israel on the 7th of October some of the abductions were captured by garden-based photo journalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies with questions arising as to why they were there when the border fence was breached many asking why photographers were on the scene on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning and many asking if Hamas had informed them ahead of time about the planned attack The organization called Honest Reporting is questioning if these freelancers informed media like CNN and The New York Times Now four names appear on AP's photo credits from the Israel Gaza border area on the 7th of October Hassan Islahia Yusuf Masoud Ali Mahmoud and Khatem Ali Islahia is a freelancer who also works for CNN he crossed into Israel took photographs of a burning Israeli tank and then photographed terrorists entering Kibbutz Kfar Azar since then footage has emerged of this photographer with Hamas leader and mastermind of the massacre Yahya Sinwar CNN saying it has suspended him but they know about the claims and haven't found any evidence to cast doubt on his work there's that picture on your screen right now they do seem to know each other the AP says they didn't know about any planned attack in advance so for more we welcome to studio Ben Jor Yemini senior journalist at the Idiot Ahronot Daily and Rafael Yurushalmi former senior intelligence officer in the IDF and security analysts gentlemen thank you both so much for being here much to discuss as always but Ben Jor I want to start with you about this article from Honest Reporting and Packing that there seems to be a clear connection between photojournalists who seem to be at the scene very early on in the unfolding developments and seem to know Yahya Sinwar as well what do you make of what is unfolding well we have to understand that when we are speaking about journalism when we are speaking about media in the Gaza Strip it's not what we think it's not I mean they are part of the struggle big struggle and they are totally but totally must obey actually the authorities which means the Hamas now when we are speaking about the photographers you know what it's not good I'm glad that Honest Reporting and NGOs that I'm following for many years now exposed it it's good but many times you just read the BBC reports from the Gaza Strip I mean the people there are actually part of the story I mean when he is reporting oh me and my family we are refugees now in the south of the Gaza Strip it's propaganda many times it's propaganda because it doesn't give the context he is not explaining what's the story you have to thank maybe the Israeli authorities who saved you when they ask you to leave it's not it's not as so many newspaper claim ethnic cleansing it's not it's something else I just have to say something sorry about the night what happened about the two airstrikes one of the the United States and one of Israel there was another one which was not mentioned 35 Syrian soldiers were killed murdered by ISIS it happened tonight it's totally unmentioned because who cares now about ISIS killing Muslims I mean it becomes a routine it becomes something which doesn't worth even mentioning we just have to know it the main problem it is important because the main problems of the Muslims generally speaking in so many places in the world from Nigeria to Libya to Afghanistan to Pakistan the main problem is the jihad with all the chapters of the jihad from Boko Haram to Hamas to Taliban this is the main problem Israel is not a problem of them Israel is just defending itself against this global jihad but Ben Chor I want to go back to what unfolded on the 7th of October because many questions remain more than a month later as to why there wasn't an immediate security response how Israeli security was blindsided by what happened and yet somehow there are journalists photographers who were at the scene it is astounding and the next question is you've raised it in terms of the credibility the onus on the international media AP CNN New York Times if freelancers are working for these media giants is the onus not on them to be asking the very question that is being raised right now by honest reporting this is the right I mean they have to ask themselves what is happening to us when we know and we know it and there are many reports about it even about the BBC about the New York Times about many other media channels we know that they are totally biased not it's not the only one reason but part of it is because there's so many journalists are from Gaza St from the West Bank that they are part of the system they are part of the authorities they are not free and when you are reporting from a place which is not free I'm speaking now to the New York Times and to the BBC you you should you should put a kind of footnote look he is broadcasting his articles from a place where he cannot be free they do not say it and you know what just think about that you will take some a settler okay a settler that people do not like probably not in the New York Times and not in the BBC and he will report about what is happening in the West Bank is it sound to you normal no it's not so this is exactly the story certainly many questions that need to be raised many ethical issues that need to be unpacked and certainly that is going to be happening in the coming days and weeks no doubt Raphael I want to bring you in on the latest developments actually happening on the ground and reports that the IDF has taken over a Hamas outpost this is a major development what more is known about the latest on the ground inside Gaza right now so right now the IDF is busy with the tunnels mostly it has achieved a new important target goal last night who is capturing bastion fortified the position of the Hamas called outpost 17 17 relating to the force 17 which is like an elite terrorist unit in this bastion like in the other fortified the outpost that the IDF has conquered of late a lot of intel has been gathered some maps of the tunnels there might be some intel as to where the hostages are held but many many important information a lot of terrorists were eliminated during that operation thank god with minimal if not casualties on our part on the IDF part right now what is happening in in Gaza is that we are securing the north we are trying to put more and more pressure on the Hamas leaders because so far unfortunately the Hamas leaders like Mr. Sinwar are completely disconnected from reality so there is an explanation they are disconnected anyway I mean they do not have contact really with the outside world sometimes again an interview to journalists but really they are not in touch with for instance the leaders in Qatar they are not really in touch with their military branch with the military commanders of the Hamas and it does don't feel enough pressure yet they don't think that they're losing the war they think they've created a new reality that's what they call it a new reality where we're in the IDF is fighting the Hamas in urban guerrilla warfare inside Gaza city meaning they still think they have the control because they are the ones who are holding Gaza city so we need to put more more pressure because in view of the fact that the diplomatic solution is not there I mean all these diplomatic balance in Qatar in Turkey in Egypt it's leading nowhere and the latest victory is maybe we can have 12 or 15 hostages freed which is ridiculous it's everybody or nobody and in this case you need to continue putting pressure frighten them because the hostages they will not be given before the last minute because they are the life insurance of the leaders of the Hamas the last rampant part of defense are the hostages they're going to keep them to save their own life and at the last minute say okay give us free passage to Egypt spare us we'll give you your hostages back so that's why we apply this pressure meanwhile we prepare now the south there are already incursions of the IDF into the southern part of Gaza there is a continuous bombing from the air and the artillery on the south because we are now preparing once we consolidated 45 our position in the north and we feel it's pretty well secure we will go now into the south to continue the operation and attack the channels and the outposts of the Hamas in the south until we reach the final objective if we are allowed to do so by international community and the Americans who are starting to be impatient but we are not we want to finish the job define the final objective as you word it the final objective is very simple we do not we cannot eliminate the Hamas okay there is Hamas in south Lebanon there is Hamas in the Judea and Samaria there will be one day Hamas in London and Paris as well so we can suppress it you don't have to wait they're already there so we cannot destroy them completely what we only want to do is not the Hamas to have an Islamic state the same way ISIS had with meaning that Gaza should be freed of the tyranny of Hamas should be put under another regime whether it's Palestinian international it doesn't matter Hamas cannot rule over Gaza anymore stay with us gentlemen we're going to discuss more of exactly that in a short while but first let's go to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler he joins us from southern Israel and we know Sirens were sounding in Nachal Oz and Kisufim earlier on in the morning what updates can you share right now and what more is known about the fighting inside Gaza we're discussing right here in studio what's the latest Pierre well there was indeed a rocket strike on two settlements that have been abandoned by their civilians after the massacres of October 7 these are two scarred settlements Nachal Oz and Kisufim people were massacred there somewhere taken hostage in the Gaza Strip and now they serve as some sort of rear military presence on the border so there is no report of any casualties or damage because damage has already been done in October 7 now regarding the operational activity of the IDF in the Gaza Strip as Rafael mentioned earlier there was this takeover after a 10-hour intense firefight of an outpost in western Jibalia refugee camp which is on the northern outskirts of Gaza city really it's almost it's very close it's the most dense refugee camp now it's not only urban warfare that's going on there it's a fighting in an urban zone that has been very much destroyed so it's not like clean alleys clean alleyways in which the soldiers are moving and operating it's a destroyed area which adds difficulty in a certain sense to the IDF forces fighting you have to overcome some obstacles these debris of buildings can be used as hideouts for Palestinian terrorist snipers and that's why it took 10 hours of intense fighting to take it over now we understand there's been a lot of intel taken over and what's important is the combination of all the unbranches of the army be it the artillery the air force the navy the ground forces and the intelligence they all work together on real time that means that when you get a map of an operational command order it's immediately translated and immediately sent to the data that the IDF uses on real time in order to further the strikes on further targets thank you so much live from southern Israel our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler more updates to come from Pierre in the coming hours thank you Pierre and now to an exclusive look into the fighting on the ground i24 news defense correspondent Matthias Inbar went into the Gaza Strip with Israeli forces let's take a look we are on our way to the Gaza Strip I grew up here at Kibbutz Alumim so I feel like I'm protecting my home since that Saturday we all joined the reserves we understand that we have a mission an important mission to eliminate the terror from Gaza it's the 32nd day of this war we are in a troop carrier Lieutenant Colonel Gillard Pasternak our military escort sits in front of us we do what we have to do this is the most justified war possible that we had to fight it's our duty to be here it's our duty to respect our commitment because we have no other place to go all soldiers all officers understand that we are loyal and fight with determination bravery and speed to fulfill the objectives set by our leaders it's just over one month since the terrible Hamas onslaught of October the 7th the IDF's ground operation has been pursuing its objectives for more than 10 days annihilating Hamas once there we are the first journalists to discover what the humanitarian corridor looks like in this war zone in the center of Gaza on the main Salah Adin Artery these civilians from Gaza are fleeing the fighting some with their hands in the air others clutching a white flag just people from Gaza Gazans are trying to escape the war zone they are walking with their hands up and with a white flag but these soldiers are trying actually to protect us to protect themselves because probably there's some terrorist in the middle of this crowd and today it has been open in 9 a.m and it's about to close at 14 p.m you can hear clashes and battles between Hamas terrorists and the IDF soldiers also west to the Salah Adin street over there of course Hamas doesn't like the fact that the people are going actually his human shield are going from the north to the south and that's exactly what the IDF is trying to do to separate the population the civilians from Hamas terrorists doing their acts of terror inside the neighborhoods inside the buildings over here and perhaps among them Israeli and foreign hostages if they are inside any people have been kidnapped or being hostages run toward the soldiers don't be afraid for both officers and soldiers the objective here remains the same well we have a lot of challenges over here first one of them we have course the tunnels we have we're finding tunnels all over the street in all the cities in all the neighborhoods we're finding streets each building each compound have its own tunnel in order to be able to sabotage the IDF soldiers that's the first one the second one it's aerial assets we are dealing with drones we are dealing with of course mortars with rockets aiming towards the IDF soldiers and the people on the rear in the cities of Israel and also of course Hamas is taking advantages of the narrow streets of the Caspas of the corners in order to wait for the IDF soldiers to make small ambushes on them but I can definitely tell you like the IDF spokesperson told that today there is Gaza North and there is Gaza South and the IDF is controlling over Gaza North these kind of tools came from the engineering corps that are trying to protect the soldiers and also detect the tunnel it's quite impressive impressive inside the Gaza Strip it's our duty we are part of history it's not a question of revenge but defending our state our home they attacked us it's our turn to defend our civilians an emotional soldier wants to speak everything we do today is to ensure that history does not repeat itself ultimately what my grandparents experienced during the Second World War happened because of hatred of Jews on October 7 these massacres these civilians killed raped defiled burned are the result of this same hatred exactly what the Nazis did to us we're pushing back because there is a sniper threat as as you can see every place just behind me our potential position for snipers that's why all the soldiers to end these tools are here to protect us once on board again we drive east into one of the Sujaya neighborhoods an armored vehicle has just fired we're in the middle of a complex multi-battle operation against Hamas positions facing danger under Hamas fire we were quickly asked to leave the area back in Israel Lieutenant Colonel Gilad summarizes this day of war for us it's no secret when I tell you that many Israelis are being held hostage in Gaza one of the goals of our war is to bring them home when we see a way to bring them home or to give us details about their fate we do it and I won't elaborate while we leave this gathering place on the Israel-Gaza border these soldiers are determined to fight regardless of how long it takes and regardless of the cost are Matias in-bar inside the Gaza Strip Ben Joryamini we don't have much time left your insights it's not going to be easy I mean what we see now you know it's media it's only the those locations when it is possible to have this kind of reports but in most places I mean when the battles are taking place right now it's just impossible and it's not going to be easy just to remind us just to remind us I want to zoom out just to remember what happened for example in the 90s between Russia and the rebels of Chechnya the Islamist it was not easy it's not going to be easy here it's not going to be easy but we will make it Israel will make it because Israel has no other choice definitely not going to be easy as you say no other choice Ben Joryamini Raphael Yoroshelmi thank you both so much for being here for this breaking news edition and that's around for now I'm Benisa Levine until I get back in a bit our rolling coverage continues stay tuned 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 i24 news or if 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 help us we don't want to do 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 breaking news edition I'm Benisa Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv an early morning wake-up call in southern Israeli community siren sounding in Nakhal Oz and Kisufim in the past hour warning of incoming rocket fire Israeli forces are meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network the IDF saying troops have captured key Hamas strongholds in Gaza and are battling gunmen earlier destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation soldiers in the enclave telling I-24 News this is what they need to do to protect the country another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting 29-year-old Sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin el-Makais from Jerusalem this brings to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation day 34 of the war more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel which saw more than 1400 people shot tortured and butchered a terrorist from the Hamas Nukba force caught by Israel during the October 7th rampage has meanwhile told Shin Bet interrogators that he had been given orders to kill Israeli children saying they'd grow up to become soldiers the Haaretz newspaper reporting the terrorist said he didn't regret anything he had done and said that in terms of the brutality there's no difference between Hamas and ISIS meanwhile overnight a terror attack in the West Bank two Israelis were shot and wounded while driving near the northern settlement of Itamar a five-month-old baby girl was in the back seat of the car she was not hurt the couple were taken to hospital now for the latest we go to our correspondent Pierre Stechelbach she joins us from northern Israel so good morning to you Pierre still major concerns around Hezbollah's next possible move what is the latest on the northern front what update can you share from northern Israel and what is known about what's happening inside Lebanon right good morning Benita this has been a quiet night so far but yesterday evening there was a minute of scare when air raid sirens were triggered in different communities in the central part of the Israel-Lebanon border we're speaking about the communities of Avivin Baran and Yaron where it was alerted that there was a hostile aircraft infiltration now a few minutes after the IDF issued a statement that this was indeed false alarm there was no hostile aircraft however the Israeli home front command issued a different statement saying that a hostile aircraft was shut down there there comes an addition to several attempts from the from southern Lebanon to launch anti-tank missiles towards Israel Israel as per protocol the military is retaliating with artillery fire there there comes also an addition to another attempt of a cell to operate very close to the Israel border that cell was also struck by the Israeli military there and according to another Israeli army statement several Hezbollah targets have been shocked towards throughout the night we're speaking about technological means other infrastructure and also launch sites there in southern Lebanon but that really just gives you an overview of how a regular day here at the northern border looks like these skirmishes these events have been happening basically since the beginning of the war and they will probably also continue to do so Benita meanwhile Pia in Syria overnight an apparent Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah sites near Damascus also a US strike in Syria what can you tell us well Benita as far as we know we do speak about two different strikes the Israeli one in Damascus in the west of the country and the American one in the east of the country the Israeli one reportedly targeting Hezbollah infrastructure there we do know that Syria hosts a number of Iranian proxies and also Hezbollah representatives there and we also do know that Israel has been striking Iran related targets in Syria really throughout the year also many times the airports of Damascus and Aleppo have come under Israeli fire there the Israeli army usually does not officially claim responsibility for that but we do know that this is something that happens regularly also the Israeli the American air strike there is a response to the several attacks the US is saying 40 since the beginning of the war on US bases in Iraq and Syria trying to also condemn the Iranian influence there and reportedly they targeted weapon depot there in the east of Syria Correspondent Pierre Stekelbach updating us from northern Israel more to come from Pierre in the coming hours thank you for now meanwhile disturbing ethical questions are being raised around the photographers and camera crews who documented the Hamas killing rampage in southern Israel on the 7th of October some of the abductions were captured by Garson based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies with questions arising as to why they were there when the border fence was breached many asking why photographers were on the scene on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning and many asking if Hamas had informed them ahead of time about the planned attack the organization called honest reporting is questioning if these freelancers informed media like CNN and the New York Times now four names appear on AP's photo credits from the Israel Gaza border area on the 7th of October Hassan Islahia Yusuf Masoud Ali Mahmoud and Khatem Ali Islahia is a freelancer who also works for CNN he crossed into Israel took photographs of a burning Israeli tank and then photographed terrorists entering Kibbutz for Gaza since then footage has emerged of this photographer with Hamas leader and mastermind of the massacre Yahya Sinwar CNN saying it has suspended him but they know about the claims and haven't found any evidence to cast doubt on his work there's that picture on your screen right now they do seem to know each other the AP says they didn't know about any planned attack in advance so for more we welcome to studio Benjro Yemini senior journalist at the Idiot Ahronot Daily and Rafael Yorushalmi former senior intelligence officer in the IDF and security analyst gentlemen thank you both so much for being here much to discuss as always but Benjro I want to start with you about this article from honest reporting and packing that there seems to be a clear connection between photojournalists who seem to be at the scene very early on in the unfolding developments and seem to know Yahya Sinwar as well what do you make of what is unfolding well we have to understand that when we are speaking about journalism when we are speaking about media in the Gaza Strait it's not what we think it's not I mean they are part of the struggle big struggle and they are totally but totally must obey actually the authorities which means the Hamas now when we are speaking about the photographers you know what it's not good I'm glad that the honest reporting and NGOs that I'm following for many years now exposed it it's good but many times you just read the BBC reports from the Gaza Strait I mean the people there are actually part of the story I mean when he is reporting oh me and my family we are refugees now in the south of the Gaza Strait it's propaganda many times it's propaganda because it doesn't give the context he is not explaining what's the story you have to think maybe the Israeli authorities who saved you when they ask you to leave it's not as so many newspaper claim ethnic cleansing it's not it's something else I just have to say something sorry about the night what happened about the two airstrikes one of the United States and one of Israel there was another one which was not mentioned 35 Syrian soldiers were killed murdered by ISIS it happened tonight it's totally unmentioned because who cares now about ISIS killing Muslims I mean it becomes a routine it becomes something which doesn't worth even mentioning we just have to know it the main problem it is important because the main problems of the Muslims generally speaking in so many places in the world from Nigeria to Libya to Afghanistan to Pakistan the main problem is the Jihad with all the chapters of the Jihad from Boko Haram to Hamas to Taliban this is the main problem Israel is not a problem of them Israel is just defending itself against this global Jihad but Ben Tor I want to go back to what unfolded on the 7th of October because many questions remain more than a month later as to why there wasn't an immediate security response how Israeli security was blindsided by what happened and yet somehow there are journalists photographers who were at the scene it is astounding and the next question is you've raised it in terms of the credibility the onus on the international media AP, CNN, New York Times if freelancers are working for these media giants is the onus not on them to be asking the very question that is being raised right now by honest reporting I mean they have to ask themselves what is happening to us when we know and we know it and there are many reports about it even about the BBC about the New York Times about many other media channels we know that they are totally biased it's not the only one reason but part of it is because there are so many journalists from Gaza St, from the West Bank that they are part of the system they are part of the authorities they are not free and when you are reporting from a place which is not free I'm speaking now to the New York Times and to the BBC you should you should put a kind of footnote look he's broadcasting or he's delivering his articles from a place where he cannot be free they do not say it and you know what just think about that you will take some a settler okay a settler that people do not like probably not in the New York Times and not in the BBC and he will report about what is happening in the West Bank is it sound to you normal no it's not so this is exactly the story certainly many questions that need to be raised many ethical issues that need to be unpacked and certainly that is going to be happening in the coming days and weeks no doubt Raphael I want to bring you in on the latest developments actually happening on the ground and reports that the IDF has taken over a Hamas outpost this is a major development what more is known about the latest on the ground inside Gaza right now right now the IDF is busy with the tunnels mostly it has achieved a new important target goal last night who is capturing Bastion fortified the position of the Hamas called outpost 17 17 relating to the force 17 which is like an elite terrorist unit in this Bastion like in the other fortified the outpost that the IDF has conquered of late a lot of intel has been gathered some maps of the tunnels there might be some intel as to where the hostages are held but many many important information a lot of terrorists were eliminated during that operation thank god with minimal if not casualties on our part on the IDF part right now what is happening in Gaza is that we are securing the north we are trying to put more and more pressure on the Hamas leaders because so far unfortunately the Hamas leaders like Mr. Sinwar are completely disconnected from reality so there is an explanation they are disconnected anyway I mean they do not have contact really with the outside world sometimes again an interview to journalists but really they are not in touch with for instance the leaders in Qatar they are not really in touch with their military branch with the military commanders of the Hamas and it does do not feel enough pressure yet they do not think they are losing the war they think they have created a new reality that is what they call it a new reality where the IDF is fighting the Hamas in urban guerrilla warfare inside Gaza city meaning they still think they have the control because they are the ones who are holding Gaza city so we need to put more pressure because in view of the fact that the diplomatic solution is not there I mean all these diplomatic balance in Qatar, in Turkey, in Egypt it's leading nowhere and the latest victory is maybe we can have 12 or 15 hostages freed which is ridiculous it's everybody or nobody and in this case you need to continue putting pressure frighten them because the hostages they will not be given before the last minute because they are the life insurance of the leaders of the Hamas the last run part of defense are the hostages they're going to keep them to save their own life and at the last minute say okay give us free passage to Egypt spare us we'll give you your hostages back so that's why we apply this pressure meanwhile we prepare now the south there are already incursions of the IDF into the southern part of Gaza there is a continuous bombing from the air and the artillery on the south because we are now preparing once we consolidate 45 our position in the north and we feel it's pretty well secured we will go now into the south to continue the operation and attack the generals and the outposts of the Hamas in the south until we reach the final objective if we are allowed to do so by international community and the Americans they were starting to be impatient but we're not we want to finish the job define the final objective as you word it the final objective is very simple we do not we cannot eliminate the Hamas okay there is Hamas in south Lebanon there is Hamas in Judea and Samaria there will be one day Hamas in London and Paris as well so we can suppress it you don't have to wait they're already there so we cannot destroy them completely what we only want to do is not the Hamas to have an Islamic state the same way ISIS had with meaning that Gaza should be freed of the tyranny of Hamas should be put under another regime whether it's Palestinian international it doesn't matter Hamas cannot rule over Gaza anymore stay with us gentlemen we're going to discuss more of exactly that in a short while but first let's go to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler he joins us from southern Israel and we know sirens resounding in Nachal Oz and Kisufim earlier on in the morning what updates can you share right now and what more is known about the fighting inside Gaza we're discussing right here in studio what's the latest Pierre well there was indeed a rocket strike on two settlements that have been abandoned by their civilians after the massacres of October 7 these are two scarred settlements Nachal Oz and Kisufim people were massacred there somewhere taken hostage in the Gaza Strip and now they serve as some sort of rear military presence on the border so there is no report of any casualties or damage because damage has already been done in October 7 now regarding the operational activity of the IDF in the Gaza Strip as Raphael mentioned earlier there was this takeover after a 10-hour intense firefight of an outpost in western Jebalia refugee camp which is on the northern outskirts of Gaza City really it's almost it's very close it's the most dense refugee camp now it's not only urban warfare that's going on there it's a fighting in an urban zone that has been very much destroyed so it's not like clean alleys clean alleyways in which the soldiers are moving and operating it's a destroyed area which adds difficulty in a certain sense to the IDF forces fighting you have to overcome some obstacles these debris of buildings can be used as hideouts for Palestinian terrorist snipers and that's why it took 10 hours of intense fighting to take it over now we understand there's been a lot of intel taken over and what's important is the combination of all the unbranches of the army be it the artillery the air force the navy the ground forces and the intelligence they all work together on real time that means that when you get a map of an operational command order it's immediately translated and immediately sent to the data that the IDF uses on real time in order to further the strikes on further targets thank you so much live from southern Israel our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler more updates to come from Pierre in the coming hours thank you Pierre and now to an exclusive look into the fighting on the ground I-24 News Defense Correspondent Matthias Inbar went into the Gaza Strip with Israeli forces let's take a look we are on our way to the Gaza Strip I grew up here at Kibbutz Al-Umim so I feel like I'm protecting my home since that Saturday we all joined the reserves we understand that we have a mission an important mission to eliminate the terror from Gaza it's the 32nd day of this war we are in a troop carrier Lieutenant Colonel Gelad Pasternak our military escort sits in front of us we do what we have to do this is the most justified war possible that we had to fight it's our duty to be here it's our duty to respect our commitment because we have no other place to go all soldiers all officers understand that we are loyal and fight with determination bravery and speed to fulfill the objectives set by our leaders it's just over one month since the terrible Hamas onslaught of October the 7th the IDF's ground operation has been pursuing its objectives for more than 10 days annihilating Hamas once there we are the first journalist to discover what the humanitarian corridor looks like in this war zone in the centre of Gaza on the main Salah Adin artery these civilians from Gaza are fleeing the fighting some with their hands in the air others clutching a white flag we are in the middle of the Gaza Strip behind us just people from Gaza Gazans are trying to escape the war zone they are walking with their hands up and with a white flag but these soldiers are trying actually to protect us to protect themselves because probably there's some terrorists in the middle of this crowd today it has been open in 9 a.m. and it's about to close at 14 p.m. you can hear clashes and battles between Hamas terrorists and the IDF soldiers also west to the Salah Adin street over there of course Hamas doesn't like the fact that the people are going actually his human shield are going from the north to the south and that's exactly what the IDF is trying to do to separate this population the civilians from Hamas terrorists doing their acts of terror inside the neighbourhood inside the buildings over here and perhaps among them Israeli and foreign hostages if they are inside any people have been kidnapped or being hostages run toward the soldiers don't be afraid for both officers and soldiers the objective here remains the same well we have a lot of challenges over here first one of them of course the tunnels we have we're finding tunnels all over the street in all the cities in all the neighbourhoods we're finding streets each building each compound have its own tunnel in order to be able to sabotage the IDF soldiers that's the first one the second one is the aerial assets we are dealing with drones we are dealing with of course mortars with rockets aiming towards the IDF soldiers and the people on the rear in the cities of Israel and also of course Hamas is taking advantages of the narrow streets of the cuspas of the corners in order to wait for the IDF soldiers to make small ambushes on them but I can definitely tell you like the IDF spokesperson told that today there is Gaza North and there is Gaza South and the IDF is controlling over Gaza North these kind of tools came from the engineering course they are trying to protect the soldiers and also detect the tunnel it's quite impressive impressive inside the Gaza Strip it's our duty we are part of history it's not a question of revenge but defending our state our home they attacked us it's our turn to defend our civilians an emotional soldier wants to speak everything we do today is to ensure that history does not repeat itself ultimately what my grandparents experienced during the Second World War happened because of hatred of Jews on October 7 these massacres these civilians killed raped defiled burned are the result of this same hatred exactly what the Nazis did to us we're pushing back because there is a sniper threat as you can see every place just behind me our potential position for snipers that's why all the soldiers and these tools are here to protect us once on board again we drive east into one of the Sujaya neighborhoods an armored vehicle has just fired we're in the middle of a complex multi-battle operation against Hamas positions facing danger under Hamas fire we were quickly asked to leave the area back in Israel Lieutenant Colonel Galatz summarizes this day of war for us it's no secret when I tell you that many Israelis are being held hostage in Gaza one of the goals of our war is to bring them home when we see a way to bring them home or to give us details about their fate we do it and I won't elaborate while we leave this gathering place on the Israel-Gaza border these soldiers are determined to fight regardless of how long it takes and regardless of the cost our Matias in bar inside the Gaza Strip Ben Droyamini we don't have much time left your insights it's not going to be easy I mean what we see now you know it's media it's only the those locations when it is possible to have this kind of reports but in most places I mean when the battles are taking place right now it's just impossible and it's not going to be easy just to remind us just to remind us I want to zoom out just to remember what happened for example in the 90s between Russia and the rebels of Chechnya the Islamist it was not easy it's not going to be easy here it's not going to be easy but we will make it Israel will make it because Israel has no other choice not going to be easy as you say no other choice Ben Droyamini Raphael Yurishalmi thank you both so much for being here for this breaking news edition and that's a wrap for now I'm Benisa Levine until I ve back in a bit our rolling coverage continue stay tuned 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 i24news edition I'm Benisa Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv the Israeli Defense Force says dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been killed as Israeli troops captured a Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip after 10 hours of fighting the Nahal Infantry Brigade taking over the site called Alpost 17 in West Jabalia it says soldiers battle terrorists both above ground and underground it uncovered more tunnels including one next to a kindergarten and the air force has carried out strikes against hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day just moments ago rocket siren sounding in the southern city of Ashdod also earlier in the day in Nakhaz and Kisufin in the south warning of incoming rocket fire Israeli forces on meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation soldiers in the enclave telling I-24 News this is what they need to do to protect the country another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting 29-year-old Sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin El-Makais from Jerusalem bringing to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation day 34 of the war more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel which saw more than 1,400 people shot, tortured and butchered meanwhile overnight a terror attack in the west bank two Israelis were shot and wounded while driving near the northern settlement of Itamar a five-month-old baby girl was in the back seat of the car she was not hurt the couple were taken to hospital so for more on the developing situation we welcome to studio security analyst Rafa El-Yurishalmi former senior intelligence officer in the IDF and our senior correspondent Owen Altman gentlemen thank you both so much for being here Rafa El-Yurishalmi I want to start with you in this latest development this confirmation that the IDF has killed scores of terrorists from Hamas and Islamic jihad during this 10-hour battle then taking control of this Hamas outpost talk to us about the significance of this latest development so first of all a fierce battle because it was above ground and underground the terrorists were attacking above ground with ambushed snipers explosive devices and from the underground they were from the tunnels trying to come up very dangerous for our troops very long fight with absolute victory in the end a victory against an outpost called outpost 17 in relation to force 17 which is a kind of elite unit of the Hamas terrorist organization one of the big advantages of this 45 outpost being captured is that you get a lot a lot of intel a lot of documents were found some of the terrorists were captured alive and they will of course speak this might give us some hope as some kind of information maybe of the whereabouts of the hostages but in any case maps of the tunnels orders of attack and the strategical documents disclosing whatever is in mind in the Hamas as to the present combat the present fight so all in all a very big step forward we're having thank god so quite a few of these successes lately including destroying tunnels and we are now really strengthening our position in the north in Gaza city reaching certain sensitive points like the Sheva hospital which might give us an opportunity to frighten a little more the high leaders of the Hamas because so far people at the very high level of the political command of the Hamas do not feel the pressure enough yet they are disconnected from what is going on they don't really know what's going on they're cut out from the world they're not really in touch with their colleagues in the Qatar they're not really in touch with the military commanders in the field so they don't really know what's going on they have spoken of like they have created a new reality in Gaza thinking they're in control but they're not in control anymore but they have to feel it and they have to know it and this might help put pressure as to a hostage deal because the diplomatic channels are not working they're not going anywhere so this is what needed meanwhile if we do consolidate this northern part of the Gaza Strip we can now start dealing with the south there already been a few incursions the air forces as it was done in the north bombing the south right now and some ground incursions are preparing the ground for an offensive all this of securing of the Gaza Strip might also give us maybe more leeway to deal also with the north well talking of the north stay with us we're going to go straight there because our correspondent Pia Stegelbach is in northern Israel right now and as we hear Pia about the developments in the Gaza Strip and the progress as such being made by the IDF of course still major concerns around Hezbollah's next possible moves up north what is the latest where you are what can you share well Benita here in the north that has been a relatively quiet night although yesterday evening there was a moment of shock when air sirens were triggered in three different communities in the central region of the israel-ebanan border we're talking about the communities of Yaron, Batan and Avivim the IDF later said that this was a false alarm that no hostile aircraft entered the airspace as had been announced now the home front command after issued another statement saying that a hostile aircraft was intercepted in any case these alarms have we've been seeing these kind of incidents all over since the past really three weeks in addition to that we've been seeing water shelling and also anti-tank missiles according to another Israeli army statement also throughout the day yesterday in different localities the proxies in central Lebanon tried to launch anti-tank missiles towards Israel also the Israeli military targeted a cell that was operating very close to the Israel-ebanan border here and that really just gives you an impression of how the situation here is because that really much reflects the developments that you see here on a daily basis also the Israeli army is saying that it targeted several of these Bala targets in southern Lebanon throughout the night we're speaking about technical means weapon departments and also as I said cells that were operating very close to the border here and as I said this really showcases the regular development here that you can see almost every day also several developments in Syria overnight bring us up to speed exactly who was behind those strikes right Benita we're speaking about two different strikes one from Israel that is attributed to Israel at least the Israeli army as per protocol does usually not claim responsibility for any of its operations in Syria and also another air strike in the east of the country acclaimed by the US the US is saying that it was targeting Iranian proxies that was targeting specifically a warehouse for weapons then the eastern part of the country it said that it wanted to contain the situation and also as we know the US is not interested in any sort of escalation but as it has showcased the support for Israel we're talking about the two air strike carriers in the Mediterranean that nuclear submarine there we have seen quite a lot of attacks on US bases both in Iraq and both in Syria that track back to Iranian back proxies in that region so we can understand this air strike from the US and eastern Syria to yesterday night as a reaction to those attacks the US is saying that since the outbreak of the war here they had to deal with about 40 attacks on US bases in Syria and in Iraq and when it comes to the Israeli strike according to war moderators targeted Hisballah sell in Syria there well we do know that Israel has been striking the airports both in Damascus and Aleppo and also Iranian proxies there in Syria this is something that the army does not usually position itself to but this is something that we've been seeing really throughout all the year as we do know that Iran is trying to to manifest its position in these countries and as the tensions are so high and as we've also seen rockets for example coming out of Syria towards the Golan Heights communities here the eyes especially of the Israeli security establishment are of course also on what is going on in Syria in terms of Iranian proxies operating there thank you so much correspondent Pia Stekelbach live from northern Israel more to come from Pia in the coming hours thank you so much meanwhile disturbing ethical questions are being raised around the photographers and camera crews who documented the Hamas killing rampage in southern Israel on the 7th of October some of the abductions were captured by garrson-based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies with questions arising as to why they were there when the border fence was breached many asking why photographers were on the scene on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning and some asking if Hamas had informed them ahead of time about the organized attack now the organization honest reporting is questioning if these freelancers informed rather media like the CNN network and New York Times forenames appear on AP's photo credits from the Israel Gaza border area on the 7th of October Hassan Islahia Yusuf Masoud Ali Mahmoud and Khatem Ali Islahia is a freelancer who also works for CNN he crossed into Israel took photos of a burning tank and then photographed terrorists entering Kibbutz Kfar Azar since then footage has emerged of this photographer with Hamas leader and mastermind of the massacre Yahya Senwar CNN saying it has suspended him saying they know about the claims but haven't found any evidence to cast doubt on his work and AP says they didn't know about any planned attack in advance many questions are being raised here to answer or at least unpack some of them is our senior correspondent Owen Ultiman so the questions are being raised by honest reporting the organization and the question also top of mind would be the timing because so much has been made of the fact that the Israeli security echelon were blindsided by this attack yet somehow these camera people were there on the scene to capture everything on film break down your reaction you know we have an acronym in Hebrew a da'lap they are low-popularity unpopular opinion and about to give one I mean first of all this is completely legitimate investigation report from honest reporting and kudos to them Kola Kavod that they put this out in the public domain and they put this issue out for all of us to debate and to look into but at the end of the day Benita these were journalists doing their job their job is to document the news and we don't know what they knew and of course that's a big part of the questions that need to be asked but even if they did know even if they had known for months that this was going to happen their role is not to prevent the attack that's the job of the Israeli military of the Israeli intelligence services and the Israeli government that's their responsibility those are the people we should be going to and we have been going to to look for responsibility not the cameraman and the photojournalist and Gaza their job is to document the news and that's what they were doing that's what they were doing and in fact we want their documentation as we start to see a kind of rerun of Holocaust denial about what happened on October 7th we have pictures from Gaza and photographers themselves of exactly what happened so it actually is important as part of the historical record and the journalistic record in general now that doesn't mean there aren't serious serious problems with the journalism coming out of Gaza but the problems are not about what is being reported the problems are about what's not being reported right have we seen an investigative report out of Gaza in the last 16 years but Ohabas uses kindergartens as exits from tunnels you know we had one Indian television reporter in the past around who filmed the firing of a rocket near civilian infrastructure and essentially was exiled from Gaza the problem is now it is being documented but it is not being documented and either these journalists themselves have a personal opinion I think we saw from the body language of that reporter where his loyalties lie and of course that's highly unethical right to be cherry picking what you're reporting because of your own advocacy or people want to be documenting these things but are intimidated by Hamas and then the responsibility is on the editors and on the producers of these media organizations for not telling and warning viewers that they cannot get objective journalism out of Gaza because the journalists are being intimidated by Hamas those are the problems not this oh and there's a photograph of this photographer kissing the man who mastermind did the attack the man behind the plan that ultimately ended up in 1400 people being killed what is the onus on the bosses at CNN at AP and Reuters etc we're looking at the picture on our screen right now to look at this and say well what is his connection right now to the terror group look at this photograph on our screen right now I am not a fan of the genre of journalists being fanboys with leaders right we see journalists all over the world and certainly here in Israel who like to take pictures with leaders and put it on their social media I don't like that this is a terrorist leader behind the plan to kill Jews we need a uniform rule that journalists don't do this but of course it is the job of journalists including photojournalists to get close to sources and to make connections I don't like it as a genre but we need a uniform rule whether it's a Kiasi Noir Adolf Hitler Joe Biden or for that matter Mother Teresa that journalists don't take pictures with sources certainly not being hugged and kissed like that I think there needs to be a uniform rule but also an understanding that it is the job of the journalist to get close to sources including bad actors including war criminals including someone like Kiasi Noir that is their job their job is not to work for the Israeli military or Israeli intelligence preventing attacks that's the job of our army and of our intelligence services and that's where we should be focusing our anger again there are serious problems with the journalism coming out of Gaza that have not been properly explained to readers and viewers but the problem is not what is being reported the problem is what's not being reported and that not being explained to viewers you know the journalists and jobs are lionized as heroes and in many cases I'm sure that they are risking their lives in very very hard circumstances but there is another side to the coin that they're working under a terrorist regime that does not allow them to fully do their jobs also some of them may not want to fully do their jobs and both of those elements need to be explained to viewers and to readers but as they're going out and documenting what happened on October 7th that's their job and frankly as far as getting close to Yahya Sinwar to try to get information from him let's say it's also part of their job although I hate the idea of taking pictures like that certainly many questions that will be asked not only by news organizations but also by the media at large and obviously watchdog organizations as well Rafael you're a shelmer I'd like your input on exactly what we're discussing right now Israeli intelligence had no idea about what was happening but there are photographers there people who are hugging and kissing Yahya Sinwar who were in the loop how does that feel what is your sense of this well it adds to the problem we had in intelligence we really didn't read them up whereas not only journalists I think quite a few people in the Gaza Strip felt and knew what was going to happen something was cooking it was obvious we had observer soldiers mostly girls of the IDF on outlook posts and that they could see things happening so there is something here that has to be checked after the war for sure something something's wrong I believe that these journalists that work in the Gaza Strip are all Hamas because you cannot work as a journalist in the Gaza Strip if you're not accredited by the Hamas whatever you're going to do against them you will be ousted out of Gaza so and that's why most agencies use local journalist-gazins who are of course in very good terms with the Hamas and accomplices of the Hamas I am not sure that journalists should be immune I don't see a wild ground from having a conscience and moral principles such as saving human lives and if you have an information that might prevent a catastrophe I don't think your profession comes first where do you draw the line? I draw a line in the moral standard of any profession I don't think journalism is that important that it should be above any moral standards and if I have if I'm a doctor a professor a garage or a salesman of cars I don't know it doesn't matter what profession you're doing there is a red line and the journalists are not above it they are just as any other person under that red line after that if they do not prevent or give information as to something that is going to happen and people children are going to be killed I think that there's a problem there's a big big problem I do not agree at all with the immunity I don't see like when people said there were these that killed and journalists so what? Journalists were killed too they are there to do their job we had a Palestinian journalist who was killed in the West Bank this created a huge international scandal why and the kid is not important no there is no immunity for journalists they're there they're taking their chances it's a dangerous job especially war reporters on the ground but one thing is for sure they cannot they cannot in any way let something happen that they could prevent if they would give the info it's not possible look Rafael there are Israeli defense correspondents who presumably know in advance about military activity by the IDF in Gaza I am not comparing the Israeli military to Hamas I am not comparing the Israeli military activity since October 7th to what happened October 7th in no way but those reporters know okay that through the course of the military activity civilians are going to be killed tragically do they have an obligation to tell civilians in those parts of Gaza I mean where do we draw the line again journalists are part of a structure and part of a system and they play a very very important role in presenting reality this has nothing to everybody knows that in a war there's going to be casualties but they don't know when and they don't care those journalists do you don't have to be a journalist for that everybody knows that but they don't but the journalists have unique information in case of when and where it's going to happen and they don't share it no but you are making a mistake and they're right not to share it no but the Israeli journalists you're speaking about cannot avoid the war and the catastrophe but these Gazan journalists knowing in advance this ferocious plan could have worn I think there's here a moral principle as a human being it doesn't matter at the end your journalist okay but you're also a human being at some point you are maybe the possibility to avoid such a catastrophe then then you have to intervene as a human being then you're a journalist as well but these really journalists you talk about they cannot do anything there is a war going on we know they're going to be casualties they know they know that in such in such a way they know that in such in such a morning I'm positing a hypothetical I don't know if this is actually true I'm not a defense correspondent myself but let's say that journalists know as a realistic hypothetical they know that in such in such a morning there is going to be the Israeli military is going to start acting in a certain part of the Gaza Strip and as part of that activity civilians are going to be in more danger do they have a responsibility to go on Twitter and say tomorrow morning the Israeli military is going to be doing X, Y and Z absolutely not absolutely not I'll tell you why absolutely yes if the action of the IDF is immoral if the IDF is going to strike and the journalists are supposed to be in the position of making those decisions yes yes yes if the IDF is going to kill children when it could avoid killing children the journalist has to say there are plenty of foreign journalists who feel that way by the way and they're going to go out and now take your ball and run with it the whole question is about there are plenty of correspondence including potentially in the far left here in Israel who agree with you and will start doing that and are going to start to use and that's the problem where do we draw the line here and how do journalists play their role in presenting and explaining the full scope of reality no I put even more than that it's the duty as in the IDF there are standards of the rules of engagement it is the duty of any soldier or any officer of the IDF to speak out if he sees that the IDF is going to do something immoral we have the right to do so we have the duty to do so so a journalist as well we cannot do an action that's not moral so I'm not speaking of a journalist in Gaza warning the IDF about some military action I'm speaking of a journalist in Gaza knowing that children are going to be killed women are going to be raped he has a moral duty to tell this not as an info not to keep it for a photo shoot because he's going to inform some guy in the New York Times reader in Washington who after lunch will see the picture but you're fighting the hypothetical let's say there's a foreign correspondent okay who knows in advance because they're in contact with the Israeli military but Israeli operation Gaza that person in good faith because of their own belief system wrongly in my opinion in your opinion but in their opinion rightly believes that they need to then go out break censorship rules do whatever they need to do to in their mind save Gaza civilians from being killed because they know the where and the when of when something is going to happen is it up to that journalist appropriately ethically to then go on to Twitter 12 hours before and tell people in my opinion absolutely not but we have to have a uniform rule because if we don't everyone's going to be taking the the journalism I prefer to take that chance to have a journalist that will speak out maybe to in a more dangerous way that's not useful to the action so we are taking that risk because as you say anybody can come out and say something but I prefer to take that risk and make sure that when it's really something horrible like the 7th of October is going to happen we will have voices come out because person I don't I mean if I had this information it doesn't matter what profession I have and certainly not journalists to give me any immunity you have the I have this information I think it's a horrible thing I will I will speak out I will I will tell but I'm telling you it's not only journalists it's even the officers of the IDF they are allowed to speak out and they can also be wrong a soldier or an officer can go and say I disagree with this action it's not moral in my eyes he will be court martial afterwards judges military judges will decide if he was right in thinking that this action was immoral or not but he has the moral duty and he has the right to think that what he thinks and if he thinks it's immoral to say it and or may even refuse an order then after that he has to take his responsibility he's maybe he was wrong maybe the action was legitimate then he shouldn't have opened his mouth and he shall be punished for it or the action was not legitimate and in this case I mean I have refused one order in my career in the IDF out of moral grounds and I think it's very important that people should remember especially in those days that we are human beings first and we have a conscience first and we want to save lives a soldier and journalist have different roles we could go on I think it's a silvery slope I'll give you the last word throw it back to Benita and also want to say that in this particular case this was a planned terror attack we are hearing testimony from people who were court saying they were instructed to kill children that they wanted to kill children because they were worried that these children would become soldiers if people were in the loop about a plan like this a heinous plan like this and saw it fit to be kissing and hugging the people who were the architects of this plan and then you're seeing that these are the people who were there first to take the photographs of it I wonder how it sits with the families whose relatives are being held right now in the Gaza Strip seeing that connection very quickly it addresses the Israeli military the interior intelligence it is their job they're the ones who work for us to protect us that is their role in the system and the ire and the anger should be focused on them and on the Israeli government and politicians as appropriate as well that's the address not the journalist one question yes if you're a journalist you're in the street you see a person taking out a gun is going to murder somebody else okay so you just let this guy murder the other person because you're a journalist and you're just giving the info or you're going to try and save that person from being killed 30 seconds I went to that answer it's a complicated question I don't know what I would personally do in that situation but I don't think that I would blame the journalist who didn't step in that's my point the most simple question is the answer is of course you save the person's life I would not blame the journalist who wouldn't I don't know what I would do myself disturbing ethical questions this debate is very very definitely going to be continuing on this day and in the weeks to come thank you very much Rafael Yoroshalmi and Owen Ultiman very Jewish debate thank you very much we will continue with this discussion no doubt many questions lots to unpack but for now that's a wrap for this edition of our breaking news coverage I'm Vanessa Levine in Tel Aviv our rolling coverage continues very shortly thank you officially in a state of 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 help us we don't want to do 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 in news edition I'm Vanessa Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv the Israeli Defense Force says dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been killed as Israeli troops captured a Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip after 10 hours of fighting the Nachal Infantry Brigade taking over the site called Alpost 17 in West Jabalia it says soldiers battle terrorists both above ground and underground it uncovered more tunnels including one next to a kindergarten and the air force has carried out strikes against hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day just moments ago rocket siren sounding in the southern city of Ashdod also earlier in the day in Nakhaz and Kisufin in the south warning of incoming rocket fire Israeli forces are meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation soldiers in the enclave telling i24 news this is what they need to do to protect the country another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting 29-year-old Sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin el-Makais from Jerusalem bringing to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation day 34 of the war more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel which saw more than 1400 people shot tortured and butchered meanwhile overnight a terror attack in the West Bank two Israelis were shot and wounded while driving near the northern settlement of Itamar a five-month old baby girl was in the back seat of the car she was not hurt the couple were taken to hospital so for more on the developing situation we welcome to studio security analyst Rafael Urashalmi former senior intelligence officer in the IDF and our senior correspondent Owen Ultiman gentlemen thank you both so much for being here Rafael I want to start with you in this latest development this confirmation that the IDF has killed scores of terrorists from Hamas and Islamic jihad during this 10-hour battle then taking control of this Hamas outpost talk to us about the significance of this latest development so first of all a fierce battle because it was above ground and underground the terrorists were attacking above ground with ambushed snipers explosive devices and from the underground they were from the tunnels trying to come up very dangerous for our troops very long fight with absolute victory in the end a victory against an outpost called outpost 17 in relation to 417 which is a kind of elite unit of the Hamas terrorist organization one of the big advantages of this 45 outpost being captured is that you get a lot a lot of intel a lot of documents were found some of the terrorists were captured alive and they will of course speak this might give us some hope as some kind of information maybe of the whereabouts of the hostages but in any case maps of the tunnels orders of attack and the strategical documents disclosing whatever is in mind in the Hamas as to the present combat the present fight so all in all a very big step forward we're having a thank god so quite a few of these successes lately including destroying tunnels and we are now really strengthening our position in the north in Gaza city reaching certain sensitive points like the Shiva hospital which might give us an opportunity to frighten a little more the high leaders of the Hamas because so far people at the very high level of the political command of the Hamas do not feel the pressure enough yet they are disconnected from what is going on they don't really know what's going on they're cut out from the world they're not really in touch with their colleagues in the Qatar they're not really in touch with the military commanders in the field so they don't really know what's going on they have spoken of like they have created a new reality in Gaza thinking they're in control but they're not in control anymore but they have to feel it and they have to know it and this might help put pressure as to hostage deal because the diplomatic channels are not working they're not going anywhere so this is what needed meanwhile if we do consolidate this northern part of the Gaza Strip we can now start dealing with the south there already been a few incursions the air forces as it was done in the north bombing the south right now and some ground incursions are preparing the ground for an offensive all this of securing of the Gaza Strip might also give us maybe more leeway to deal also with the north well talking of the north stay with us we're going to go straight there because our correspondent Pierre Stegelbach is in northern Israel right now and as we hear Pierre about the developments in the Gaza Strip and the progress as such being made by the IDF of course still major concerns around Hezbollah's next possible moves up north what is the latest where you are what can you share well Benita here in the north that has been a relatively quiet night although yesterday evening there was a moment of shock when the air sirens were triggered in three different communities in the central region of the israel-ebanan border we're talking about the communities of Yaron, Batan and Avivim the IDF later said that this was a false alarm that no hostile aircraft entered the airspace as had been announced now the home front command after issued another statement saying that a hostile aircraft was intercepted in any case these alarms have we've been seeing these kind of incidents all over since the past really three weeks in addition to that we've been seeing water shelling and also anti-tank missiles according to another Israeli army statement also throughout the day yesterday in different localities the proxies in central Lebanon tried to launch anti-tank missiles towards Israel also the Israeli military targeted a cell that was operating very close to the Israel-ebanan border here and that really just gives you an impression of how how the situation here is because that really much reflects the developments that you see here on a daily basis also the Israeli army is saying that it targeted several Israel-ebanan targets in southern Lebanon throughout the night we're speaking about technical means weapon departments and also as I said cells that were operating very close to the border here and as I said this really showcases the regular development here that you can see almost every day also several developments in Syria overnight bring us up to speed exactly who was behind those strikes right Benita we're speaking about two different strikes one from Israel that is attributed to Israel at least the Israeli army as per protocol does usually not claim responsibility for any of its operations in Syria and also another air strike in the east of the country acclaimed by the US the US is saying that it was targeting Iranian proxies that was targeting specifically a warehouse for weapons then the eastern part of the country it said that it wanted to contain the situation and also as we know the US is not interested in any sort of escalation but as it has showcased the support for Israel we're talking about the two air strike carriers in the Mediterranean that nuclear submarine there we have seen quite a lot of attacks on US bases both in Iraq and both in Syria that track back to Iranian back proxies in that region so we can understand this airstrike from the US in eastern Syria to yesterday night as a reaction to those attacks the US is saying that since the outbreak of the war here they had to deal with about 40 attacks on US bases in Syria and in Iraq and when it comes to the Israeli strike according to war moderators it targeted Hisballah a cell in Syria there well we do know that Israel has been striking the airports both in Damascus and Aleppo and also Iranian proxies there in Syria this is something that the army does not usually position itself too but this is something that we've been seeing really throughout all the year as we do know that Iran is trying to to manifest this position in these countries and as the tensions are so high and as we've also seen rockets for example coming out of Syria towards the Golan Heights communities here the eyes especially of the Israeli security establishment are of course also on what is going on in Syria in terms of Iranian proxies operating there thank you so much correspondent Pia Stekelbach live from northern Israel more to come from Pia in the coming hours thank you so much meanwhile disturbing ethical questions are being raised around the photographers and camera crews who documented the Hamas killing rampage in southern Israel on the 7th of October some of the abductions were captured by Garson-based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies with questions arising as to why they were there when the border fence was breached many asking why photographers were on the scene on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning and some asking if Hamas had informed them ahead of time about the organized attack now the organization honest reporting is questioning if these freelancers informed rather media like the CNN network and New York Times forenames appear on AP's photo credits from the Israel Gaza border area on the 7th of October Hassan Islahia Yusuf Masoud Ali Mahmoud and Khatem Ali Islahia is a freelancer who also works for CNN he crossed into Israel took photos of a burning tank and then photographed terrorists entering Kibbutz Kfar Azar since then footage has emerged of this photographer with Hamas leader and mastermind of the massacre Yahya Senwar CNN saying it has suspended him saying they know about the claims but haven't found any evidence to cast doubt on his work and AP says they didn't know about any planned attack in advance many questions are being raised here to answer or at least unpack some of them is our senior correspondent Owen Altman so the questions are being raised by honest reporting the organization and the question also top of mind would be the timing because so much has been made of the fact that the Israeli security echelon were blindsided by this attack yet somehow these camera people were there on the scene to capture everything on film break down your reaction Yeah, we have an acronym in Hebrew Dallap Dealo Popularit unpopular opinion and about to give one I mean first of all this is a completely legitimate investigation report from honest reporting and kudos to them Kola Kavod that they put this out in the public domain and they put this issue out for all of us to debate and to look into but at the end of the day Benita these were journalists doing their job their job is to document the news and we don't know what they knew and of course that's a big part of the questions that need to be asked but even if they did know even if they had known for months that this was going to happen their role is not to prevent the attack that's the job of the Israeli military of the Israeli intelligence services and the Israeli government that's their responsibility those are the people we should be going to and we have been going to to look for responsibility not the cameraman and the photojournalist and Gaza their job is to document the news and that's what they were doing that's what they were doing and in fact we want their documentation right as we start to see a kind of rerun of Holocaust denial about what happened on October 7th we have pictures from Gaza and photographers themselves of exactly what happened so it actually is important as part of the historical record and the journalistic record in general now that doesn't mean there aren't serious serious problems with the journalism coming out of Gaza but the problems are not about what is being reported the problems are about what's not being reported right have we seen an investigative report out of George Gaza in the last 16 years but Ohabas uses kindergartens as exits from tunnels you know we had one Indian television reporter in the past around who filmed the firing of a rocket near civilian infrastructure and essentially it was exiled from Gaza the problem is now it is being documented but it is not being documented and either these journalists themselves have a personal opinion I think we saw from the body language of that reporter where his loyalties lie and of course that's highly unethical right to be cherry-picking what you're reporting because of your own advocacy or people want to be documenting these things but are intimidated by Hamas and then the responsibility is on the editors and on the producers of these media organizations for not telling and warning viewers that they cannot get objective go journalism out of Gaza because the journalists are being intimidated by Hamas those are the problems not this oh and there's a photograph of this photographer kissing the man who mastermind did the attack the man behind the plan that ultimately ended up in 1400 people being killed what is the onus on the bosses at CNN at AP and Reuters etc we're looking at the picture on our screen right now to look at this and say well what is his connection right now to the terror group look at this photograph on our screen right now I am not a fan of the genre of journalists being fanboys with leaders right we see journalists all over the world and certainly here in Israel who like to take pictures with leaders and put it on their social media I don't like that this is a terrorist leader behind the plan to kill Jews we need a uniform role that journalists don't do this but of course it is the job of journalists including photo journalists to get close to sources and to make connections I don't like it as a genre but we need a uniform rule whether it's Iqiyah Sinwar Adolf Hitler Joe Biden or for that matter Mother Teresa the journalists don't take pictures with sources certainly not being hugged and kissed like that I think there needs to be a uniform rule but also an understanding that is the job of the journalist to get close to sources including bad actors including war criminals including someone like Iqiyah Sinwar that is their job their job is not to work for the Israeli military or Israeli intelligence preventing attacks that's the job of our army and of our intelligence services and that's where we should be focusing our anger again there are serious problems with the journalism coming out of Gaza that have not been properly explained to readers and viewers but the problem is not what is being reported the problem is what's not being reported and that not being explained to viewers you know the journalists and jobs are lionized as heroes and in many cases I'm sure that they are risking their lives in very very hard circumstances but there is another side to the coin that they're working under a terrorist regime that does not allow them to fully do their jobs also some of them may not want to fully do their jobs and both of those elements need to be explained to viewers and to readers but as they're going out and documenting what happened on October 7th that's their job and frankly as far as getting close to Iqiyah Sinwar to try to get information from him let's say it's also part of their job although I hate the idea of taking pictures like that certainly many questions that will be asked not only by news organizations but also by the media at large and obviously watchdog organizations as well Raphael you're showing me I'd like your input on exactly what we're discussing right now Israeli intelligence had no idea about what was happening but there are photographers there people who are hugging and kissing Iqiyah Sinwar who were in the loop how does that feel what is your sense of this well it adds to the problem we had in intelligence we really didn't read them up whereas not only journalists I think quite a few people in the Gaza Strip felt and knew what was going to happen something was cooking it was obvious we had observer soldiers mostly girls of the IDF on outlook posts and that they could see things happening so there is something here that has to be checked after the war for sure something's wrong I believe that these journalists that work in the Gaza Strip are all Hamas because you cannot work as a journalist in the Gaza Strip if you're not accredited by the Hamas whatever you're going to do against them you will be ousted out of Gaza so and that's why most agencies use local journalists Gazans who are of course in very good terms with the Hamas and accomplices of the Hamas I am not sure that journalists should be immune I don't see a wild ground from having a conscience and moral principles such as saving human lives and if you have an information that might prevent a catastrophe I don't think your profession comes first where do you draw the line? I draw a line in the moral standard of any profession I don't think journalism is that important that it should be above any moral standards and if I have if I'm a doctor a professor a garage or a salesman of cars I don't know it doesn't matter what profession you're doing there is a red line and the journalists are not above it they are just as any other person under that red line after that if they do not prevent or give information as to something that is going to happen and people children are going to be killed I think that there's a problem there's a big big problem I do not agree at all with the immunity I don't see like when people said there were these that killed and journalists so what? Journalists were killed too they are there to do their job we had a Palestinian journalist who was killed in the West Bank this created a huge international scandal why and the kid is not important no there is no immunity for journalists they're there they're taking their chances it's a dangerous job especially war reporters on the ground but one thing is for sure they cannot they cannot in any way let something happen that they could prevent if they would give the info it's not possible look Rafael there are Israeli defense correspondents who presumably know in advance about military activity by the IDF and Gaza I am not comparing the Israeli military to Hamas I am not comparing the Israeli military activity since October 7th to what happened October 7th in no way but those reporters know okay that through the course of the military activity civilians are going to be killed tragically do they have an obligation to tell civilians in those parts of Gaza I mean where do we draw the line again journalists are part of a structure and part of a system and they play a very very important role in presenting reality this has nothing to do everybody knows that in a war there's going to be casualties but they don't know when and they don't know where those journalists do you don't have to be journalists for that everybody knows that but they don't but the journalists have unique information because of when and where it's going to happen and they don't share it no but you are making a mistake and they're right not to share it no but the Israeli journalists you're speaking about cannot avoid the war and the catastrophe but these Gazan journalists knowing in advance this ferocious plan could have worn I think there is here a moral principle as a human being it doesn't matter at the end your journalist okay but you're also a human being at some point you are maybe the possibility to avoid such a catastrophe then you have to intervene as a human being then you're a journalist as well but these Israeli journalists you talk about they cannot do anything there is a war going on we know they're going to be casualties they know that in such and such a morning I'm positing a hypothetical I don't know if this is actually true I'm not a defense correspondent myself but let's say that journalists know it's a realistic hypothetical they know that in such and such a morning there is going to be the Israeli military is going to start acting in a certain part of the Gaza Strip and as part of that activity civilians are going to be in more danger do they have a responsibility to go on Twitter and say tomorrow morning the Israeli military is going to be doing X, Y and Z left absolutely not no I'll tell you why absolutely yes if the action of the IDF is immoral if the IDF is going to strike and the journalist is supposed to be in the position of making those decisions yes yes if the IDF is going to kill children when it could avoid killing children the journalist has to say there are plenty of more journalists who feel that way by the way and are going to go out and now take your ball and run with it there are there are plenty of correspondence including potentially in the far left here in Israel who agree with you and will start doing that and are going to start to use and that's the problem where do we draw the line here and how do journalists play their role in presenting and explaining the full scope of reality even more than that it's the duty as in the IDF there are standards of the rules of engagement it is the duty of any soldier or any officer of the IDF to speak out if he sees that the IDF is going to do something immoral we have the right to do so we have the duty to do so so a journalist as well we cannot do an action that's not moral and so I'm not speaking of a journalist in Gaza warning the IDF about some military action I'm speaking a journalist in Gaza knowing that children are going to be killed women are going to be raped he has a moral duty to tell this not as an info not to keep it for a photo shoot because he's going to inform some guy in the New York Times reader in Washington who after lunch will see the picture but you're fighting the hypothetical let's say there's a foreign correspondent okay who knows in advance because they're in contact with the Israeli military but Israeli operation Gaza that person in good faith because of their own belief system wrongly in my opinion in your opinion but in their opinion rightly believes that they need to then go out break censorship rules do whatever they need to do to in their mind save Gaza civilians from being killed because they know the where and the when of when something is going to happen is it up to that journalist appropriately ethically to then go on to Twitter 12 hours before and tell people in my opinion absolutely not but we have to have a uniform rule because if we don't everyone's going to be taking the journalism I prefer to take that chance to have a journalist that will speak out maybe to in a more dangerous way that's not useful to the actual so we are taking that risk because of as you say anybody can come out and say something but I prefer to take that risk and make sure that when it's really something horrible like the 7th of October is going to happen we will have voices come out because a person I mean if I had this information it doesn't matter what profession I have and certainly not journalists to give me any immunity you have this information I think it's a horrible thing I will speak out I will tell but I'm telling you it's not only journalists it's even the officers of the IDF they are allowed to speak out and they can also be wrong a soldier or an officer can go and say I disagree with this action it's not moral in my eyes he will be court martial afterwards judges military judges will decide if he was right in thinking that this action was immoral or not but he has the moral duty and he has the right to think that what he thinks and if he thinks it's immoral to say it and or may even refuse an order then after that he has to take his responsibility maybe he was wrong maybe the action was legitimate then he shouldn't have opened his mouth and he shall be punished for it or the action was not legitimate and in this case I mean I have refused one order in my career in the IDF out of moral grounds and I think it's very important that people should remember especially in those days that we are human beings first and we have a conscience first and we want to save lives as soldier and journalist at different roles we could go on I think it's a silvery slope I'll give you the last word throw it back to Benita and also want to say that in this particular case this was a planned terror attack we are hearing testimony from people who were court saying they were instructed to kill children that they wanted to kill children because they were worried that these children would become soldiers if people were in the loop about a plan like this a heinous plan like this and saw it fit to be kissing and hugging the people who were the architects of this plan and then you're seeing that these are the people who were there first to take the photographs of it I wonder how it sits with the families whose relatives are being held right now in the Gaza Strip seeing that connection very briefly the Israeli military the interior intelligence it is their job they're the ones who work for us to protect us that is their role in the system and the ire and the anger should be focused on them and on the Israeli government and politicians as appropriate as well that's the address not the journalists one question yes if you're a journalist you're in the street and you see a person taking out a gun is going to murder somebody else okay so you just let this guy murder the other person because you're a journalist and you're just gaming the info or you're going to try and save that person from being killed 30 seconds I want to that answer it's a complicated question I don't know what I would personally do in that situation but I don't think that I would blame the journalist who didn't step in that's my point the most simple question is the answer is of course you save the person's life I would not blame the journalist who wouldn't I don't know what I would do myself disturbing ethical questions this debate is very very definitely going to be continuing on this day and in the weeks to come thank you very much Rafael Yoroshalmi and Owen Ultiman very Jewish debate thank you very much we will continue with this discussion no doubt many questions lots to unpack but for now that's a wrap for this edition of our Breaking News coverage I'm Vanessa Levine in Tel Aviv our rolling coverage continues very shortly stay tuned this is I-24 News thank you 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the frontlines 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 Breaking News edition I'm Vanessa Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv the Israeli Defense Force says dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been killed as Israeli troops captured a Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip after 10-hour infantry brigade taking over the site called Outpost 17 in West Javalea it says soldiers battled terrorists both above it uncovered more tunnels including one next to a kindergarten and the Air Force has carried out strikes against hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day in recent hours siren sounding in the southern city of Storot and before that in Nacho Oz and Kisufim in the south warning of incoming rocket fire Israeli forces are meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation soldiers in the enclave telling I-24 News this is what they need to do to protect the country another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting 29-year-old Sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin El Makaes from Jerusalem this brings to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation day 34 of the war more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel which saw more than 1,400 people shot tortured and butchered and in a new development out of the Gaza Strip the IDF uncovering a weapons production and storage site inside a residential building rockets were being assembled next to a children's bedroom you're looking at images of that weapons production site inside a residential building next to a children's bedroom now for the latest let's go up north our correspondent Pierce Tekelbach joins us from northern Israel what's the latest there what can you tell us amidst those concerns that while everything that is unfolding is turning the focus to the Gaza Strip there are still worries around Hezbollah's next possible moves what can you tell us Pierre? Well Benita today so far has been a relatively quiet day but of course tensions are high in general here in the north as the situation is very volatile last night there was a moment of high tension when sirens were activated in three communities very close to the Israel-Lebanon border the communities of Avim Batan and Yaron as it was said a foreign aircraft from southern Lebanon is making its way to Israel after that shortly after the Israeli military issued a statement that was indeed a false alarm the Israeli home front command issuing a statement that there was an interception of a foreign aircraft there other than that we're speaking about anti-tank missiles that have reached Israel throughout the day yesterday as per protocol the Israeli army striking back in southern Lebanon with artillery there in addition another military statement said that Israel's army has throughout the night been attacking targets in southern Lebanon belonging to Isabella we're speaking about technological means and other military depots there and also buildings in southern Lebanon and that just really gives you an overview of what has been happening here every single day and we're speaking also about areas that are you know as the ones who had that air raid alarm yesterday that are that close to the border that have been evacuated a long time ago so everyone is expecting the next move from Isabella but the tensions are high in general and this one is very very volatile which really is one of the reasons why the areas as close as five kilometers to the border have been widely evacuated and very a lot of reservists are stationed here also along the border as well we're just we're on the roads and you can actually see also some military vehicles here moving in that northern area so that really shows you how how sensitive the area here is although no major developments within the next within the last 24 hours but you know from experience from the next from the last a month this can change any minute Benita certainly no doubt about that and talk to us about a range of developments in Syria overnight what is the latest there right Benita we're hearing reports about two different airstrikes one is attributed to Israel the other one is attributed to the U.S. and the U.S. has also claimed responsibility for that one in eastern Syria targeting as they said Iranian proxies their weapons warehouse in eastern Syria the U.S said that this was a very condensed strike a very contained strike because the U.S. is not interested and of course the regional escalation this is the strike was part of preventing and that that comes along that strike that is attributed to Israel in the area of Damascus also said it is was said to aim at Iranian proxies that specifically is Bala cell operating that close to the capital in Syria thank you so much live from northern Israel correspondent P.S. Dekalbach mortar come from Pierre of course in the coming hours thanks Pierre and now we welcome to studio retired colonel Dr. Jacques Neria former deputy head of assessment in the Israeli military intelligence and former foreign policy advisor to prime minister Yitzhak Rabin Jacques thank you so much as always for being here several developments and we want to unpack what is happening in Syria but before we get there news just in the IDF has eliminated the head of the Hamas anti-tank unit brigade we are looking at his picture on that screen right now a new development just in the IDF confirming it has eliminated the head of the Hamas anti-tank unit the picture is on your screen right now Jacques the significance of this breakthrough well you know the you are disturbing the chain of command with Hamas I mean we know already that Hamas has lost control of the northern part of Gaza and I think that communications with most of the units is being cut right now and there's no internet there's no way the no safe communications which means that you have less control and less command and and Hamas in fact is beginning to crumble because as we see the movement the movement of evacuees from north Gaza towards the south and Hamas is not able to stop them anymore he used in a few days ago in the they even fired at those at those people and preventing them from crossing and now they are just marching under the protection of Israeli tanks towards the south so this is a big a big challenge and a big development which means that we are inching forward to a situation where it's either you just hit a wall that you cannot overcome but this is not the case or this is the the beginning of crack and the crack will bring the the world to crumble which means that if we continue on our on our effort without stopping without without accepting a ceasefire we must we might find ourselves we could we could find ourselves in much in a much better position in 24 48 hours from now this is what's happening and and by then we would have to we would have taken care of the hospitals the Shifa the Indonesian the Kuwaiti the Jordanian one all over the those places and the outcome of this encounter with the hospitals would have to be the well-weight because the the world opinion would look at us and accuse us of course of humanitarian crimes what is the world opinion when you see the images that we just showed earlier on in the broadcast of weapons being assembled inside a residential building right next to a children's bedroom it is staggering shank and what what do you say about about media international media using freelancers who were aware who were aware of the attack that was coming on the Israeli settlements I didn't say a word that just accompanied the as if they were the correspondence of war I mean the and and filmed that and and took pictures of all those atrocities that that took place under the title of CNN under the title of AP I mean they were they were the the freelancers now it's time for us either that those media chains just say that they are not part of it they never knew about it but we must claim the all the pictures and videos that were taking there because this would help us a lot to know to uncover criminals on the one hand and then maybe faces that have disappeared that have been kidnapped it's unfathomable to think that these photo journalists were at the fence when that security breach happened and Israeli intelligence wasn't there Israeli security wasn't there but they were in the loop about what was about to unfold they entered with the with the terrorists inside the the Israeli vineyards and took pictures of her of everything and then they just sent them back and this is how we just we got acquainted with the fact that I mean the first one to take a picture of a tank burning tank was there was a journalist from Gaza they're working for a chain I mean for a media chain in the United States so that this is the the case and I think that this is this is a shame this is a shame that that is that's going on like this and photographs of that particular journalist kissing and hugging Yahya Sinwar as well many many questions to be asked Shaq stay with us we're going to unpack a lot more right now though we bring you an exclusive look into the fighting on the ground I-24 News Defense Correspondent Matias Inbar went into the Gaza Strip with Israeli forces let's take a look at his report we are on our way to the Gaza Strip I grew up here at Kibbutz Alumim so I feel like I'm protecting my home since that Saturday we all joined the reserves we understand that we have a mission an important mission to eliminate the terror from Gaza it's the 32nd day of this war we are in a troop carrier Lieutenant Colonel Gilad Pasternak our military escort sits in front of us we do what we have to do this is the most justified war possible that we had to fight it's our duty to be here it's our duty to respect our commitment because we have no other place to go all soldiers all officers understand that we are loyal and fight with determination bravery and speed to fulfill the objectives set by our leaders it's just over one month since the terrible Hamas onslaught of October the 7th the IDF's ground operation has been pursuing its objectives for more than 10 days annihilating Hamas once there we are the first journalists to discover what the humanitarian corridor looks like in this war zone in the center of Gaza on the main Salah Adin artery these civilians from Gaza are fleeing the fighting some with their hands in the air others clutching a white flag the war zone they are walking with their hands up and with their white flag but these soldiers are trying actually to protect us to protect themselves because probably there's some terrorists in the middle of this crowd today it has been open in 9 a.m. and it's about to close at 14 p.m. you can hear clashes and battles between Hamas terrorists and the IDF soldiers also west to the Salah Adin street over there of course Hamas doesn't like the fact that the people are going actually his human shield are going from the north to the south and that's exactly what the IDF is trying to do to separate the population the civilians from Hamas terrorists doing their acts of terror inside the neighborhood inside the buildings over here and perhaps among them Israeli and foreign hostages if they're inside any people who've been kidnapped or being hostages run toward the soldiers don't be afraid for both officers and soldiers the objective here remains the same well we have a lot of challenges over here first one of them we have course the tunnels we have we're finding tunnels all over the street in all the cities in all the neighborhoods we're finding streets each building each compound have its own tunnel in order to be able to sabotage the IDF soldiers that's the first one the second one is the aerial assets we are dealing with drones we are dealing with of course mortars with rockets aiming towards the IDF soldiers and the people on the on the rear in the cities of Israel and also of course Hamas is taking advantages of the narrow streets of the Kaspas of the corners in order to wait for the IDF soldiers to make small ambushes on them but I can definitely tell you like the IDF spokesperson told that today there is Gaza north and there is Gaza south and the IDF is controlling over Gaza north these kind of tools came from the engineering corps that are trying to protect the soldiers and also detect the tunnel it's quite impressive impressive inside the Gaza strip it's our duty we are part of history it's not a question of revenge but defending our state our home they attacked us it's our turn to defend our civilians an emotional soldier wants to speak everything we do today is to ensure that history does not repeat itself ultimately what my grandparents experienced during the second world war happened because of hatred of Jews on October 7 these massacres these civilians killed raped defiled burned are the result of this same hatred exactly what the Nazis did to us we're pushing back because there is a sniper threat as as you can see every place just behind me our potential position for snipers that's why all the soldiers and these tools are here to protect us once on board again we drive east into one of the Sujaya neighborhoods an armored vehicle has just fired we're in the middle of a complex multi-battle operation against Hamas positions facing danger under Hamas fire we were quickly asked to leave the area back in Israel Lieutenant Colonel Gelad summarizes this day of war for us it's no secret when I tell you that many Israelis are being held hostage in Gaza one of the goals of our war is to bring them home when we see a way to bring them home or to give us details about their fate we do it and I won't elaborate while we leave this gathering place on the Israel-Gaza border these soldiers are determined to fight regardless of how long it takes and regardless of the cost our Matthias Inbar reporting from inside the Gaza Strip still with me in studio retired colonel Dr. Jacques Neurier very rare to see insights like that to see footage like that your takeaways well I can I am so impressed by the performance of those soldiers and these officers that I'm sure that we are in good hands and I think that they will accomplish the mission that they've been asked to and it's only a question of time if the politicians and other people won't stop the army from accomplishing what it is supposed to do right now and it is doing right now so this is my hope this is my hope and as every Israeli we just want to reach a situation where we don't feel any more a threat from Gaza towards our villages our people there and we want to live in peace we I mean we were peace I mean the most striking thing is that most of the inhabitants were attacked were peace pacifists they were working for the Palestinians they were working for cooperation for coexistence and they used to accompany children and sick people from Gaza to Israeli hospitals and bring them back and this is the reward they got they got butchered this is the only reward they got from these monsters and being held in Gaza right now 239 hostages including elderly peace activists as you say people who are committed to helping everybody in the region I was struck in that report by the man calling out saying if you are a hostage if you're being held you're safe try and run out how complicated is this mission given the fact that there are 239 hostages hidden in tunnels above ground underground across the strip well basically I believe the hostages are the best card that Hamas has in order to survive this is the they are trying to play to manipulate the information they are trying now to to negotiate so-called a partial release of hostages just in order to gain time why do they need time because they need time to reorganize they are just scattered all over the Gaza Strip the communication is very bad they don't know where some units are where others are located where others are deployed they need this time and we must not give them the time the only proof is the following that because of military pressure Hamas is willing to talk about sort of negotiating a deal concerning a part of the a part of the hostages and we must keep the pressure on and this works and I believe that Hamas will be very careful not to endanger any hostages at here's in his hands here's hoping that all the hostages do get home and they do get home safely a long road ahead no doubt Jacques I want your take on developments out of Syria we heard my colleague Pierre updating us a little bit earlier Almaya Din is saying the Syrian army has shelled U.S. positions breakdown what is going on indeed indeed this is the first time that I read that Syrian the Syrian army artillery has been shelling U.S. positions this is a first I mean together with the Iraqi militias they have joined the effort in order to dislodge the American bases and we know that till now more than 40 attacks have been occurring against the American bases even though I mean and this happened after two F-15s American two F-15 aircraft bombed the ammo depot of Iranian militias and killed nine of those individuals I think that the United States is not interested in widening the war but it seems that the Iraqi militias are pushing forward and trying to just grab the United States and put it into the into the conflict always appreciate your insights on this ever dynamic situation across the region retired colonel Dr. Jacques Naria thank you as always for being here in studio now for nearly a decade Jerusalem's Shalva National Center has been a lifesaver for children and adults with disabilities but in times of war and natural disasters it's a fully equipped national crisis response center our Emily Francis went to Jerusalem where thousands of people evacuated from the south are being welcomed with open arms let's take a look welcome to Shalva an oasis that has brought comfort to thousands of young people with disabilities and their families we began designing Shalva which means peace of mind in Hebrew or Serenity in order to provide families with a sense of peace of mind and getting away from the chaos that ensues when a parent learns that either at birth or later the child he dreamed of was going to be with a disability of one kind or another but since the tragedy of October 7th the Shalva Center in Jerusalem has become a safe haven for those evacuated from communities near Gaza who lived through the terror of their lives so the idea if it's telling us you have to get out of here right now so we couldn't get out earlier because the roads were dangerous so we're locked in our town for three days and then finally the IDF says okay we'll get you a safe route southwards right on the Egyptian border so this is like a whole big operation and we're driving down the road in lines of over 100 cars and buses with helicopters protecting us from above and tanks and jeeps surrounding us Sion Leshem and 150 families from the small village of Neve were welcomed by Shalva which has been a godsend of the 700 children evacuated from their village the girls are getting a full day's education at Shalva's facilities the healing has begun and every every person that comes to us and expresses their compassion and their love and their will to give and what can we do and how can we help is part is part of this healing we're seeing lots and lots of folding carts these are beds that we can be the reason the Shalva center has been able to provide these resources is because a 220,000 square foot facility was built from the beginning to also serve as a national crisis response center and what you're seeing here are the preparations for us to be able to take in up to 1200 additional evacuees so here you've got beds you've got lots of sanitary ware and all the different provisions that we have we have downstairs in the car park dry goods enough to last us for a month we have the entire building has 11 stories high but a number of those are below ground we're built into the side of the mountain and that provides a natural safe space Shalva has also been a lifeline for dozens of at-risk teen girls from abusive homes who are part of the Edin center which is located near Gaza Edin girls loved in Ankibut Kermia which is on the northern border of Gaza a beautiful quiet Kibbutz from the boarding school you could actually see the view was a view of Gaza boarding school was actually and targeted and hit by rocket and there was a lot of damage made over there so them not having school that day is why they're alive today them not having school today is why they're alive today you could say that it was we we say it was a miracle and for Kara Raan the education manager of Edin she says being with Shalva kids with disabilities has been the best medicine for her teens and I think it's special for them they're seeing that there's other types of people around they're seeing that they know they've got their own issues to deal with but they're looking and seeing that there's people with different issues and sometimes more difficult issues but I think that mainly it makes them happy they always greet the young people they who are working or being treated there and the elevators they always play with it all kids no question it will be a tearful goodbye once everyone is able to return home to the south and all agree that the support of the team has given them the courage to return home with more strength we're going back not one of us is going to step aside and say hey this is too much for me we we we live the mission and and we see this place flourishing and thriving in the future in the near future in Jerusalem Emily Francis I-24 News and that's where we wrap up this edition of our breaking news coverage on Benita Levine in Tel Aviv our road and coverage continues shortly stay tuned thank you for watching 1,500 people murdered and more than 3,000 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 in news edition I'm Benita Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv the Israeli defense force says dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been killed as Israeli troops captured a Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip after 10 hours of fighting the Nahal Infantry Brigade taking over the site called Outpost 17 in West Jabalia it says soldiers battled terrorists both above ground and underground it uncovered more tunnels including one next to a kindergarten and the air force has carried out strikes against hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day in recent hours sirens sounding in the southern city of Storot and before that in Nahal Oz and Kissel Fem in the south warning of incoming rocket fire Israeli forces on meanwhile intensifying their push into Gaza to eradicate the Hamas terror network destroying 130 terror tunnels since the start of its ground operation soldiers in the enclave telling i24 news this is what they need to do to protect the country another Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting 29 year old Sergeant Eliyahu Benjamin El Makaes from Jerusalem this brings to 35 the number of fallen Israeli soldiers during this retaliatory operation day 34 of the war more than one month after the Hamas terror rampage in southern Israel which saw more than 1400 people shot tortured and butchered and in a new development out of the Gaza Strip the IDF uncovering a weapons production and storage site inside a residential building rockets were being assembled next to a children's bedroom you're looking at images of that weapons production site inside a residential building next to a children's bedroom now for the latest let's go up north our correspondent Pierce Tekelbach joins us from northern Israel what's the latest there what can you tell us amidst those concerns that while everything that is unfolding is turning the focus to the Gaza Strip there are still worries around Hezbollah's next possible moves what can you tell us Pierre well we need to today so far has been a relatively quiet day but of course tensions are high in general here in the north as the situation is very volatile last night there was a moment of high tension when sirens were activated in three communities very close to the Israel-Lebanon border the communities of Avim Batan and Yaron as it was said a foreign aircraft from southern southern Lebanon is making its way to where Israel after that shortly after the Israeli military issued a statement that that was indeed a false alarm the Israeli home front command issuing a statement that there was an interception of a foreign aircraft there other than that we're speaking about anti-tank missiles that have reached Israel throughout the day yesterday as per protocol the Israeli army striking back in southern Lebanon with artillery there in addition another military statement said that Israel's army has throughout the night been attacking targets in southern Lebanon belonging to Hezbollah we're speaking about technological means and other military depots there and also buildings in southern Lebanon and that just really gives you an overview of what has been happening here every single day and we're speaking also about areas that are you know as the ones who had that air raid alarm yesterday that are that close to the border that they have been evacuated a long time ago so everyone is expecting the next move from Hezbollah but the tensions are high in general and this front is very very volatile which really is one of the reasons why the areas as close as five kilometers to the border have been widely evacuated and very a lot of reservists are stationed here also along the border as well we're just we're on the roads and you can actually see also some military vehicles here moving in that northern area so that really shows you how how sensitive the area here is although no major developments within the next within the last 24 hours but you know from experience from the next from the last month this can change any minute Benita certainly no doubt about that and talk to us about a range of developments in Syria overnight what is the latest there right Benita we're hearing reports about two different air strikes one is attributed to Israel the other one is attributed to the U.S. and the U.S. has also claimed responsibility for that one in eastern Syria targeting as they said Iranian proxies there weapons warehouse in eastern Syria the U.S. said that this was a very condensed strike a very contained strike because the U.S. is not interested in of course a regional escalation this is the strike was part of preventing that that comes along that strike that is attributed to Israel in the area of Damascus also said it is was said to aim at Iranian proxies that specifically his Bala cell operating that close to the capital in Syria thank you so much live from northern Israel correspondent Pierre Stekelbach more to come from Pierre of course in the coming hours thanks Pierre and now we welcome to studio retired Colonel Dr. Jacques Neria former deputy head of assessment in the Israeli military intelligence and former foreign policy advisor to prime minister Yitzhak Rabin Jacques thank you so much as always for being here several developments and we want to unpack what is happening in Syria but before we get there news just in the IDF has eliminated the head of the Hamas anti-tank unit brigade we are looking at his picture on that screen right now a new development just in the IDF confirming it has eliminated the head of the Hamas anti-tank unit the picture is on your screen right now Jacques the significance of this breakthrough well you know you are disturbing the chain of command with Hamas I mean we know already that Hamas has lost control of the northern part of Gaza and I think that communications with most of the units is being cut right now and there's no internet there's no way the no safe communications which means that you have less control and less command and Hamas in fact is beginning to crumble because as we see the movement the movement of evacuees from north Gaza towards the south and Hamas is not able to stop them anymore he used a few days ago they even fired at those people and prevented them from crossing and now they are just marching under the protection of Israeli tanks towards the south so this is a big challenge and a big development which means that we are inching forward to a situation where it's either you just hit a wall that you cannot overcome but this is not the case or this is the beginning of a crack and the crack will bring the wall to crumble which means that if we continue on our effort without stopping without accepting a ceasefire we might find ourselves we could find ourselves in a much better position in 24-48 hours from now this is what's happening and by then we would have taken care of the hospitals the Shifa, the Indonesian, the Kuwaiti the Jordanian one all over those places and the outcome of this encounter with the hospitals would have to be well-weight because the world opinion would look at us and accuse us of humanitarian crimes What is the world opinion when you see the images that we just showed earlier on in the broadcast of weapons being assembled inside a residential building right next to a children's bedroom it is staggering, Jacques And what do you say about media? International media using freelancers who were aware of the attack that was coming on the Israeli settlements and didn't say a word that just accompanied as if they were the correspondents of war I mean, and filmed and took pictures of all those atrocities that took place under the title of CNN under the title of AP I mean, they were the freelancers Now it's time for us either that those media chains just say that they are not part of it they never knew about it but we must claim all the pictures and videos that were taken there because this would help us a lot to know to uncover criminals on the one hand and then maybe faces that have disappeared and have been kidnapped It's unfathomable to think that these photojournalists were at the fence when that security breach happened and Israeli intelligence wasn't there Israeli security wasn't there but they were in the loop about what was about to unfold And they entered with the terrorists inside the Israeli vineyards and took pictures of everything and then they just sent them back and this is how we got acquainted with the fact that the first one to take a picture of a tank burning tank was a journalist from Gaza they're working for a chain for a media chain in the United States so this is the case and I think that this is a shame this is a shame that's going on like this And photographs of that particular journalist kissing and hugging Yahya Sinwar as well many many questions to be asked Shaq stay with us we're going to unpack a lot more right now though we bring you an exclusive look into the fighting on the ground I-24 News Defense Correspondent Mattias Inbar went into the Gaza Strip with Israeli forces let's take a look at his report We are on our way to the Gaza Strip I grew up here at Kibbutz Al-Mim so I feel like I'm protecting my home since that Saturday we all joined the reserves we understand that we have a mission an important mission to eliminate the terror from Gaza It's the 32nd day of this war we are in a troop carrier Lieutenant Colonel Gilad Pasternak our military escort sits in front of us We do what we have to do this is the most justified war possible that we had to fight it's our duty to be here it's our duty to respect our commitment because we have no other place to go all soldiers all officers understand that we are loyal and fight with determination bravery and speed to fulfill the objectives set by our leaders It's just over one month since the terrible Hamas onslaught of October the 7th the IDF's ground operation has been pursuing its objectives for more than 10 days annihilating Hamas Once there we are the first journalists to discover what the humanitarian corridor looks like In this war zone in the centre of Gaza on the main Salah Adin artery these civilians from Gaza are fleeing the fighting some with their hands in the air others clutching a white flag We are in the middle of the Gaza Strip behind us just people from Gaza Gazans they're trying to escape the war zone they are walking with their hands up and with their white flag but these soldiers are trying actually to protect us to protect themselves because probably there's some terrorist in the middle of this crowd Today it has been open in 9 a.m. and it's about to close at 14 p.m. You can hear clashes and battles between Hamas terrorists and the IDF soldiers also west to the Salah Adin street over there Of course Hamas doesn't like the fact that the people are going actually his human shield are going from the north to the south and that's exactly what the IDF is trying to do to separate the population the civilians from Hamas terrorists doing their acts of terror inside the neighbourhood inside the buildings over here and perhaps among them Israeli and foreign hostages If they are inside any people have been kidnapped or being hostages run toward the soldiers don't be afraid For both officers and soldiers the objective here remains the same Well we have a lot of challenges over here the first one of them is of course the tunnels we're finding tunnels all over the street in all the cities in all the neighbourhoods we're finding streets each building each compound have its own tunnel in order to be able to sabotage the IDF soldiers that's the first one the second one is the aerial assets we are dealing with drones we are dealing with of course motors with rockets aiming towards the IDF soldiers and the people on the rear in the cities of Israel and also of course Hamas is taking advantages of the narrow streets of the caspas of the corners in order to wait for the IDF soldiers to make small ambushes on them but I can definitely tell you like the IDF spokesperson told that today there is Gaza north and there is Gaza south and the IDF is controlling over Gaza north these kind of tools came from the engineering corps that are trying to protect the soldiers and also detect the tunnel it's quite impressive impressive inside the Gaza strip it's our duty we are part of history it's not a question of revenge but defending our state our home they attacked us it's our turn to defend our civilians an emotional soldier wants to speak everything we do today is to ensure that history does not repeat itself ultimately what my grandparents experienced during the Second World War happened because of hatred of Jews on October 7th these massacres these civilians killed raped defiled burned are the result of this same hatred exactly what the Nazis did to us we are pushing back because there is a sniper threat as as you can see every place just behind me our potential position for snipers that's why all the soldiers and these tools are here protect us once on board again we drive east into one of the Sujaya neighborhoods an armored vehicle has just fired we're in the middle of a complex multi-battle operation against Hamas positions facing danger under Hamas fire we were quickly asked to leave the area back in Israel Lieutenant Colonel Galad summarizes this day of war for us it's no secret when I tell you that many Israelis are being held hostage in Gaza one of the goals of our war is to bring them home when we see a way to bring them home or to give us details about their fate we do it and I won't elaborate while we leave this gathering place on the Israel-Gaza border these soldiers are determined to fight regardless of how long it takes and regardless of the cost our Matias Inbar reporting from inside the Gaza Strip still with me in studio retired Colonel Dr. Jacques Nere very rare to see insights like that to see footage like that your takeaways well I can I mean I am so impressed by the performance of those soldiers and these officers that I'm sure that we are we are in good hands and I think that they will accomplish the mission that they have been asked to and it's only a question of time if the politicians and other people won't stop the army from the from accomplishing what it is supposed to do right now and it is doing right now so this is my hope this is my hope and as every Israeli we just want to reach a situation where we don't feel any more a threat from Gaza towards our villages our people there and we want to live in peace we I mean we were peace I mean the most striking thing is that most of the inhabitants were attacked were peace pacifists they were working for the Palestinians they were working for cooperation for coexistence and they used to accompany children and sick people from Gaza to Israeli hospitals and bring them back and this is the reward they got they got butchered this is the only reward they got from these monsters and being held in Gaza right now 239 hostages including elderly peace activists as you say people who are committed to helping everybody in the region I was struck in that report by the man calling out saying if you are a hostage if you're being held you're safe try and run out how complicated is this mission given the fact that there are 239 hostages hidden in tunnels above ground underground across the strip well basically I believe the hostages are the best card that Hamas has in order to survive this is the they are trying to play to manipulate the information they're trying now to to negotiate so-called a partial release of hostages just in order to gain time why do they need time because they need time to reorganize they are just scattered all over the Gaza Strip the communication is very bad they don't know where some units are where others are located where others are deployed they need this time and we must not give them the time the only proof is the following that because of military pressure Hamas is willing to talk about sort of negotiating a deal concerning a part of the a part of the hostages and we must keep the pressure on and this works and I believe that Hamas will be very careful not to endanger any hostage at here's in his hands here's hoping that all the hostages do get home and they do get home safely a long road ahead no doubt Jacques I want your take on developments out of Syria we heard my colleague Pierre updating us a little bit earlier Almaya Din is saying the Syrian army has shelled U.S. positions breakdown what is going on indeed indeed this is the first time I read that Syrian the Syrian army artillery has been shelling U.S. positions this is a first I mean together with the Iraqi militias they have joined the effort in order to dislodge the American bases and we know that till now more than 40 attacks have been have been occurring against the against the American bases even though I mean and this happened after two F-15s American two F-15 aircraft bombed the Ammo depot of an Iranian militias and killed nine of those individuals I think that the United States is not interested in widening the the the war but it seems that the Iraqi militias are pushing forward and trying to just grab the United States and put it into the into the conflict always appreciate your insights on this ever-dynamic situation across the region retired colonel Dr. Jacques Naria thank you as always for being here in studio now for nearly a decade Jerusalem Shalva National Center has been a lifesaver for children and adults with disabilities but in times of war and natural disasters it's a fully equipped national crisis response center our Emily Francis went to Jerusalem where thousands of people evacuated from the south are being welcomed with open arms let's take a look welcome to Shalva an oasis that has brought comfort to thousands of young people with disabilities and their families it began designing Shalva which means peace of mind in Hebrew or Serenity in order to provide families with a sense of peace of mind and getting away from the chaos that ensues when a parent learns that either at birth or later the child he dreamed of was going to be with a disability of one kind or another but since the tragedy of October 7th the Shalva Center in Jerusalem has become a safe haven for those evacuated from communities near Gaza who lived through the terror of their lives so the IDF is telling us you have to get out of here right now so we couldn't get out earlier because the roads were dangerous so we're locked in our town for three days and then finally the IDF says okay we'll get you a safe route southwards right on the Egyptian border so this is like a whole big operation and we're driving down the road in lines of over 100 cars and buses with helicopters protecting us from above and tanks and jeeps surrounding us Sion Leshem and 150 families from the small village of Neve were welcomed by Shalva which has been a godsend of the 700 children evacuated from their village the girls are getting a full day's education at Shalva's facilities the healing has begun and every person that comes to us and expresses their compassion and their love and their will to give and what can we do and how can we help is part of this healing we're seeing lots and lots of folding carts these are beds that can be the reason the Shalva center has been able to provide these resources is because a 220,000 square foot facility was built from the beginning to also serve as a national crisis response center and what you're seeing here are the preparations for us to be able to take in up to 1200 additional evacuees so here you've got beds you've got lots of sanitary ware and all the different provisions that we have we have downstairs in the car park dry goods enough to last us for a month we have the entire building has 11 stories high but a number of those are below ground we're built into the side of the mountain and that provides a natural safe space Shalva has also been a lifeline for dozens of at risk teen girls from abusive homes who are part of the Edin center which is located near Gaza Edin girls loved in Ankibut Kermia which is on the northern border of Gaza a beautiful quiet Kibbutz from the boarding school you could actually see the view was a view of Gaza boarding school was actually and targeted and hit to buy a rocket and there was a lot of damage made over there so them not having school that day is why they're alive today them not having school today is why they're alive today you could say that it was we say it was a miracle and for Karora on the education manager of Edin she says being with Shalva kids with disabilities has been the best medicine for her teens I think it's special for them they're seeing that there's other types of people around they're seeing that they know they've got their own issues to deal with but they're looking and seeing that there's people with different issues and sometimes more difficult issues but I think that mainly it makes them happy they always greet the young people they who are working or being treated there in the elevators they always play with little kids no question it will be a tearful goodbye once everyone is able to return home to the south and all agree that the support of the team has given them the courage to return home with more strength we're going back not one of us is going to step aside and say hey this is too much for me we we we live the mission and and we see this place flourishing and thriving in the future in the near future in Jerusalem Emily Francis i24 news and that's where we wrap up this edition of our breaking news coverage I'm Benita Levine in Tel Aviv our road and coverage continues shortly stay tuned thank you for watching